|
Sean L. Gibson
 Sean L. Gibson is the great-grandson of Baseball Hall of Fame legend Josh Gibson. Sean has dedicated
his life to the preservation of Josh's legacy and is the Executive Director of the Josh Gibson Foundation, a Pittsburgh area
non-profit organization. The Josh Gibson Foundation was established in 1994 in an effort to keep the memory of Pittsburgh's
beloved Josh Gibson and the entire Negro League alive. The foundation partners with Duquesne University by matching
up college students with elementary and middle school youth for tutoring. The foundation also sponsors the Josh Gibson
Little League. .
There
is likely no greater expert on the history of the Negro Leagues than Sean who speaks to a variety of groups throughout the
year teaching on the significance of these great men who played the game before Jackie Robinson integrated baseball in
1947. . Josh Gibson, the man that many regard as the greatest Negro League player ever, was born
on December 21, 1911 in Buena Vista, Georgia. He relocated to southwestern Pennsylvania in 1924 after his father found
work in a Pittsburgh area steel mill. Josh began catching for the Pittsburgh Crawfords in 1927. With the addition
of Gibson, the Crawfords rose to the top of the city's sandlot teams and challenged Cumberland Posey's Homestead Grays, a
stellar club of Black professional baseball players from across the nation.
During Gibson's career, he played ball with Hall of Famers Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Judy Johnson,
and Satchel Paige. The Homestead Grays won an unprecedented nine consecutive Negro National League pennants with Gibson behind
the plate. Due to sporadic statistical accounting in the Negro Leagues, reports vary
regarding the number of home runs Josh Gibson hit, with some estimates as high as 962. During his career, Gibson never played
on a losing team. Moreover, it was rumored that Pittsburgh Pirates owner Bill Benswanger signed Josh to a Major League contract
in 1943, a full four years before Jackie Robinson entered the league, but Major League Baseball Commissioner Kennesaw Landis
allegedly would not allow Gibson to play. If your organization is looking for an expert on Negro
League baseball, Sean Gibson knows its history from a personal viewpoint.
 |
