Baseball's Greatest Catcher Never Played in MLB

Josh Gibson was a catcher who played mainly for the Pittsburgh Crawfords and Homestead Grays in the professional Negro Baseball League. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in Negro League history, and was compared to Babe Ruth frequently throughout his career. In terms of catchers in the history of baseball, Josh Gibson stacks up to some of the greatest to ever play, according to reporters, statisticians, and baseball experts who study the game. Gibson never got the opportunity to play in the MLB, but he certainly left his mark on the game of baseball that lives on. Today, we talk about the career, biography, and larger than life legend that is Josh Gibson.
#blackhistorymonth #baseball #biography
0:00 Intro
0:52 Career Stats
2:51 Biography
8:36 Impactful NL Players
10:05 Players Talking About Gibson
12:49 The Tall Tales
13:41 Conclusion
Make sure to leave a like if you enjoyed...
To subscribe: / @cam23
My Twitter: / camdenhanlon
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All music from Epidemic Sound
Outro: "I'm Not Having Any Fun" by Bad Suns (my favorite band)
Additional tag:
Baseball podcast
Sources:
baseballhall.org/hall-of-fame...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Gi...
bleacherreport.com/articles/6...
www.u-s-history.com/pages/h37...
www.pabook.libraries.psu.edu/...
www.app.com/story/news/local/...
www.britannica.com/biography/...
www.baseball-reference.com
www.baseball-almanac.com

[@Hatbilly]

This is one of the best baseball videos on KZbin, period. Insanely thorough research here, Cam.

[@Cam23]

Thank you so much Hatbilly that means the world. This video by far took the most work out of any video I’ve ever created, but through it I felt the most rewarded, because of the incredible history surrounding Josh Gibson. Truly incredible human being and while it was a stressful process to try and do his story justice, in the end I was glad that it came together the way it did.

[@matthewheide4797]

Thank you for this, this part of Baseball history needs more attention and I hope you continue to document this particular area.

[@Cam23]

There’s more to come! John Henry Lloyd is the next guy on my radar for a video.

[@axelagosto5196]

@@Cam23 Awesome

[@Tyweezy84]

As an African American i APPRECIATE you shedding light on this. Well done video 🔥💪🏿

[@Cam23]

How did I not see this comment til now?! Thank you so much I’m glad to hear you enjoyed the video!

[@bk_goatkim679]

It’s definitely Josh Gibson! Great video as always!!!!

[@travismcnamara8919]

Excellent video! I think there's a strong argument that you are the most underrated baseball channel and on the very short list of most underrated channels regardless of genre!

[@Cam23]

This comment made my day! Thank you for saying such nice things about the channel, I work really hard on these videos and I hope that I can continue to entertain, inspire, and teach others about the sport I love the most!

[@Byrrd51]

Great stuff. Thank you for posting this. The guy was incredible.

[@axelagosto5196]

Gibson was a monster I puertorrican and my father saw played and tell I never in his live saw a player hit the ball like Gibson.And PR was the house of a lot of the players from negro league,we respected all of them Gibson,Brown,Clarkson

[@Cam23]

That’s awesome, thank you for sharing!

[@axelagosto5196]

@Cam 23 A pleasure I love baseball through my father,From my mother family her father played in Caribbean leagues and his brother won the first two batting titles in Puerto Rico Perucho Cepeda a hell of the I imagine you known his son Orlando Cepeda

[@Cam23]

@@axelagosto5196 That's really cool. And I do know Orlando Cepeda!

[@danieltalley4511]

Great video, sir! Thank you!

[@Cam23]

Thank you, I appreciate that! 😄

[@adamdavis2760]

Pudge Rodríguez was pretty good.... 14-time All-Star 13-time gold glover, 7-time silver slugger, league MVP....almost 3000,hits 127 SB as a catcher with 311 HR. The most impressive thing I think is he caught every year he was in the league till the age of 39....He did DH for only 57 games but unlike most catchers, he never stopped catching to the tune of 2427 games which is insane considering he had 2543 career games Nobody caught more games than Pudge ....also over a ten year span of his career he carried a 317 BA which for catchers is pretty rare

[@Tanman007]

KZbin algo works well - I watch a video of the negro league stats being made official then it suggests me this video . Respect OP

[@Cam23]

Thank you for watching!

[@eddierivera1860]

Hes the best all time my dad saw Josh play winter ball in PR my said Bech couldnt carry Gibsons bat. The Negro League was a major league.

[@CHSN-1]

Doubt it lol. The Negro leagues couldn't hold the mlb's jock bro. It was prob comparable to Double A ball.

[@jaybrown3341]

Thank you🙏🏾💪🏾✊🏾

[@heyeye81]

Just discovered and subscribed to your channel, great content.

[@Cam23]

Thank you and welcome to the channel! ⚾️

[@BeeGeezTV]

On this historic day I find this video.

[@flame-sky7148]

Great segment, MLB has further elevated Mr. Gibson. I wish they baseball wasn't segregated back then as well as I wish more box scores were available for more at bats. Great video.

[@Cam23]

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. Gibson should be celebrated, we were robbed of a legendary MLB career

[@blackice3395]

All we want is a chance. 🥺 Great fucking video!✊🏿

[@Cam23]

I'm glad you enjoyed! I highly recommend checking out "The League" documentary if you want to learn more about the great players that never got their chance in MLB

[@efg1311]

Awesome video

[@Cam23]

Thank you!

[@jamesrobinson5336]

Great video you have a new subscriber!!!!

[@Cam23]

Thank you! Welcome to the club 😎

[@treomoe]

Well times have changed and we now should be calling him the greatest.

[@Mr.Thankful]

Yes thank you 😊

[@GuillaumeDemers-gz2uw]

Always been a fan of the negro leagues since i saw Ken Burns baseball as a kid watching Josh Gibson's stats online nowadays is pretty neat..... 20 hr's in 39 games in 1937.... thanks for the video

[@32a34a]

Josh did all this while swinging a 39 ounce bat. Man had crazy strength.

[@Cam23]

He was a beast!

[@libradawg9]

With all the mistakes and scandals over the years, one thing MLB has done right was to keep these players' names and contributions to the sport. I think it was All Star Baseball 2003 with Derek Jeter where Buck O'Neil told some of the best baseball stories you will hear.

[@internationalhiphopscreenw7866]

An absolutely epic video. Thank you so much

[@Cam23]

I greatly appreciate the kind words! Thank you for watching 😎

[@andre1987eph]

I knew very little about the Negro Leagues. This move feels very positive because it elevates EVERYONE. It's a win win. There are some people in life who are incapable of seeing win-win in any scenario. This is the type who is complaining.

[@luckilew]

Bruh this video hits different right now.

[@wolfe6387]

My great grandfather watched him play in Pittsburgh and said he hit a home run into the monongahela river which was over 500 feet

[@Cam23]

Holy smokes that's really cool, thank you for sharing that!

[@davidjohnson6611]

You need to compare and contrast all of the competition that all these players used to face a lot of these ballparks have massive Centerfield fences and tons and tons of foul territory Satchel Paige is regarded as one of the best who ever lived and actually pitched in Major League Baseball as an old man and was effective you should do a video on the old ballparks that would be awesome. There's still a few of them around they are historic and beautiful

[@sanzidaferdous1568]

nice

[@eddierivera1860]

My dad saw him play in PR he j Josh is the greatest hitter he ever saw and he saw William's and DiMaggio

[@Cam23]

That's some high praise!

[@Lschraeder]

It is shameful that the black players were barred from playing MLB until Jackie Robinson. Think of all the additional excitement those players would have created.

[@EthanNiedorowski]

In a game of numbers it’s sad we don’t have the numbers

[@EthanNiedorowski]

Gibson Ruth Bud black jack Tim all names now I just want the numbers

[@Cryptofun325]

And to think Jackie Robinson was literally a low tier Negro league player even by negro league standards. So if he did great stuff in MLB, the REAL good players like Josh Gibson would have destroyed the MLB!!

[@jasongibbs3713]

Well, black people were barred from being real citizens until the 1970s

[@whywhy3289]

Another sad part is that Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb who where the two biggest stars of the sport to that point were advocating for integration long before it happened. It was a bunch of nobodies that kept things split.

[@walkerwheeland8670]

All the old stories of 500+ homeruns .. did they used to measure from home to where the ball stopped rolling?

[@jayrod9979]

The X-files did an episode "The Unnatural" that was loosely based on Josh Gibson. Its been awhile since I have watched that episode, but if I recall correctly the had him in the outfield NOT behind the plate which bothers me. Regardless I consider it the best ever episode of the X-files.

[@drivenrc]

Cool Papa Bell aka James Thomas Bell.

[@mimonikeda5768]

Really wonder if Gibson would put up those stats if he played in the MLB. Obviously an insanely talented player, but comparing stats from the MLB and the Negro Leagues doesn't really work.

[@Cam23]

Yeah it’s definitely something worth considering hypothetically. However, considering how well he did while barnstorming and playing against actual MLB players, it really makes you wonder if it’d be much different. The GOATs adapt, and rise to competition once entering a new environment. But I can also see how he didn’t play a majority of his games against them, leading us back to square one. I truly believe that Gibson would’ve surprised us, and done well in the MLB.

[@mimonikeda5768]

@@Cam23 Well said. I think Gibson would have done well in the MLB, probably wouldn't keep up the absolutely ridiculous stats he had in the Negro Leagues, but would still be one of the greatest sluggers of his era, but it really sucks we will never know for sure

[@oldgordo61]

@@mimonikeda5768Wasn't born when Gibson or Ruth played or when they died long before I was born..but can you imagine if Gibson had played in the majors and against or with Ruth? Can you imagine the excitement both would have generated in the race for the most home runs each year? It's a real shame that so many great players were not allowed to play in the majors because of the colour of thier skin.

[@DarrylBarnes]

Yea because black ball ball players are proven better lol

[@DarrylBarnes]

The Negro league clubs used to routinely beat the snot out of white all star teams

[@rico5527]

Now he does

[@eddierivera1860]

He is # 1

[@Bradleytosh]

He looks huge. Jacked up

[@Bradleytosh]

In a good way. A monster

[@THERetro_Savage]

What if he traveled through time and meet Jose Canseco then returned to his time to dominate

[@plutoisacomet]

No such term during that time. He was the son of share croppers and was a NATURAL

[@JoshGibson-fb7mf]

Every time I come to the plate I’m in scoring position - Josh Gibson 🐐

[@ord4r857]

There is an argument to be made for Biz Mackey as 2nd greatest catcher ever.

[@Cam23]

He was an incredible player as well!

[@jamescurran9002]

The key word is IF!! We have roughly 5 years of stats . If you took other players ,and wennt by their best five years statistics, a lot of them would surpass Babe Ruth. For instance, if you took Gary Sanchez first month, he'd be the greatest player ever. I'm skeptical of anything undocumented that comes from the care keepers of the Negro Leagues who only offer up hyperbole to fill the gaps. It's shaky, it's extremely shaky.

[@agentallstar7]

He was definitely really good but it’s apples to oranges

[@LeighMet]

Gimbels was macy's rival till they went out of business in 1981

[@Cam23]

Good to know!

[@spanky9676]

1986. Not 1981.

[@keenanrochester5181]

Gimbals and Macy’s had the same fair chance, not a good comparison. Buck, Gibson didn’t have that chance.

[@borood1188]

Johnny Bench played many years in the MLB.

[@CSDonohue11]

I Love Bench , I’m a lifelong 43yo REDS Man Yogi is My All Time Favorite Human Being & the only Yankees jersey I have But Josh Gibson didn’t get that chance to show the world how Great He truly was Or else I do believe He’d be like Babe Ruth and at the most demanding position on the field . *Sorry I had to edit guys I got a call on the radio from the front office & just wanted to hurry & finish My Comment On The Greatness of Josh Gibson He even has the name that when you hear it You just know He’s a legit Just like Joe Dimagio , Mickey Mantle , Willie Mays , Johnny Bench , Yogi Berra , Josh Gibson , Satchel Page , Jackie Robinson, Ted Williams , Mookie Betts , Stan Musial , Hank Arron , Warren Spahn , Walter Johnson, Sandy Koufax , Nolan Ryan , Pete Rose 🌹 You can tell when Men are meant to Be something special because their names just have a certain ring to them . It can even be a somewhat common name but when You say theirs it’s just different & it’s from the jump As a kid not knowing anything about anything but I could grab a stack of baseball cards and certain players just stood out & you knew they were great the 1st time you read their name You didn’t even have to turn turn the card over & it was in the 80’s before any special cards , you could have a stack of all regulars Topps & You’d read Jose Canseco , Will Clark, Eric Davis , Jose Rijo , Wally Joyner , Barry Larkin & You’d just know they were great and or going to be. I’ve been a fan of those names Especially Larkin from the 1st time I heard their names

[@SconnerStudios]

It's sad he died just months before Jackie broke the color barrier. Buck O'Neil told me that he thought either Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson was the greatest player he saw play, which was only a few months before he died, so from the 1920s to 2006, either Satchel Paige or Josh Gibson was probably the best baseball player of that 80 something year time span.

[@FrontDesk-xl8zq]

#CAMPANELLA

[@jacobjones5269]

Mickey Cochrane..

[@zacharycrawfski2276]

Not true it takes roughly 50 attempts that are mostly strike outs at the big league level it’s 🍎 to oranges the talent jump from an average triple a team was about the equivalent of all the negro team best on one team it’s all speculation and you can’t change history based off of what could have been

[@ronalddorn-gn1sl]

NOBODY is even CLOSE to J. Gibson!!!!

[@user-sp7rr5yc7j]

In his leage

[@user-sp7rr5yc7j]

Wrong in sanction ball he hit 300 hrs the others came against local town teams they would play anybody who would play them do your research

[@jeffreyjacobs390]

THEN it will never be known or even fairly assessed - huh? Many great players - either white or black (Hispanic and Japanese).... whose to say was REALLY BETTER .... personally I saw Johnny Bench play - great - I also saw Yogi Berra in his last years - NONE WERE BETTER than Berra. Perspective is all we have.

[@rafaelramirez1507]

Greatest catcher !? ..... Johnny Bench ! Barnone !

[@akvalues]

Catcher!?? He has a argument for being the best ever!

[@ice-iu3vv]

its a shame that gibson isnt accepted universally as the greatest catcher, and as most certainly a top 5 overall player. lets look at a common perception of many baseball fans. many will claim "mike piazza is the greatest hitting catcher, ivan rodriquez the greatest defensive catcher, and johnny bench the greatest all-around catcher". so for starters, there is no doubt at all, absolutely none among the best baseball researchers that gibson was a far better, much much better hitter than mike piazza. therefore, gibson is the best hitting catcher by an absurd margin. those eyewitnesses who can discuss gibson's fielding seem unanimous that he had a great arm, and really "knew how to catch", but that he wasnt the quickest behind the plate, probably allowed more passed balls than some of the most elite catchers, and was most likely NOT a top 20 defensive catcher all-time. but his defense was nonetheless above average and therefore, miles and miles better than the defense of mike piazza. perhaps somewhere in the range of berra or fisk defensively, not as good as bench, campy, sundberg,dickey, rodriquez etc. still this assessment of his defense would leave him as conclusively the best overall as long as one grants that he is by far the greatest hitting catcher. 2 more related negatives about gibson must be pointed out. he was in sharp decline by his 30th birthday and dead at 36 as a result of his drinking problems, which sound worse than those of any other ballplayer one might name. and baseball has had many drunks. this would be something he brought on himself, even though one could make the case that segregation "caused" the drinking problem. therefore he was the greatest all-around catcher in his 20s, but his prime was rather short, even compared to other catchers (who wear out younger than other players). the point about catchers that is in the least dispute? the fact that yogi berra was the most consistent, averaging .295-24-98 for 12 straight years or something close to that ( i didnt look it up, thats my best recollection, and im certain the point is the same) no other catcher went over a decade without a bad year, so yeah there's always berra in this discussion.

[@peterz22thomas5]

Absolutely ridiculous to integrate Negro League stats into MLB stats. Ludicrous. We can talk about how great Gibson was but we can't use stats to do it.

[@andre1987eph]

Discussing a player's greatness typically involves referencing their statistics. The statement implies that stats are essential for such discussions but rejects the integration of the very stats that would support the discussion.

[@squozerrplays7365]

It is because they knocked down the "best" white players?? Lmao keep crying your ancestors where racist back then although segregated black players where more talented like it or not

[@AlienObserver-wi2pb]

Heresay. All you have heresay.

[@Cam23]

Welcome to KZbin AlienObserver-wi2pb

[@oldgordo61]

Well more than just hearsey. The great Walter Johnson regarded Josh Gibson as one if not the greatest catcher ever. And he has seen some great catchers in his day. Personally I think Willie Mays was the greatest all round player. He could hit a ton he was a superb fielder had good speed on the bases and a very good batting average. I only saw Mays play near the end of his career.

[@AlienObserver-wi2pb]

@@oldgordo61 His numbers cannot be proven. They are made up.

[@PlayerToBeNamedLater1973]

Id bet a thousand be couldn't throw like Bench , or call a game like Bench , or move around the box like Bench.

[@Cam23]

Bench is an all time great no doubt about it. But if Satchel Paige raved about this guy, I’m gonna have to disagree with that. There’s no data to back that up, it’s all speculation and guessing he played in a different time.

[@PlayerToBeNamedLater1973]

@@Cam23 to be fair Satchel said a lot of things that were exaggerations , hyperbole or outright lies. I don't doubt Gibson's ability. But I have not seen any catcher with the combination of skills Bench had. confidence, power , arm strength and accuracy, a photographic memory , light on his feet, leadership skills. I've heard Gibson had great power. The NNL was watered down more than the majors and that would generally show when teams got deep into their rotations or bench players. Some of the Negro League players were major league caliber. But some were not.

[@wnggtg]

Yogi Berra!?!?!? Nonsense!!!!! Johnny Bench not in top 5!!!!!

[@joepall323]

Yogi Berra is hands down the best ever at the position...

[@damonwade9476]

🥹 appreciate you for this rest in peace Josh Gibson 🙏🏾🙏🏾 💯💯

[@Cam23]

Josh Gibson deserves the love!

[@rossy2976]

This is stupid and makes no sense to say ... "oh i think like others think therfore he did hit 800 hr"🤡

[@booradley6832]

Here's the problem with this argument, which i've seen frequently. You arent actually comparing similar products. At this time black people were around 20% of the population, and the US population was only 120 million (nearly 350m today.) By being restricted in their recruitment pool to such a comparatively small number, the pitching talent was naturally not as high as it "should" be in order to be held up for a wider comparison. Which, the MLB itself by excluding the best black athletes also had a watered down pool as well, albeit significantly larger, they still were missing key players. Neither base MLB nor Negro League players can actually be viewed as competing in a "complete" environment to players who came later. Is this their fault? Of course not. Most Major Leaguers were fine with playing with Negro Leaguers and did during off season exhibitions. It was a trenchant few, owners and Landis who blocked them and shoulder all the blame. For a similar circumstance look at 1961 when home runs went way up. Why? Because they had to draft a bunch of not-ready talent into the league to fill out expansion teams, making the best hitters look even better. MLB experienced two significant jumps in quality, first was integration and second was internationalization. By expanding the available talent pool and only picking the top .1% to play professionally, you naturally get better to an order of magnitude. Was Gibson an excellent player? Absolutely. Best catcher in the negro leagues? Almost certainly. Better than most if not all MLB catchers at that time? Again, almost certainly. Better than catchers who came later? Very questionable assertion. And this goes for every sort of "best ever" argument. Jordan and Lebron is one I hear a lot. Gretzky being the best despite playing back when it was NHL junior, all these time displacement arguments are just ones that cant be answered. Even just the nature of human understanding, where once something is learned it cannot be unlearned, makes each successive generation better than the last without an outside force changing it. Good video though. You didnt even use any sad music or talk about how awful all white people are, like Ken Burns does whenever he talks about Negro Leaguers.

[@JarrodFLif3r]

Look at how well Satchel Paige pitched in the MLB in his 40s.....Gibson's praise for hitting and defense was even more so than Satchel. Unfortunately we will never know. He very well could have been the best catcher, hitter, home run king had he played in the MLB... Regardless when they talk about the top pitchers, he deserves to be in the conversation with Bench and Berra.

[@CHSN-1]

Babe Ruth didn't compare to Josh Gibson? Wake up! Nobody knows what Gibson's stats are lol. You cant say he's better than the greatest player of all time lol. Babe Ruth broke a record every time he hit a home run! I played in the major leagues, and the dis respect Ruth gets is unreal. I bet the Negro leagues was comparable to Double A ball.

[@Cam23]

If you think this video is disrespecting Ruth you've misunderstood. Gibson's legacy comes with larger than life comparisons and question marks when it comes to stats, because we don't know! But what we do know is that all-time great players who saw him play compared him to some of the best to ever do it.

[@rico5527]

U should know his stats. They are now apart of mlb history 🇺🇸

[@JasonFleischman]

Bench is to catchers like Butkus was to linebackers cmon this is another league Gibson was good but he didnt hit near the homeruns or hits like Bench had . Like you said Bench had 10 gold gloves that says it all .

[@Matt0112]

If I was allowed to use stats outside of the MLB, I’d be the best hitter too. Come on bro….bad take on this one.

[@Cam23]

So quoting other all-time greats who raved about Gibson is a bad take? Got it.

[@andre1987eph]

T Ball stats can't be counted 🤣

[@IamThePapi]

I can't take you seriously if you make a list of the greatest catches of all time and Yadier Molina is nowhere to be found. LOL. Come on dude Yadier is 100% the best defensive catcher and his offense caught up as well so I think Yadi is the best. I'm a bias Cardinal fan of course but dude that guy has to be in the conversation.

[@Cam23]

I don't disagree with that, I'm just one person and I simply brain farted on it. I wasn't being malicious or intentionally leaving him out

[@guayames]

Babe Ruth did not play in the Negro Leagues, neither Josh Gibson in the MLB league. They are different leagues that should be celebrated for what they were, but they were not equal. Equalizing the unequal is ignorant or stupid! Let’s celebrate all these great players not invent new ways of measuring reality! Hypothesis is not reality!

[@Cam23]

I respectfully disagree, look at this video as an opinion piece that you might read in the newspaper. In fact, this video is celebrating both leagues because it shows that there were players left out of the MLB who deserved to be there! You're right, hypothesis is not reality, but who's to say we can't entertain what could have been? It's only unequal because segregated America made it that way

[@Erborne1979]

Okay so are gonna add the stats of all players who "barnstormed" in the off season or played in winter leagues or the minor leagues for that matter to their professional stats???? Look the segregation of baseball (and all other aspects of society) was horrible... but you can't include stats of games that he was facing semi pro players....

[@LeftyLouper2211]

Then he ain't the greatest catcher. His stats cannot even be proven.

[@Cam23]

Then I suggest you take this video for what it is: a subjective speculation. The stats that we do have show he is an all-time great, no debate.

[@lowrollerscraps2477]

Not even close

[@shaunre8363]

I love the story of Josh Gibson and love the attention he's been getting but there's almost no proof behind his numbers. Also, why are winter league stats being added to totals? Plenty of mlb players play winter league and its not added to their official totals. The Mexican and Puerto Rican leagues didn't have near the talent the MLB had. Personally, I think Roy Campanella is closer to being the greatest catcher of all time. He was robbed of about 5 years of his prime because of baseballs stupid segregation rules, but we saw what he did from ages 26 on in the MLB.

[@Cam23]

You make great points but unfortunately that’s the time he played in. Hard to fault someone who was banned from playing in the MLB. And it’s truly a guess as to what could’ve been his numbers had he played in the MLB. Campanella definitely has a great case to hold that title. Different catchers from different eras offered a variety of skill sets. Bench and his defense, Yogi and his bat to ball abilities, etc.

[@staubert4774]

He didn’t play in majors

[@fiascostew5001]

Nope this is B's to take people who never played in MLB only MLB doing it cause MLB is boring n there trying to get new kids to play

[@Cam23]

It's hard for me to follow exactly what you're trying to say, but I don't believe there's a reason why we can't hypothetically compare Josh Gibson to any other catcher who's ever played this game. It's not his fault he couldn't play in MLB, and frankly it's egregious to ignore such a rich part of baseball history