In December 2020, Major League Baseball recognized a selection of seasons from the Black leagues that existed during the game’s segregated era as big-league in quality. On Wednesday, Major League Baseball will recognize statistics from those 48 seasons as big-league, too, by including them in its record book.

The impending announcement was reported on Tuesday by Bob Nightengale of USA Today and Russ Dorsey of Yahoo Sports.

The announcement precedes “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues.” The event will feature the St. Louis Cardinals and San Franciso Giants in a National League game on June 20 at the historic Birmingham ballpark.

The Negro Leagues numbers are expected to have their greatest impact on the MLB record book in the rate statistics, including batting average, on-base average, slugging percentage and earned-run average, and not single-season and career totals because of the shorter championship schedules played by the Negro Leagues teams. Only numbers compiled in league games will be considered part of the official record.

The 2020 announcement recognized seven Black leagues from the days of segregated baseball as having Major League status – the Negro National League of 1920 through 1931, Eastern Colored League of 1923 through 1928, American Negro League of 1929, East-West League of 1932, Negro Southern League of 1932, Negro National League of 1933 through 1948 and Negro American League of 1937 through 1948.

They joined the American Association of 1882 through 1891, Union Association of 1884, Players’ League of 1890 and Federal League of 1914 and 1915 as baseball circuits from the game’s past that are considered to have played Major League Baseball, which currently includes the American and National leagues.

The ruling put a pair of Major League franchises in Alabama’s baseball past – the Birmingham Black Barons for their seasons in the Negro National League from 1923 through 1925 and 1927 through 1930 and the Negro American League from 1937 through 1938 and 1940 through 1948 and the Montgomery Grey Sox of the Negro Southern League in 1932.

The delay between league recognition and statistical inclusion could be attributed to the incomplete or unverified nature of the Negro Leagues numbers at the time. Over the decades, organizations such as Seamheads, the Society for American Baseball Research and Retrosheet have filled in the blanks through research, although the 15-person Negro Leagues Statistical Review Committee had the task of determining how and what should be folded into the official MLB statistical database maintained by Elias Sports Bureau.

Researchers acknowledge the work on the Negro League stats remains 15 to 20 percent incomplete.

Baseballreference.com includes 138 Alabama-born players who appeared in league games in the now-major Negro Leagues. Six of those players went on to play in the American or National leagues after the integration of Major League Baseball – Empire’s Dan Bankhead, Haleburg’s Monte Irvin, Westfield’s Willie Mays, Mobile’s Satchel Paige, Talladega’s Dave Pope and Jefferson County’s Artie Wilson.

Mays, Birmingham resident Bill Greason and Ron Teasley of Detroit are the only players known to have appeared in Major League games in the Negro Leagues who remain alive.

Irvin, Mays and Paige are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame, with Paige the first player inducted primarily for his performance in the Negro Leagues.

Edgewater’s Mule Suttles also is a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame for his play in the Negro Leagues.

Thirty of the Alabama-born players were selected for at least one East-West All-Star Game, with Mobile third baseman Alex Radcliffe chosen for 11, Sulligent shortstop Sam Bankhead and Birmingham outfielder Neil Robinson chosen for eight apiece, Calhoun outfielder Vic Harris chosen for seven and Birmingham catcher Larry Brown and Mobile catcher-pitcher Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe chosen for six each.

Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.