Josh Gibson: A Sigil To Help Remember Them By.
When it comes to power, Josh Gibson stands atop the mountain. He was one of the most dominant offensive forces to ever play in the Negro Leagues as well as the Latin and South American Leagues. As the catcher for both the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawford’s, he was a powerful leader that led those teams to multiple league championships and winning seasons. It is safe to say that Josh Gibson was one of the best hitters the Negro Leagues would ever see. Though his life was short and he would die before he reached the age of 36, he certainly left his mark and there was none like him.
Josh Gibson is the player that others measured themselves against.
The one that represented everything that could have been and at the same time, was.
He is the one that people picture when they think of the Negro Leagues, but he should be more than that, much more.
From 1920 to 1944, Kenesaw Mountain Landis ruled baseball with an iron fist. He is credited with cleaning up the game and restoring it to its former glory, saving it from itself. He did this by laying down the law and making an example of the 1919 Chicago White Sox (or “Black Sox”, who had thrown the World Series of that same year) by handing out life-time bans to the players involved, one of those players was another all time great hitter, “Shoeless Joe Jackson.” This was his legacy, cleaning up the game, Landis however, also kept the game white. It would be easy to oversimplify or further complicate his role in upholding the color barrier but for the purposes of this article, suffice it to say that he presided over an era of baseball in which black players were not allowed to play professionally with white players. I think that speaks volumes to who he was.
The reason I am talking about these men is because until very recently, Kenesaw Mountain Landis’ name was inscribed on the MVP trophy awarded every season to the National and American Leagues Most Valuable Players, by the Baseball Writers Association of America, more recently however the BWAA voted overwhelmingly to remove Landis’s name from the award.
Here, baseball is given an opportunity, to shine a light somewhere that most people haven’t ever seen. They can do this by adding the name Josh Gibson to that most prestigious of awards. Not only would it add great meaning to an already hugely important milestone in any players career, but it would also allow for a brief moment of education and remembrance for the game of baseball moving forward.
For players like Josh, who didn’t get the chance to out slug Babe Ruth.
For guys like Hilton Smith who never got to blow one by Hank Greenberg.
For guys like Ray Dandridge who never got his shot.
I hope that the MLB starts working a little harder to remember and honor the men and women of the Negro Leagues because they deserve to be remembered by everyone.
Stats, http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=gibso01jos
