Negro League play – Every bit as good as in MLB! – Ep. 243

We became aware of a very cool data visualization comparing Negro League play to MLB play of the same era 1920-1948.  Adam Korengold has been doing data visualization professionally for almost 25 years–he’s now an Analytics Lead at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland–and teaches in the graduate data analytics and visualization program at the Maryland Institute College of Art.  

Lucky for us he’s been a baseball fan for most of his life, and since 2020 has been a member of SABR, the Society for American Baseball Research.  He has expanded his love for the game to include making visualizations on the game, as well as paintings on vintage baseball cards.  

Adam posted this link: https://public.tableau.com/app/profile/adam.s.korengold/viz/AllMajorLeaguesOffenseandDefense1920-1948/NegroLeaguesasMajorLeaguesTheyPlayedAtTheSameLevel#guest=n&1 on his Tableau and we highly recommend you visit the link to view the graph for yourself.  

We discussed the systemic racism that forged the Negro Leagues in the first place and how the players in the Negro Leagues truly compared to their white (or mostly white) counterparts in the Major Leagues. 

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Almost Cooperstown