Joshua Gibson was an American baseball catcher primarily in the Negro leagues. Baseball historians consider Gibson among the best power hitters and catchers in baseball history. In 1972, he became the second Negro league player to be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Gibson with the Homestead Grays in 1931
A water tower in Buena Vista, Georgia, proudly proclaims the town to be the "Home of Josh Gibson".
Gibson (standing, center) with the 1932 Crawfords
Gibson's plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame
The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be used narrowly for the seven relatively successful leagues beginning in 1920 that are sometimes termed "Negro Major Leagues".
Octavius Catto, black baseball pioneer
Bud Fowler, the first professional black baseball player with one of his teams, Western of Keokuk, Iowa
Moses Fleetwood Walker, possibly the first African American major league baseball player
Chicago Union Giants in 1905