Quote:
Originally Posted by diesel230
Get hoarse.
“Baseball is a double-entry account system in which every action of the offense is mirrored by an action of the defense,” explained John Thorn, MLB’s official historian and chairperson of the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee. “An out registered by a batter must be secured in the field as well. So in absence of a box score, we cannot be sure that the Negro Leagues records will balance, and balance is the essence of the game
But as Thorn explained, without a box score, there is no way to statistically account for Mays’ “661st” home run ... or another one Retrosheet lists for him on Aug. 28 of that season. The Lexington Herald reported that Mays hit a three-run shot against the New York Cubans at Blue Grass Field in Lexington,
And That's just Willie Mays. Poor record keeping. You can white knight all you want
Never did I say the level of competition was lacking. MLB stats with 140-162 game seasons should not to altered with small sample sizes and poor statistical record keeping
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I think you are operating under a false assumption that complete box scores don't exist for the Negro League seasons in question. They do. That's the tireless work that Seamheads has been accumulating over decades, from a variety of sources. I can't speak to the Mays home runs in particular; but I would be surprised if box scores are not available for those games. It's the early Negro Leagues where full information may be lacking, and I agree with you that those statistics are not always reliable or equivalent.
Second, you seem to be suggesting that Negro League teams didn't play enough games each year to "qualify". On the one hand, most teams played more than 140-154 games, counting barnstorming and games against semi-pro town teams, sometimes three or four a day. They typically played around half that many against equivalent Negro League teams. Seventy or eighty games should be plenty to establish averages. Of course, the players lose out on cumulative totals, with fewer games.
Finally, I don't see how you would simply ignore the records of hundreds of barnstorming (and Winter League) games between white and black teams of all-stars, over decades of play. Guys on these teams knew exactly what they were doing, and they played to win. These games were far more competitive than the MLB All Star Game has ever been. This is the only measure of direct competition we have, and the black stars more than held their own. Read the comments of the guys on both sides who played. How many times does Satchel Paige (in his prime) have to strike out MLB stars, before it's significant? How many home runs does Josh Gibson have to hit, off of top MLB pitchers?