With all the intense record keeping done in professional baseball, I always find it saddening that better, if not more accurate records were never kept in the Negro Leagues. In a lot of instances, great players were touted not so much by statistics but by legends propounded by their peers and fellow teammates. Had betterrecord keeping been the norm, then perhaps we would have seen that the greatest players were truly never in the majors. Such was the case with Josh Gibson.
Several years ago, I was fortunate enough to see a movie entitled the “Soul of the Game” about some of the greats that played in the Negro Leagues prior to Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in 1947. The motion picture focused on three main characters – Satchel Paige, Jackie Robinson, and Josh Gibson – as they competed to be the first Afro-American in Major League Baseball. Robinson who was always considered outspoken in his beliefs about equal rights was often criticized for his views, and was even labeled an “Uncle Tom” by some of his envious cohorts when he made the jump to pro ball.
Satchel Paige also went on to enjoysome time in the huge leagues. Paige wandered around in the Negro Leagues until he got the call the year after Robinson did and went to Cleveland to pitch for the 1948-49 seasons, then the St. Louis Browns (1951-53), and when he was 59 years old Charles Finley signed him to pitch one game for the Athletics in 1965.
Sadly, for Josh Gibson, he never got that opportunity toplay professional baseball. I have on numerous occasions debated Gibson’s impressive talents and presence in the game with other sports junkies and writers like myself who have both agreed with me and opposed my feelings about the man. But for the most part we all agreed that Gibson, quite possibly, was the greatest catcher (and hitter) to never play in the majors.
Often touted as the greatest home run hitter in the Negro Leagues, Gibson was born in Georgia prior to the First World War, but moved to Pittsburgh at the age of 10 when his dad went to work in the steel mills. Gibson’s first love was baseball and by the time he was only 16, he was the rage of sandlot baseball fans throughout the area. In school he won several track meets despite his stocky, thick-legged physique, but Gibson was a natural athlete and proved it in any sporting endeavor he participated in.
Though Gibson had aspirations of becoming an electrician, and attended both Allegheny and Conroy Pre-Vocational
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