Negro Leagues = Major Leagues

by Todd Peterson

We have dramatically expanded our coverage of the Negro Leagues and Black major league players.
Read more...

The Negro Leagues were equal in quality of play to the White major leagues of their day. Thanks to the wealth of historical and statistical data now available, that fact can be demonstrated in a number of ways. The term Negro Leagues is used to describe a series of professional baseball organizations composed of African American and Latin American players that operated in the United States between 1920 and 1962. The designation is also applied to the many professional Black clubs that operated before the onset of league play or operated outside of their jurisdiction. The leagues themselves existed because, from 1899 until 1946, Black players were banned from “Organized Baseball,” because of the color of their skin.¹

Between 1866 and 1948, top-flight African American clubs played over 7,000 games with White semi-pro, college, minor league, and major league teams and beat them nearly 65 percent of the time. Drawing on statistics from these contests, games played in the Negro Leagues, and the events of post-integration baseball, several indisputable truths emerge.²

Negro League Teams Had a Winning Record against Major League Squads

The practice of African American outfits playing premier White players was an established tradition in cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Indianapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and San Diego. From the first year of the American League in 1900 through the last year of the second Negro National League in 1948, African American teams posted a record of 316-283-21 (.527) against White major league clubs and big-league All-Star aggregations. Against intact National, American, and Federal League teams, black squads posted a record of 47-60-8 (.443) However, from the inception of the Negro National League in 1920 through 1924, African American teams went 29-31-2 (.484) in head-to-head competition. Because the White mainstream press was often reluctant to print Black clubs’ successes, the Negro Leaguers’ overall tally is likely far better than what was recorded. ³

In 1922, responding to the Black teams’ continued success against American and National League squads, Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw Mountain Landis forbade big leaguers from appearing as under their team names or wearing their own uniforms, and insisted that they advertise themselves as All-Star teams, with only three individual teammates allowed to play together at any one time. Between 1900 and 1948, Black clubs defeated the best White batters, pitchers, and teams they were allowed to play nearly 55 percent of the time. The All-Star squads included in this tally were composed of five or more players with big league experience (including the starting pitcher) and at least three players who had appeared in the majors that particular season. ⁴

The number of big leaguers involved in many of these games was actually higher as the major leaguers often resorted to the use of aliases to avoid detection. As for the farfetched notion that the big leaguers were not giving their all, it should be noted that between 1900 and 1948, White major league squads racked up a record of 2640-897-71 (.742) against minor league, semi-pro, college and military teams—Only the Negro Leaguers had their number. ⁵

Source for Tables: NLB vs. MLB Database.

The Negro Leagues Compare Favorably to the Major Leagues in Several Statistical Categories

Connie Mack once said that pitching makes up 70 percent of baseball. Historians John Thorn and Pete Palmer have asserted that the figure is more like 44 percent, but noted, “it is undeniably important.” It is not a stretch then to say that a strong indicator of a baseball league’s quality would be the strength of its pitching, and therefore those circuits with lower batting, slugging, and on-base percentages are superior to those with higher averages. For example, when comparing the hitting averages of the major leagues and those of the three highest minors—The International League, American Association, and Pacific Coast League—from 1912 (the year these three organizations were elevated to Double A status) until 1945 (the last season of segregation) the majors consistently posted lower batting totals. ⁶

* The three Double A Leagues were reclassified Triple A in 1946

However when the White major league averages are compared to those of the Negro Leagues, a different truth emerges. Using statistics from the first season of the International League of Independent Professional Base Ball Clubs in 1906, through the last campaign of the Negro National League in 1948, the batting totals of the significant Black squads are noticeably lower than those of the Major Leagues.

Once Negro League play began in 1920, Blackball pitchers induced lower batting totals than their major league contemporaries in nearly every season until the early 1940s. Only the loss of manpower caused by player defections to Latin America, World War II, and integration, tilted the field back towards the White big leaguers. ⁷

In addition, Black hurlers annually allowed far fewer walks and hits than their AL or NL counterparts, and struck out many more batters. Although bases on balls were not as carefully documented by Negro Leagues scorekeepers as their AL/NL counterparts, the Blackball totals are certainly in the ballpark, and the similarly slighted strikeout totals are eye-popping enough as is.

Negro League Clubs Were Markedly Better Than Minor League Teams

While Negro League teams more than held their own while playing major league squads, they absolutely dominated bush leaguers. From the turn of the twentieth century through 1948, Blackball clubs played well over 1400 games with minor league teams and All-Star outfits, beating them nearly 60 percent of the time.

When the regular season batting records of the Negro Leagues and those of the three Double (later Triple A) Leagues are compared, the African American clubs posted lower batting averages (indicating a higher level of play) every year but four from the mid-teens until integration.

Negro League Players Flourished After Entering Organized Baseball

During the fifteen years following Jackie Robinson’s 1946 debut with the Montreal Royals, at least 333 former Negro Leaguers entered White affiliated baseball. Seventy-six of these players eventually made it to the major leagues, while 126 competed in the three Triple A circuits. Not every player was successful, but on the whole, and despite incredible hardships, the former Negro Leaguers out-performed their White counterparts. During the thirty years after integration, ex-Negro League players outhit their competition in both Triple A and the Major Leagues by a substantial margin. ⁹

Nine of the former Negro Leaguers who entered affiliated ball (formerly referred to as “Organized Baseball”) were eventually elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, including Willie Mays and Hank Aaron, generally acknowledged as two of the five greatest players of all time. In 1952 alone, ex-Negro Leagues players topped the leaderboard in 46 minor league hitting and pitching categories. Beginning in 1955, former Negro Leaguers led the National League in total bases for nine consecutive seasons. More dubiously, in 12 of the 13 years between 1949 and 1961, the player hit by the most pitches in the American League had gotten his start in the Negro Leagues. ¹⁰

Negro League pitchers also performed well in integrated baseball. Forty-four of these Black hurlers made it as far as Triple A, while 21 of their number reached the majors. However, the majority of major league teams clung to their racist past. By the end of the 1951 season, five full years after Jackie Robinson signed with the Dodgers, only five out of the sixteen big league clubs had Black players on their rosters. Perversely, the organizations that did integrate strictly adhered to the unwritten “fifty-fifty” rule, wherein no more than four Black players could be in a team’s lineup at any one time. The end result of this woefully slow integration process was that several qualified African Americans were left languishing in the minors until their opportunity to move up had passed them by. ¹¹

As the former Negro Leaguers led the charge into White baseball, a new generation of Black players followed closely behind, bypassing the segregated circuits altogether. Sixty-eight members of this first wave got as far as Triple A during the first ten years of integration while 54 graduated to the major leagues by the close of the 1959 season. Although hampered by a rigid quota system, this “first generation” of Black players hit well above league average in both the major and high minor circuits. ¹²

Note: The term “First Generation,” refers to black players who did not participate in the Negro Leagues and entered Organized Baseball during the first ten years of integration.

The new generation of Black pitchers also performed well when given the chance. Despite allowing fewer runs and base runners, while striking out more batters at both levels over a period of 30 years, the Black twirler became an endangered species due to institutional racism in big league front offices. By 1968 fewer than one in ten major league pitchers were Black. When the 1986 season started, only 5.7% of major league African Americans were pitchers. ¹³

Note: The term “First Generation,” refers to black players who did not participate in the Negro Leagues and entered Organized Baseball during the first ten years of integration.

Black Players Have Dominated the Post-Segregation Era

In 1955 the initial wave of Black players won 23 Class B, C, or D minor league batting and pitching titles. During the 1959 season, this first generation led the three Triple A circuits in 14 different statistical categories. In 1962 a Black player led the National League in each of the following statistics: games played, at bats, runs, hits, doubles, triples, home runs, runs batted in, stolen bases, total bases, batting average, slugging percentage, and of course in being hit by pitches. In 1967, 40 Black players (5.57% of a total 718 big leaguers) accounted for more than half of the base hits made in the major leagues. Eleven out of the top 12 National League batters in 1969 were Black, along with four out of the top five hitters in the junior circuit. An African American failed to lead led the National League in slugging only twice between 1954 and 1978. In the 39 seasons from 1959 until 1997, a Black player won the National League batting crown 32 times. Since Jackie Robinson first captured the crown in 1947, through 2017 a non-Black player led the National League in stolen bases only four times. In the 52 seasons between 1965 and 2016, Black players captured 45 American League stolen base crowns. ¹⁴

In the entire history of the American and National Leagues, only five batters have hit for 5,900 or more total bases, and four of them—Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Barry Bonds, and Albert Pujols—are African or Latin American. Despite getting a 71-year late start, eight of the top ten all-time home run hitters are Black. Only Aaron, Mays, Pujols, and Alex Rodriguez have over 3,000 hits and 600 home runs. Not one of the four would have been allowed in the majors before 1947. From 1947 through 2013, African American players won 47 Most Valuable Player awards and Latinos 21: more than half of the 134 total.

Non-White players have contributed at least 1/3 of the yearly Wins Above Replacement in the big leagues since the early 1960s and have hovered around the 40 percent mark since 1990. From 1959 through 1985, the league with more Black players on their squad (i.e. the National) won 27 out of 31 All-Star games (with one tie). Between 1947 and 1973, big league Black hitters produced more hits, doubles, triples, and home runs, and stole more bases on average than White batters. During that same timeframe, Black pitchers struck out more hitters and allowed fewer base runners per inning. The legacy of the Negro Leagues is clear: Since integration, the best players in the major leagues have been Black. Evidence would indicate that the best baseball players have always been Black. ¹⁵

The Black Population of the Major Leagues has surpassed that of the Negro Leagues

Despite being a smaller part of the general population, African Americans have long dominated the upper echelons of United States amateur and professional sports. Between 1989 and 2017, for example, Blacks made up only 12.4% of the U.S. population and yet during those 29 years (the same duration as NLB’s 1920–1948 peak period) 66.5% of the players in the National Football League and 76.5% of those in the National Basketball Association were African American. Due to expansion, there are now nearly twice as many major leaguers than there were during the segregated era (750 vs. 400). Perhaps not coincidentally, this player increase (350) is equal to the yearly average of Black major leaguers since 1969. In fact, in every season since 1995, the number of Black major leaguers has been the same or larger than the amount of White big leaguers during the segregated era. ¹⁶

Conversely, during the lifetime of the Negro Leagues, the rosters of Blackball clubs ranged anywhere from 14 to 20 players, although team photographs of the period rarely reveal squads larger than 17. Given that there were on average 13 league or league-associated franchises from 1920 until 1948, the average population of big-time Blackball on any given day was about 207 players. Even with a decline in African American participation, the number of Black major league players has been higher than the average population of the Negro Leagues in every season since 1969 and the apex of organized Blackball (around 377 players during the chaotic 1932 season) has been surpassed by Black big leaguers every year since 1995. Because at least 425 African Americans and Latinos currently play big league baseball every year, there are now more Black major leaguers annually than there ever were Negro League players. It is a safe assumption that the twentieth-century Blackball circuits with yearly populations that rarely exceeded 300 players were big league as well. ¹⁷

Note: Only league and league associated clubs were included. The player limit column reflects the team roster sizes set by the leagues before each season. The player total is the overall number of participants for that year.

Major League Baseball Colonized the History and Culture of the Negro Leagues

A more subtle recognition of the Negro Leagues’ quality occurred on the playing field. On August 3, 1994, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, the hometown Royals defeated the Oakland Athletics, 9–5, while wearing replica uniforms of the 1924 Kansas City Monarchs. During the following 26 seasons, big league squads wore the throwback uniforms of Negro League teams—with the MLB emblem on their sleeves—nearly one hundred times. ¹⁸

Historian Rob Neyer once postulated that a major league required “teams populated largely by the sport’s best players,” “playing a set and lengthy schedule.” Because Blackball teams usually did not own their own ballparks, their schedules were more fluid than White baseball’s. However, Negro League squads played a lot of games: Between 1920 and 1927 the Hilldale Club averaged 163 contests a season. Operating as an independent team in 1931, the Homestead Grays played 174 games. As for having the best players, African and Latin Americans have dominated the major leagues since 1947 and they now make up over one-third of MLB’s yearly population. Negro Leaguers beat big league teams more than half the time in head-to-head contests, demonstrated better pitching in league play, and performed well above average when they were finally allowed in the majors. In other words, Negro Leagues = Major Leagues. ¹⁹

About the Author

Visual artist, historian, and teacher Todd Peterson lives in Overland Park, Kansas. He is a two-time winner of the Normal "Tweed" Webb Lifetime Achievement Award for outstanding research, and was a contributor to and editor of The Negro Leagues Were Major Leagues (2019). Peterson is currently working on a book about the Negro League playoffs.

1. Dick Clark and Larry Lester, The Negro Leagues Book (Cleveland, OH: The Society For American Baseball Research, 1994), 159; Omaha World Herald (NE), July 30, 1962. Back
2. Philadelphia Press (PA), September 9, 1866; Anthony DiFiore, “Advancing African American Baseball: The Philadelphia Pythians and Interracial Competition in 1869,” in Black Ball, Volume 1, Number 1 (2008): 60-61, 64; Scott Simkus, Outsider Baseball (Chicago, IL: Chicago Review Press, 2014), 266 Back
3. Chicago Tribune (IL), October 1, 1900; Los Angeles Times (CA), October 8, 1948. Although designated as a minor league, the 1900 American League contained a higher percentage of Major League caliber players than either the 1882 American Association or 1884 Union Association had in their inaugural Major League campaigns. Marshall D. Wright, Nineteenth Century Baseball: Year-by-Year Statistics for the Major League Teams, 1871 through 1900, (Jefferson, NC and London: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 1996), 318. After integration Negro League baseball declined precipitously in quality of play, leading to the demise of the NNL in 1948 - By 1951 the surviving Negro American League was considered a Class C equivalent circuit. Scott Simkus, “Superstar Integration Model,” Outsider Baseball Bulletin, Volume 2, Issue 27 (Number 57): 1-2, Outsiderbaseball.com, accessed August 25, 2015; San Francisco Call (California) March 20, 1913; John Holway, Black Giants (Springfield, VA: Lord Fairfax Press, 2010), 28; New York Age (NY), October 23, 1920; Chicago Defender (IL), July 27, 1918. Back
4. Thomas Barthel, Baseball Barnstorming and Exhibition Games 1901-1962 (Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2007), 94, 102; Jules Tygiel, “Black Ball,” in Total Baseball, John Thorn and Pete Palmer with David Reuther, editors (New York, NY: Warner Books, 1989), 555; Donn Rogosin, Invisible Men: Life in Baseball’s Negro Leagues (New York, NY: Atheneum, 1983), 184; New York Times (NY), July 28, 1922.Back
5. Robert Peterson, Only the Ball Was White (New York, NY; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1992), 253; Simkus, Outsider Baseball, 265-266. Back
6. John Thorn and Pete Palmer, The Hidden Game Of Baseball: A Revolutionary Approach to Baseball and its Statistics (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1985), 177-178. Back
7. Rob Ruck, Raceball: How the Major Leagues Colonized the Black and Latin Game, (Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2011), 58, 69, 71, 93-96; Neil Lanctot, Negro League Baseball: The Rise and Ruin of a Black Institution (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004), 144. Back
8. TerryB, comment on jalbright, “Two Sources of Negro League Stats Online,” Baseball Fever.com, accessed August 12, 2015; Peterson, Only the Ball Was White, 81; McNeil, Baseball’s Other All-Stars, 189, 195-196; William F. McNeil, The California Winter League: America’s First Integrated Professional Baseball League (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2002), 240, 306. Back
9. Dick Clark and Larry Lester, editors, The Negro Leagues Book, (Cleveland, OH: The Society For American Baseball Research, 1994), 255-256, 262-336; Larry Moffi and Jonathan Kronstadt, Crossing the Line: Black Major Leaguers, 1947-1959 (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 1994),105Back
10. Thorn and Palmer with Reuther, Total Baseball, “Total Baseball Ranking,” 2041; ESPN.com, "ESPN’s Hall of 100,” accessed December 15, 2016; Baseball-Reference.com, “Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees,” accessed December 15, 2016,; Phil Dixon with Patrick J. Hannigan, “Major and Minor League Titles 1946-1955,” in The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History (Mattituck, NY: Amereon House, 1992); Clark and Lester, The Negro Leagues Book, 262-336; Baseball-Reference.com, “Yearly League Leaders & Records for Total Bases,” accessed December 22, 2016,; Baseball-Reference.com, “Yearly League Leaders & Records for Hit By Pitch,” accessed December 22, 2016; Zoss and Bowman, Diamonds in the Rough, 171; John Holway, Black Diamonds: Life in the Negro Leagues from the Men Who Lived It (New York, NY: Stadium Books, 1991), 72-73. Back
11. Clark and Lester, The Negro Leagues Book, 313-336; Lee Lowenfish, “The Rise of Baseball’s Quota System in the 1950s,” NINE: A Journal Of Baseball History And Culture, Volume 16, Number 2 (Spring 2008): 53. Back
12. Clark and Lester, The Negro Leagues Book, 255-256; 262-236; Moffi and Kronstadt, Crossing the Line: Black Major Leaguers, 3, 10; Tygiel, “Black Ball,” in Total Baseball, 560-561; Joel Zoss and John Bowman, Diamonds in the Rough: The Untold Story of Baseball (Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2004), 187; Michael J. Haupert, “Pay, Performance, And Race During The Integration Era,” Black Ball, Volume 2, Number 1 (Spring 2009): 50; Lee Lowenfish, “The Rise of Baseball’s Quota System in the 1950s,” NINE: A Journal Of Baseball History And Culture, Volume 16, Number 2 (Spring 2008): 53. Back
13. Tygiel, “Black Ball,” in Total Baseball, 561; Zoss and Bowman, Diamonds in the Rough, 188. Back
14. Dixon with Hannigan, “Major and Minor League Titles 1946-1955,” in The Negro Baseball Leagues: A Photographic History; Baseball-Reference.com, “1959 American Association Batting Leaders,” accessed December 22, 2016; Baseball-Reference.com, “1959 International League Batting Leaders,” accessed December 22, 2016; Baseball-Reference.com, “1959 Pacific Coast League Batting Leaders,” accessed December 22, 2016; Neft, Cohen, and Neft, The Sports Encyclopedia: Baseball 2000, 722-729; John Holway, Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues (Revised edition, New York, New York: Da Capo Press, 1992), 1; Baseball-Reference.com, “Yearly League Leaders & Records for Slugging %,” accessed December 22, 2016: Baseball-Reference.com, “Yearly League Leaders & Records for Batting Average,” accessed December 22, 2016; Baseball-Reference.com, “Yearly League Leaders & Records for Stolen Bases,” accessed May 15, 2021. Back
15. Baseball-Reference.com, “Career Leaders & Records for Total Bases,” accessed May 15, 2021; Baseball-Reference.com, “Career Leaders & Records for Home Runs,” accessed May 15, 2021; Scott Boeck, “Albert Pujols Earns 3,000 Hit, Joining A-Rod, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays in Exclusive Club,” USA Today.com, accessed May 24, 2018; Mark L. Armour and Daniel R. Levitt, In Pursuit Of Pennants: Baseball Operations from Deadball to Moneyball (Lincoln, NE and London: University of Nebraska Press, 2015), 136-137; Mark Armour, “The Effects of Integration, 1947-1986,” The Baseball Research Journal, Volume 36 (Cleveland, Ohio: The Society for American Baseball Research, Inc., 2007): 57; Frederick Ivor-Campbell, “The All-Star Game,” in Total Baseball, 250-257; Min S. Yee, editor and Donald K. Wright, designer, The Sports Book: An Unabashed Assemblage of Heroes, Strategies, Records, and Events (New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1975), 39; Holway, Voices from the Great Black Baseball Leagues, 1. Back
16. John Holway, e-mail message with author, September 9, 2015; Jim Overmyer, e-mail message with author, September 9, 2015; TerryB, September 28, 2013, comment on Jalbright, “Two Sources of Negro League Stats Online,” Baseball Fever.com, September 4, 2013, accessed August 12, 2015; Wikipedia.com, “Historical Racial and Ethnic Demographics of the United States,” accessed December 8, 2016; Richard Lapchick with Craig Malveaux, Erin Davison and Caryn Grant, “The 2016 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Football League,” Tidesport.org. September 28, 2016, accessed December 8, 2016; Richard Lapchick with Theren Bullock Jr, “The 2016 Racial and Gender Report Card: National Basketball Association,” Tidesport.org. July 14, 2016, accessed December 8, 2016; Armour and Levitt, Ethnicity Totals by Year, 1947-2014; Richard Lapchick, “The 2019 Racial and Gender Report Card: Major League Baseball,” Tidesport.org, 2017, accessed August 29, 2019 Back
17. Lanctot, Negro League Baseball, 72, 156, 429; Peterson, Only the Ball Was White, 91; Clark and Lester, The Negro Leagues Book, 78, 98, 102, 116, 118, 126, 136, 138; Michael E. Lomax, Black Baseball Entrepreneurs 1902-1931: The Negro National and Eastern Colored Leagues (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2014), 223, 224, 226, 228, 229, 234, 235, 237, 238; Armour and Levitt, “Baseball Demographics, 1947-2012.” Back
18. Kansas City Star (MO), August 4, 1994, September 24, 2020; Bleacher Nation.com: “Wild Kyle Schwarber Slide Caps Six-Run 9th Inning for the Cubs” Back
19. Rob Neyer, “Was the Federal League Really a Major League?” The National Pastime Museum.com, November 28, 2012, accessed August 26, 2015; Lanctot, Negro League Baseball, 185, 188; Neil Lanctot, Fair Dealing and Clean Playing: The Hilldale Club and the Development of Black Professional Baseball, 1910-1932, (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2007), 232; Phil Dixon, American Baseball Chronicles: Great Teams: The 1931 Homestead Grays Volume One. (Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation, 2009), 33, 326-338. Back