1 standout performance from each Negro Leagues season

Major League Baseball officially recognized the Negro Leagues as "major" leagues in December 2020. With the change, more than 3,000 players who appeared in one of seven leagues -- the Negro National League (I) (1920–1931), Eastern Colored League (1923–1928), American Negro League (1929), East-West League (1932), Negro Southern League (1932), Negro National League (II) (1933–1948) or Negro American League (1937–1948) -- were retroactively recognized as Major Leaguers as well.

Now, for the first time, those players' numbers from their time in the Negro Leagues will also be officially listed alongside AL/NL stats, no longer in a separate conversation.

So as an introduction to the change, and in honor of those players appearing in the official record books for the first time, we've highlighted one notable statistical performance from each of the relevant seasons (1920-48), with the stipulation that no player could be selected more than once.

This is a list that, by necessity, barely scratches the surface -- all the more reason to take a longer look through the updated leaderboards to learn more.

Additional biographical information courtesy of the SABR Baseball Biography Project.

1920: Cristobal Torriente, OF, Chicago American Giants
59 G, .393 AVG, 1.019 OPS, 50 RBIs
Kicking off the list is an icon of Cuban baseball and the first of many Hall of Famers to come. Torriente led the original Negro National League in average and RBIs in its inaugural season.

1921: Oscar Charleston, OF, St. Louis Giants
64 G, .434 AVG, 10 3B, 12 HR, 35 SB
Charleston, the winner of the Negro National League's first batting Triple Crown, had the highest average and OBP in the Majors in 1921 and trailed only Babe Ruth in SLG and OPS. Honorable mention for the season goes to Charleston's Giants teammate Charlie Blackwell, who hit .432 with an OPS of 1.218.

1922: Bullet Rogan, OF/RHP, Kansas City Monarchs
Hitting (77 G): .370/.455/.664, 15 HR, 16 SB
Pitching (25 G/20 GS): 13-8, 2.99 ERA, 113 K's, .229 opp. AVG
The best historical comp for Shohei Ohtani’s two-way prowess isn’t Ruth. It may actually be Rogan, who manned the outfield on his "days off." This wasn't even Rogan's best season on the mound -- he had two separate sub-2.00 ERA seasons -- but his 15 home runs were a career high, making this one of his best overall performances.

1923: Heavy Johnson, OF, Kansas City Monarchs
99 G, .406 AVG, 20 HR, 120 RBIs
Johnson's onslaught of extra-base hits in 1923 also included 32 doubles and 13 triples, all of which earned him an NNL Triple Crown (and his second consecutive batting title).

1924: Dave Brown, LHP, New York Lincoln Giants
27 G/18 GS, 13-8, 2.00 ERA, 1.04 WHIP
Brown's story is complicated, to say the least -- his excellent 1924 campaign was also officially his final Major League season, as he made just one appearance for the Giants in 1925 before leaving New York for the Midwest, where he continued pitching (brilliantly, based on accounts) under an alias. Unfortunately, we don't quite have time for that story.

1925: Turkey Stearnes, OF, Detroit Stars
95 G, .371 AVG, 1.107 OPS, 19 HR, 126 RBIs
Stearnes was one of the best hitters of his time, so it's hard to pick which season (of which he played 18) to highlight. In addition to those 19 homers -- impressive enough on their own -- he also hit 24 doubles and 14 triples in 1925, which goes a long way toward explaining that absurd OPS.

1926: Mule Suttles, 1B/OF, St. Louis Stars
94 G, .425 AVG, 28 2B, 19 3B, 32 HR, 130 RBIs
Another Hall of Famer, and another Triple Crown season. The only player with more home runs than Suttles in 1926 was Ruth (47), although Ruth played in 58 more games; the pace Suttles set through 94 would have had him at 51 home runs through 152.

1927: Bill Foster, LHP, Chicago American Giants
31 G/25 GS, 21-5, 2.03 ERA
The much younger brother of Rube Foster, himself known as the "Father of Black Baseball," had this banner season for the club his older brother ran. With Bill (or Willie, as you may also see him listed) at the top of their rotation, the American Giants also won two straight World Series from 1926-27.

1928: Ted Trent, RHP, St. Louis Stars
26 G/20 GS, 19-3, 2.36 ERA, .234 opp. AVG
Trent's 19 wins in 1928 led the NNL by a mile -- Foster and George Mitchell, who tied for second, each won 13 -- and the Stars won the NNL pennant that year, the first in their history.

1929: Charlie Smith, OF, New York Lincoln Giants
67 G, .451 AVG, 1.421 OPS, 22 HR, 81 RBIs
Much of Smith's Major League career is lost to history, as Eastern Colored League statistics were incomplete in 1928 and the Lincoln Giants played as an independent team in 1930 before disbanding, leaving their individual stats unpublished. That said, his .451 average in 1929 remains the second-highest single-season mark in Major League history.

1930: Willie Wells, SS, St. Louis Stars
95 G, .413 AVG, 35 2B, 17 HR, 116 RBIs
Often considered the best shortstop ever to play in the Negro Leagues, Wells led the NNL in most offensive categories in 1930 (average, OPS, runs scored, hits, doubles, home runs, RBIs, stolen bases, walks -- you get the idea). Incredibly, this was his seventh of what would eventually be 21 recorded Major League seasons, a career long enough that in his final season, he shared an infield with his son, Willie Jr., by then a five-year veteran.

1931: Jim Williams, OF, Indianapolis ABCs
42 G, .356 AVG, 29 RBIs, 8 SB
Williams, playing in his first Major League season at 25 years old, led the NNL with 57 hits in 1931. Unfortunately, that was an abbreviated season, as the league folded due to financial hardship amid the Great Depression -- the NNL referred to from here on is the second iteration of the Negro National League, which was founded in 1933.

1932: Dick Matthews, P, Monroe Monarchs
16 G/14 GS, 11-2, 2.17 ERA, 0.95 WHIP
This was Matthews' only recorded Major League season because he played in the Negro Southern League, which was a part of the larger Negro Leagues system for only one year. So little is known about Matthews that we aren't even sure which was his dominant hand, but the numbers speak for themselves.

1933: Sam Streeter, LHP, Pittsburgh Crawfords
17 G/13 GS, 10-4, 2.25 ERA, 1.05 WHIP
Streeter, a seasoned veteran by this point, pitched well enough in the 1933 season to earn the distinction of being one of the starting pitchers in the first ever East-West Game.

1934: Slim Jones, LHP, Philadelphia Stars
30 G/22 GS, 20-4, 1.60 ERA, 164 K, .195 opp. AVG
1934 was one of Satchel Paige's best seasons, which should speak to the year Jones had. At just 21 years old, the left-hander threw an NNL-best 203 innings (Paige, who threw the second most, is recorded at 145 2/3). Tragically, Jones would thereafter struggle with arm issues and alcoholism, and he passed away following an illness just four years later.

1935: Jud Wilson, 1B/OF, Philadelphia Stars
55 G, .352/.402/.617, 9 HR, 52 RBIs
A Hall of Famer and prolific hitter over 21 seasons, Wilson was 39 years old when he put together this excellent campaign. What's more, he wouldn't hang up his spikes for another 10 years, finally retiring in 1945 (yes, at 49.)

1936: Leroy Matlock, LHP, Pittsburgh Crawfords
17 G/15 GS, 10-3, 3.95 ERA
Matlock's best season on the mound really came a year earlier, when he posted a 1.52 ERA with an 8-0 record in nine appearances in 1935. That's not to say this one was at all shabby, though -- his 10 wins and 114 IP both led the NNL.

1937: Hilton Smith, RHP, Chicago American Giants/Kansas City Monarchs
21 G/16 GS, 11-4, 1.66 ERA, 0.86 WHIP, .185 opp. AVG
As is the case with many players on this list, a staggering amount of Smith's work went unrecorded, but what we have evidence of was enough to put him in the Hall of Fame. This was the first of six straight All-Star seasons authored by Smith, over which he was indisputably the best pitcher in the Negro American League.

1938: Buck Leonard, 1B, Homestead Grays
42 G, .420 AVG, 1.240 OPS, 9 HR, 53 RBIs
Leonard, a first baseman, hit alongside Josh Gibson in the Grays' lineup for years, leading to fans calling him the Lou Gehrig to Gibson's Ruth. Leonard was even better than Gibson in this particular season, though, leading all Major Leagues in average, OBP, SLG and OPS.

1939: George Walker, RHP, Kansas City Monarchs
21 G/8 GS, 9-1, 2.11 ERA, 1.07 WHIP
Walker is one of many Negro Leaguers whose lives and legacies have been mostly lost to history. We do know that Walker's 1939 season was an excellent one -- the then-25-year-old posted the sparkling numbers above and led the NAL in wins.

1940: Ray Brown, OF/RHP, Homestead Grays
Hitting: 33 G, .325 AVG, 2 HR, 10 RBIs
Pitching: 21 G/18 GS, 17-2, 2.07 ERA, .228 opp. AVG
Not just a two-way player, but a switch-hitter, too. Brown played the outfield when he wasn't on the mound, but clearly, his pitching stole the show in 1940 -- he led the NNL in wins, ERA, innings pitched and WHIP.

1941: Monte Irvin, SS, Newark Eagles
54 G, .385/.448/.645, 11 HR, 54 RBIs
Although it was ultimately Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier, many owners of Negro League teams, despite their belief in Robinson's talent and temperament, had hoped to send Irvin instead. It's not difficult to see why. Eight years before Irvin's AL/NL debut with the Giants in 1949, playing in his age-22 season, the only big leaguer with a higher batting average was Ted Williams (.406).

1942: Lennie Pearson, 1B, Homestead Grays / Newark Eagles
60 G, .335 AVG, 21 2B, 11 HR, 56 RBIs
Although he isn't much of a household name in 2024, he kept pace with one legend. Pearson's .991 OPS in 1942 was second in the NNL, trailing only Josh Gibson. Yes, that one.

1943: Josh Gibson, C/OF, Homestead Grays
74 G, .466 AVG, 1.435 OPS, 20 HR, 112 RBIs
Speaking of Gibson ... This particular legend of Black baseball was and is, as previously mentioned, frequently compared to Ruth, but comparisons don't do him justice. His .466 batting average in 1943 still stands as the highest single-season figure in history -- we should mention that he'd already set the records for slugging (.974) and OPS (1.474) in 1937 -- and he now holds the record for the best career average, as well.

1944: Satchel Paige, RHP, Kansas City Monarchs
16 GS, 1.01 ERA, 0.91 WHIP, .179 opp. AVG
Just one of so many incredible seasons authored by Paige -- he did, after all, pitch almost until he turned 60 (based, at least, on his currently recognized date of birth). In an era well before the rise of the strikeout, Paige averaged more than a strikeout per inning (105 K's in 98 1/3 innings) for the fourth time in his career.

1945: Roy Welmaker, LHP, Homestead Grays
15 GS, 12-2, 2.59 ERA, 1.19 WHIP
This was Welmaker's final season in the Majors before he took his talents to Venezuela -- and who could complain about ending on a high note. Welmaker recorded more wins than any other Negro Leagues pitcher that year and led the NNL in ERA.

1946: Leon Day, RHP, Newark Eagles
15 GS, 13-2, 2.45 ERA, 109 K's
Having missed the 1944 and '45 seasons to military service, Day was sent home in February 1946. Three months later, he got the start for the Eagles on Opening Day -- and threw a no-hitter. Although he continued playing in Canada and Mexico into the mid-1950s, this brilliant season would be his last in the Majors.

1947: Henry Kimbro, OF, Birmingham Elite Giants
64 G, .385/.447/.619, 24 2B, 8 HR, 52 RBIs
Kimbro won a batting title in 1947, but that's not all -- he also led the NNL in doubles, OBP, SLG and OPS, and went to his final East-West Games, of which two were played that season (Nos. 6 and 7 of his career).

1948: Willard Brown, OF, Kansas City Monarchs
46 G, .408 AVG, 1.161 OPS, 7 HR, 54 RBIs
Brown made his AL/NL debut with the St. Louis Browns in 1947, where he became the first Black player ever to hit a home run in the AL. After that brief stint, however, he returned to the Monarchs, with whom he'd already spent 10 seasons, and absolutely mashed, leading the NAL in hits, doubles, home runs and RBIs.