Henry Kimbro now recognized as the 1947 MLB batting champion

It’s not as if anyone took away any raise the white players lost for leading the AL/NL in some statistics

 

Only problem is it didnt happen.

 

Right or wrong, there were two leagues. To that someone who didn't play in that league won the batting title in a different league is simply revisionism.

 

I don't have a strong opinion on this topic, but I do find it interesting. It reminds me a little bit of when the Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore, and the history of the team did not move with them. I get what they were trying to do, but it was factually inaccurate. It contradicts what happened with the Cleveland Rams (now the LA Rams). Ultimately, it's probably useful that the controversy draws attention to the segregation that existed.

Go GATORS!
,WESGATORS

 

Kimbro played in 64 games in 1947. Ted Williams in 156, so Kimbro played in 41% of Ted's. If plate appearances dont count anymore, how about Matt Batts and Al Lyons? In 1947 Batts hit like .500 and Lyons hit .667.

All of this is silly nonsense. Do you really think dead people care about their batting titles now?

What this does is diminish what guys like Ted Williams or Ty Cobb or Joe DiMaggio actually did. Boxing does it right. They divide by weight the divisions. Was Joe Louis better than Carlos Monzon? Was Jack Dempsey better or worse than say Floyd Mayweather Jr? We should simply have the Leagues as Leagues. That way there are the greatest of X vs the greatest of Y. No harm, no foul.

 

First you sum up the issue pretty well. No, dead people truly don't care about arguments over meaningless, subjective comparisons and neither should live people. Then you toss out a contrary assertion. Wait! Ty Cobb was a hardcore racist. Even dead, he would care.

 

Sounds like we need to start adding some USFL stats into the NFL record book.

 

Definitely AAFL stats, make sure the Dolphins know they weren't the first to go undefeated.

 

Well said

 

But what is being proposed here is not “division” but including negro league records with major league records. This is just broadening our lens on the historical record to give the subjugated an even look - looking at history more broadly to include simple information (statistics). How is that “divisive”? Everyone there then is dead so who is being impacted personally?

This “inclusion” of all statistics is not divisive but inclusive, and the effort to ignore real history and statistics of all paid baseball players, black or white, sure seems to reject inclusion.

 

Sorry SeaB, your good efforts may be futile. The issue is the same as it was when the Negro Leagues existed. In those days, a segment of the population argued that letting black players appear on the field with white players would "diminish" white players- and for that matter, white people in general. Now, some feel that black players appearing in the record books with white players will "diminish" them and their achievements. I'm certain the majority of those who take that position sincerely feel they are more enlightened that those who shared their position in the past, but feel that further enlightenment is being forced into their lives. After all, those were the good old days, weren't they? It's not my intent to argue my opinion is better, but I don't mind asserting that there was a time when some people who post on this board were alive that our country was badly flawed in some ways. There have been changes that make life much, much better than those old days, but there's the same sort of resistance today to those changes. My intent is to give opportunities for people to explain and justify their resistance.

 

It saddens me that this explanation is still needed.

 

Except it didnt happen

 

I perceived that first post, early in the thread, as an ineffective effort at sarcasm, but not everyone does a good job at clearly expressing themselves. The other two posts were in reply to mild statements that recognition of Negro League stars doesn't deprive or diminish old time white players, but you don't really make any sense. Why not go ahead and state your actual complaints? Maybe the substance of your concerns will be more clear and seem less like trolling.