I met Henry Kimbro at his Negro League store in Nashville, Tennessee located on Jefferson Street. He talked about Satchel Page and Josh Gibson. He even told me I reminded him of Josh Gibson because we had the same built and size. He even autographed a baseball ⚾️ for me.
Henry Kimbro's daughter and I are friends, and I have learned so much about him and his life. He was a great player, but even more-so, a great family man. Thanks for commenting!
@skip_nipper that would be an interesting rabbit hole to go down. The one question I would have, "many of the newspapers of that time have disappeared, where could we find those archives?'
But how do we know with certainty about the stats and records that Negro Leaguers supposedly put up? A baseball historian reckons that statistics are accurate and verifiable for only about 75% of Negro League games. While black-owned newspapers could be counted on to carry box scores regularly, they often did not have the resources to send a reporter personally to the game and so had to rely on team statisticians. Games were almost never broadcast on radio and so were seldom archived. I don't think that statistics that have a 1 in 4 chance of being created out of thin air are reliable enough to be included with stats which are almost 100% reliable. I recall reading that Josh Gibson was credited with hitting well in excess of 800 home runs during his career. After a thorough examination of available records, this total was revised downward to the mid-500s. Still impressive, by any standard, but there's a significant difference between 550 homers and 800+ homers. (incidentally, I have much the same objection to the early days of the NBA and of almost all years of the ABA)
Thanks for the presentation, I really enjoyed it.
Thank you for commenting!
I met Henry Kimbro at his Negro League store in Nashville, Tennessee located on Jefferson Street. He talked about Satchel Page and Josh Gibson.
He even told me I reminded him of Josh Gibson because we had the same built and size.
He even autographed a baseball ⚾️ for me.
Henry Kimbro's daughter and I are friends, and I have learned so much about him and his life. He was a great player, but even more-so, a great family man. Thanks for commenting!
I like the idea of adding Negro league stats , and I like the quotes about Josh Gibson but also, look up what the great Walter Johnson said about him.
What would the numbers look like if the barnstorming numbers could be found and utilized for all players?
It would be interesting to know. There is an initiative through sabr.org to compile barnstorming stats!
@skip_nipper that would be an interesting rabbit hole to go down. The one question I would have, "many of the newspapers of that time have disappeared, where could we find those archives?'
But how do we know with certainty about the stats and records that Negro Leaguers supposedly put up?
A baseball historian reckons that statistics are accurate and verifiable for only about 75% of Negro League games. While black-owned newspapers could be counted on to carry box scores regularly, they often did not have the resources to send a reporter personally to the game and so had to rely on team statisticians. Games were almost never broadcast on radio and so were seldom archived. I don't think that statistics that have a 1 in 4 chance of being created out of thin air are reliable enough to be included with stats which are almost 100% reliable.
I recall reading that Josh Gibson was credited with hitting well in excess of 800 home runs during his career. After a thorough examination of available records, this total was revised downward to the mid-500s. Still impressive, by any standard, but there's a significant difference between 550 homers and 800+ homers.
(incidentally, I have much the same objection to the early days of the NBA and of almost all years of the ABA)