1920 was a momentous year in baseball: Babe Ruth began his first season with the New York Yankees, launching the period that resulted in his deserved reputation as the greatest baseball player ever and possibly making him the leading sports celebrity in U.S. history. At the end of that season, in response to the Black Sox scandal (Chicago White Sox players took bribes to purposely lose the 1919 World Series), baseball owners hired Kenesaw Mountain Landis as their commissioner.

Landis may have been baseball's leading proponent of its racist policies, or at least AFAIK he was the leading obstacle to baseball's integration (which happened a few years after his retirement in 1944). More relevant to this discussion, Ruth was the biggest beneficiary of baseball's successes and possibly of the color line. His great records were set playing, to a significant extent, against minor league competition - the best black and Latino players were excluded and replaced by minor leaguers whose only claims to their jobs were their white skins. For perspective, if today's stars got to bat against minor leaguers much of the time, you'd see some records fall and some humiliated minor-leaguers. (Ruth likely is still the best ever, but certainly his numbers and performance would have been less.) By standing by silently while these great players, who by their talent and hard work deserved their jobs, were consigned to poverty and obscurity (how many of Ruth's Negro League contemporaries can you name?), Ruth gained his eternal fame, reputation and his wealth. That is the mechanism by which such evils persist: Too few are willing to actually invest or risk anything to change them, so I don't give Ruth any credit for any social justice unless he did something serious about it.

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I wrote above, how many of Ruth's Negro League contemporaries can you name? To do my very little bit to rescue them from obscurity, here are the few greatest stars of the Negro Leagues, the names most worth knowing, names that should be talked about with Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays, Ty Cobb, and the other legends.

* Josh Gibson, (Catcher, 1930-1946 primarily with the Pittsburgh Crawfords & Homestead Grays): Very likely the greatest catcher in baseball history. Widely believed to be the best hitter in Negro League history and almost universally seen as the best power hitter, making him likely the best black or Latino hitter of the first half of the 20th century. No other catcher in history comes close to that level of performance (even among the best, very few are even the best hitters on their own teams). The story is that he was depressed from being prevented from fulfilling his potential and career, and drank himself to death.

* Satchel Paige: (Pitcher, 1927-1958 most prominently for the Kansas City Monarchs): Probably the most famous Negro League player and the best pitcher. He was 41 years old, long past retirement for almost all pitchers, including the other all-time greats, when he finally got the Major League job he deserved. He was so good that even at ages 41-46 he was better than most pitchers (effectively 24% better than an average pitcher), an almost miraculous record. One can only imagine what he'd do in his prime (usually ages 25-29). A witty man and colorful personality.

* Oscar Charleston: (Centerfielder, 1915-1937 for many teams including the Indianapolis ABCs, Homestead Grays, and Pittsburgh Crawfords): Anyone knowledgeable who says Josh Gibson isn't the greatest Negro League hitter will say it's Oscar Charleston. Very aggressive by reputation, both off and on the field. Great fielder, fast, and an all-time great hitter. One of baseball's all-time best center fielders. He was in his 50s when Major League baseball began hiring African-Americans, too old to play.

There are many, many more, of course - we're talking about every black and Latino player over decades: Pop Lloyd (SS), Biz Mackey (C), Cristobal Torriente (CF), Bullet Joe Rogan (P), Willie "Devil" Wells (SS), Smokey Joe Williams (P), Hilton Smith (P), Martin Dihigo (all positions, including pitcher) ... For a shorter introduction, maybe 20 pages, read the Negro Leagues section of the Bill James Historical Abstract (James should be beloved by HN readers; he began the modern analytics revolution in baseball in his basement). There are several longer books but I don't know enough to recommend one above the others.