The Seattle Times on the overdue acknowledgment of Negro League greats:

The story of the best hitter in the history of Major League Baseball ends with a tragic gut punch. More on that later. First, let’s celebrate all that Josh Gibson accomplished in his career.

Major League Baseball this week updated its statistics, officially recognizing Gibson as the all-time hitting leader with a career .372 average. He also stands as the top slugger of all time. During his 16-season career ending in 1946, he was a 12-time All-Star, played for two national championship teams and won the Triple Crown in consecutive years.

Yet for decades, Ty Cobb held the career batting title and Babe Ruth the slugging one. Gibson was but a footnote, unheralded outside of certain circles and the most devoted fans.

Why? Because Gibson was Black. He played in the Negro Leagues and as far as Major League Baseball was concerned, that didn’t count, at least not for the record books.

He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, the second Negro League player so honored. But because he played for the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords, not the Pittsburgh Pirates, baseball relegated him, like all Negro Leagues players, to second-class status.

Until now.

On Wednesday, Major League Baseball officially recognized the Negro Leagues as on par with the American and National leagues. Black players and their teams might not have had an opportunity to compete for the World Series, but their competition was just as legitimate, just as baseball. And when you count the hits and home runs and all the other stats from the Negro League games, Gibson’s performance stands above even titans like Cobb and Ruth.

Other Negro Leagues players who rise high in the record books include Oscar Charleston (behind only Gibson and Cobb in hitting), Satchel Paige (the pitcher with third-lowest single-season earned-run average) and Jud Wilson (a power hitter who topped .400 in three seasons).

Major League Baseball’s recognition of these great players cannot undo the harm that prejudice caused. Black players missed opportunities, fame and money. It took far too long after baseball integrated on the field to integrate the record books.

What this overdue change does, however, is secure the just place for players in the history books. It broadens and enriches the story of a sport that celebrates its history and mythology more than most others.

Finally, here’s that tragic gut punch. Gibson not only isn’t alive to enjoy his record; he never saw Jackie Robinson break the color barrier. Gibson suffered a stroke and died at the age of 35 on Jan. 20, 1947, less than three months before Robinson’s first game.

One can only imagine how many more records he would have broken if he’d lived to compete on a ballfield with all the best players regardless of their skin color.