Josh Gibson Quotes

Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel. Not just to be as good as someone else, but to be better. This is the nature of man and the name of the game. - Ted Williams

Josh Gibson I’d put in with a group of four or five catchers. Some of those others might do more than he could. The long ball was the only thing he could do better. Like Johnny Bench, I don’t count him a defensive catcher. Dick Dietz of the Giants, I don’t see any catcher better than he. But with the home run hitting, naturally they’re going to rate Bench over everybody. Now Campanella could do everything a catcher should do, but Josh couldn’t. That’s how I rate them. Our greatest all-round catcher was Biz Mackey. Or take Bruce Petway, or Larry Brown—he was a great little catcher too.

I was a kid in Florida, in Sarasota, and the New York Giants trained in Sarasota. When teams would come, we’d stand outside the ballpark, and we would get the balls they hit over the fence during batting practice. We’d sell them to the tourists. And we made a stepladder so we could climb a pine tree out there. That way we could look into the ballpark. The Yanks were in town. I’m out there behind the fence, and I hear this sound. I’d never heard THAT sound off the bat before. Instead of me running to get the ball, I ran up the ladder to see who was hitting it. Well, it was a barrel-chested sucker, with skinny legs, with the best swing I’d ever seen. That was Babe Ruth hitting that ball. Yeah. I don’t hear that sound again until 1938, I’m with the Monarchs, we’re at Griffith Stadium in Washington D.C. We’re upstairs, changing clothes, and the Grays are taking batting practice. I’ve got nothing on but my jock. And I hear that sound. I ran down the runway, ran out on the field, and there’s a pretty black sucker with a big chest and about 34 in the waist, prettiest man I’d ever seen. That was Josh Gibson hitting that ball. And I don’t hear the sound again until I’m a scout with the Cubs. I’m scouting the Royals. When I opened the door to go downstairs, I heard that sound again. I rushed down on the field, and here’s another pretty black sucker hitting that ball. That was Bo Jackson. That’s three times I heard the sound. Three times. But I want to hear it a fourth. I go to the ballpark every day. I want to hear that sound again.

The fact (at this point) is that Josh Gibson hit 165 home runs in elite Negro Leagues competition (and led the league in homers seven years in a row). The legend is that Josh Gibson once hit a home run in Pittsburgh so high that it didn’t come down. The next day, while he was playing in Philadelphia, a ball came flying in and was caught. “Gibson,” the umpire said, “you’re out. Yesterday. In Pittsburgh.” You tell me which is better.