Quote:
Originally Posted by blueash
And completely unlike the APGA where there are no color barriers against non whites competing in the PGA, the Negro leagues existed for one reason only. Systemic racism. America refused to allow Black athletes to play in MLB. So don't tell me Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth got their records because of a meritocracy. They got them in part because it was a white man's league.
I don't know how well the Negro league players would have competed. I don't know if Ruth would have hit fewer home runs against teams with Black pitchers. But I do know that a team of white players only would fail in MLB now. It's possible Ruth couldn't hit a major league pitcher now much less Satchel Paige.
It amazes me that anyone would use a claim of unfairness in this situation. Moving down a slot on the all time slugging percentage is far less a crime against honoring baseball greatness than was the white bigotry and prejudice that made the Negro league ever exist. That was unfair. That was, to use your word, deplorable.
Do you have a problem with records from American League teams being counted against records of National League teams? They didn't play each other then except a few world series games which don't count in the record books. Are you sure that the leagues had equal talent thus Ruth's homers would have been the same if he played in the National league. I think you are comfortable mixing those separate league records together as all time baseball records.
All this does is accept a third major league into the record books. And you'd be hard pressed to claim that the standard of play in the Negro League was lower than in the American or National League.
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A very cogent argument in favor of revising history. Can anyone cite other examples of history being revised? Start with works of fiction---Fahrenheit 451, then move on to 1984.
Was excluding an entire race from competing equally unfair---of course it was. Did it happen---yes---from the time the cavemen with clubs hated the cavemen who threw stones. Can we change that by changing the vocabulary or throwing money at it---NO. All we can do is learn from it and change.
Was the standard of play in any of the non-AL/NL leagues of the time lower? No idea, no way to prove it either way. Is the standard of play lower in the APGA---obviously, but as stated above, the minority golfers are not excluded from the PGA. Which then begs the question---why have an APGA at all? There already is a "minor league" golf tour---the Korn Ferry. There are tours lower than that---the "mini-tours". So why do we have a tour that is defined by race? Since there is no racial barrier to playing on any professional golf tour, there is plenty of opportunity for EARNING a spot based on MERIT. Are they enough highly skilled golfers to support even more "tours"----yes, but it should be defined by skill, not race, religion or ethnicity.
Finally, moving from racism to sexism, why not incorporate records from the AAPGBL(All-American Girls Professional Baseball League) into MLB. Tom Hanks and Penny Marshall could lead the charge. After all, while they were in a "league of their own", they were the major league during WWII

