However, from a purely numbers standpoint, I've never been able to find anything that shows what his career BA was, career HR total was etc... That's what I want to see when discussing him. The reason there aren't any is that there was never a written record kept during his Negro League Career. Most things have been passed down from word of mouth which we all know gets embelished or changed over time. Stories usually gloss over the facts and when discussing someone who played in the 1930's, those stories become very grainy as the years pass. EX - Babe Ruth's called HR shot. Did he call it? Heck no. He was yelling into the other dugout and pointing at them. However, that story changed over the years and people thought he really did call his shot.
I live in Pittsburgh where Gibson played and played on the same field that he did. I've seen 1000's of pictures of him and have studied a lot about him. I've spoken to many people around here about him (including my Grandfather who WATCHED him play - as well as Satchel Paige and a few others). There's no doubt in his mind that Gibson was great, but he also knows that many of the Gibson stories have been embelished over time - same goes for many players from that era.
This is the big problem when comparing Negro League players - little to no stats. Many people want to see numbers (myself included). Doesn't mean those guys weren't very good (because they were), but I'd be interested to see more from a stat standpoint since numbers IMO tell a deeper story.
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