By 1932 Gibson, along with fellow future Hall-of-Famers James "Cool Papa" Bell and Satchel Paige, had signed with the Pittsburgh Crawfords, forming perhaps the greatest Negro League team of all time. Bell was so fast on the basepaths that, according to Paige, he could "turn off the light and jump in bed before the room got dark." Once, while batting against the great St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Dizzy Dean, Bell scored from second base on a Gibson sacrifice fly, and it was not unknown for him to score all the way from first base on a bunt. For his part, the witty Paige, gifted with a great fastball and excellent control, was surely the best known black player in America; he and Gibson formed one of the best pitcher-catcher batteries in baseball history.

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Gibson hit many of his home runs in two of the toughest parks for a right-handed hitter–Forbes Field, which measured 365 feet down the foul line, and Washington, D.C.'s Griffith Stadium, whose left-field fence stood 408 feet from home plate. And Gibson did not simply feast off easy pitching. In 15 games against white big leaguers, he batted .415 and averaged one home run every three games. There is no telling what records he might have set had such small parks as Boston's Fenway Park or Brooklyn's Ebbets Field been on his playing circuit. In 1942, word spread that several major-league clubs were talking about signing black players. Gibson, along with Paige and Campanella, were mentioned, but in the end, nothing came of it.

That October, Gibson faced Paige in the Negro Leagues World Series. It marked one of those magic moments that would have lived forever in legend if it had happened in the majors. Gibson had told a reporter that he hit Satchel "just like any other pitcher," so Paige gave him the chance. With the game and the series on the line, he deliberately loaded the bases in order to pitch to Gibson; then he taunted him. "You been talkin' about how you can hit me," he called to Gibson at the plate. "I ain't gonna trick you. I'm gonna throw you fastballs at the knees. Let's see if you can hit one." Paige then threw three sidearm fastballs, all of which Gibson took for strikes. The flamboyant pitcher strutted off the mound, reveling in what was for him "the biggest day of my life."

In 1945, the Monarchs' Wilkinson signed ex-Army lieutenant Jackie Robinson to a contract. The rookie set the league on fire that season, hitting at a .387 clip over 47 games. When rumors spread that big-league scouts were watching him, old-timers in the league worried that Jackie, then a shortstop, did not have the range or the arm for that position. They feared that if he missed his chance in the majors, it would be many years before another black athlete would get such an opportunity. In addition, they felt that Jackie, although gifted with raw speed, needed to learn the tricks involved in stealing bases. Veterans like Cool Papa Bell, too old to make the majors themselves, coached Robinson on technique and convinced him to shift to second base. Meanwhile, Oscar Charleston, who had been hired by Branch Rickey as a scout, urged the Brooklyn Dodgers' president to sign Negro League catcher Roy Campanella.

Back in 1920, Rube Foster had predicted that if the Negro Leagues maintained a high caliber of performance on the field, the players would be prepared to answer the call when the major leagues were ready to open their doors. By 1947, despite the fact that most of the major-league teams were not ready to accept blacks, Jackie Robinson made his historic walk onto the Dodgers' Ebbets Field, breaking the color line for good.

Three months before that historic day, a broken-hearted Gibson, having longed for a shot at the big leagues, died suddenly at the age of 36 from a drug overdose. That October, in an exhibition game against a big-league all-star team in Los Angeles, Cool Papa Bell walked, and Satchel Paige followed with a sacrifice bunt. Bell, his 42-year-old legs in bandages, streaked for second and on to third. The third baseman came in to field the ball, and the catcher ran to third to cover that base. Bell brushed past them both to score all the way from first. It was a symbolic moment for the two talented veterans, and perhaps the last hurrah for the old Negro Leagues.

John B. Holway is the author of five books on the Negro Leagues, including the award-winning Blackball Stars.

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