Major League Baseball’s recognition of Negro Leagues stirs hostility from white Americans

As a baseball fan, sports historian, and someone who believes in fairness and equality, I applauded (albeit with some reservation) the inclusion of Negro League statistics into the Major League Baseball record book.And so now, legendary Homestead Grays/Pittsburgh Crawfords slugger Josh Gibson is the all-time leader in batting averages at .372 and in career on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS), a measure of offensive statistics. Four other Negro League players are now in the top 10 in career batting average: Oscar Charleston (third, .363); Jud Wilson (fifth, .350); Turkey Stearnes (sixth, .348); and Buck Leonard (eighth, .345).Seeing names like Satchel Paige on those newly constructed leaderboards makes you wonder how great the game of baseball would have been if those Black players had been allowed to play against the Ty Cobbs, the Babe Ruths, the Dizzy Deans, and Christy Mathewsons of the sport. It would have revealed the strength of American diversity if everybody, regardless of race, were allowed to compete in the sport.But in the ongoing reality of keeping Black people segregated from the fruits of the American dream, racism ultimately prevailed until Jackie Robinson broke the colorline in 1947, and that came with the gnashing of teeth and a...