Former Philadelphia Phillies slugger Ryan Howard and San Diego Padres manager Mike Shildt announced their plans Thursday to join the Negro Leagues’ “Pitch for the Future” in bringing greater awareness to the legacy of the Negro Leagues with a museum expansion.

Josh Gibson became Major League Baseball’s career leader with a.

Major League Baseball has reclassified the Negro Leagues as a major league and will count the statistics and records of its 3,400 players as part of its history. Josh Gibson, the greatest of all Negro League sluggers, might just wind up with a major league record, too. The statistics and records of greats like Gibson, Paige and roughly 3,400 other players are set to join Major League Baseball's books after MLB announced Wednesday it is reclassifying the Negro Leagues as a major league. “We couldn’t be more thrilled by this recognition of the significance of the Negro Leagues in Major League Baseball history,” said Edward Schauder, legal representative for Gibson’s estate and co-founder of the Negro Leagues Players Association. “Granting MLB status to the Negro Leagues a century after their founding is profoundly gratifying.”___More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports