Josh Gibson

Josh Gibson was a legendary Negro Leagues catcher whose statistics, now integrated into MLB's official records, make him the all-time career batting average and slugging leader.

Josh Gibson is widely considered the greatest hitter in Negro Leagues history and, by many assessments, in the history of baseball itself — a catcher of legendary power whose career is believed to have included well over 800 home runs across Negro League play, exhibition games, and winter ball, though incomplete Negro League record-keeping means the exact figure will never be certain. Often called the "Black Babe Ruth" by contemporaries, and, according to some who saw both men play, arguably the more feared power hitter of the two, Gibson combined prodigious raw strength with a startlingly high batting average for a slugger of his kind. Gibson starred for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays through the 1930s and 1940s, becoming the biggest draw in Black baseball at a time when the major leagues remained segregated and closed to him entirely. He helped his teams to multiple Negro League World Series championships, including back-to-back titles with the Grays in 1943 and 1944, and was selected to play in a remarkable 12 Negro League All-Star Games. Teammates and opponents alike marveled at towering home runs that, according to numerous eyewitness accounts, cleared entire stadiums — feats that became the stuff of baseball legend precisely because no major league park ever got to see them for itself. Gibson died in Pittsburgh on January 20, 1947, at just 35 years old, only months before Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball's color line — denying Gibson the chance to ever play in the majors he was more than good enough for. In 1972, he became one of the first Negro Leagues players elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. In a landmark 2024 decision, Major League Baseball formally incorporated Negro Leagues statistics from 1920–1948 into its official historical record, and Gibson's .372 career batting average instantly became the highest in MLB history, surpassing Ty Cobb — a long-overdue recognition of a player who spent his entire tragically short life excelled at the sport's highest level, just never on the stage the record books had long denied him.

Power hitter and catcher known for tremendous home run distance

Considered one of the greatest power hitters in baseball history, known as the 'Black Babe Ruth'

• HOF 1972
• MLB all-time career batting average leader (.372)
• 12x Negro League All-Star
• 2x Negro World Series champion (1943, 1944)
• 3x Negro National League batting champion