Major League Baseball announced last week that it would add statistics from the Negro Leagues to the Major League historical record.

Why it matters: The move shines a spotlight on the history of Black baseball players, some of whom played in Detroit.

• Negro League players were barred from the MLB during segregation, but some were considered the greatest of all time.

The big picture: The inclusion of seven professional Negro Leagues that operated between 1920 and 1948 into MLB records comes as replica jerseys and caps from the era have become popular with a new generation of fans.

• "We are now grateful to count the players of the Negro Leagues where they belong: as major leaguers within the official historical record," commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement.

The Negro Leagues combined to produce 35 Hall of Famers, per MLB.com, including storied Detroit Stars alumni such as pitcher Andy "Lefty" Cooper and center fielders Norman "Turkey" Stearnes and Pete Hill.

• Stearnes now tops the MLB records, placing sixth in the 10 all-time batting average leaders.

Zoom in: The Detroit Stars were a founding member of the Negro National League that began their first season in 1920, according to the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum.

• The Stars quickly cemented themselves as a top team but never managed to nab a Negro League title or World Series championship, the museum reports.

Flashback: The Stars began playing at Mack Park on Detroit's east side at Mack and Fairview, according to the Detroit Historical Society.

• After a fire in 1929, they relocated amid "opposition to rebuilding from white citizens in the neighborhood," according to a Detroit Stars history from the Tigers' website.
• Their first season at Hamtramck Stadium was in 1930. The stadium, recently renovated and still in use, is now on the National Register of Historic Places.
• Several iterations of the Detroit Stars name continued playing until 1961.

Go deeper: MLB to add Negro Leagues stats to official records … The Negro National League's lasting legacy

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Detroit ranks 65th out of the country's 100 most populous cities for its public parks — down five spots from last year — according to a new report by the pro-park nonprofit Trust for Public Land.

Why it matters: Parks confer a wealth of health benefits, and the report found that residents in high-scoring cities are also more socially connected with their neighbors.

How it works: The Trust for Public Land annually scores cities' park systems based on access, acreage, amenities, equity and investment.

• Each city is awarded points based on those factors and then given an overall "ParkScore" of up to 100.

Here are more findings from the report:

• 84% of Detroiters live within a 10-minute walk to a park, higher than the median for all the top cities of 74%.
• However, Detroit received just 20 out of 100 points for its park acreage and 21 out of 100 for the park system's financial health.
• Neighborhoods with the highest concentration of people of color have access to 38% less park space per person than neighborhoods with the most white people.

The big picture: Detroit is overhauling its green spaces, including using more than $10 million of its pandemic-recovery American Rescue Plan Act funding for parks and $11 million for the Joe Louis Greenway.

• The parks and rec department debuted a five- to 10-year vision in 2022 with goals including more walking paths, expanding natural habitats to 1,500 acres and increasing engagement and programming.
• Challenges remain like trash maintenance, safety concerns and lack of distributed information about offerings.

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🎨 Dozens of Detroit artists want to create a selection process for art commissioned by the city after public outcry over how a series of murals organized by a New York nonprofit were painted outside of protocol ahead of the NFL Draft. (Outlier)

👩🏻 Gov. Gretchen Whitmer is in Washington, D.C., this week meeting with federal officials to advocate for additional investments in Michigan and promote "key priorities," from economic development to land conservation. (Detroit News)

🎥 A new Netflix docuseries, "Dancing for the Devil: The 7M TikTok Cult," follows a Warren family trying to find out what happened to their TikTok-famous daughter who joined a religious group in Los Angeles and became estranged from the family. (WDIV)

The historic restaurant space inside Michigan Central Station could be part of a future hotel at the newly renovated depot, officials say.

The big picture: City Council is expected to vote this summer on a zoning amendment to allow a hotel at Michigan Central.

• If approved, the restaurant space and an adjoining outdoor carriage house could be incorporated into the depot's hotel program, Michigan Central CEO Joshua Sirefman said.

The intrigue: After Ford's purchase of the building, the carriage house's original clock was mysteriously dropped off — wrapped in bubble wrap and blue tarp — by anonymous people who salvaged the clock after Michigan Central closed.

What's next: The carriage house clock has been restored and will be on display during this month's open house events at Michigan Central.

Go deeper: More before-and-after photos of the renovated depot