“A homer a day will boost my pay” - Josh Gibson
(Josh Gibson)
Josh Gibson was born as Joshua Gibson on December 21st, 1911 in Buena Vista, Georgia, USA. In 1923 he moved to PA. He attended Allegheny Pre Vocational School and Conroy Pre Vocational School. At 16 years old he started to play baseball. In 1928 he joined the Pittsburgh Crawfords.
(Gibson in 1928)
In 1929 he married Helen Mason. In 1930 Gibson joined the Homestead Grays. Also in 1930 his wife died during child labour with twins.
(Gibson in 1930)
In 1933 he hit .467 with 55 home runs in 137 games. In 1934 Gibson hit a home run in a Negro league game at Yankee Stadium that struck two feet from the top of the wall circling the center field bleachers, about 580 ft from home plate. It is very hard to find all the statistics of Gibson along with other Negro League players. Gibson hit between 150 and 200 home runs in official Negro league games.
(Gibson in 1934)
In 1943 Gibson fell into a coma and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. In 1944 he was hospitalized for mental observation. On January 20th, 1947 Josh Gibson died of a stroke in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. He was 35 years old.
(Gibson’s grave)
Today is his 105th birthday and we would all like to say happy birthday and rest in peace Josh Gibson.
(P.S. sorry for the late post)
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