Josh Gibson's legacy part of rich history of Negro Leagues, which turn 100 this year

Although legend says there are 800 home runs to back him up, Josh Gibson Jr. never claimed his father and namesake was the greatest baseball player of all-time.

“He thought there was no need for him to do that,” Sean Gibson said.

Sean Gibson is the great-grandson of Negro League star and Baseball Hall of Famer Josh Gibson, who played for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays for 15 seasons from 1930-46. Sean Gibson is executive director of the Pittsburgh-based Josh Gibson Foundation, which provides academic, social and athletic opportunities for young people. He is Josh Gibson Jr.’s grandson.

“I would ask him if (Gibson Sr.) was better than Babe Ruth,” Sean Gibson said. “He never got into that. He always said, ‘How can you say Babe Ruth is the greatest player when he didn’t play against blacks? How can you say Josh Gibson was the greatest baseball player because he didn’t play against whites?’

“He would always say Josh Gibson was one of the greatest baseball players.”

Some called Gibson “the black Babe Ruth.”

Others called Ruth “the white Josh Gibson.”

The debate never will reach a satisfactory conclusion, but there can be no argument about Gibson’s and the Negro Leagues’ contribution to baseball.

And that’s why Sean Gibson in Pittsburgh and Bob Kendrick in Kansas City were saddened by the postponement Saturday of the 100th anniversary celebration of the first Negro National League game and subsequent events next month.

The first game was played May 2, 1920, in Indianapolis between the Indianapolis ABCs and the Chicago American Giants. The hometown team won 4-2, but the Giants went on to win the league’s first championship.

Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum, planned to be in Indianapolis on Saturday for a ceremony to place a proper headstone at the gravesite of Negro League superstar Oscar Charleston.

In a recent article in The Athletic ranking the 100 best players of all-time, Charleston was fifth behind Willie Mays, Ruth, Barry Bonds and Hank Aaron.

Kendrick said Negro League great Buck O’Neil, who, in 1962, became the first black coach in the majors with the Chicago Cubs, called Charleston the greatest player he ever saw.

As part of the nearly year-long celebration, all 30 MLB teams were planning to wear a commemorative National Negro League patch on their jerseys June 27.

The pandemic will force a change in plans, but Kendrick is reluctant to reschedule the event for later this year. Instead, he hopes it can be moved to 2021.

“I don’t want it to happen in an empty stadium,” he said. “The last thing we want to do is it become a watered-down celebration. This should be a very vibrant, festive celebration.”

Events over the June 27-29 weekend in Pittsburgh also will be postponed.

Sean Gibson said the Josh Gibson Foundation was planning a youth tournament with teams participating from each of the National Negro League’s founding cities: Chicago, Cincinnati, Dayton, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City and St. Louis.

Founded in 1920 as an answer to a so-called “gentlemen’s agreement” to keep blacks out of the majors, the league boasts a rich history. Some of its stars were charismatic characters such as Satchel Paige, who famously told his outfielders to sit down because he planned to strike out the next batter, and Cool Papa Bell, who often tried to steal two bases on one pitch.

The league was founded by Rube Foster, a businessman, former pitcher and master of the screwball, Kendrick said.

Kendrick said John McGraw, Hall of Fame manager of the New York Giants, used to sneak Foster into camp to teach Christy Mathewson how to throw the screwball.

“Christy Mathewson threw that pitch all the way into the Baseball Hall of Fame,” Kendrick said.

With the slogan, “We Are the Ship, All Else the Sea,” the league set its own course and flourished.

“This was big business,” Kendrick said. “The Negro Leagues from Day 1 were successful. In 1920, over 400,000 fans attended Negro League games.”

Sadly, Foster suffered brain damage when he was exposed to a gas leak and died in 1930. The league disbanded in 1931, laid to rest as much by Foster’s death as by the Great Depression.

Gus Greenlee, owner of the Pittsburgh Crawfords, revived the league in 1933. When Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947, Negro League stars finally were welcomed into the majors, and the Negro Leagues began to fade.

Today, Sean Gibson has an answer to anyone who criticizes the Negro Leagues.

“People would try to discredit, not just Josh Gibson, but other Negro League baseball players, discredit their stats,” he said. “Because they played sandlot teams and didn’t play major league competition.

“But that wasn’t their choice. Society made that choice for them.”