By all means, rail against the injustice of segregation. By all means, sing the praises of great black athletes like Josh Gibson, who were denied a chance to show what they could do. But don’t kid yourself: the great white players would NOT have been hurt in the least if they’d had to face black competition. Oh sure, a lot of mediocre white players would have been replaced by superior black players, but if you think that white stars would have beenadversely affected, you’re either 1) blinded by political correctness, or 2) utterly ignorant of the nature of baseball.
Let’s START by assuming the anti-white argument has some merit. In 1943, not only were there no black players in major league baseball, even the best WHITE players were all in the military. At that point, with nothing but inferior white players in the major leagues, the N.L.'s top hitter was Stan Musial, with an average of .357. Well, by 1948, the war was over, all the best pitchers were back in the big leagues, and so naturally, Musial’s average plummeted all the way down to… 376??? Uh… well, never mind that. THe important thing is, by 1957, the National League had lots of hard-throwing black pitchers, and lots of great black outfielders to run down Stan’s fly balls. SO of course, by 1957, the best hitter in the National League was… Stan Musial???
Well, forget about hitting. Let’s look at pitching. In 1947, the best pitcher in the National League was Warren Spahn. But of course, Warren inflated his stats by striking out inferior white players. By 1961, the N.L. was filled with superb black hitters, so of course, the best pitcher in the N.L. was… Warren Spahn???
How can this be, if the “white players’ stats were inflated because they didn’t face the black players” theory has any merit? If you can name me ONE SINGLE white star of the 1940s whose stats deteriorated with the onset of integration, I’ll reconsider my position.
One thing racialists tend to forget is this: not all the great black players would have been OPPOSING Babe Ruth!!! Wouldn’t the Yankees have signed some great black players of their own? You say Cy Young wouldn’t have won 500 games if he’d had to face black hitters? Well, I say if he’d had a Josh Gibson or a Henry Aaron on HIS side, he might have won 600! You think Babe Ruth never would have had so many RBI’s if he’d had to bat against Paige? I say, if the 1927 Yankees had a Lou Brock or a Rickey Henderson leading off, he’d have driven in a lot MORE runs. You think Ted WIlliams couldn’t have batted .400 if he’d had to face pitchers like Bob Gibson and FErgie Jenkins? I say, if he’d had a great black hitter like WIllie Mays batting behind him, he’d have gotten better pitches to swing at, and might have batted HIGHER!
A rising tide lifts all boats. That’s what Ruth’s detractors conveniently forget.