“You’re out…yesterday!”
One of an occasional series
Had being black not barred him from Major League Baseball throughout his life, Josh Gibson might well have reduced every other power hitter — before and since — to an afterthought.
His career is the stuff of multiple legends, none of which greater than the one that says he hit nearly 800 home runs in his career. Some will tell you he hit more than 900.
But for me, the most impressive of all his career statistics is this one:
No team with Josh Gibson on its roster ever had a losing season.
Beginning in 1930, Gibson spent 17 years as a catcher for two racially segregated Pennsylvania teams, the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays.
Like Babe Ruth, with whom he is often compared, he was a replacement for an injured player. Except that Grays manager Judy Johnson literally plucked the 17–year–old kid out of the stands and had him suit up on the spot.
But few talk of his catching prowess.
Standing 6–foot–1 and built like a Mack truck, Gibson didn’t just hit home runs. He crushed them. And by all accounts, he crushed a lot of them. Research has led baseball historians to conclude that Gibson averaged one home run every 15.9 at–bats. That’s a lot of home runs.
Exactly how many, however, is subject to debate.
The Negro Leagues didn’t keep extensive records, and some of Gibson’s homers came in exhibition games against opposition of dubious talent.
Even so, his power was undeniable. Blasts in excess of 500 feet were commonplace for this guy. There are those who swear that he hit one completely out of Yankee Stadium, a feat not even Babe Ruth managed to pull off.
Lots of players hit balls out of the park. Josh Gibson’s home runs left town.
Probably for their own safety.
Gibson didn’t just hit for power, however. His lifetime average, depending on who you ask, was somewhere between .350 and .384 — and he was hitting in what were considered to be pitchers’ parks.
But Gibson’s numbers aren’t nearly as fascinating – nor as much fun – as the tall tales they inspired.
One story has him hitting a walk–off homer in Pittsburgh against a Washington DC team, a shot so prodigious that the ball disappears from sight. When the two teams face off again the next day, this time in DC, a ball suddenly falls from the sky and into a Washington outfielder’s glove. The umpire looks at Gibson and yells:
“You’re out!…in Pittsburgh!…yesterday!”
In his later years, Gibson fell into the dual trap of alcohol and drugs. When he was diagnosed with an operable brain tumor, he refused to have it removed, fearing the surgery would leave him a vegetable. The latter years of his career were spent in and out of mental hospitals, plagued with excruciating headaches.
Even then, he was still winning batting titles. At one point, he was hitting .404.
Josh Gibson died of a stroke on Jan. 20, 1947 at the age of 35.
Three months later, Jackie Robinson integrated the major leagues.
Denied a chance to play in the majors all his life, he was voted into Cooperstown 25 years after his death. A non–profit foundation to help educate children in Homestead has been created in his name.
—Gregory Alan Gross
9 June 2007