Major League Baseball (MLB) is finally recognizing the historic Negro Leagues as part of its own history -- counting the statistics and records of thousands of Black baseball players. The MLB is now recognizing more than 3,400 players as “Major League” players for the first time in history. “It’s overdue, but it’s a bittersweet moment because most of the guys are gone,” said Negro League historian Louis Manley Jr. Between 1920 and 1948, four major Negro League teams played in Detroit. He could do it all,” Rosilyn Stearnes said of her father Turkey Stearns.