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This illuminating biography introduces an authentic American sports hero and recaptures the mood and style.
The story goes... Grandmama could hit the ball a mile, catch anything that was thrown, and do everything else -- just like Josh Gibson. But unfortunately, no matter how well a girl growing up in the 1940s played the game of baseball, she would have faced tremendous challenges. These challenges are not unlike those met by the legendary Josh Gibson, arguably the best Negro-League player to never make it into the majors. In a poignant tribute to anyone who's had a dream deferred, two-time Coretta Scott King Award-winning author Angela Johnson and celebrated artist Beth Peck offer up this reminder -- that the small steps made by each of us inspire us all.
Mark Ribowsky, the widely acclaimed biographer of "Satchel Paige," pulls no punches in his portrait of this magnificent, troubled athlete. Ribowsky shows Gibson's dark side, but he also enhances Gibson's historical status even as he separates fact from fiction by examining the truth behind his legendary performances. "Josh Gibson" is the most complete, thorough, and authoritative account of the life of black ball's greatest hitter, and one of its most important stars.
Think you know all there is to know about Josh Gibson? Well, did you know that Gibson made 75 home runs in 1931? Did you know that Gibson's home runs often soared more than 500 feet? In spite of his talent, Gibson never played for a major league baseball team? Josh Gibson is known to many as one of the best baseball players―and possibly the best hitter, of all time. For many years, baseball fans overlooked Gibson's accomplishments because he was never able to play in the major leagues. When Gibson played baseball in the 1930s and 1940s, African Americans were not allowed to play on major league teams. As a member of two of the best Negro league teams―the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays―Gibson's celebrity grew. According to legend, Gibson was the only ballplayer to ever hit a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium. While that story has never been proven and the details are uncertain, Gibson's reputation as a power hitter and outstanding ballplayer is fact.
During the first half of the twentieth century, Josh Gibson was a legendary figure among black baseball players, who were barred from playing in the major leagues. Perhaps baseball's greatest hitter, Gibson was known as "the black Babe Ruth." In this illuminating biography, William Brashler introduces an authentic American sports hero and recaptures the mood and style, the excitement and poignance of a world of black baseball that has vanished from the American scene. He traces Gibson's career from the sandlots and semi-pro teams of Pittsburgh, through his debut with the Homestead Grays in 1930, and on to his untimely death in 1947 at age thirty-five—the winter after Jackie Robinson broke ...
"There's a distinct sound that results from a great hitter making pure contact with a baseball, a thunder-clap of power that lesser hitters can only aspire to. Before his first exposure to Josh Gibson, long-time Negro leagues all-star Buck O'Neil had heard the sound just once, coming from the bat of Babe Ruth. It is as "the black Babe Ruth" that Gibson is best remembered, but while Ruth invited the adoration of millions with his easy smile, becoming a beloved symbol of the national pastime, Gibson lived his life bathed in the darkness that came both from the shadow world of the Negro leagues and from within his own tortured soul." "The legends that grew up around Gibson are legion. It is sai...
It is said that Josh Gibson is the only man ever to have hit a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium. Some claim he hit as many as seventy-five home runs in a season. All agreed he was a frightening hitter to face. What Satchel Paige was to pitching in the Negro leagues, Gibson was to hitting: their greatest star, biggest gate attraction, and most important symbol. Though Gibson is best remembered as "the black Babe Ruth," Ruth became a beloved symbol of the national pastime, while Gibson lived a life veiled in the darkness that came both from the shadow world of the Negro leagues and from within his own tortured soul. Mark Ribowsky, the widely acclaimed biographer of Satchel Paige, pulls no punches in his portrait of this magnificent, troubled athlete. This is the most complete, thorough, and authoritative account of the life of black ball's greatest hitter, and one of its most important stars.
Josh Gibson, sometimes known as the "black Babe Ruth" for his skill at bat, was a power hitter and catcher in the Negro Leagues. He played on the Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords between 1930 and 1946. Gibson died tragically from a brain tumor in 1947, just months before Jackie Robinson broke the baseball color barrier. Though he was never able to join an MLB team due to discrimination, Gibson is often considered to have been one of the best catchers and sluggers in baseball's history.
Presents a biography of the powerful home run hitter and chronicles the history of African American participation in organized baseball, the formation of the Negro leagues, and racial politics in America.
The baseball feats of Josh Gibson remain largely unknown because he played at a time when baseball was segregated by race.