Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
February 17, 2009
Negro Leagues, Part II

Earlier I linked to Scott Simkus on how MLB and the Negro Leagues fared against common semi-pro opponents. In a follow up, Scott produces two tables showing how MLB and Negro League teams fared against each level of baseball.

What's fascinating is that when you compare the levels, MLB does better at every level than the Negro leagues, adding justification to my calculation that MLB would have about a .600 winning percentage against Negro league teams. When the two went head-to-head, however, the Negro League teams won 55% of the time!

That makes me wonder if:

  • The Negro League teams were stacking their lineups with stars from other teams.
  • MLB stars were refusing to play against blacks.

Any opinions?


Posted by David Pinto at 12:19 PM | History | TrackBack (0)
Comments

I suspect some truth in both, as well as that the Negro teams had more at stake...they were out to prove themselves against the best, after all. And yet, some people still believed they couldn't compete in the majors.

Posted by: Shawn at February 17, 2009 12:44 PM

Depth I suspect is also a BIG factor-While the BEST Negro league players were as good or better than the BEST white counterparts, the DEPTH of the Negro Leagues due to a smaller pooulation was probably less

Posted by: Luis at February 17, 2009 02:07 PM

I wonder if maybe some of the MLB players let their guard down thinkin' they could easily beat these guys just like they beat the semi-pro's.

It could also be possible that they sometimes let them win, to possibly win a consensus to allow Negro Leaguers into MLB. I say that, because I've heard that sometime in the 30's there was a player vote in MLB on whether or not to allow blacks back into the league....and a majority of players voted for it to happen. I haven't heard much about that vote though, so I don't know how much stock I should put in the story. If it's true though, I can see where some players might've felt that if they help the Negro Leaguers look good to the doubters...then maybe they could all play together.

Posted by: Devon Young at February 17, 2009 02:13 PM

I suspect the biggest factor is what Shawn suggests - the Negro Leaguers had a point to prove, whereas the Major Leaguers were playing in a 'friendly'

Posted by: Roughyed at February 17, 2009 04:16 PM
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