Gibson, Josh

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Gibson, Josh

December 21, 1911
January 20, 1947

If any one man personified both the joy of Negro League baseball and the pathos of major league baseball's color line, it was catcher Josh Gibson, black baseball's greatest hitter. Born Joshua Gibson to sharecroppers Mark and Nancy (Woodlock) Gibson in Buena Vista, Georgia, Josh moved to Pittsburgh in 1924 when his father found employment at the Homestead Works of the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company. On the diamond, the solidly built Gibson astounded fans and players with his feats for two decades, but he never got the chance to play in the major leagues.

As a youth on the north side of Pittsburgh, Gibson attended a vocational school where he prepared for the electrician's trade. But it was on the city's sandlots, playing for the Gimbel Brothers and Westinghouse Airbrake company teams, that he prepped for his life's work. Joining the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1927 when this team of local youths was still a sandlot club, Gibson soon attracted the attention of Homestead Grays owner Cumberland Posey.

Gibson starred for the Grays in the early 1930s, returning to the Pittsburgh Crawfords for the 1934–1936 campaigns. By then, the Crawfords were owned by numbers baron Gus Greenlee, who remade them into the 1935 Negro National League champions. With future Hall of Famers Gibson, Satchel Paige, Judy Johnson, Oscar Charleston, and "Cool Papa" Bell on the team, the Crawfords were quite possibly the best team ever assembled.

In 1937, after breaking his contract and joining many of his Crawford teammates in the Dominican Republic, Gibson was traded back to the Grays. There, he and Buck Leonard were considered black baseball's equivalent to Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. The Grays won nine pennants in a row after Gibson returned, a mark equaled only by the Tokyo Giants.

Although a fine defensive catcher, the muscular six-foot one-inch, 215-pound Gibson is remembered best for his legendary swings at the plate. Perhaps the greatest slugger ever, he hit balls out of parks across the United States and the Caribbean basin, where he played each winter between 1933 and 1945. His home runs at Forbes Field and Yankee Stadium are thought to have been the longest hit at each. During his career, Gibson never played for a losing team.

His lifetime .379 batting average in the Negro and Caribbean leagues is the highest of any Negro Leaguer. He won batting championships, most-valuable-player awards, and/or home run titles in the Negro Leagues, Cuba, Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. His home run blasts are still recalled throughout these lands.

The second-highest-paid Negro Leaguer, Gibson also was the league's second-best attraction, behind Satchel Paige in both categories. Promoters often advertised for Negro League games by guaranteeing that Gibson would hit a home run. He rarely let them down.

Although fellow Negro Leaguers remember Gibson with fondness and a respect that borders on awe, his personal life was touched by tragedy. His young bride, Helen, died delivering their twin children, Josh Jr. and Helen, in 1930. Gibson himself died in 1947, soon after the Brooklyn Dodgers signed Jackie Robinson. He was only thirty-five at the time. In 1972 he joined batterymate Satchel Paige in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

See also Baseball; Paige, Satchel