Josh Gibson

A water tower in Buena Vista, Georgia, proudly proclaims the town to be the "Home of Josh Gibson".

Gibson was born in Buena Vista, Georgia[6] to Mark and Nancy (Woodlock) Gibson and had a younger brother, fellow Negro leaguer Jerry, and sister.[7] In 1923, Gibson moved to Pittsburgh, and his father found work at the Carnegie-Illinois Steel Company. Entering sixth grade in Pittsburgh, Gibson prepared to become an electrician, attending Allegheny Pre-Vocational School and Conroy Pre-Vocational School. His first experience playing baseball for an organized team came at age 16 when he played third base for an amateur team sponsored by Gimbels department store where he found work as an elevator operator. Shortly thereafter, he was recruited by the Pittsburgh Crawfords, which in 1928 was still a semi-professional team. The Crawfords, controlled by Gus Greenlee, was the top black semi-professional team in the Pittsburgh area and would advance to fully professional, major Negro league status by 1931.[8]

In 1928, Gibson met Helen Mason, whom he married on March 7, 1929. When not playing baseball, Gibson continued to work at Gimbels, having given up on his plans to become an electrician to pursue a baseball career. In the summer of 1930, the 18-year-old Gibson was recruited by Cumberland Posey, owner of the Homestead Grays, which was the preeminent Negro league team in Pittsburgh; Gibson debuted with the Grays on July 31, 1930. On August 11, Gibson's wife, who was pregnant with twins, went into premature labor and died while giving birth to a twin son, Josh Gibson, Jr., and daughter, Helen, named after her mother. The children were raised by Helen's parents.[8]

The Negro leagues generally found it more profitable to schedule relatively few league games and allow the teams to earn extra money through barnstorming against semi-professional and other non-league teams.[9] Thus, it is important to distinguish between records against all competition and records in league games only. For example, against all levels of competition Gibson hit 69 home runs in 1934; the same year in league games he hit 11 home runs in 52 games.[4][9]

Gibson (standing, center) with the 1932 Crawfords

In 1933, he hit .467 with 55 home runs in 137 games against all levels of competition. His lifetime batting average is said to be higher than .350, with other sources putting it as high as .384, the best in Negro league history.[10]

Gibson's Hall of Fame plaque states he hit "almost 800 home runs in league and independent baseball during his 17-year career."[11] (This figure includes vs. semi-pro competition and in exhibition games.) His lifetime batting average, according to the Hall's official data, was .359.[9] It was reported that he won nine home run titles and four batting championships playing for the Crawfords and the Grays. It is also believed that Gibson hit a home run in a Negro league game at Yankee Stadium that struck two feet from the top of the wall circling the center field bleachers, about 580 feet (180 m) from home plate. Chicago American Giants infielder Jack Marshall said Gibson slugged one over the third deck next to the left field bullpen in 1934 for the only fair ball hit out of Yankee Stadium. There is no published or film account to support this claim. Washington Senators owner Clark Griffith once said that Gibson hit more home runs into Griffith Stadium's distant left field bleachers than the entire American League.[12]

Gibson's plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame

In early 1943, Gibson fell into a coma and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. After regaining consciousness, he refused the option of surgical removal and lived the next four years with recurring headaches. In 1944, Gibson was hospitalized in Washington, D.C. at Gallinger Hospital for mental observation.[16] On January 20, 1947, Gibson died of a stroke at 35 years old in Pittsburgh. He was buried at the Allegheny Cemetery in the Lawrenceville neighborhood of Pittsburgh, where he lay in an unmarked grave until a small plaque was placed in 1975.[17]

Negro league baseball exhibit featuring Gibson's portrait at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Even though Jackie Robinson became the first black player in modern major league history in April 1947, Larry Doby, who broke the American League color barrier that July, felt that Gibson was the best black player in 1945,[18] and 1946.[19] Doby said in an interview later, "One of the things that was disappointing and disheartening to a lot of the black players at the time was that Jack was not the best player. The best was Josh Gibson. I think that's one of the reasons why Josh died so early – he was heartbroken."[19]

In 1972, Gibson and Buck Leonard became the second and third players, behind Satchel Paige, inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame based on their careers in the Negro leagues.[20] Gibson's Hall of Fame plaque claims "almost 800" home runs for his career, although this number can not be substantiated.

The U.S. Postal Service issued a 33-cent U.S. commemorative postage stamp which features a painting of Gibson and includes his name.[21]

In 2000, he ranked 18th on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, the highest-ranking of five players to have played all or most of their careers in the Negro leagues. (The others were Satchel Paige, Buck Leonard, Cool Papa Bell and Oscar Charleston.) In the same year, he was nominated as a finalist for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.

At PNC Park, home of Pittsburgh's Major League Baseball (MLB) franchise, the Pittsburgh Pirates, an exhibit honoring the city's two Negro league baseball teams was introduced in 2006. Located by the stadium's left field entrance and named Legacy Square, the display featured statues of seven players who competed for the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords, including Gibson.[22] In 2015, without any public announcement, the Pirates removed all seven statues from the Legacy Square area. Ultimately they were donated to the Josh Gibson Foundation and sold at auction to benefit the Foundation.[23][24] Most of the statues that originally resided at Legacy Square in PNC Park, including Gibson's, are now displayed at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, MO.[25]

In 2009, a statue of Gibson was installed inside the center field gate of Nationals Park along with ones of Frank Howard and Walter Johnson.

He was named to the Washington Nationals Ring of Honor for his "significant contribution to the game of baseball in Washington, D.C" as part of the Homestead Grays on August 10, 2010.

Ammon Field at 2217 Bedford Ave., Pittsburgh was renamed Josh Gibson Field in his honor and is the site of a Pennsylvania State Historical Marker.[26]

His son, Josh Gibson, Jr., played baseball for the Homestead Grays.[27] His son also was instrumental in the forming of the Josh Gibson Foundation.[28][29][30]

An opera based on Josh Gibson's life, The Summer King (opera), by composer Daniel Sonenberg, premiered on April 29, 2017, in Pittsburgh.[31][32]

1943 Homestead Grays

• In 1996, Gibson was played by Mykelti Williamson in the made-for-cable film Soul of the Game, which also starred Delroy Lindo as Satchel Paige, Blair Underwood as Jackie Robinson, Edward Herrmann as Branch Rickey, and Jerry Hardin as Commissioner Happy Chandler.
• The character of Leon Carter played by James Earl Jones in The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings is based on Gibson.
• The character Josh Exley played by Jesse L. Martin in The X-Files episode "The Unnatural" is based on Gibson.

• Gibson played baseball in the United States, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Mexico, with a lifetime batting average of .354–.384, depending on which statistics are counted.[33]
• Starting in 1932–1933, Gibson played in Puerto Rico. In 1941–1942, Gibson played for the Puerto Rican Professional Baseball League. Playing for the Santurce Crabbers, Gibson won the batting title that season with an average of .480, recognized as the record for that league.[34][35]
• Barry Bonds referred to "Josh Gibson's 800 home runs" in his post-game press conference after hitting his 756th MLB home run.[36]
• Gibson was said by Buck O'Neil to have created a particular sound like dynamite when he hit the ball that he had heard only three times during his lifetime in baseball. Babe Ruth was the first, when O'Neil was young, Gibson was the second, when his Homestead Grays came to play O'Neil's Kansas City Monarchs, and Bo Jackson was the third, 50 years later, when Jackson was called up by the Kansas City Royals and O'Neil was a scout for the Chicago Cubs.[37][38][39]

• List of baseball players who died during their careers
• List of notable brain tumor patients

• Josh Gibson at the Baseball Hall of Fame

• Negro league baseball statistics and player information from Baseball-Reference (Negro leagues)
• Josh Gibson page at Pace University
• Georgia Sports Hall of Fame
• News article on 2004 compilation of Negro League statistics – Includes home run to at-bat ratio comparison.
• ESPN Sportcentury article on Josh Gibson
• Josh Gibson at Baseball-Reference.com Bullpen
• An opera about Josh Gibson in The Wall Street Journal
• Josh Gibson at Find a Grave