Who's Inspiring Us: The Josh Gibson Foundation
Josh Gibson with the Pittsburgh Crawfords. Photograph via National Baseball Hall of Fame
With the recent news that the Negro Leagues will at long last be recognized as “Major Leagues,” one of The Josh Gibson Foundation’s missions becomes even more relevant.
2020 marked the year that Kenesaw Mountain Landis’s name was stripped from the Most Valuable Player award, a move being made as a growing number of Americans begin to reckon with the history of institutionalized racism that has plagued our country since before it was even founded. Landis upheld this status quo during his time as Commissioner of Baseball from 1920 to 1944, continuing to keep incredible players like Josh Gibson barred from participating. Now, there’s a movement to not only remove Landis’s name, but replace it with Josh Gibson’s.
The Baseball Writers’ Association of America is reported to have floated names including Frank Robinson, Branch Rickey, and Josh Gibson as possible heirs to the name of the MVP award. Executive Director of the Foundation, Sean Gibson, would like to see his great-grandfather’s name on the trophy. In an article from August 20th, 2020 on The Undefeated, he writes:
As his great-grandson, it is an honor to see Gibson among the names being considered for the trophy along with two other worthy candidates. Rickey dared to sign Jackie Robinson as the first Black player in the league while the sport — and most of the country — was still segregated. Frank Robinson remains the only player to win the MVP in both the American and National leagues. Both men deserve strong consideration, but only Gibson was denied the chance to win an MLB MVP award because Landis did not integrate baseball as its first commissioner.
Wouldn’t it be fitting for Gibson’s name to be on the trophy? He likely would have been a multiyear MVP awardee in the majors during Landis’ tenure if the award had existed, and if Black players were given an opportunity to play in the majors. In fact, it would be more than fitting, it would be poetic justice.
As the Josh Gibson Most Valuable Player Award becomes more and more of a possibility, The Josh Gibson Foundation has also launched an adjacent website for the cause, JG20MVP.com. The site includes a petition (go sign it!), quotes from fellow Hall of Fame players about Josh, as well as T-shirts promoting the cause.
More about the Josh Gibson Foundation
The Josh Gibson Foundation was founded as a non-profit organization to honor his legacy by surviving family members in 1994. As stated on their website:
“The goal of the foundation is to provide the type of access that Josh Gibson never enjoyed with the creation of facilities and baseball fields dedicated to the youth of the Pittsburgh community. The Josh Gibson Foundation has evolved into an organization dedicated to providing a variety of academic and athletic programs that allow the next Josh Gibson to reach his or her potential.”
Just a few of their past and present programs include:
Josh Gibson Baseball Academy
Camp Challenge - a 6-week summer camp program for kids ages 6-13.
College internships
BOYS2MEN and STEAM (Science Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) - two programs that have been adapted to run virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.
They also conduct a number of additional educational programs throughout the year, which include mentoring, after school programs, and scholarships. There is also a cultural program, to spark student interest and create a dialogue about Pittsburgh-related history. Some of these topics include “organized labor in Southwestern Pennsylvania, the steel industry, the jazz age culture of the Hill District in Pittsburgh, the history of Homestead, the plays of August Wilson, and Negro League Baseball,” as listed on the website.
A few additional thoughts
Josh Gibson pictured with fellow members of the 1946 Homestead Grays. Photo via The Josh Gibson Foundation.
While we are excited that Major League Baseball is finally recognizing Negro Leagues stats as “Major,” it is critical that we remember they do not have the right to erase or gloss over the existence of early Black baseball. The Negro Leagues existed because of racism. We don’t get to celebrate them or their players without also acknowledging that they should have never been forced to exist separately but for anti-Black racism.
So, we at Local Nine encourage you to join us in reading more about the Negro Leagues, no matter how much you may think you know. There is so much information out there to absorb.
In honor of Josh Gibson’s legacy, Local Nine will be donating 25% of proceeds from ANY handmade garment that features a Negro League team to the Josh Gibson Foundation.