In 2024, MLB included Negro League statistics within its official record. Larry Lester and John Thorn, who were deeply involved in the process, will tell us how those stats came to be collected and how it was decided which would be official, and why. In 2020, Commissioner Rob Manfred had ruled that seven distinct Negro Leagues from 1920-1948 would be regarded as major leagues. Their stats would serve to support that official standing.

Larry Lester is an esteemed author, historian, and curator whose influence spans film, museums, and the national conversation on Black baseball. As co-founder of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, he helped cement one of America’s most important cultural institutions. In 2022, he brought his expertise to MLB’s Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee, a landmark effort that led to Negro Leagues box scores being fully integrated into Major League Baseball’s official record books. More information can be found at www.LarryLester42.com

John Thorn has been the Official Historian of Major League Baseball for fifteen years. His many baseball books over the past five decades include Total Baseball, Baseball in the Garden of Eden, and Our Game, which also supplies the title for his weekly blog. He chaired the Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee.

This public program is made possible by federal Library Service and Technology Act funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which enable the New York State Library to champion lifelong learning.