General Forum

Although the Negro Leagues were aleady considered Major Leagues by those wonderful men who played in them, it's nice to see this change and a blending of the Record Books for MLB. It should prove very interesting. I'm proud that MLB has taken this (overdue) step. I know there has been a lot of controversy about the Cleveland name change (I personally would love to see it called either the Spiders or the Buckeyes), but remember that names have changed over time and even in our lifetimes (Devil Rays to Rays, Los Angeles California Angels of Anaheim, Miami/Florida Marlins, Seattle Pilots/Mariners, etc.)

Our National Pasttime is that way because it has appealed to the current audience and for the most part, it has rectified the sins of its past.  I'm sure there are other injustices that exist, but baseball, like humanity is not perfect.

On to the reason for my post: I'm hopeful that Topps can produce a quality retro set for the past Negro Leagues.  They already include a lot of photo variations with older players into its flagship sets. Maybe they can do a dedicated insert set or include photo variations of legends. I'd love to get my hands on some Detroit Stars like Turkey Stearnes.

Happy Holidays to all!

That's awesome. Does it change any all-time records? I know most sports are loathe to even consider anything that will alter the official record. 

Recognition of the negro leagues is way overdue.
From my trips to Cooperstown every year, my son and I have had the honor of meeting a couple players from that league and listening to their stories.  These men more than earned their respect.

I'll share one such story...

Buck O'Neil.  This guy was amazing.  I was waiting for Harmon Killebrew for a signing he was running late for and I happened to be in line next to Buck's table.  A young boy went up to his table for an autograph.  Buck looked at the kid's ball and said "I can't sign this".  The boy looked at his dad and says that he had the ticket for an autograph.  Buck shook his head and said "watch, this is why I can't sign the ball."  He had the boy take a few steps back and he tossed the ball gently over to him.  "Did you see that," He asked the kid.  The kid shook his head.  He had the kid throw it back and then said watch one more time and again they threw it back and forth.  Then Buck smiled and said "See now I can sign the ball because this ball just became special.  It's the ball you and I played catch with.  Couldn't sign just a regular ball now could I?"  The kid had a grin from ear to ear.  Every time I take a trip to the HOF I see Buck's statue right by the door when you first walk in and remember that about him and it makes me grin from ear to ear too.  Sadly Buck fell one single vote away from being admitted into the hall in his last vote.

Great story about Buck, lildog.  I've never heard one bad word about that man.  And I would certainly love to see more cards of these players in mainstream packs.  It seems like we get the same retired players, year after year.  Give me cards of Buck, and Josh Gibson, and Oscar Charleston, and hometown Paris Lakers great Jim Zapp (Topps did put him in an A&G set once).

Yeah because Killebrew turned out to be a no show (he was actually scheduled to sign 2 places at once and didn't seem to care when my wife and I brought that up to him causing my wife to go off on him that he should care about doing something like that to his fans) I actually got to stand there talking with Buck for about 20 minutes.  Amazing man and he quickly became one of my all-time favorite baseball players even though he played before I was born.  And for the record, I did end up paying the $20 for Buck's autograph and I'm very glad to this day that I did.

Ernie Banks was the same way with my son.  We bought tickets for his autograph.  The tickets were numbered and we had one in the 20s so we figured we'd be in and out in no time.  Ten minutes... twenty minutes... half hour and they are still on the first 10 numbers.  It was over 2 hours before he got to our number and when we went in, he spent at least 5 minutes striking up conversations with my son about baseball and school.  He and my son got a great picture together too.  Ernie's granddaughter was sitting with him and urging him to go a little faster because he had to get through all the signatures before the hall of fame parade roll call.  He brushed her off telling her to never mind because people paid good money to meet him and he wanted to make sure they did.  Some of the more modern players won't even look up when they sign at shows.

I was looking for a thread on this. And here it is! 
First, outstanding news that they're adding the Negro League stats. No question it's right. Morally, certainly, but also look at the "major" leagues they already include -- the Federal League, for one. This is so right. 
Second, yes, Billy, records will change. Some not as much as you think. HR, RBI, wins -- most of the big ones will remain unscathed. The top ten or twenty might shuffle a bit. But Ted Williams is no longer the last player to hit .400 in a season, something all baseball stat geeks "know" to be "true." I've seen two different answers to who was last .400 hitter, officially now, so they need to work out the details on the "new" stats. 
GREAT Buck and Ernie stories. Two of my favorite players. 
To date, I have collected Topps base sets, Topps Gypsy Queen sets and any set pre-Topps. But if someone puts out a comprehensive Negro Leagues retro set with full stats (as full as they have) in a few years, I think I'm all in. 
Well done, MLB. 

There is a Negro Leagues 100th anniversary boxed set of cards released last year and sold through the Negro League Museum. Might check that out for good cards. 

I cant find the card set on their website, but I did see they released a Stratomatic game for Negro Leagues 100th Anniversary for sale on their website.

https://negroleagueshistory.com/shop/baseball-cards-postcards/negro-leagues-legends-baseball-card-set/

Looks like I had the wrong seller. 184 card set for $60. I should have bought a set back in July. Now my card budget is shot till February. :)

Thank you for posting this link. Here is the set in TCDB.

Thank you to fellow TCDB member tcarter for uploading this. I hope someone scans all of these cards. I would buy this immediately if it had full stats on the back, but I do understand that the stats might be hard to come by.