The stories and statistics of up to 300 baseball players who played in the Negro Leagues in Ohio are now part of official Major League Baseball records.
This comes after the recent decision to integrate the statistics of players from the Negro Leagues into MLB records.
"It's a huge change,” said Leslie Heaphy, a Kent State University professor who teaches sports history. “For so long, Major League Baseball kept these players out. And so not only did they keep them from playing, but they have not acknowledged them in any significant way until now.”
Heaphy said several Negro League Baseball players stand out. They played in Ohio between 1920 and 1948.
"One of those, for Columbus, was John Henry Lloyd, shortstop, who was the player manager in 1921,” Heaphy said. “He had a long career up to that point, known for his fielding and his hitting, and today is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame."
Also, Sol White, an Ohio native, played in the “white” organized minor baseball leagues from the mid-1800s until the early 1900s. Later after segregation was instituted, he became a star on several Negro League teams.
The process of examining statistics from seven Negro League teams from 1920 through 1948 involved a 17-person committee chaired by John Thorn, Major League Baseball’s official historian. The group met six times during a three-year research period. MLB officials say 75% of the available records have been included. Additional research could lead to more changes to the Major League Baseball leaderboards.
“Any player who played on any Negro League team officially between 1920 and 1948,” said Heaphy. “All of the Ohio players will now be included in the Major League records as long as they were on an official Negro League team."
Heaphy recently read about a game with the Columbus Buckeyes in 1921.
“Where they were playing in Neil Park and had about 2,200 fans,” said Heaphy. “Season openers were always great because all the politicians came out. They sometimes had bands that would come play from the schools. Things like that. So certainly within the Black communities, there was great enthusiasm to support these teams.”
Heaphy says the owners of Black teams were mostly white, but were some Black owners.
"(There were) a variety of businessmen, some of them from Ohio, sometimes not,” said Heaphy. “We've got a couple of individuals from Kansas City. One from Erie, Pennsylvania. Businessman John Matthews, for example, in Dayton, started the Dayton Marcos. The Columbus 21 team was started by two gentlemen from Kansas City who moved the team to Columbus."
Heaphy is optimistic the enthusiasm for all-inconclusive record-keeping in baseball will spread.
“This is an opportunity for people to learn about 2,300 plus ballplayers that most people have never heard of before,” Heaphy said.
