▪️1) "There is a catcher that any big league club would like to buy for $200,000. His name is Gibson. He can do everything. He hits the ball a mile. He catches so easy he might as well be in a rocking chair. Throws like a rifle. Too bad this Gibson is a colored fellow." – Walter Johnson
▪️2) "Gibson is one of the best catchers that ever caught a ball. Watch him work this pitcher. He’s tops at that. And boy-oh-boy, can he hit that ball!" – Dizzy Dean
▪️3) "Yes sir, I've seen a lot of colored boys who should have been playing in the majors. First of all, I'd name this guy Josh Gibson for a place. He's one of the greatest backstops in history, I think. Any team in the big leagues could use him." – Carl Hubbell
▪️4) "He [Gibson] was not only the greatest catcher but the greatest ballplayer I ever saw." – Roy Campanella
▪️5) "I played with Willie Mays and against Hank Aaron. They were tremendous players, but they were no Josh Gibson." – Monte Irvin
▪️6) "I break hearts all over the country every summer. If you don't believe me, just ask any pitcher." – Josh Gibson
▪️7) "I didn't see the one he [Gibson] is supposed to have hit out of Yankee Stadium. But I saw him hit a ball one night in the Polo Grounds that went between the upper deck and lower deck and out of the stadium. . . . It must have gone 600-feet." – Buck Leonard
▪️8) "Josh Gibson was the greatest hitter who ever lived. He couldn't play in those ballparks with the roof on 'em. He would have hit 'em through the roof." – Satchel Paige
▪️9) "You gonna tell Satchel Paige or Slim Jones to walk Josh Gibson? They wanted to get him out, so they could tell their children they struck out Josh Gibson." – Buck O'Neil
▪️10) "Every time you’d look at the paper you’d see where he [Gibson] hit a ball 400 feet, 500 feet." – Judy Johnson
▪️11) "The thing I don't like particularly is that people call my father the black Babe Ruth. I'd prefer it if they just called him Josh Gibson." – Josh Gibson Jr.
▪️12) "Josh was a better power hitter than Babe Ruth, Ted Williams or anybody else I’ve ever seen. Anything he touched was hit hard. He could power outside pitches to right field. Shortstops would move to left field when Josh came to the plate." – Alonzo Boone, Negro League pitcher-manager
▪️13) "He [Gibson] was a hitter, one of the greatest you ever saw. The most powerful. . . . He hit them straight. Line drives, but they kept going." – Cool Papa Bell
▪️14) "If someone had told me Josh hit the ball a mile, I would have believed them." – Sam Jethroe
▪️15) "He [Gibson] had an eye like Ted Williams and the power of Babe Ruth. He hit to all fields." – Monte Irvin
▪️16) "When I come to the plate, I’m in scoring position." – Josh Gibson
▪️17) "He [Gibson] was built like sheet metal. If you ran into him it was like you ran into a wall." – Harold Tinker, Negro League outfielder-manager
▪️18) "I’d never heard THAT sound off the bat before. . . . Well, it was a barrel-chested sucker, with skinny legs, with the best swing I’d ever seen. That was Babe Ruth hitting that ball. Yeah. I don’t hear that sound again until 1938. I’m with the Monarchs, we’re at Griffith Stadium . . . and the Grays are taking batting practice. . . . And I hear that sound. I ran down the runway, ran out on the field, and there’s a pretty black sucker with a big chest and about 34 in the waist, prettiest man I’d ever seen. That was Josh Gibson hitting that ball." – Buck O'Neil
▪️19) "No, in my heart it [referring to Gibson's purported 84 HRs in 1936] belongs to Josh Gibson. . . . If Josh Gibson is the home run king, recognize it." – Barry Bonds
▪️20) "You look for his weakness and while your lookin’ for it, he’s liable to hit 45 home runs." – Satchel Paige
▪️21) "I don't break bats, I wear 'em out." – Josh Gibson
▪️22) "Now with Josh, nobody could criticize his personality. Next to hitting, I think he liked eating ice cream more than anything else in the world." – Ted Page
▪️23) "Josh was so young and so strong. People would go to see him play. . . . He was a drawing card, very well known in the black community." – Don Newcombe
▪️24) "When I hear that stuff about how my father died of a broken heart, that pisses me off. Cause that wasn’t my father. He was the last guy to brood about something he couldn’t do nothing about." – Josh Gibson Jr.
▪️25) "Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner." – Josh Gibson
👑 Sources: https://explorepahistory.com + https://theblackdetour.com+ https://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Josh_Gibson + https://sabr.org/bioproj/person/df02083c + https://sportsworld.nbcsports.com/buck-oneil-joe-posnanski + https://www.psacard.com
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