[Pelican]

Understood that records on early Negro Leagues are sketchy, and competition (not to mention playing fields) was (were) uneven. But we do have years of post-season barnstorming matchups between black and white all-star teams, as a point of comparison. (I don’t know why more is not made of these games, which seem to have been highly competitive and well-attended. For most, there are full box scores, so the stats are there for the taking. Perhaps because the Negro League stars more than held their own, these outcomes were suppressed, as inconsistent with the racist myth that the black players were inferior.) Suffice to say that the best black players were as good as the best white players, period. There is, as has been said, much work to be done here. Seamheads has systematically provided years of missing stats. I have incorporated their numbers into my sims. Particularly during the Great Depression, when teams at all levels (and of all races) struggled financially, ending the color bar would have enhanced baseball and made MLB far more competitive. Not to mention pushing back against racism.