Content Creator Tony is back this week with another installment of TonySPN, a recurring series covering the weird wide world of sports!
If you follow the world of baseball stats (and if you don’t, that’s fine — that’s what TonySPN is for), you’ll notice there’s a new name atop the record books. That new name isn’t Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, or even the red-hot Royce Lewis.
No, the player who recently claimed Major League Baseball’s all-time career record in batting average (.372), slugging percentage (.718), and OPS (on-base + slugging percentage, 1.177) hasn’t played since the 1940s. That player is Josh Gibson, a Negro Leagues catcher who played from 1933* to 1946. This happened after MLB finally made the decision to integrate their record books, putting Negro League statistics on even footing with the Major Leagues in the historical record.
Black players were barred from signing contracts with Major League clubs in 1887, a rule which phased Black players out of the league completely by 1890. The color line stood until 1947, when Jackie Robinson made his debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers.
This, of course, did not stop Black baseball players from plying their trade. A series of six leagues known collectively as the Negro Leagues formed and operated from 1920 to 1951. We know the names of many players who played in the Negro Leagues: Robinson (in 1945), Roy Campanella (1937-45), Satchel Paige (1927-1947), and Willie Mays (RIP; 1948) are all Hall of Famers who eventually got to play in the Majors.
But the best among them didn’t. Gibson passed away in January 1947, less than three months before Robinson broke the color barrier. He died in poverty and relative anonymity, with his grave not even being marked until the 1970s.
Obviously, Gibson was robbed of both a long life and a Major League career, which is tragic. We’re not here to dwell on that today. Rather, we’re celebrating the career of an incredible player who was undeniably cool.
Out Of the Park
Officially**, Gibson hit 166 home runs throughout his career. This is partly because Negro Leagues seasons were much shorter than MLB’s then-154-game seasons. But Gibson played many, many more games than the verified 602 Negro Leagues games for which we have box scores. Black teams would often go on barnstorming tours, playing exhibition games in different places, and would sometimes even put on these exhibition games en route to traveling to their next official game.
These extra games came with extra opportunities to obliterate baseballs, which is exactly what Gibson did. The unofficial home run count, as listed on his Baseball Hall of Fame plaque, reads “almost 800.” Were these counted, confirmed, and officially recorded as white players’ statistics were, he would have had dozens more home runs than the 714 Babe Ruth had upon retirement. He would still have the record today, and it’s possible Gibson slugged 962 (or more) homers.
Gibson was often called “The Black Babe Ruth,” but per William Brashler’s 1978 biography, “Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues,” there were fans in the know who called Ruth “The White Josh Gibson.”
One point in favor of Ruth being “The White Gibson”: Gibson once allegedly went to Yankee Stadium, a.k.a. “The House that Ruth Built,” and knocked a home run 580 feet, where it completely left the park. Ruth played 851 games at Yankee Stadium, where he hit 259 of his career home runs. How many left the stadium? Zero. Gibson is believed to be the only player to accomplish the feat in the ballpark’s 85-year history.
Is it possible that these details surrounding Gibson’s blast are apocryphal? Sure, but you don’t need to dive too far into baseball history to find similar, unverifiable stories about Ruth. Even with the tall tales surrounding that era of baseball (and Ruth especially), the fact that Gibson is believed to have hit one out of Yankee Stadium while Ruth isn’t speaks volumes.
If you want to be not-fun and cast doubt on these stories, fine. But what these old legends surrounding baseball players do is preserve the feeling of what it was like to see them. Maybe Gibson hit a home run in Comiskey Park that was high enough to destroy a speaker and routinely knocked admiring kids out of trees from 500 feet away, and maybe he didn’t. But, now you know how cool it was to see Gibson playing in person. Like with Ruth (and Paige, whose legends we’ll touch on in a bit), if these stories are exaggerated (and reminder — we can’t prove they didn’t happen!), it’s only because reality is too confining to adequately describe their greatness.
The True Home Run King?
The above legends come from Ron Kroichick’s 2006 feature in the San Francisco Chronicle, which gives a great glimpse not only of Gibson’s on-field talents, but his on-field persona. There’s a touch of the completely backed-up cockiness we’d see in the legendary stories surrounding Rickey Henderson in the 1980s and ’90s. “He occasionally wandered into the opponent’s dugout before a game to inform the starting pitcher, ‘Josh feels good tonight,’” the article documents. He, like Ruth, was often alleged to “call his shots” and deliver on his promises.
Then there’s this incredible story: “Once, when a Kansas City Monarchs player asked if a broken bat belonged to Gibson, he replied, ‘I don’t break bats, I wear ‘em out.’” It’s a line every bit as cool and funny as Henderson (reportedly) going back to the dugout after a strikeout saying, “Don’t worry, Rickey, you’re still the best.”
Kroichick quoted Barry Bonds as being incredulous that his 73-homer 2001 season is considered the single-season record instead of the 84 home runs Gibson is credited with hitting during games at various levels through 1936. “Why doesn’t that count? Why don’t any of those statistics count?” Bonds wondered. “In my heart [the record] belongs to Josh Gibson.”
The home runs outside of official Negro Leagues games aren’t counted in the record books, but as of now, Gibson is credited with hitting a whopping 18 home runs in 50 games (which would translate to 55 homers over a 154-game season) in 1936. The following season was even more incredible, with 20 home runs in 39 games — a 78-homer pace (!!!) over 154 games.
That doesn’t mean Gibson is completely absent from the single-season record books. He hit 20 home runs in 69 games in 1943, which helped him secure a .466 batting average that currently officially stands as the single-season record.
Any argument advocating keeping these statistics separate falls apart quickly. Elite Negro Leagues players were able to maintain their gaudy statlines after MLB started integrating. Campanella, for example, put up a .931 OPS over his last four seasons in the Negro Leagues (1941-45). His first four seasons (1948-51) with the Brooklyn Dodgers saw him post a .902 OPS, which is a negligible difference.
Then there’s the fact that while Gibson was denied the opportunity to step up to the plate and put up stats against legendary white pitchers like Lefty Grove, segregation meant that the stats of Major Leaguers were also imperfect measures of their true talents. Ruth never faced top Negro Leagues pitchers like Paige, for example. Gibson did, and did so in memorable fashion.
A Rivalry for the (P)A(i)ges
Before we get into Gibson vs. Paige, we have to set this up by talking up Paige’s legendary exploits. As revenge for Mays once hitting a double off of him, Paige told him that in Mays’ next at-bat, he would strike Mays out on three consecutive fastballs. He not only does what he promised, but Mays recalls him walking off the mound saying “Go sit down” before the ball got to the plate.
Paige either claimed or is believed to have struck out 22 batters in a single game, thrown 50 no-hitters, and recorded a win in three separate games that occurred in a single day. I can not find the piece where I first read about Paige as a teenager, but do recall reading something to the effect of: If a hitter was able to even foul a ball off of him, it was a sign that Paige was off his game that day. He allegedly once loaded the bases on purpose, then told his fielders to sit down so he could get the three outs he needed by himself. He did as he said, striking out all three batters.
These stories sound ridiculous, but when he finally got to the majors, he proved himself to be one of the best pitchers in the league, with a 3.31 ERA in five seasons in the American League from 1948 to 53. Paige was in his early 40s at the time. For good measure, he came back for one game at age 59, holding the Boston Red Sox to just one hit over three scoreless innings.
The stories of the two larger-than-life players going head-to-head are predictably amazing.
During Game 2 of the 1942 Negro World Series, Hall of Famer Buck O’Neil recalls Paige intentionally walking the bases loaded — Again: IN THE WORLD SERIES — so Gibson could have an opportunity to hit a grand slam to tie the game in the ninth inning. With two strikes on Gibson, Paige told the slugger, “I’m not gonna throw any smoke at your yolk, I’m gonna throw a pea at your knee.” Paige got the better of the exchange that time, as Gibson’s bat was frozen to his shoulder at seeing a fastball so impossibly fast, so accurately placed at the edge of the strike zone that it might as well be the size of a pea. Game over. Paige told an incredulous O’Neil, “Nobody hits Satchel.”
That’s the highest-profile duel between them, but Gibson would get the better of Paige, as well. Kroichick writes about another time when Gibson was at Yankee Stadium and he took a Paige pitch over the fence at center field, which was 461 feet away at the time. Instead of a towering fly ball, though, Gibson hit a line drive that kept carrying, but not before whizzing inches above Paige’s head.
Paige faced the best players to ever come through the Negro Leagues, as well as Hall of Famers like Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra, and Carl Yastrzemski during his time in the Major Leagues. According to Paige, Gibson was the best to ever play. “You look for his weakness, and while you’re lookin’ for it, he’s liable to hit 45 home runs.”
Preserving 2,300 Legacies
As great as Campanella was, when he and Gibson were teamed up in All-Star Games, Gibson’s superior abilities as a catcher forced Campanella to play out of position at third base. Campanella’s reaction? Fair enough. “Everything I could do, Josh could do better.”
Gibson’s status as the best hitter to ever have lived is echoed even by players who were unable to play against him. Walter “The Big Train” Johnson retired in 1927, meaning they couldn’t have played each other, even if the color barrier wasn’t a reality. Still, when he saw Gibson, Johnson fully recognized his talent. “He can do everything,” raved one of the two people in MLB history with 400 wins. “He hits the ball a mile. He catches so easy he might as well be in a rocking chair. Throws like a rifle.”
MLB integrating the record books means that Gibson’s name won’t be forgotten, and it’s thanks to the efforts of both researchers and the Gibson family. Sean Gibson is Josh’s great-grandson and the executive director of the Josh Gibson Foundation, and he’s working to ensure that the legacy of not just his great-grandfather, but the Negro Leagues as a whole, is preserved and celebrated.
“May 29, 2024, will never be forgotten in our family or other Negro League family members,” Sean told NPR in June. “Of course, we know about the Gibsons and the Paiges and the Cool Papa Bells and the Buck Leonards, all the Hall of Famers. But for the lesser-known Negro League baseball players, it's great for their families, as well… I’m just as excited for all of the family members, because this is a team sport.”
Integrating the record book is just one step Sean would like to see. He hopes to establish a Negro Leagues Day, where each team dons the uniform of a Negro Leagues team on May 2, the anniversary of the first Negro Leagues game. MLB currently observes Jackie Robinson Day, but Sean explained to USA Today why solely observing Jackie Robinson Day is insufficient, saying, “It would be nice to celebrate all Negro League players and not just one person.”
There’s also the opportunity to further honor Gibson’s legacy by renaming the MVP’s Most Valuable Player award after him. USA Today asked Sean about the possibility of renaming the award — which until this decade bore the name of the commissioner who upheld and enforced the color barrier — after his great-grandfather. He responded with another question: “How ironic would it be for Josh Gibson to replace the man who denied more than 2,300 men the opportunity to play baseball in the Major Leagues?”
It’s been nearly 80 years since the world lost Gibson, and the world very nearly lost his legacy to time. Thankfully, his story had another turn to it, and hopefully, there will be even more efforts made to record, memorialize, and honor him in the near future. The steps taken this year have not only preserved the mark he made on history in the record books, but give us an opportunity to explore just how unfathomably talented and cool a figure Gibson was in his day. Let’s all give the warmest welcome to our new OPS overlord.
And that’s all you need to know! Thanks for reading. – Content Creator Tony
*Gibson played in one game in 1930, where legend has it that the then 18-year-old was in the stands when a manager asked him to be an injury replacement. He went 2-for-4. Dude was unreal.
**Negro League statistics are incomplete, and researchers are still uncovering box scores to this day. You can learn more about this project here.
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