Stats From Seven Different Negro Leagues Incorporated Into Official MLB Stats

Published on May 31st, 2024 1:00 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


There is a new single-season batting champion, and his name is Josh Gibson.

In fact, a number of "new" records have been set as a result of Major League Baseball incorporating the stats from seven different Negro Leagues into their official statistics.

These Negro Leagues ran from 1920-1948, and Major League Baseball started the Herculean task of finding and verifying the stats from these leagues many years ago.

In fact, their job isn't done, as they reportedly have only confirmed 75% of the stats via baseball historians.

The work continues, but we know that a number of MLB records have been rewritten as a result.

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One of the biggest records to be rewritten is the single-season batting average record, which now officially belongs to Josh Gibson.

In 1943, while playing for the Homestead Grays of the Negro National League, Josh Gibson batted .466 on the season. Gibson was a nightmare for his opponents that year, as he had 116 hits in just 249 at-bats.

Major League Baseball says that over a 154-game season, Gibson would have had 241 hits, 233 RBIs and 193 runs scored.

Truly astonishing offensive production.

Prior to Negro League stats being incorporated, Hugh Duffy owned the single season batting average record, as he hit .440 in 1894.

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One other player moved ahead of Duffy as well, as Charlie "Chino" Smith hit .451 for the American Negro League's New York Lincoln Giants in 1929.

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Gibson claimed a number of other records as well, including single-season slugging percentage (.937) and single-season OPS (1.474).