The MLB officially elevated the Negro Leagues to "Major League" status as Commissioner Rob Manfred revealed the news in a statement on Dec. 16.
NEW YORK — Willie Mays will add some hits to his record, Monte Irvin's big league batting average should climb over .300, and Satchel Paige may add nearly 150 victories to his total.
Josh Gibson, the greatest of all Negro League sluggers, might just wind up with a major league record, too.
The statistics and records of greats like Gibson, Paige and roughly 3,400 other players are set to join Major League Baseball's books after MLB announced Wednesday it is reclassifying the Negro Leagues as a major league.
MLB said Wednesday it was "correcting a longtime oversight in the game's history" by elevating the Negro Leagues on the centennial of its founding. The Negro Leagues consisted of seven leagues, and MLB will include records from those circuits between 1920-48. The Negro Leagues began to dissolve one year after Jackie Robinson became MLB's first Black player with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947.
Those leagues were excluded in 1969 when the Special Committee on Baseball Records identified six official "major leagues" dating to 1876.
In this Aug. 2, 1942, file photo, Kansas City Monarchs pitcher Leroy Satchel Paige warms up at New York's Yankee Stadium before a Negro League game between the Monarchs and the New York Cuban Stars.
The league will work with the Elias Sports Bureau to review Negro Leagues statistics and records and figure out how to incorporate them into MLB's history. There was no standard method of record keeping for the Negro Leagues, but there are enough box scores to stitch together some of its statistical past.
For instance, Mays could be credited with 16 hits from his 1948 season with the Alabama Black Barons. Irvin, a teammate of Mays' with the New York Giants, could see his career average climb from .293 to .304 if numbers listed at Baseball-Reference from his nine Negro League seasons are accurate. And Paige, who currently is credited with 28 major league wins, should add at least 146 to his total.
While some have estimated Gibson slugged over 800 homers during 16 Negro League seasons, it's unlikely that enough records exist for him to officially pass Barry Bonds for the career record at 762.
Depending on what Elias and MLB rule, though, Gibson could wind up with another notable record. His .441 batting average in 1943 would be the best season mark ever, edging Hugh Duffy's .440 from 1894. Gibson's line came in fewer than 80 games, however, far short of the modern standard of 162.
A videoboard pays tribute to the Negro Leagues' 100th anniversary between innings during a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the Cincinnati Reds in Cincinnati on Aug. 30, 2020.
MLB said it considered input from the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, the Negro League Researchers and Authors Group and studies by other baseball authors and researchers.
"All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game's best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice," Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record."
Year in photos: Top sports images of 2020
The year in photos: The top sports images of 2020
Smoke from wildfires obscures the sky over Oracle Park in San Francisco as the Seattle Mariners take batting practice before their baseball game against the San Francisco Giants on Sept. 9, 2020. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
Kai Lenny from Hawaii goes airborne exiting a wave during the Nazare Tow Surfing Challenge at Praia do Norte or North Beach in Nazare, Portugal, on Feb. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)
Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard lands on top of fans while chasing a loose ball during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Orlando Magic on Jan. 15, 2020, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant attempts to save the ball in front of Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Ricky Rubio during an NBA basketball game in Phoenix on Jan. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)
Men play baseball wearing masks as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus in Las Playas neighborhood, in eastern Havana, Cuba, on May 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Trainer Bob Baffert is knocked to ground as jockey John Velazquez tries to control his horse Authentic in the winner's circle after winning the 146th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on Sept. 5, 2020. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
Spectators are reflected on a glass panel as Switzerland's Stan Wawrinka makes a backhand return to Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina during their first round singles match at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Switzerland's Roger Federer and Serbia's Novak Djokovic play their semifinal match on Rod Laver Arena as the sun sets at the Australian Open tennis championship in Melbourne, Australia, on Jan. 30, 2020. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Milena Jami whips her llama to get first place in the llama races age 7-8 years in Llanganates national park, Ecuador, on Feb. 8, 2020. Wooly llamas, an animal emblematic of the Andean mountains in South America, become the star for a day each year, when Ecuadoreans gather in Los Llanganates for the races. (AP Photo/Dolores Ochoa)
The body of Paulo Gonçalves of Portugal is covered with a blanket after a deadly fall during stage seven of the Dakar Rally between Riyadh and Wadi Al Dawasir, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 12, 2020. Gonçalves, 40, died after an accident with his Hero motorbike. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
An athlete warms up for the Nordic Combined World Cup Men's Individual Gundersen NH/5km competition in Seefeld, Austria, on Jan. 31, 2020. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrader)
Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Miles Boykin misses the catch on a two-point conversion against Tennessee Titans free safety Kevin Byard during the second half of an NFL divisional playoff football game in Baltimore on Jan. 11, 2020. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
Kansas City Chiefs' quarterback Patrick Mahomes celebrates his touchdown pass to Damien Williams in the the second half of the NFL Super Bowl 54 football game on Feb. 2, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
A team member of driver Camelia Liparoti, of Italy, and co-driver Annett Fischer, of Germany, does the laundry after stage eight of the Dakar Rally in Wadi Al Dawasir, Saudi Arabia, on Jan. 13, 2020. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
Naomi Osaka, of Japan, hits balls into the stands after defeating Anett Kontaveit, of Estonia, during the fourth round of the US Open tennis championships in New York on Sept. 7, 2020. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
