Major League Baseball announced on Wednesday that records ofMegro League players and teams will be included in the game’s official statistics.

Before Jackie Robinson broke professional baseball’s race barrier in 1947, with the Dodgers, black players were barred from MLB play, which ultimately deprived many baseball fans of seeing some of the best hitters, pitchers, and fielders of the 20th century.

What’s most special and will certainly shake up the record books, Is the fact that more than 3,400 players from seven leagues that operated from 1920 to 1948 will now be considered major leaguers. 

Rob Manfred the Commissioner of MLB said, “All of us who love baseball have long known that the Negro Leagues produced many of our game’s best players, innovations and triumphs against a backdrop of injustice.” Adding, “We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as Major Leaguers within the official historical record.”

This wrong being righted will allow family members of players to finally celebrate their family name being shown the respect and honor they deserve. So many talented players from Negro Leagues would’ve dominated the Majors had they had a fair shot. 

“Josh Gibson was a legend who would have certainly been a top player in the major leagues if he had been allowed to play,” said Edward Schauder, legal representative for Gibson’s estate and co-founder of the Negro Leagues Players Association. Adding, “We couldn’t be more thrilled by this recognition of the significance of the Negro Leagues in Major League Baseball history.”