Amelia Bedelia scooped up first base, and second base, and third base.
“Home!” shouted the boys.
“Run home, Amelia Bedelia!”
Amelia Bedelia looked puzzled, but she did not stop running. And on her way she scooped up home plate too.
from Play Ball Amelia Bedelia
written by Peggy Parish
illustrated by Wallace Tripp
HarperCollins, 1972
(accessed on YouTube 6/1/24)
What would baseball be without its statistics? Baseball, besides being America’s pastime, is a numbers game. Batting averages, RBIs, numbers of bases run, ball speed (from the pitcher to the player and off a player’s bat) numbers of stolen bases, home runs, times left on base, you get the idea.
And a couple of weeks ago, everything changed. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Robert D. Manfred, Jr., the League decided to include statistics from players who had been excluded from Major League Baseball until Jackie Robinson was offered a position with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Shortly after George Floyd was murdered in 2020, the Major League accepted the Negro Leagues into the Majors. And now, to complete that work, statistics from the Negro Leagues are incorporated into the Major League historical record books.
Baseball was organized in the 1860s. In the beginning, a few Black players played alongside their white teammates. Soon, though, Jim Crow laws and segregationist attitudes left over from the Civil War thwarted the careers of many Black ball players. They were still just as talented, but were not allowed to play with established clubs.
The turn of the 20th century saw unwritten rules between team owners effectively segregate baseball. Black ballplayers formed their own teams. By 1920, Hall of Famer Andrew “Rube” Foster organized these new teams, and on February 13 of that year, the Negro National League (NNL) was born.
“Rube” Foster knew baseball. And he knew the racism at work. Even though crowds thronged to watch Black players, gate receipts were controlled by white booking agents. Little attendance money went to the team owners. Anyone who complained, risked losing a place to play. “Rube” also knew that to be successful, the Black teams needed to organize. He knew the Negro Leagues (which is what they became) needed to be just as professional and earn for its players the pay due to a professional.
Among the cities whose teams inaugurated the NNL were Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and St. Louis. Soon other teams organized into the Eastern Colored League and the Southern Negro League. The Black teams flourished until 1929.
The Depression forced “nearly every colored baseball league, including the NNL, to shut down.” (National Baseball Hall of Fame)
Finally, the Leagues reemerged in 1937 as the Negro American League. They played with full rosters and full schedules and full stadiums until 1947 when #42, Jackie Robinson (with lots of encouragement, and fortitude, and persistence) broke through Major League’s color barrier and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Robinson’s position in the Major League marked the start of Negro Leagues’ inevitable decline. But not before they proved Black ballplayers could play just as well as their white counterparts and attract crowds just as big and just as enthusiastic.
But the decision to include the Negro Leagues into MLB and incorporate their statistics is not without controversy. First, the obvious but unanswered question, “Why did it take so long?”
And although it’s wonderful for family and fans to finally see the recognition those outstanding Black athletes deserve, the controversy for me comes from the idea that “wiping the slate clean” gives everyone a do-over on an even playing field, so to speak.
Lest anyone think the Negro Leagues were “separate but equal” to their counterparts in Major League Baseball, know that the playing fields were anything but equal. Sometimes they could use a Major League field, but needed to schedule their games around time commitments already made. Negro Leagues did not have up-to-date equipment. Team owners needed to rely on white booking agents. Gate sales were woefully unevenly divided.
Mostly the clubs played when and where they could. A few teams owned their own parks and a few of these segregated fields still exist. A movement to preserve them is a modern idea. You can find a list of some of them here.
And still with all this working against them, the 2,300 players on the Negro Leagues played outstanding and organized baseball from 1920 - 1948.
Numbers (usually) are not my friends, but here are a few I like.
The all-time best batting average from 1876 to 2024 is .372 held by Josh Gibson. He was a powerhouse player for the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords. His .466 in 1943 is the highest mark in Major League history.
Babe Ruth is still great. He holds second place with his overall batting average of .342.
Here's the newly revised chart from MLB that takes all players’ stats into consideration.
Baseball on TV is where you’ll usually find me, but there’s nothing like the roar of the crowd, the smell of the popcorn, and the “twing” of a regulation baseball smacking against a metal bat for a home run!
I’m reading The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M. D. (Penguin Books/Penguin Publishing Group, 2014). Whether dealing with the experience of war or tragedy in our personal lives, we all deal with trauma. Neuropsychology is shedding light on how our brains and bodies are connected, and how trauma “literally reshapes both body and brain.” Dr. Kolk describes innovative treatments like yoga and meditation, among others, to activate our brains’ ability to heal itself and our bodies.
-—Be curious! (and play fair)
“Home!” shouted the boys.
“Run home, Amelia Bedelia!”
Amelia Bedelia looked puzzled, but she did not stop running. And on her way she scooped up home plate too.
from Play Ball Amelia Bedelia
written by Peggy Parish
illustrated by Wallace Tripp
HarperCollins, 1972
(accessed on YouTube 6/1/24)
What would baseball be without its statistics? Baseball, besides being America’s pastime, is a numbers game. Batting averages, RBIs, numbers of bases run, ball speed (from the pitcher to the player and off a player’s bat) numbers of stolen bases, home runs, times left on base, you get the idea.
And a couple of weeks ago, everything changed. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Major League Baseball, Robert D. Manfred, Jr., the League decided to include statistics from players who had been excluded from Major League Baseball until Jackie Robinson was offered a position with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Shortly after George Floyd was murdered in 2020, the Major League accepted the Negro Leagues into the Majors. And now, to complete that work, statistics from the Negro Leagues are incorporated into the Major League historical record books.
Baseball was organized in the 1860s. In the beginning, a few Black players played alongside their white teammates. Soon, though, Jim Crow laws and segregationist attitudes left over from the Civil War thwarted the careers of many Black ball players. They were still just as talented, but were not allowed to play with established clubs.
The turn of the 20th century saw unwritten rules between team owners effectively segregate baseball. Black ballplayers formed their own teams. By 1920, Hall of Famer Andrew “Rube” Foster organized these new teams, and on February 13 of that year, the Negro National League (NNL) was born.
“Rube” Foster knew baseball. And he knew the racism at work. Even though crowds thronged to watch Black players, gate receipts were controlled by white booking agents. Little attendance money went to the team owners. Anyone who complained, risked losing a place to play. “Rube” also knew that to be successful, the Black teams needed to organize. He knew the Negro Leagues (which is what they became) needed to be just as professional and earn for its players the pay due to a professional.
Among the cities whose teams inaugurated the NNL were Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City, and St. Louis. Soon other teams organized into the Eastern Colored League and the Southern Negro League. The Black teams flourished until 1929.
The Depression forced “nearly every colored baseball league, including the NNL, to shut down.” (National Baseball Hall of Fame)
Finally, the Leagues reemerged in 1937 as the Negro American League. They played with full rosters and full schedules and full stadiums until 1947 when #42, Jackie Robinson (with lots of encouragement, and fortitude, and persistence) broke through Major League’s color barrier and played for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
Robinson’s position in the Major League marked the start of Negro Leagues’ inevitable decline. But not before they proved Black ballplayers could play just as well as their white counterparts and attract crowds just as big and just as enthusiastic.
But the decision to include the Negro Leagues into MLB and incorporate their statistics is not without controversy. First, the obvious but unanswered question, “Why did it take so long?”
And although it’s wonderful for family and fans to finally see the recognition those outstanding Black athletes deserve, the controversy for me comes from the idea that “wiping the slate clean” gives everyone a do-over on an even playing field, so to speak.
Lest anyone think the Negro Leagues were “separate but equal” to their counterparts in Major League Baseball, know that the playing fields were anything but equal. Sometimes they could use a Major League field, but needed to schedule their games around time commitments already made. Negro Leagues did not have up-to-date equipment. Team owners needed to rely on white booking agents. Gate sales were woefully unevenly divided.
Mostly the clubs played when and where they could. A few teams owned their own parks and a few of these segregated fields still exist. A movement to preserve them is a modern idea. You can find a list of some of them here.
And still with all this working against them, the 2,300 players on the Negro Leagues played outstanding and organized baseball from 1920 - 1948.
Numbers (usually) are not my friends, but here are a few I like.
The all-time best batting average from 1876 to 2024 is .372 held by Josh Gibson. He was a powerhouse player for the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords. His .466 in 1943 is the highest mark in Major League history.
Babe Ruth is still great. He holds second place with his overall batting average of .342.
Here's the newly revised chart from MLB that takes all players’ stats into consideration.
Baseball on TV is where you’ll usually find me, but there’s nothing like the roar of the crowd, the smell of the popcorn, and the “twing” of a regulation baseball smacking against a metal bat for a home run!
I’m reading The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk, M. D. (Penguin Books/Penguin Publishing Group, 2014). Whether dealing with the experience of war or tragedy in our personal lives, we all deal with trauma. Neuropsychology is shedding light on how our brains and bodies are connected, and how trauma “literally reshapes both body and brain.” Dr. Kolk describes innovative treatments like yoga and meditation, among others, to activate our brains’ ability to heal itself and our bodies.
-—Be curious! (and play fair)
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