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N0KFQ > TODAY 04.06.12 00:07l 61 Lines 2883 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 23224_KB0WSA
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Subj: Today in History - Jun 3
Path: IZ3LSV<I0OJJ<VE3UIL<N0KFQ<KB0WSA
Sent: 120603/2302Z 23224@KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA BPQK1.4.50
Jun 3, 1937:
Josh Gibson hits ball 580 feet in Yankee Stadium
On this day in 1937, The Sporting News reports that catcher Josh
Gibson of the Negro League's Homestead Grays hit a ball two feet
from the top of the façade of Yankee Stadium, 580 feet from home
plate. If Negro League records were kept alongside those of the
National and American Leagues, Gibson's home run would eclipse
Mickey Mantle's record 565-foot home run hit off Chuck Stobbs in
Washington's Griffith Stadium on April 17, 1953 as the longest
ever hit. This is not the only record Gibson might hold, and
possibly not the only record for distance. Some credit him with
crushing a fair ball out of Yankee Stadium in 1934, which if true
would make him the only player ever to accomplish that feat.
Born in Georgia on December 21, 1911, Josh Gibson and his family
moved to Pittsburgh when he was a teenager. There, he played
semi-pro ball and developed a reputation as a fearsome power
hitter. Josh Gibson's professional career began in 1930, when,
while attending a Grays game, he was summoned out of the audience
by players to replace the team's injured catcher.
Gibson became the Grays' permanent catcher and cleanup hitter,
and was soon the best power hitter in the Negro League. Many who
saw him play said that he was the best power hitter of his
generation, superior even to the more celebrated Babe Ruth. He
hit tape measure blasts and homers in droves in spite of the fact
he played his home games at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and later
at Griffith Stadium in Washington, D.C., two of the largest
stadiums in baseball.
There is no central authority on Negro League statistics, so
precise numbers for Gibson's career are impossible to determine.
Most sources agree that his career average was at least over
.350, and it has been put as high as .384. His Hall of Fame
plaque says he approached 800 home runs for his career, but
others have put the number as high as 900. Gibson is credited by
some with having hit 84 home runs in a single Negro League
season, which would be 11 more than the major league record of 73
held by Barry Bonds. Some have placed his slugging percentage in
certain seasons at over 1.000. In integrated games between Negro
League teams and all-white big league teams, Gibson hit .426.
In the early 1940s, Gibson was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He
slipped into a coma, and upon regaining consciousness refused to
allow doctors to operate. On January 20, 1947, when he was 35,
Gibson suffered a fatal stroke in his bed after asking to see his
baseball trophies. He died three months shy of Jackie Robinson's
debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers and the integration of the major
leagues.
Gibson was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972 by the
Committee on Negro Baseball Leagues.
73, K.O. n0kfq
N0KFQ @ KB0WSA.MO.USA.NA
E-mail: n0kfq@winlink.org
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