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Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues: A Life in the Negro Leagues
During the first half of the twentieth century, Josh Gibson was a legendary figure among black baseball players, who were barred from playing in the major leagues. Perhaps baseball's greatest hitter, Gibson was known as "the black Babe Ruth."
In this illuminating biography, William Brashler introduces an authentic American sports hero and recaptures the mood and style, the excitement and poignance of a world of black baseball that has vanished from the American scene. He traces Gibson's career from the sandlots and semi-pro teams of Pittsburgh, through his debut with the Homestead Grays in 1930, and on to his untimely death in 1947 at age thirty-five-the winter after Jackie Robinson broke through the minor leagues' color barrier.
With 12 pages of black-and-white photographs.
In this illuminating biography, William Brashler introduces an authentic American sports hero and recaptures the mood and style, the excitement and poignance of a world of black baseball that has vanished from the American scene. He traces Gibson's career from the sandlots and semi-pro teams of Pittsburgh, through his debut with the Homestead Grays in 1930, and on to his untimely death in 1947 at age thirty-five-the winter after Jackie Robinson broke through the minor leagues' color barrier.
With 12 pages of black-and-white photographs.
226 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 1978
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About the author
William Brashler
15 books3 followersaka Crabbe Evers with Reinder Van Til.
William Brashler worked for Lerner Newspapers, Chicago, Ill.,as a reporter, from 1971-73; He began his freelance writing career in 1972 and still lives in the Chicagoland area.
William Brashler worked for Lerner Newspapers, Chicago, Ill.,as a reporter, from 1971-73; He began his freelance writing career in 1972 and still lives in the Chicagoland area.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
September 24, 2025
One of the greatest and most mythologized baseball players in American history, Josh Gibson (1911-1947) famously never played in Major League Baseball (MLB). In this 1978 biography, Chicago-area journalist William Brashler attempts to chronicle the life of this soft-spoken power hitter whose main spokesman was the wooden club he wielded in the batter's box. Drawn largely from newspaper clippings and interviews with Gibson's surviving elderly teammates, Brashler tracks Gibson's life from his father's sharecropping origins in Georgia to the sandlots of Pittsburgh, where he was destined to break out as a superstar in the segregated Negro baseball leagues.
Did Josh Gibson really hit 800 home runs? Did he truly hit a ball that sailed out of the old Yankee stadium? Was Babe Ruth really the "White Josh Gibson", or vice versa? Many of these stories are likely apocryphal, yet they seem almost a deserved narrative for a man like Gibson who lived and breathed baseball for the entirety of his post-childhood life.
While Brashler struggles to highlight Josh Gibson the man, he does adequately place Gibson's career in the context of the 1930's and 40's, which saw the rise of the possibly baseball-destroying Great Depression as well as the ongoing despicable crisis of American racial discrimination. By the time Jackie Robinson broke the MLB's color barrier in 1947, Josh Gibson was lying in an unmarked grave in Pittsburgh having spent his early 30's deteriorating both physically and mentally. Perhaps, like Hemingway he couldn't cope in a future where he was not at the prime of his powers, yet this tragic ending cannot take away Josh Gibson's Hall of Fame baseball career and the impact he had on so many young black ballplayers in the 20th Century and beyond.
Did Josh Gibson really hit 800 home runs? Did he truly hit a ball that sailed out of the old Yankee stadium? Was Babe Ruth really the "White Josh Gibson", or vice versa? Many of these stories are likely apocryphal, yet they seem almost a deserved narrative for a man like Gibson who lived and breathed baseball for the entirety of his post-childhood life.
While Brashler struggles to highlight Josh Gibson the man, he does adequately place Gibson's career in the context of the 1930's and 40's, which saw the rise of the possibly baseball-destroying Great Depression as well as the ongoing despicable crisis of American racial discrimination. By the time Jackie Robinson broke the MLB's color barrier in 1947, Josh Gibson was lying in an unmarked grave in Pittsburgh having spent his early 30's deteriorating both physically and mentally. Perhaps, like Hemingway he couldn't cope in a future where he was not at the prime of his powers, yet this tragic ending cannot take away Josh Gibson's Hall of Fame baseball career and the impact he had on so many young black ballplayers in the 20th Century and beyond.
May 22, 2021
How could a man who once rivaled Babe Ruth in talent and notoriety in his field end up in an unmarked grave for over thirty years after his death? This book can explain that as well as many other questions that surround the great Josh Gibson.
Josh Gibson was one of the greatest players in the old baseball negro leagues, before integration. A time when the negro league players made much less money than their white counterparts and had to put up with worse travel conditions, ball park conditions, and treatment in general.
This is an insightful book int the man that Josh Gibson was, to his personality, his athleticism and his popularity during his time. There is a lot of information here about his abilities on the field and his short comings off the field. About his raising and his family, his wife, his drinking, his health issues. The book gives a good overview of the "black Babe Ruth" who was said t have driven the ball farther than Ruth, hit for higher average than Ruth while being an outstanding catcher. The toll that the position and the drinking took on Josh's health is huge. There is some speculation involved due to medical technology at the time but the book also covers his death at an early age. An age when many athletes were still performing.
The book also gives you a good insight into how the negro leagues operated, the issues they faced. How the players would travel south in the winter, even to foreign countries to continue playing for a revenue stream. How to make a living in a hard time that was easier than most.
This is a good book, if you love baseball it is a great book and a must read.
Josh Gibson was one of the greatest players in the old baseball negro leagues, before integration. A time when the negro league players made much less money than their white counterparts and had to put up with worse travel conditions, ball park conditions, and treatment in general.
This is an insightful book int the man that Josh Gibson was, to his personality, his athleticism and his popularity during his time. There is a lot of information here about his abilities on the field and his short comings off the field. About his raising and his family, his wife, his drinking, his health issues. The book gives a good overview of the "black Babe Ruth" who was said t have driven the ball farther than Ruth, hit for higher average than Ruth while being an outstanding catcher. The toll that the position and the drinking took on Josh's health is huge. There is some speculation involved due to medical technology at the time but the book also covers his death at an early age. An age when many athletes were still performing.
The book also gives you a good insight into how the negro leagues operated, the issues they faced. How the players would travel south in the winter, even to foreign countries to continue playing for a revenue stream. How to make a living in a hard time that was easier than most.
This is a good book, if you love baseball it is a great book and a must read.
January 27, 2025
The Greatest Catcher Ever!!
Josh Gibson has been my baseball hero for several years! I grew up with another Gibson (Bob) as a hero, along with Lou Brock and Bill White. But once I found out about the Negro League and the great players there, I quickly found out about Josh. Now at seventy years old I consider him the best baseball player ever! As a person of Caucasian ethnicity, I grew up in the south and I can remember one place in our small town in NC that was segregated. I remember asking my mom why they had a whites only sign as we walked by and she said they were ignorant. My mom and grandparents were Christians and taught us to treat EVERYONE the way we wanted to be treated, which is a Biblical principle taught by JESUS CHRIST. As an adult I was honored to enter the halls of the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri. Everyone should go and not only see the great players that should have been playing with the Major Leagues, but the great human beings that were treated inferior because they were of a different ethnicity. Most people don’t realize that there’s only one race…the human race. That’s also taught in GOD’s HOLY BIBLE. It’s a disgrace what these men went through and yet the ones I met that day I visited the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame only showed gratitude for being able to play the great game of baseball!!
Josh Gibson has been my baseball hero for several years! I grew up with another Gibson (Bob) as a hero, along with Lou Brock and Bill White. But once I found out about the Negro League and the great players there, I quickly found out about Josh. Now at seventy years old I consider him the best baseball player ever! As a person of Caucasian ethnicity, I grew up in the south and I can remember one place in our small town in NC that was segregated. I remember asking my mom why they had a whites only sign as we walked by and she said they were ignorant. My mom and grandparents were Christians and taught us to treat EVERYONE the way we wanted to be treated, which is a Biblical principle taught by JESUS CHRIST. As an adult I was honored to enter the halls of the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame in Kansas City, Missouri. Everyone should go and not only see the great players that should have been playing with the Major Leagues, but the great human beings that were treated inferior because they were of a different ethnicity. Most people don’t realize that there’s only one race…the human race. That’s also taught in GOD’s HOLY BIBLE. It’s a disgrace what these men went through and yet the ones I met that day I visited the Negro Baseball Hall of Fame only showed gratitude for being able to play the great game of baseball!!
March 23, 2020
As a young baseball fan, I was enamored with the Negro Leagues- I loved reading stories of the speed of Cool Papa Bell, the dominance of Satchel Paige, and the awe-striking power of Josh Gibson, whose powerful exploits I couldn't comprehend. A baseball player hit an estimated 800 home runs in less than sixteen years? Impossible, said my young self.
Possible, says reality- and probably more so...supplemented with a batting average that belonged to the likes of Rogers Hornsby (and probably better).
This is a must-read for any baseball fan. That a player of such awesome power, grace, and ability should have been relegated to a league that suffered from Jim Crow and segregation is a crime against not just sports, but humanity. The annals of baseball history were robbed by Gibson's absence (and many, many others) on Major League rosters. What few statistics we have on Gibson illustrate an individual of enormous talent, a talent that was snuffed out too soon in a tragic spiral of alcoholism and depression. While only about 140 pages of this focused on Gibson (the last five chapters or so on others whom he played with), it is enormously entertaining and pretty thorough. I loved it. I can't wait to visit Josh and his heroics again
Possible, says reality- and probably more so...supplemented with a batting average that belonged to the likes of Rogers Hornsby (and probably better).
This is a must-read for any baseball fan. That a player of such awesome power, grace, and ability should have been relegated to a league that suffered from Jim Crow and segregation is a crime against not just sports, but humanity. The annals of baseball history were robbed by Gibson's absence (and many, many others) on Major League rosters. What few statistics we have on Gibson illustrate an individual of enormous talent, a talent that was snuffed out too soon in a tragic spiral of alcoholism and depression. While only about 140 pages of this focused on Gibson (the last five chapters or so on others whom he played with), it is enormously entertaining and pretty thorough. I loved it. I can't wait to visit Josh and his heroics again
July 22, 2018
This book might have been groundbreaking when it was first published back in the '70s but... I didn't learn anything new. It overly relied on secondary sources (with unnecessarily long quotes from contemporary newspapers). It got sidetracked with stories about other players (especially Cool Papa Bell and Satchel Paige). It didn't offer any insight into Gibson's character, but it did contain massive editorializing by the author. After reading this book, I feel like I know William Brashler better than I do Josh Gibson.
June 15, 2025
I hate to say that I found this dull, but man it was dull. There were more about the players Brashler got to talk to while researching this book, which would be fine and interesting if one were looking for a general book about Negro League players. However this is sold as a biography of Josh Gibson, and, well, it doesn't give the insight into the man one would hope, I'm sorry to say. It may be just there is not enough primary evidence for a thorough biography, I'm not sure. The definitive biography of Mr. Gibson has yet to be written, or at least read by me.
May 29, 2021
One of the best books about the Negro Leagues available. So glad that it came back into print (in 2000) and print on demand technology allows it to be printed around the world, wherever baseball fans and history learners are. This should be used any time people learn about the sad, horrible, ongoing state of bigotry, racism, prejudice, and tragedy of "racial" relations in the US. There is only race, but segregation is still with us...
April 10, 2020
I don't even know what to write. So sad that Gibson never got to play in the majors. He would have been thought to be one of the top, if not the best catcher of all time. Sad sad sad. The book is a great read especially considering how little information there is of Gibson. This is a great read for baseball fans and non-fans alike. I wear my Josh Gibson jersey proudly.
September 10, 2018
Great look back on this exceptional baseball player. A must-read for any avid baseball fan.
October 17, 2016
This is an in-depth and revealing biography about an incredible athlete who was shunned by the racist baseball power brokers. Josh Gibson is depicted as a man of great resolve and possessing a warrior's heart. He was a driven man and this book shines a spotlight on his campaign to outdo himself. This is a wonderful biography about a baseball legend.
March 30, 2017
Whether you've heard of "the Black Babe Ruth" or not, or even been privileged to watch Ken Burns' 22 hour "Baseball" documentary where they devote several hours to Negro League Baseball of the early 20th century, everyone will surely find something new in this literary masterpiece surrounding one of the greatest sluggers in the history of professional baseball - black or white, Josh Gibson.
Though only 75% of this book is truly devoted to Gibson, the other 25% covers essential elements of black baseball, especially the various attempts at creating a viable Negro National League (beginning with Rube Foster and continuing through the tumultuous times of the 1930s), along with the inductions of Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, and others into the National Baseball Hall of Fame starting in 1969. I also greatly appreciate the coverage of winter ball in Latin America, and the temptations that Negro Leaguers faced during the financially lean years of the Great Depression of remaining in summer leagues in the United States. The author often mentions the time-honored book on Negro League Baseball, "Only the Ball is White." I think I found my next book, and thank you, Mr. Brashler, for bringing this hidden gem to my attention!
Honestly, I was a little disappointed in how the author handled Gibson's death, in that *SPOILER* Brashler was pretty sure that the brain tumor caused many of Gibson's lifestyle changes (including the imaginary conversations with Joe DiMaggio). However, the author never clearly stated this conclusion in his written word! You can tell what this gifted writer and passionate researcher was thinking, but it wasn't stated definitively in this particular aspect of the book. I had to give the internet a quick search to verify what both the author and I concluded about Gibson's final years... Finally, there is also the occasional literary typo, though the editor / publisher should've caught them.
Overall, this is a treasured biography of both one of the greatest catchers and home run hitters of all time, as well as a great introduction to Negro League Baseball of the 1930s and '40s and its ultimate legacy.
Though only 75% of this book is truly devoted to Gibson, the other 25% covers essential elements of black baseball, especially the various attempts at creating a viable Negro National League (beginning with Rube Foster and continuing through the tumultuous times of the 1930s), along with the inductions of Satchel Paige, Cool Papa Bell, and others into the National Baseball Hall of Fame starting in 1969. I also greatly appreciate the coverage of winter ball in Latin America, and the temptations that Negro Leaguers faced during the financially lean years of the Great Depression of remaining in summer leagues in the United States. The author often mentions the time-honored book on Negro League Baseball, "Only the Ball is White." I think I found my next book, and thank you, Mr. Brashler, for bringing this hidden gem to my attention!
Honestly, I was a little disappointed in how the author handled Gibson's death, in that *SPOILER* Brashler was pretty sure that the brain tumor caused many of Gibson's lifestyle changes (including the imaginary conversations with Joe DiMaggio). However, the author never clearly stated this conclusion in his written word! You can tell what this gifted writer and passionate researcher was thinking, but it wasn't stated definitively in this particular aspect of the book. I had to give the internet a quick search to verify what both the author and I concluded about Gibson's final years... Finally, there is also the occasional literary typo, though the editor / publisher should've caught them.
Overall, this is a treasured biography of both one of the greatest catchers and home run hitters of all time, as well as a great introduction to Negro League Baseball of the 1930s and '40s and its ultimate legacy.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews