Joshua Gibson Historical Marker / Josh Gibson Field

This historical marker was placed outside of Ammon Field in Pittsburgh. This was the home field to the Homestead Gray and Pittsburgh Crawfords in the early 1900's. Joshua Gibson played here in the late 1920's to the early 1930's for both teams. The field was known as Ammon Field until 2008, when it was renamed as Josh Gibson Field for the Baseball Hall of Fame player. The historical marker placed outside of the field is shown for those passing by to remember the amazing baseball player. .

Josh Gibson was a professional catcher in the Negro League. Throughout his time in the league, he played for the Homestead Grays, Pittsburgh Crawfords, Memphis Red Sox, and was considered one of the best power hitters to ever play the sport of baseball. He was remembered for his time playing in Pittsburgh as he hit around 800 career homeruns throughout all his time playing.

Josh Gibson was born on December 21^st, 1911, in Buena Vista, Georgia to Mark and Nancy Gibson. He lived roughly 13 years in Georgia before moving to Pittsburgh due to his father getting a job in a city steel mill. Once brought to Pittsburgh, Josh grew an interest in the sport baseball, which cased him to join the Gimbels A.C at the age of 16. His education stopped at the 9^th grade in order to pursue the sport. After playing for the Gimbels A.C. for two years, Josh was recruited to join the semi-pro team named the Pittsburgh Colored Giants, a negro-league team. Josh married to Helen Gibson while still playing baseball in 1929 and continued to play semi-pro until an accident occurred in 1930.

While in the stands watching the professional Homestead Grays on July 25^th, 1930, the catcher Buck Ewing injured his hand mid game. The general manager now in a flurry, noticed that the Pittsburgh loved Josh Gibson was in the stands watching the game and proceeded to ask him to step in and take his place for the game. Josh of course stepped in and very shortly after, Josh was invited by general manager Cumberland Posey to join the Grays on July 31^st, 1930. His career was now about to take off from here.

Throughout the next decade or so, Gibson played for different teams such as the Pittsburgh Crawfords. He would even travel to Puerto Rico and Venezuela to play for leagues in the winter. Being very dedicated to baseball, Josh continuously played while he could. By the end of the decade, Josh would return back to the Grays in 1939.  He would play for the Grays up until he was unfortunately diagnosed with a brain tumor in early 1943. Josh Gibson's career stats are what made him so recognizable to the baseball community. In the major leagues, which he didn’t play much in, he scored 741 runs, 194 homeruns, and 872 runners batted in which is very impressive. In 1936, he reportedly hit 84 home runs in a season which would add to his total across all leagues which would sum up to nearly 800 home runs all time.  

After his passing in 1947, Josh was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972. The home field he played on called Ammon Field would be renamed after Josh in 2008 with help of the Joshua Gibson Foundation which helps youths in Pittsburgh to get involved with sports and give them the help they need. The field is now used for youth players who are striving to become a Pittsburgh legend like Joshua Gibson.

Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. (n.d.). Josh Gibson. Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.britannica.com/biography/Josh-Gibson. 

Joshua (josh) Gibson historical marker. Historical Marker. (2016, June 16). Retrieved December 9, 2021, from https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=40893. 

Josh Gibson. MLB.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://www.mlb.com/history/negro-leagues/players/josh-gibson.

The story of Josh Gibson : Baseball garbage : Free download, Borrow, and streaming. Internet Archive. (2019, February 17). Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://archive.org/details/podcast_baseball-garbage_the-story-josh-gibson_1000430046719.

WikimediaAdd media Foundation. (2021, October 21). Josh Gibson. Wikipedia. Retrieved October 22, 2021, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josh_Gibson.