#tbt: Black History Month remembers Josh Gibson

With Tom Brady winning his 6th Super Bowl this past Sunday, he has been heralded the G.O.A.T. (Greatest Of All Time).  Few can really argue the point as he finds ways to win despite not being the most athletic of the quarterbacks in the league.

Other sports have players with 1 or 2 guys at the top of the list (Jordan vs LeBron debate anyone?).

Baseball is a sport though where so many players come to mind when discussing the greatest to ever play the game.  Sure there are cases to be made for guys like Ruth, Mays, Mantle, Bonds, Bench, Griffey Jr, Jeter, Aaron, among many others, but there is no definitive face that pops in one's mind for Greatness.

Topps recently produced an insert set called Greatness Returns.  It's good.  The checklist is questionable though.

Sadly.

One name is omitted from that list.

Josh Gibson, the Black Babe Ruth, was the greatest hitter of the early Negro Leagues as recalled by many.

There have been many articles written, but only a few people outside of the baseball knowledge realms discuss of what Josh Gibson was able to do.

Gibson was born in Georgia, but moved to Pittsburgh at an early age so his father could work on a steel mill.  Gibson would go on to later work with his father so that he could join that company's Negro League team and participate in the sport he loved, baseball.

Gibson began as a third baseman, but moved to behind the plate due to his bulking size.  Some said no one was stupid enough to try and steal home against him.

After his wife passed away at an early age giving birth to twins, Gibson devoted his life to the game of baseball giving full custody of his children to the in-laws.

Gibson would go on to appear in the All-Star game every year in the Negro Leagues.

He was ultimately diagnosed with a brain tumor, but continued to play through all the pain he endured.  When the Dodgers were looking at breaking the color barrier there was discussion of Gibson being chosen, but ultimately it was decided they should use a younger player.

Larry Doby, the man who broke the color barrier in the American League for the Cleveland Indians, went on record to say "Jack(ie) Robinson wasn't the best player. Josh Gibson was"

A few months before Robinson broke the color barrier and helped to change the American culture and history, Josh Gibson passed away at the young age of 35 years old.


In 2018 Topps continued their tradition of the Salute insert series looking at players wearing alternative uniforms (Mother's Day, Throwback, Negro League, Memorial Day, etc) style uniforms.

Josh Gibson wore a uniform similar to this while he was a member of the Homestead Grays.  As you can read on the back, McCutchen had a really good day at the plate while wearing the former catcher's old style uniform.

I have shown other images of Cutch wearing the old Homestead Grays uniform in the past.  Maybe I can do this every Thursday (#tbt) in February to show off Black History Month.

Anyone want to learn about Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, Smokey Joe, etc every Thursday this February?

I would really love to add some more Josh Gibson cards to my collection, but originals from the 30s and 40s are ridiculously expensive.