JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) - There are some shakeups in Major League Baseball's (MLB) record books after the league announced that Negro Leagues records would be incorporated into MLB's records.

Segregated from the MLB until Jackie Robinson's debut in 1947, the Negro Leagues were one of the only professional avenues for Black athletes to play baseball.

Dozens of Mississippians played for multiple Negro Leagues teams, including Starkville native James Thomas "Cool Papa" Bell.

“The Josh Gibsons, The Cool Papa Bells, the Satchel Paiges, all were excellent baseball players and athletes and they deserve recognition. Cool Papa was born in Starkville and reportedly was one of the fastest men to ever play the game. The old story was he was so fast that he could walk into a hotel room, turn the light, switch off and be under the covers before the room got dark," said Bill Blackwell, executive director of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame.

Bell was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1974.