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Late last year, Major League Baseball decided to alter its record books by adding Negro League statistics to baseball's official record.

In his annual Black History Month essay for Reading Baseball, Pete Peterson highlights some of the top players from the Negro Leagues, some of whom made it to the big leagues and others who didn't get the chance.

Reading Baseball is a series of essays and commentaries by Richard "Pete" Peterson, the co-author, with his son, Stephen, of The Turnpike Rivalry: The Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cleveland Browns.