Paul Sullivan: Inclusion of Negro Leagues stats adds to the fun of debating the all-time greats. ‘It’s definitely dope,’ Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson says.

If you’ve spent any time perusing statistics on baseball-reference.com, you know how easy it is fall down a rabbit hole and end up someplace you never expected.

The recent inclusion of Negro League statistics to the popular website found me marveling at Satchel Paige’s league-leading 0.72 ERA in 14 starts for the Kansas City Monarchs in 1944, which led me to Jacob deGrom’s amazing 0.54 ERA in his first 11 starts this season for the New York Mets.

Baseball always has been a sport in which comparisons of the greats from different eras are made, whether it’s Babe Ruth versus Mike Trout or Bob Gibson versus deGrom. The addition of around 3,400 Negro League players from 1920-48 adds another layer to the never-ending debate, and it’s one that should be celebrated by all fans.

“It used to always be like, ‘Was Josh Gibson considered one of the greatest Black baseball players?’” said Sean Gibson, the great-grandson of the legendary Negro League slugger. “Well, now we can say Josh is considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time.”

Some believe it’s comparing apples with oranges. The Negro League seasons consisted of around 50-70 games and since they didn’t play their peers from the American or National Leagues, how can you really compare players from the different leagues?

Of course, the reason the great Black players didn’t get to compete against the major-league stars, with the exception of exhibition games, was because the powers that be decided to deny them the opportunity to play in the majors.

Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who made sure baseball was not integrated on his watch, recently had his name removed from the Most Valuable Player awards by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America for his role in perpetuating systemic racism. You can’t change the past, but the inclusion of the Negro Leagues as major leagues is a small way to make reparations for the injustices of Landis and the baseball owners of that era.

“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,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said last December when announcing the inclusion of the Negro League as major leagues. “We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as major-leaguers within the official historical record.”

When the Negro League stats became an official part of baseball-reference.com Monday, the breaking news that MLB had created stiff penalties to combat its latest cheating scandal — sticky baseballs — quickly overshadowed the story.

That’s a shame, because it’s important for today’s players to understand and acknowledge those who helped make the game great, whether they played in the majors or the Negro Leagues.

“That’s cool for them to do that,” Chicago White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson told the Tribune on Wednesday. “You can say it’s about time, I guess. Make us as one, and all joined together. It’s definitely dope.”

Anderson conceded he doesn’t look much at statistical websites such as baseball-reference.com, and isn’t much of a “stat guy.” But he has visited the Negro Leagues Museum in Kansas City, Mo., to learn more about the leagues.

“I know some of the history, more so learning about some of the players and some of the things they went through, their experiences,” he said. “They definitely had a cool background, and a lot of interesting topics.”

One of those stories Anderson said he learned was about Negro League star Ted “Double Duty” Radcliffe, who became a familiar face around Comiskey Park in his 80s and 90s until his death at the age of 103. Sox Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf sent a car to Radcliffe’s residence to bring him back and forth to games whenever Radcliffe felt like coming out, so “Double Duty” frequently regaled baseball writers with stories of the past.

Radcliffe reportedly was nicknamed “Double Duty” by New York sports writer Damon Runyon after hitting a grand slam in the opening game of a doubleheader at old Yankee Stadium while playing catcher, and then throwing a shutout in the nightcap. He played 16 seasons and wasn’t exactly Shohei Ohtani, the two-way Los Angeles Angels star.

But now that he’s officially a major leaguer, Radcliffe and Ohtani are linked together as two-way players in MLB history.

Ron Teasley, 94, spent the 1948 season playing for the New York Cubans of the Negro National League, which folded after the season. One of the few surviving Negro League players, Teasley was ecstatic to see his name on the updated Baseball Reference site.

He signed with the Brooklyn Dodgers after a tryout at their facility at Vero Beach, Fla., but was released after playing 23 games for one of their minor-league teams, and joined the Cubans in ’48. It was there that he played alongside Minnie Miñoso, who went on to star for the White Sox and other teams in a long and successful major-league career.

“My first game with the Cubans, for some reason Minnie came to the game and couldn’t find his uniform,” Teasley said with a laugh during a phone interview. “They had to take someone’s uniform so he could play, because he was the star. I guess you know whose uniform they took. My first day, I was like, ‘How about this?’ I never did find out what happened to his uniform.”

Teasley went on to play professionally in Canada before becoming a high school teacher and coach in his hometown of Detroit. He was not a star like Josh Gibson, Paige or “Cool Papa” Bell, whom Paige once said was so fast he could flip the light switch off and be in bed before the room got dark.

Teasley said the inclusion of his peers to the major-league stats was a long time coming.

“This more or less confirms what I’ve always been told and came to realize,” Teasley said. “It’s a wonderful gesture.”

What would Paige think?

“I guess the same as most of the rest of us,” he said. “He knew they were (major-league) caliber players, and I’m sure they’d all love to know they would be recognized.”

We’ll never know how deGrom’s brilliance this season compares with Paige’s 1944 season, which obviously was much shorter. It’s easier to debate deGrom vs. Bob Gibson, whose 1.12 ERA in 1968 with the St. Louis Cardinals remains the standard of pitching excellence to many fans.

The fact we can add Paige’s name to the debate makes it that much more enjoyable — and that’s what makes the game so great.