Team photo of the Birmingham Black Barons
Articles

What is a Stathead?

A few weeks back Baseball Reference unveiled their newest invention, Stathead. This will be replacing Play Index as the site’s premier search engine. Almost unanimously this news was met with welcome arms. This is understandable, but all the same, I think there is one key area where Stahead comes up woefully short; Negro Leagues integration. […]

Some numbers
League Primer

League Primer: Rankings

Starting this week Words Above Replacement is rolling out a series of articles intended to be primers for unaffiliated/independent leagues before their season starts. A part of these primers will be league rankings. More specifically a small paragraph detailing what I believe the actual talent level of a league is and where that means they […]

Josh Gibson in uniform for the Pittsburgh Crawfords, circa the early 1930s
Articles

A Season for the Ages

The Negro major leagues never played league schedules as long as what the recognized white major leagues played during the time before integration. This isn’t a bad thing, it just displays how the Negro major leagues operated differently than the white major leagues did. Usually, teams from the Negro major leagues would play longer schedules […]