Gibson descendant cheers MLB move
Sean Gibson awoke Wednesday morning expecting to join Pirates general manager Ben Cherington for a charity event, the two delivering food and presents to families through a partnership between the Pirates and Josh Gibson Foundation.
Although snow postponed the event, Sean Gibson planned on asking Cherington (and the Pirates) to support honoring his great-grandfather via Major League Baseball’s MVP trophies after the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted two months ago to remove Kenesaw Mountain Landis’ name from the award.
When Gibson and Cherington finally do get together, they
should have plenty to talk about after MLB announced Wednesday it would finally and officially recognize seven Negro Leagues that
existed from 1920-48, an increased status that’s long overdue.
Josh Gibson, of course, was one of the Negro Leagues’ biggest stars.
“I got an alert this morning on my phone,” Gibson told the Post-Gazette by phone. “I saw the headline, and I was just like, ‘Oh, shoot!’ Next thing you know, everybody was calling me. But it’s a good thing. ... No, actually it’s a great thing.”
For Gibson and his family especially. The Oakdale resident serves as executive director of the Josh Gibson Foundation (JoshGibson.org), which seeks to positively impact youth around Pittsburgh and provide baseball-related opportunities that its namesake never had before dominating with the Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords and others.
Sean Gibson has also made this his personal mission since the BBWAA’s decision to remove the name of MLB’s first commissioner from the plaques, the younger Gibson arguing that his great-grandfather’s name would make the perfect replacement.
By MLB doing what it did Wednesday, even if it should have happened years and years ago, Gibson thinks it should help his case to further honor his great-grandfather and a legacy that he carved out right here in Pittsburgh.
“For us, it’s huge,” Sean Gibson said. “It helps our case. You can’t just compare [Josh Gibson] to the Negro Leagues stats. Now, you can compare him to some of MLB’s greatest players.”
That does open a tricky can of worms, though it’s no different than the Special Committee on Baseball Records identifying six
“major leagues” dating back to 1876 when it last did something similar in 1969.
The Negro Leagues, of course, were omitted, though MLB finally fixed the problem for the centennial celebration of the Negro Leagues, the culmination of what had been a yearlong celebration and honoring of some truly great players.
Many counting stats won’t be affected since Negro League seasons were often shorter than 162 games, sometimes running just half the length. But it will create some change atop various rate-based leaderboards.
Gibson, for example, now has the second-highest batting average (.365) in MLB history behind Ty Cobb (.366). His on-base percentage (.449) ranks fifth, and he’s now one of just 12 players (minimum 3,000 plate appearances) with an OPS over 1.000 (1.139), joining Turkey Stearnes, Mule Suttles and Oscar Charleston on that list.
“Josh is going to be around a lot of Hall of Famers and MVP winners,” Sean Gibson said.
Gibson’s 1943 campaign, when he hit .441, actually now qualifies as MLB’s new single-season record for batting average. Meanwhile, detractors might point to the fact that Cobb, Jimmie Foxx and Rogers Hornsby will lose their spots within the top 10 for on-base percentage.
“It is MLB’s view that the Committee’s 1969 omission of the Negro Leagues from consideration was clearly an error that demands today’s designation,” MLB wrote in a statement.
Wednesday’s news came a little bit earlier than Sean Gibson anticipated. He knew this was possible, but he figured maybe early next year.
Gibson said he had been in contact with the families of Negro Leagues greats such as Satchell Paige and Buck Leonard, discussing the possibility of this happening and what that would mean for their family legacies.
Gibson also wonders why it took so long to get this done, although he is aware of how difficult it was to compile many of these stats. With local papers not giving the Negro Leagues the proper acknowledgment, these stats were tough to find, forcing the Seamheads Negro Leagues Database — a key part of this — to dig really deep.
The list of stats does not include barnstorming games or exhibitions against all-white teams, hence why the “almost 800” homers assertion from Gibson’s Hall of Fame plaque won’t push him past Barry Bonds.
But as far as Sean Gibson is concerned, he doesn’t need a ranking to prove his great-grandfather was a great player. He does, however, appreciate the recognition for all Negro Leagues players and their families.
He also hopes that it can create additional momentum for a potential Josh Gibson Memorial MVP Award, something Sean Gibson recently had plastered atop a fancy new website (jg20mvp.com).
“With this announcement, it should help our case,” Sean Gibson said. “I’ve read several things before that said, ‘Well, Josh didn’t play in the majors.’ Nobody can say that now.
“It’s a great day. Christmas came early.”