CINCINNATI — What once was a blip in Cincinnati baseball history is now more significant.
Major League Baseball announced Wednesday on social media that over 2,300 Negro League players statistics have been integrated and are now reflected in its official database.
The database now shows seven Negro Leagues' players records from 1920-1948.
Several Major League records are now held by Josh Gibson as he and other Negro Leagues legends officially join the all-time leaderboards.The statistics of more than 2,300 Negro Leagues players launch today in a newly integrated https://t.co/Z3s2EpgF39 database that presents… pic.twitter.com/UyvCu0pSzi
— MLB (@MLB) May 29, 2024
In 1937, the Queen City had a Negro League team — the Cincinnati Tigers.
The team was founded by DeHart Hubbard, who won the gold medal at the 1924 Paris Olympics for the long jump, according to the Negro League Baseball Players Association. He was the first African American to win an individual gold medal at the competition, the NLBPA said.
The NLBPA said the Cincinnati Tigers' games at Crosley Field were better attended than the Cincinnati Reds. Approximately 10,000 - 15,000 people were at each game.
The Tigers only played for one season before disbanding.
Some of the team's notable players include:
- Peter Moss
- Jesse Houston
- Neil Robinson
One of the biggest changes to come out of the integration of the Negro Leagues stats is Josh Gibson becoming the season and career batting leader in MLB.
Gibson passed Ty Cobb's .367 and took the top spot with a .372 batting average. He also leads with his season average of .466 for the Homestead Grays in 1943.
He also surpassed Babe Ruth's slugging percentage and OPS (.690 and 1.164). Gibson is now the career leader with a .718 slugging percentage and 1.177 OPS.
Click here to view the MLB's newly integrated database.
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