PITTSBURGH — I have read all of the arguments for why Major League Baseball decided to incorporate statistics from the Negro Leagues into their record books, and quite frankly, all of them stink.

There isn't one good argument or good reason why Josh Gibson, based on spotty and perhaps even selective records, is now the leading hitter (by average) in the major leagues.

It is ridiculous because Gibson's actual, real statistics in real games will never fully be known, but it is even more ridiculous because he never played in the major leagues.

That last part is what makes all of this so silly.

You can't put players in a record book in a league they never played in, and you can't incorporate statistics from one league into the record book of another. It is the actual opposite of what record books and things like statistical records actually are about.

The Negro Leagues were not the major leagues. The major leagues were not the Negro Leagues. And the reality is the major league record book now belongs in the fiction section of the library.

The idea of incorporating these statistics is born out of this misguided sense of "righting wrongs of the past" that has gone on steroids ever since the Black Lives Matter summer of 2020. It is this idea that somehow we can change history, change what actually happened, whitewash it and make it nicer as opposed to understanding that what is done is done and no amount of virtue signaling is going to change that.

The Negro Leagues stood on their own and should still stand on their own. The stars in the Negro Leagues have rightfully been recognized and put in the Hall of Fame. The legends of the Negro Leagues have all been told, and quite frankly, some of the greatest stories in baseball history come out of that era.

Howard Bryant, one of the most respected Black voices in sports journalism, took this entire idea to task a few years ago when it was announced this would be happening in 2020. And I couldn't agree more with every single word he wrote, especially: "Instead of accepting its history as a reminder of its past and its human cost, to remain as an institutional conscience, baseball took the easy way out. It decided to make itself feel better by rewriting the history books."

This was Bryant's opening paragraph about why this all came about, and he is spot on:

"Major League Baseball's decision to alter the status of the Negro Leagues to major league and incorporate Negro Leagues statistics into a historical record in which they did not participate is consistent with two opposing but defining forces of our time. One is the racial reckoning that has defined America post-George Floyd's killing. The other is the routine bombardment by powerful institutions and individuals of ahistorical misinformation — the death of truth that has accelerated over the past four years."

The "death of truth" part of it comes to the idea that the records of the Negro Leagues were legitimate and accurate because they weren't. For one thing, there were a number of games that were considered exhibitions, and some of those numbers got thrown into the mix, as well.

As Bryant notes in his article, "When Jackie Robinson played for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1945, he was offended by the very existence of the Negro Leagues because of their necessity and because the scheduling was so irregular — it was difficult to determine which games were official games and which were exhibitions. He couldn't accurately calculate his batting average."

He also points out that Gibson's walks were recorded when he hit .441 in 1943, but nobody had any records of his strikeouts. Gibson is also estimated — at least, according to the Hall of Fame — to have hit 800-1,000 home runs, which would make him the all-time leader, but his official number is only 166.

Nobody knows exactly what actually happened, and quite frankly, that is a part of the charm of the Negro Leagues. Some of these players became legends based on that — legends, larger-than-life accomplishments that may or may not be true.

And even if the records were accurate, it still doesn't change the fact that Gibson never played in Major League Baseball, so the idea he is the all-time leading hitter in Major League Baseball is downright idiotic. I'm sorry — you can't be a record holder of a league you never played in.

I think Gibson, Satchel Paige, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell and all the rest of the greatest Black players should be recognized and held in the same regard as the greatest players of the pre-integrated major league. But they already are.

The Negro Leagues should never be forgotten and should stand on their own. We should never forget why those leagues existed and we should never forget those players as pioneers in many ways. They kept baseball alive for Black Americans and gave Black Americans hope, as well as role models and heroes.

This need to try erasing that injustice, to whitewash and sugarcoat segregation and act like it never happened, is offensive to me and every other person that looks like me. These things happened in our history, and all of these institutions like Major League Baseball have done since 2020 would love to make us forget.

We won't, nor should we we act like Major League Baseball's history is suddenly cleansed because of this silly revision of history. Forget about how historically inaccurate, spotty and inconsistent the records from the Negro Leagues are; the Negro Leagues stood on their own back then and should still stand on their own.

Remember this from Bryant on this point exactly:

"Instead of accepting its history as a reminder of its past and its human cost, to remain as an institutional conscience, baseball took the easy way out. It decided to make itself feel better by rewriting the history books."

Racism and negative stereotypes about Black quarterbacks forced Warren Moon to play in the Canadian Football League, and in five seasons, he threw for 21,000 yards and 144 touchdowns and won five Grey Cups, which is the Super Bowl of that league.

Those numbers are incredible, but guess what? They are not relevant to his NFL statistics and where he ranks on the all-time passing lists, nor should they be. The CFL is not the NFL. They are two different leagues, and regardless of how ugly the reason Moon was forced to go to the CFL, no amount of revisionist history changes that. And it would render the NFL record book meaningless if they just started adding numbers from other leagues because of some misguided sense of righting this wrong.

Moon actually played in the CFL. It happened, and his career there stands alone and never should be forgotten. And the reason he did play there should not be forgotten, either.

Gibson is an all-time great baseball player. You want to call him that? Have at it because there is no denying it. You can even call him the greatest player of all-time — though that is more subjective — and many have. You can call him a Hall of Famer, one of the greatest athletes in American history and a whole host of other superlatives that are historically accurate on some level.

Just don't call him Major League Baseball's all-time leading hitter because he never played in that league, and therefore, he isn't. You can't rewrite history that you don't like and keep your credibility, and far too many institutions, like Major League Baseball, are all too willing to participate in the former while nuking the latter.

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