How does the exclusion of Negro League players factor in?
HB: It is huge, and I include both African Americans and Latinos who were excluded until the color line was broken. It’s another reason why baseball in my opinion was much better in the 1960s. It’s the first full decade of integrated baseball. In the 50s, the Dodgers and Cleveland started integrating quickly; Branch Rickey and Bill Veeck did not see color as an issue, but talent. Gradually other teams got into it. Imagine baseball in the 1960s without Aaron, Gibson, Mays, you can’t do it. The 60s expansion had so much new talent available, I don’t feel it diminished the talent pool at all, while expansion in the 80s and 90s, I think there was a much greater dilution of talent, especially in pitching. Also baseball was still the king of sport in 60s. By the time we get to the 70s, 80s, 90s, players of color were not looking to baseball. There was more competition for talent post-60s. BBD: You mostly used the more traditional statistics like batting average, home runs, RBI, ERA. Have you
