Josh Gibson Heritage Park opens in Station Square

A new park celebrating baseball Hall of Famer Josh Gibson’s legacy and Pittsburgh’s storied Negro League history was dedicated Thursday morning in Station Square.

The space is located across West Station Square Drive from the Sheraton Station Square hotel, within walking distance of Highmark Stadium.

The ceremony took place nearly 50 years to the day that Gibson, an All-Star catcher with a .374 lifetime batting average who played for both the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords, became the second Negro Leagues player formally inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., on Aug. 7, 1972.

As part of the dedication ceremony for Fed Ex Ground Josh Gibson Heritage Park in Pittsburgh, colorized bronze murals of Gibson and other Negro League greats, including fellow Hall of Famers James “Cool Papa” Bell, Leroy “Satchel” Paige and Cumberland Willis Posey Jr., were unveiled.

They were based on drawings by Pittsburgh sports artist Dino Guarino and will remain as part of a permanent display along West Station Square Drive.

Guarino said the display has been in the works for 15 years.

“It’s been a long time coming. We were just trying to find a home for this place,” he said.

J. Frank Studio developed the park’s unique design along the esplanade across from the hotel and near a cluster of shops and restaurants. FedEx Ground, the name and title sponsor, provided half million dollars for the project.

“We’ve been waiting for a long time for (this dedication), and it’s finally here. It’s very exciting,” said Josh Gibson Foundation executive director Sean Gibson, the baseball legend’s great-grandson. “For us, it’s always about carrying on the legacy, not just for Josh Gibson but all the great Negro League players who played here in the city of Pittsburgh.

“(Former MLB commissioner) Kenesaw Mountain Landis denied over 3,400 African American men an opportunity to play baseball. With that being said, it’s very exciting to have the opportunity to showcase these great men in the city of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh had the two greatest teams to ever play in the Negro Leagues, the Homestead Grays and the Pittsburgh Crawfords,” said Gibson.

Baseball author and historian Rob Ruck told the small gathering at the dedication ceremony he hoped the installation would inspire those who see it “to remember a part of the past that still matters.” Ruck said he thought that interest in the Negro Leagues would diminish after the 2020 centennial of their creation.

“But George Floyd’s murder triggered a racial awakening in this country, the likes of which we have not seen in more than half a century. And in its aftermath, many people and institutions recognized that civil rights and equality could not be taken for granted. And sports was in the vanguard,” said Ruck. “As athletes stepped forward, the response resonated because people understand equality in sports more readily than they do in other arenas of life.”

Ruck acknowledged that although MLB was late in becoming inclusive, in December 2020, when it acknowledged those who played in the Negro Leagues were major leaguers and their statistics ought to be incorporated into MLB’s records, “that drove home what those who had seen them play already knew, that they were the real deal.”

Carlos Etheredge, senior vice president of human resources for Fed Ex Ground, said too many residents don’t know Pittsburgh was once home to the Negro National League headquarters, and it was the only city in America to have two professional Black teams.

“Those teams, the Crawfords and the Grays, featured 15 future members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame. We’re honored to support a project that commemorates the legendary talent and perseverance of these players and teams that achieved greatness despite the racial inequalities of the times,” Etheredge said.

“It is our hope that this park will serve as a place of reflection where great achievements of the past are honored and remembered.”

And then one by one, the four lifelike murals were unveiled: “Cool Papa” Bell swinging his bat left-handed in a white Crawfords uniform with red trim; Grays player, manager and owner Cumberland Posey standing in a white dress shirt with a blue and gold tie and tan baseball pants; “Satchel” Paige at the end of his right-handed pitching motion in a Crawfords uniform with red pinstripes; and Gibson swinging a bat right-handed in a Homestead Grays uniform with blue trim and the massive hand-operated Forbes Field scoreboard in the background.

There are plans to add more murals of Negro League greats to the park in the future.

“Folks forgot about the Negro Leagues, but Pittsburgh never did,” Ruck said.