Josh Gibson dethrones Ty Cobb as baseball's lifetime batting average champ after Negro League stats added to MLB stats

Baseball legend Ty Cobb's .367 lifetime batting average stood as the Major League Baseball record for nearly a century. But now there's a new leader in that category: Josh Gibson, who holds a .372 lifetime batting average.

The sudden dethroning is one of several notable changes now that records for more than 2,300 Negro League players were incorporated into Major League Baseball records Tuesday following a three-year research project, the Associated Press reported.

The move represents a 'show of respect for great players who performed in the Negro Leagues due to circumstances beyond their control.'

Gibson's .466 season batting average for the 1943 Homestead Grays is now the all-time best mark, and Charlie "Chino" Smith's .451 season batting average for the 1929 New York Lincoln Giants is second on the list, the AP said. Hugh Duffy of the National League's Boston team was the previous record holder for his .440 season batting average in 1894, the outlet added.

Gibson tops the record books again as the career leader in slugging percentage (.718) and OPS (1.177), now besting Babe Ruth (.690 and 1.164), the AP said. OPS, according to Major League Baseball, is the sum of on-base percentage and slugging percentage, which shows how effectively a player can reach base along with how well a player hits for average and power.

What's more, Gibson's .974 season slugging percentage in 1937 is now the record, and Barry Bonds' .863 season mark in 2001 drops to fifth, the AP said. Mules Suttles' .877 in 1926, Gibson's .871 in 1943, and Smith's .870 in 1929 are now the second- through fourth-place marks, the outlet added.

Gibson yet again stands above the rest with a 1.474 season OPS in 1937 and a 1.435 season OPS in 1943 — nudging Bonds' 1.421 OPS in 2004 from first to third place, the AP said.

MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred told the AP on Wednesday the move represents a "show of respect for great players who performed in the Negro Leagues due to circumstances beyond their control, and — once those circumstances changed — demonstrated that they were truly major leaguers. Maybe the single biggest factor was the success of players who played in the Negro Leagues and then came to the big leagues."

BlazeTV host Jason Whitlock of the "Fearless" podcast offered the following opinion about the Negro League stats being added to MLB stats — particularly as it relates to the dethroning of Cobb: "Knocking Ty Cobb down as the all-time batting champion is likely a big part of the motivation to rewrite baseball history. Ty Cobb was a despicable bigot, which still makes him 100 times better than the pro-abortion folks. Let’s hope no one who paid for an abortion ever played Major League Baseball."

This story has been updated.

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