Baseball’s official recognition this week of hundreds of Black athletes who toiled in relative obscurity from 1920-1948 is certainly welcome news news for baseball scholars and historians. Although it is far too late and inconsequential, compared to the game’s other racial issues, the recognition of the Negro Leagues and their records as part of Major League Baseball is a significant measure.
For fans of the Washington Nationals and the two major league teams that preceded them, it’s certainly exciting to know that some of the greatest players in the game’s history are now officially a part of the city’s legacy.