Storylines: The Negro Leagues Returns in MLB 24
San Diego Studios has revealed the first feature trailer for MLB The Show 24. Introducing Storylines: Negro Leagues Season 2, Storylines was a new mode in MLB 23 to highlight great Negro League players like Jackie Robinson, Satchell Paige, and John Donaldson. Playing famous moments through a player’s career followed by cutscenes narrated by Bob Kendrick President of The Negro League Museum in Kansas City, Missouri. Season 2 will be no different, highlighting more greats of the game and revealing some new legends as a result of the trailer.
The trailer followed Kendrick giving a tour of the museum to a group of kids. First speaking about Hank Aaron’s rise to baseball immortality, breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record. Before that, The Hammer was an 18-year-old kid playing for The Indianapolis Clowns.
New Legends
Next, Kendrick discussed Josh Gibson or “The Black Babe Ruth”. Gibson is one of three new legends shown in the trailer. The story of Josh Gibson is the stuff of legend with stories of nearly 800 career home runs. Baseball reference only tallies 166, most of those home runs would have been when he played in the independent leagues. Another story is when Gibson was only 18 years old in 1930 hit a home run out of Yankee Stadium. Gibson’s absence from the initial introduction of Storylines surprised many fans. Although, it might have been best to give every involved Negro League player a proper chance to celebrate.
Gibson made up one-half of the Thunder Twins, the other half being Buck Leonard. The Hall of Famer played all of his 14-year career with the Homestead Grays, with 10 of those years with Gibson. On top of his 13 All-Star selections and 3 World Series; Buck Leonard in 1938 led the league with a .420 batting average, .500 On-Base Percentage, .740 Slugging Percentage, of course with OPS as well at 1.240, and a 223 OPS+.
Finally, Kendrick revealed Toni Stone. Toni Stone was the first woman to ever play professional baseball as an everyday player on a big league roster. Stone was Hank Aaron’s replacement after he signed with the Boston Braves in 1953. A career spanning about a decade, and not much statistics to research from with the limited recording of stats during Stone’s career. Regardless of numbers, Toni Stone is a trailblazer in baseball history, and a beautiful gesture by SDS to bring her into the game.
More to Come
The idea of Storylines in MLB The Show is to better familiarize modern baseball fans with baseball history. Celebrating the greats of the game, with a great way to celebrate the Negro Leagues and their players who paved the way to get baseball to where it is now. Not to mention encouraging modern fans to go back into baseball history and learn more. In terms of what we saw gameplay-wise, nothing groundbreaking which is what I predicted. However, that is not the focus of the trailer. Seeing the big picture in bringing Storylines back for a season 2 was necessary with the success and the positive feedback of season 1. I expect that the first feature premiere will be about the mode overall. SDS will reveal more of MLB 24 on Thursday, February 15th.
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