[Josh Gibson: The Power and the Darkness] [Author: Ribowsky, Mark] [December, 2004]

by Mark Ribowsky

Examines the record-breaking career and tormented personal life of Negro League legend Josh Gibson, from his dramatic baseball feats to his self-destructive drug and alcohol abuse to his death at age thirty-seven

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Biography, History, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published May 14, 1996

About the author

Mark Ribowsky is the author of seven books, including the New York Times Notable Book Don't Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball. He lives in Plainview, New York.

Reviews

[Anup Sinha · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I am fascinated by Josh Gibson and certainly learned more by reading this book, I found the approach to be scattershot and the narrative often unreadable. Ribowsky is successful in performing tremendous research but does little to discern and allocate all of his findings. Its vastness in fact prevents him from achieving his stated objective of separating fact from fable and giving us real insight into the power and darkness of Josh Gibson.

I understand and appreciate backstories and side stories, but way too much of the book is derailed into other dramas such as the ongoing soap opera between Cum Posey and Gus Greenlee. He doesn't weave it well into the narrative.

And while he debunks a number of tall tales, Ribowsky slips into new ones like stating that Gibson once picked Dizzy Dean up with one hand and threw him ten feet away while fighting another player with the other hand simultaneously.

I read and thoroughly enjoyed Ribowsky's book on Howard Cosell but don't believe he put anywhere near the effort to organize his thoughts and his writing of this book; there are also some factual errors and typos.

The best Gibson biography out there belongs to Brashler. I thought that one was very good, but someone had recommended this to me. I disagree and suggest that one for those interested in the topic. If you just want an accumulation of research, you might then choose this Ribowsky version.

[Laura McGee · Rating 2 out of 5]

After finishing Satchel Paige’s autobiography I had to learn more about Josh Gibson, the power hitter of his time- known as “the bronzed Bambino”. I bought this book to do just that. He wasn’t the character the Paige was, in fact, he seemed like a troubled person, but oh man, I wish I had seen him play in his hey day!
I also learned more about Buck Leonard, Oscar Charleston, Cool Papa Bell, Roy Campanella,Mule Suttles, and other greats of the time.
The book itself was not the best I’ve ever read- the writing itself that is. I liked the content but it was not the most cohesive narrative.

[Tom Gase · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm glad I read this book on one of the best baseball players of all time, Josh Gibson, that not enough people (including myself before this book) knows about. Gibson never played MLB due to his skin being Black but he was known as the Black Babe Ruth in the 1930s playing for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and the Homestead Grays. Gibson's life off the field is dark and sad, and often troubled. He died way too young and there is so much "what if" in this book. It is tough to write a book about a Negro League star because information, factual and not myths, is hard to come by in this era. For instance one account had Gibson hitting near 70 homers in one season, while another source said he hit about six homers that same season. So which is true? The author does a good job of trying to separate fact from fiction, often saying, "You may have heard this story, however, the records show that THIS happened." An important read for baseball fans.

[bup · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ribowsky's written a great story of the compelling life of a guy who should be about 15 times as famous as he is. Although the author imputes motives to various peoples' actions that would require mind-reading to know, he did a good job of winnowing out the baseball facts about Josh Gibson from the baseball myths about Josh Gibson. Gibson's tragic yet accomplished life make great subject matter.

There should by rights be many biographies on Gibson, but at least the one I know of is good. It's a must-read for anyone interested in baseball history.

[Phil Hardin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed learning about Josh Gibson and what a great player he was. How tragic it was that he never made it to the major leagues because of racial discrimination. He was one of the greatest hitters of all time anywhere.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as impressed by Ribowski's Josh Gibson as I was by the myth.

[B · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are probably two things that a reader of a putative Josh Gibson biography would want to know:

(1) Was he better than Babe Ruth?

(2) What was he like as a person?

The reason a reader wants to know this, of course, is (1) because baseball players are constantly being evaluated against each other and Josh Gibson is often referred to as the "black Babe Ruth" or the best homerun hitter in the Negro Leagues, (2) a biography reader tends to want to know about the person's character, and (3) most Negro League players are very mysterious and their reputations survive in what appear to be clearly exaggerated way.

In the introduction the author disavows being able to determine Gibson's proficiency relative to white ballplayers of that era. This makes a lot of sense. There's not enough data.

Throughout the book, the author refuses to really describe Gibson's character, insisting that he was mysterious. Confusing the lack of information with the actual character of the person does not work.

Failing that kind of knowledge, the author tells a relatively interesting business story of the feud between Gus Greenlee and Cum Posey and Satchel Paige's constant contract jumping. These are things of record so they can be discussed. But if this book had been more focused on the Greenlee-Posey battle, it would have been better. Asserting that this is about Gibson is distracting.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given it 4, but the middle seemed to be more of a history of the Negro Leagues than a bio of Josh Gibson.