Even though Barry Bonds is approaching Hank Aaron’s home run record, Sports Illustrated‘s panel of experts excluded him from its “all time” team because his numbers “are not to be believed.” It’s sad that SI‘s list has so many players whose careers were in the pre-1947 “major” leagues, when the color bar was in effect. I am not condoning steroid use, but when 30 to 35 percent of qualified athletes are not allowed to play because of the color of their skin and are replaced by others who most likely would have been in the minors if segregation had not been in effect, the statistics are sharply skewed. It is often asked when someone will hit .400 again, as Ted Williams did in 1941. George Brett’s .390 year (1980) is actually a greater accomplishment, given the level of the competition he faced (this is no knock at Williams, who was confident enough in his own abilities to openly support integration). The stats of the pre-integration majors, inflated by the exclusion of nonwhites, should be far more open to question than those of Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds. There are more teams now, but the US population has more than doubled since Babe Ruth’s time, and baseball now draws players from all over the world. By continuing to honor the illegitimate records of the pre-1947 “major” leagues and excluding equally deserving Negro league players, SI is not only missing an analytical point but is condoning the discriminatory practices of Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis and the owners of that era.
