Negro Leaguers and the Baseball Hall of Fame: A Call to Action

We, a community of Negro Leagues historians and advocates, call on the National Baseball Hall of Fame to reevaluate its procedures for electing Negro League greats to the Hall of Fame. A mountain of in-depth historical research on Black Baseball in recent years tells us that the number of outstanding players from the Segregated Era is far more numerous than many had previously thought. Toiling in the shadows of the American and National Leagues for the first half of the 20th Century, Negro Leaguers and their pre-league predecessors nonetheless rivaled their White counterparts, often besting them in head-to-head contests. They present a Who’s Who of Black athletes and executives whose careers fully merit enshrinement.

Beginning in 1971, Negro Leaguers have been elected by two special committees and multiple iterations of the Hall of Fame’s Veterans and Era Committees. With better statistical evidence now available, and with the Major Negro Leagues now included in the official records of Major League Baseball, an extremely strong case can be made that more should be represented in Cooperstown. The presence of additional, deserving Negro League & Black Baseball stars would enhance the history of the game as well as lift the legacy of all facets of our National Pastime.

--42 for 21 Committee Members