J=K Gibson Confirmed!

My days of collecting George Gibson cards go back to about 2006 or so. Since then I've tried to maintain a checklist of every Gibson card out there. At some point I should move it over to something more accessible like TCDB, but until then, it'll remain in a Google sheet (found here). 

Aside from back variations introduced by Helmar, which I do a generally poor job of keeping track of, additions to the Gibson checklist are generally few and far between.

But this year,  a card I had never seen before (in fact, I wasn't even convinced it existed) hit the auction block not once, but twice. Both times it was offered by Heritage, and so now, the checklist confirms that a 1912 J=K George Gibson exists!

Shown first, is the copy that Heritage Auctions auctioned back in June of this year -- my first time ever actually seeing an example of the Gibson card. Depending on how well you know your Gibson cards, it may remind you of his M101-2 or E125. This lot sold for $2100 including the buyer's premium.

Then, as if this card wasn't rare or something, Heritage Auctions auctioned another, better example, just this past December:

And just to show you have unpredictable prices are of, well, obscure players on obscure issues, this card, the obviously much nicer grade, though not as part of a lot, sold for $600 with the buyer's premium.

Sadly, neither example found its way into my collection. But maybe one day ;)

For now, I'm just happy to update the checklist and know the card actually exists!

Martin Healy Jr. (1977-2020)

Martin Healy Jr. (1977-2020)

I have been a member of net54baseball.com since it's inception. Years ago I was a lot more active on the site, and it wasn't uncommon to get messages out of the blue from other members on the site about something related to George Gibson.

Such was the case on January 29, 2015, when 'MartyFromCanada' reached out to introduce himself. It didn't take long for us to realize we had a lot of the same baseball interests, especially Canadian baseball, and Canadian great George Gibson. We regularly traded messages, tipping each other off about auctions or interesting articles and just talking baseball in general.

This continued until May, when Marty emailed to ask how much research I had done on George Gibson, and whether or not I felt there was enough content for a book. Short answer: yes. Prior to having met Marty I had set out to research George Gibson with the intention of writing a book. After about a year, I put my research on hold as life and work got busy. But Marty's note reignited that research. I shared everything I had collected to that point, and before long the two of us were in full force expanding on that research to write a book.

Fast forward to March of 2020, and the book was released. Getting a physical copy in the mail was a cool experience. Admittedly, the timing probably could not have been worse, as it was literally the same week that Ontario went into shutdown due to the global pandemic. In the grand scheme of things, the book was not important, though, and we both knew that. Still, seeing years of work come to fruition was rewarding. And if we had to wait a few months before we could officially mark the release of the book so be it. We had already waited this long. What's a few more months, right?

Well, a few weeks ago, I got a call from Marty's Dad.

Marty passed away the night before in his sleep. He is gone.

So a few more months, it seems, is not nothing.

Gone is our chance to meet in person, and celebrate reaching our goal.

Gone is my chance to shake Marty's hand, to congratulate him on becoming a published author.

Gone is our chance to travel to London, and deliver copies of the book in person, to George's family.

Gone is my friend.

The past few weeks have been tough. Five years ago, Marty and I set out to write a book. We talked nearly daily, be it via text, email or over the phone. Along the way we got to know each other pretty well. The simple truth is that we became friends. I don't think either of us could have predicted that it just happened. It's hard not to like a guy like Marty. So friendly. So down to earth. So kind. And my god, did he know his Canadian baseball history. Kevin Glew recently described it as 'encyclopedic.' I can't think of a better word for it.

Of course, I was aware that he was living with congestive heart failure. To say that was in the back of our minds as we wrote the book would be a lie. Marty was very open about it. He would say to me, "I want to see this book published before I die."

And he did. He got his "author copies" the same day I got mine. We talked on the phone that day. He was excited, I was excited. It was a good day.

So while I will openly admit that I am saddened by his passing, I can't help but look fondly on the fact that his name is firmly planted on the cover of a book about Canadian baseball history, and that he got to see it happen. To be honest, mostly I just feel thankful about the whole thing.

Thankful that somebody else was so intrigued by an obscure baseball player like George Gibson.

Thankful that he found his way to net54baseball, and decided to message me that day in January, 2015.

Thankful that he was equipped with the same ambition to attempt writing a book, and the same ignorance about just how much work it would be.

Thankful that McFarland Publishing agreed to publish our work.

Thankful that we got the book done, and even more thankful about the friendship that formed with each chapter we wrote. Along the way, I got to meet some of Marty's family, and he met mine. My wife will confirm everything I'm saying about what a great person Marty was. And my son, the Yankees fan, will tell you how much he enjoyed trading barbs with Marty, a Blue Jays fan. What my son can't tell you is the number of times Marty mailed him an envelope out of the blue of Aaron Judge baseball cards, because we lost count.

I'm gonna miss talking Canadian baseball with him.

I'm gonna miss catching baseball games with him. 

I'm gonna miss meeting up with him at the annual CCBR baseball conference.

If I stay sad for a while yet about Marty's passing, I think I have good reason. But as you can see, I also have a lot to be thankful for. And I won't soon move on from that either.

Marty my friend, thank you, it has been an honour. Rest in pace.

Richard.

C46 Degrees of Separation: James McGinley

Many months have passed since my first (and until now, only) post trying to connect George to a player in the C46 set. It's probably about time to try to link George to another, don't you think?

Our focus today, is the second card in the set, that of James McGinley. McGinley, who was born in Groveland, MA on October 2, 1878, had a professional playing career that spanned fourteen seasons. He spent parts of two seasons -- appearing in 4 games total -- in the major leagues, with the St. Louis Nationals.

James McGinley's professional career began with the Haverhill Hustlers of the New England League in 1901. He remained with that club for 4 seasons, before being drafted by St. Louis in the summer of 1904. McGinley remained with Haverhill until the New England League season ended, and then joined St. Louis. He appeared in his first game on September 22, 1904. McGinley pitched the back half of a double header against the Boston Beaneaters, and came away with the complete game 4-2 victory. He pitched twice more in 1904, and ended the season with a 2-1 record. It was enough to get invited back for 1905.

The 1905 season for McGinley was short. He appeared in one game, against the Chicago Cubs on May 5th. He lasted three innings, gave up six runs, and was replaced in the fourth inning by Canadian Win Kellum. I'd love to find a connection from Gibson to Kellum and call it a day, but I don't have one, yet. So we'll keep going.

On May 10th, McGinley was released back to the New England League, and just like that, his big league career ended. Since George Gibson didn't debut in the majors until July, there was never a chance for the two to cross paths as players in 1905.

It is unclear where McGinley spent the rest of 1905, but in 1906 he joined Toronto of the Eastern League. McGinley remained with Toronto through 1911. It's very possible, even likely, that Gibson and McGinley crossed paths in 1911, when the Pirates played an Exhibition Game in Toronto late in the season, but it wasn't in the game. McGinley doesn't show up in the box score.

Even if McGinley wasn't at the game, or wasn't even still in Toronto (1911 was his last season with the Maple Leafs), it'd be easy to link Gibson to McGinley thorough one of the players that did appear in that game in 1911, but I thought I'd try to be a bit more creative.

When McGinley played in his final big league game in 1905, playing second base for the St. Louis club was Winfield, Kansas native Josh Clarke. If you know your Pirates history, then both the town Winfield, and the name Clarke will sound familiar. And they should. Josh Clarke, of Winfield, Kansas is the younger brother of Pirates Hall-of-Fame, and fellow Winfield, Kansas native Fred Clarke.

There you have it. Considering how long Fred Clarke and George Gibson played together, I'm sure Gibson crossed paths with Josh Clarke at some point, but for the sake of this exercise, connecting Gibson to McGinley through the Clarke brothers is more than sufficient. Plus, I don't know how many other chances I might get to work Josh into this blog.

Following his time in Toronto, McGinley played for Binghamton of the New York State League in 1913 and 1914, before returning to the Eastern League with Worcester for his final season in 1916. James McGinley passed away on September 20, 1961 in Haverhill, MA.

Thanks for reading.

Cannonball

The other night I found myself with a bit of time, and not much to do. In these situations, I usually end up on the Internet, bouncing around different baseball sites in search of something interesting. On this particular day, I my travels eventually took me to the Negro League History Blogs. I have read a handful of books about the Negro Leagues, but plan to read more. It's a fascinating part of baseball history, and one that I think more people should know about.

Anyway, browsing around the site, I ended up at the site store looking at bobble heads. I am not a bobble head collector, but was intrigued to see who they had selected for a set they call the Negro Leagues Centennial Team. If you scroll through the collection, you'll see that it's a who's who of Negro League baseball. Cool Papa Bell, Josh Gibson, Satchel Page, Biz Mackey, Pop Lloyd, Buck O'Neil. I mean they're all there. And then I saw a name that surprised me: Cannonball Dick Redding.

Now, I've heard of Dick Redding, but only because of one game. In April, 1919, while George Gibson was managing the Toronto Maple Leafs, they hosted an exhibition series with the Pittsburg Colored Stars of the Buffalo City League. Pitching for the Colored Stars in the first game of that series was one, Dick Redding. In front of 2,500 fans, Redding, who was described then as being as fast as Walter Johnson, and has since been described as being faster than Bob Feller, held Toronto to 5 hits, and led his team to an easy 7-0 shutout. The Globe covered the series, and made it very clear that Redding was good. But I had no idea just how good.

Richard 'Dick' Redding, was born in 1891 in Atlanta, GA, and is considered by some to be the fasted pitcher ever to compete in the Negro Leagues, which is obviously where the nickname 'Cannonball' originated from.

Held out of the Major Leagues because of the colour of his skin, Redding instead terrorized the Negro League circuit for for a little over two decades, from 1911 until 1932. Amidst the prime of his career, Redding's career was interrupted by WWI. He enlisted in the US Army, and saw combat in France, but was lucky enough to return to US soil after the war, and continue his baseball career. Redding had a reputation as one of the hardest throwers in the league, which was coupled with a willingness to use that speed to knock batters down to assert his dominance.

During parts of his playing career, Redding also took on the role as manager, managing the New York Bacharachs in 1921. He pitched to a 17-12 record that season, and in 1922 went back to being a player, only. As with all athletes, Redding's skills began to deteriorate as his age caught up with him. But he was still a big name in Negro League baseball, and had significant experience. He parlayed this into another managing opportunity, managing the Brooklyn Royal Giants for six seasons, from 1927-1932.

"Cannonball" Dick Redding passed away in 1948, in Islip, New York, leaving behind a legacy as a hard thrower and a fierce competitor, while also being good natured and easy going. According to Buck O'Neil, he "was a nice fellow, easy going. He never argued, never cursed, never smoked as I recall; I never saw him take a drink."

From 1911-1932, there were 34 no-hitters thrown in Major League Baseball. Against all levels of competition during his career, Redding is credited with 30 no-hitters himself, and as many as 7 in a single season. To have this level of success, on top of being compared with Walter Johnson and Bob Feller, to play and to manage over the course of a couple decades, and to serve in World War I, and to remain relatively unknown, at least to this baseball fan, is unthinkable. And embarrassing.

And yet, this is what's great about baseball. There's always more to learn!

If you're interested in learning more, the following sources were used for this post:

https://negroleagueshistory.com/blog/
http://www.nlbemuseum.com/history/players/redding.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Redding

Five Best Catchers in Pirates History

This one's pretty straightforward, I think.

MLB.com asked each of their beat reporters to rank their top 5 catchers in their franchise's history.

Otherwise, this was really just an excuse to show a 1910 PC796 Sepia post card showing the one and only George Gibson. Check out the sweet mitt, and complete lack of shin guards!

You can go here to see the full article for the Pirates. If you're in a hurry, just skip one-through-three, and five.

Opening day

The 2020 MLB season would be opening this Thursday, if not for the postponement as a result of the global pandemic we are all experiencing right now.

Since we can't quite start to look forward to opening day just yet, I figured instead we could look back at opening day. Or rather, opening days.

From 1906 to 1915, George Gibson made 10 consecutive opening day starts at catcher.
In those contests, the Pirates went 7-3.

Curiously, they never opened at home. In fact, if you look at the whole chart (found here), they didn't open at home from 1894 until 1953. Surely there's a reason. I know that before Forbes Field was built, they often had Spring flooding issues at their park(s), but over 50 years of opening on the road? Wow.

In case you were wondering, George's 10-consecutive opening day starts still stands as a Pirates record.

Want another interesting opening day fact?

Here's one:

In light of opening day having been postponed, McFarland is offering up a pretty awesome deal. Order any of their baseball books between today and April 5th, and you can use the coupon code POSTPONED40 to save 40% off of your order!

Obviously I'm telling you this because I think you should order the newly released biography about George "Mooney" Gibson, but why stop there? McFarland has published some absolutely phenomenal baseball books, written by some excellent authors. This is a great opportunity to get a jump start on acquiring some books for your Summer reading list.

And I'm not just saying that. I put an order in for 5 books already, and might not be done yet!


Stay safe, everyone, and thanks for reading!

Richard.

Mail Day!

Earlier this week, I received an email from UPS telling me a parcel would be dropped off at my house on Friday. Since I live in Canada, an email from UPS is rare at the best of times, notwithstanding the fact that I hadn't ordered anything recently. I almost deleted the email, just assuming it was some kind of phishing email.

Instead, I opened it. After carefully reading over the email, I was intrigued. It looked legit. I didn't click any of the links in the email, but instead went to the UPS site directly and pasted in the tracking number.

Sure enough, a parcel was mailed from North Carolina, and was destined for my house.
The publisher of our book, McFarland, is located in North Carolina. Coincidence?

Nope!

Marty and I knew the book was nearly published. We submitted our final edits last Monday (March 9th) and were told "it's imminent." We assumed that meant a few weeks. Turns out it meant a few days!

UPS emailed me again on Friday, just before lunch, to confirm the parcel had been delivered. I left work at lunch, came home, and sure enough, here is what I found:

Five copies of our book!

I immediately called Marty, unintentionally spoiling the surprise for him, as 5 books were headed his way too, but UPS hadn't tipped him off. Later in the day, he also got his copies.

What a day.

Pretty cool feeling to work on something for years, never really know if it'll see the light of day, and then receive an actual physical copy in your mailbox, and somewhat by surprise, too.

Special thanks to McFarland for taking on the project, but extra props for knowing how to make this a memorable experience for a couple of first-time authors.

Of course that also means the book is out!

Last night, Marty and I put in a large order for the book, and in the next few weeks we hope to have it for sale at the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and some local book stores around the London area.

You can also order the book directly from McFarland, and while you're at it stock up on some of their other great baseball books.

The Beck Cup

It has been nearly 120 years since George Gibson was actively playing in the London City League, competing at Tecumseh Park for a the Beck Cup.

Certainly much history has been lost to those passing 12 decades, especially since it was a city league, and surely at the time, nobody was considering that some of their own may go on to star for a Major League baseball team. Technically, I suppose, the MLB as we know it today, didn't even exist then.

But every now and again, something surprising happens.

Back in January of last year, Marty and I were at The University of Western Ontario researching George Gibson and trying to learn about his connections with the Labatt family. Among the archived items we looked at was a magazine about baseball in London.

There was nothing in the magazine that helped us further our research that day, but there was one thing: A picture of a rather old, somewhat ornate, looking baseball trophy: The Beck Cup.

Marty and I immediately recognized it as the trophy awarded annually to the team that won the London City League. More specifically, this trophy was won by George Gibson, and his team, in 1902. We were immediately intrigued.

Credit for the photo was given to Museum London, a museum that, as you can probably imagine, is located in London. The museum isn't open every day, but as luck would have it, it was set to open at noon on this day. We wrapped up our research, set the destination in our GPS, and headed out on a spontaneous little adventure.

The museum opened just before we arrived. When we got there, we immediately asked about the Beck Cup, and were met with blank stares. We explained what the Beck Cup was. More blank stares. Discouraged, but not yet ready to give up, we wandered the museum's three floors. After passing through exhibits on early fashion, and another on cutting hair, we walked through a room of paintings. Slowly starting to lose hope, we made our way to the basement of the museum. As we walked down the winding stairs, a glass case, tucked in a corner, very much off the beaten path caught our eye. It contained some early baseball jerseys, and a few team photos.

Our pace down the stairs picked up, and as we arrived in front of the case, there it was: The Beck Cup!

Less than an hour earlier, we had no idea this trophy still existed. But, thanks to an otherwise random photo in an otherwise random magazine, we were standing five feet away from it.

To think that some 117 years earlier, George Gibson and his teammates raised this trophy in celebration is pretty cool -- there certainly can't be much other memorabilia left from the early days of the London City League.

Introducing Mel Kerr

Photo credit: Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame

One of the things that I found most interesting while researching George Gibson was his encounters with other Canadians. George formed a battery with Dooney Hardy in Buffalo, he was behind the plate when Bill O'Hara took his first ever at bat with the St. Louis Cardinals, and he squared off crossed paths with Larry McLean numerous times in the majors. Stumbling on those encounters was cool, because I immediately recognized the names.

Finding out about Mel Kerr, however, was, in some ways, more interesting, but his name was new to me entirely. Mel Kerr was born in  Souris, Manitoba on May 22, 1903. By the early 1920s, he was living in Saskatchewan, and tearing up the sports scene. In both 1922 and 1923, Kerr was Saskatchewan's individual track and field champion, and Saskatoon's singles tennis champion. He was also very active in the local basketball scene, and in 1924, he teamed up with Madge Clark and added a mixed doubles tennis title to his resume. Following a dominant baseball season in the Saskatoon City League, Kerr joined the cities senior rugby team.

On January 6, 1925, Bill Veeck announced that Mel Kerr had been signed to play with the Chicago Cubs. Kerr was promoted as a seven-star athlete, and his sheer athleticism drew comparisons to Jim Thorpe. Mel joined the Cubs at the Catalina Islands for spring training and showed up well. His speed on the base paths caught the attention of Manager Bill Killefer, and Kerr made the club out of Spring Training. After about a week with the Cubs, Mel was optioned to Saginaw of the Michigan-Ontario League.

Mel played well enough there, to earn a fall call-up to the Cubs in September. By then, Bill Killefer had been relieved of his duties, Rabbit Marranville, who took his place, had resigned the position, leaving George Gibson -- originally hired by Killefer to be a bench coach -- had assumed the role. With the season well out of reach, Gibson was given orders to try out some of the new talent.

On September 16th, the Cubs were hosting the Boston Braves for a double header. Down 8-1 in the seventh inning of the second game, Gibson sent Tommy Griffith to pinch-hit when the pitcher, George Milstead, was due up. Griffith managed a single, and was lifted for pinch-runner Mel Kerr. Kerr eventually came around to score, bringing the score to 8-3. Kerr did not take the field following his baserunning, and the Cubs went on to lose the game, 8-6.

That single run scored, accounts for Kerr's entire major league career. And just like that, what began with comparisons to Jim Thorpe, ended with more similarity to Moonlight Graham.

Following the 1925 season, Kerr remained active in baseball, playing for various minor league teams until a shoulder injury forced his retirement in 1933. Mel Kerr was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1977 as a multi-sport athlete.

Mel Kerr passed away on August 9, 1980 in Vero Beach, Florida.

From triple folders to triple headers

According to Baseball Almanac, there have been three triple headers played in the history of Major League Baseball.

The first one took place in Brooklyn, in in 1890. The home town Bridegrooms swept the visiting Pittsburgh Alleghenys.

The second took place in 1896 in Baltimore, and again, the home team swept the day, this time being the Louisville Colonels.

The third, and most recent triple header, was played in Pittsburgh, in 1921. The fourth place Pirates, and their 77-73 record, hosted the third place Cincinnati Reds, whose record stood at 80-69. A three game sweep by the Pirates would have pulled them within 1/2 a game of Cincinnati for third place, with a chance to catch them the next day.

But it just wasn't mean to be. Cincinnati took the first two games of the afternoon with ease, disposing of the Pirates by scores of 13-4 and 7-3. In the final game of the trifecta, the Pirates finally answered back, winning 6-0, but by then it was too late. The Reds had locked up third place, and the Pirates ended up in fourth.

No MLB triple headers have been played since, and according to Baseball Almanac, doing so is against the current CBA, so it's not likely to happen again anytime soon.

You can head over to Baseball Almanac to see the three box scores from 1921.

You gotta know when to fold 'em

If you're familiar with pre-war baseball cards, then you almost certainly know about T206s. They were issued between 1909-11 by the American Tobacco Company, and contain what is probably the most famous, and most value, baseball card of them all: the famed T206 White Border Honus Wagner.

The ATC issued numerous other tobacco card issues as well. In 1912, under the Hassan Cork Tip brand, they issued a set known as T202 Triple Folders. At 132 cards, the set about 1/4th the size of the T206 offering, but the unique shape of the cards makes them about four times the size of a T206.

Distributed in packages of Hassan Cork Tip Cigarettes, the card measure 2 1/4" high by 5 1/2" wide. They contain a white bordered player card (about the size of a T206) on each end, with a black and white action photo (about the width of 2 T206s) in the middle. The cards were then folded in the places, to measure about the size of a T206 pack.

The back of the card contains three write-ups. A player write-up on the back of each "player portion" of the card, and then a write-up on the centre panel that explains the play happening on the front.

The set consists of 137 different players, arranged in 99 unique "player pairs", 33 of which are repeated, for a total of 132 cards. The end panel images resemble the T205 card, for players that are in the T205 set (not all T202 end panels are found in the T205 set).

The set is not particularly rare, though there are certain combinations that are difficult to track down. There are other cards that aren't particularly tough, but are expensive because of the combinations.

Examples include the Tinker/Chance player pair that contains a centre panel with Johnny Evers, and the Lord catches his man centre-panel that is believed to depict Shoeless Joe Jackson being tagged out as he slides into second.

For those of you out there that want to track down Gibson, he appears on 6 different cards, as follows:

Chase Dives into Third (Gibson, Clarke)
Chase Dives into Third (Phillippe, Gibson)
Chase Guarding First (Gibson, Clarke)
Chase Guarding First (Liefield, Gibson)
Donlin Out at First (Camnitz, Gibson)
Donlin Out at First (Phillipe, Gibson)

None is particularly difficult, though the Clarke versions are a little more expensive owing to the HOFers presence on an end panel.

You can see examples of all 6 Gibson cards here.

If you really want a challenge, there are three back variations of each Gibson in the set. One version is printed in red ink with a factory 30 designation, and two versions are printed in black ink. One black ink version was printed at factory 649 and the other at factory 30. No back, that I am aware of carries a pemium.

Thanks for reading!

August 5, 1921

For my last post, I tried to find additional photos of the 1921 Pirates, to see if I could find any others of Bill Warwick. I didn't find any. But while searching, I stumbled across something else from 1921 that was news to me: The first radio broadcast of a baseball game happened on August 5, 1921. The game featured the Pittsburgh Pirates, who beat the Philadelphia Phillies 8-5 that day, at Forbes Field.

Back in those days, if you weren't watching a baseball game live, you might be able to attend a 'viewing party', where a large board was setup that contained players that had to be physically moved around the diamond. Somebody would be responsible for updating the board as they received updates via telegraph, using different lights to help relay the balls and strikes.

All of that started to change, when, in 1921, 25-year-old Harold Arlin setup behind home plate at Forbes Field and broadcast that day's game over the wires of the then nine-month-old radio station, Pittsburgh's KDKA. Since commercial radio was very much in its infancy then, it's hard to say how many people even heard the broadcast, and it's likely that it wasn't nearly as colourful as the radio broadcasts we can hear today, but that's where it all began.

Now you can follow games any of ten different ways. We've come a long way.

If you want to read more about the first ever game, here are some interesting accounts:

https://www.philliedelphia.com/2016/08/august-5-1921-the-first-mlb-radio-broadcast.html

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/3dgdaj/how-radio-changed-baseball-fandom-forever

http://www.baseballessential.com/news/2015/12/11/the-history-of-baseball-broadcasting-early-radio/

Thanks for reading!

A 1921 Pittsburgh Pirates ... family photo?

While working on our book, Marty and I were able to make contact with some of George Gibson's family. Last summer, one of George's great nieces hosted an event that was attended by George's 90-year-old Granddaughter, and her four daughters, all of whom traveled from various points in the United States, to Southern Ontario. This experience was easily one of the highlights of this whole book experience, to be honest. The day started with a baseball game at London's historic Labatt Park -- that saw George's granddaughter, four great granddaughters, and great niece, lead a sell-out crowd in the singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame, followed by a small gathering for dinner, drinks, and great conversation.

What was particularly cool about the experience, was how excited they were about the fact that we were writing a book about George, and, quite honestly, how welcoming they were to my wife, and son, who joined in on the festivities. It was fun to get to know all of them, besides the baseball, and of course, to be able to talk baseball as well.

One small detail that shouldn't get lost in all of this, is that George's Granddaughter is also the daughter of former big-leaguer Bill Warwick. Bill's career was brief, but he did play for the 1926 Cardinals -- the winners of the 1926 World Series. I always knew that George's daughters married a ball player, but what occurred to me while talking to some of George's great grand daughters, was this: There can't be very many people in the world who can claim that their grand father and their great grand father played in the major leagues, and won the world series.

That thought has stuck with me ever since. I haven't dug too deep to see how many "multi-generational" world series winners are out there but it has made me want to find an old vintage card of Bill Warwick. I haven't had much luck, and was near giving up, until I accidentally found this (on Amazon):

This is a 1921 M114 Baseball Magazines premium of the 1921 Pittsburgh Pirates. Sitting in the centre of the middle row, looking to his right, is George Gibson. Standing eighth from the left, in the back row, is Bill Warwick. Warwick only played 1 game with Pittsburgh in 1921 (according to baseball-reference.com), so it probably wouldn't be too difficult to narrow down when this photo was taken. He then spent a couple of years in the minor leagues, before re-appearing at the major league level with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1925 and 1926.

Whether or not either man knew at the time this photo was taken that one day they'd be family, I have no idea, but seeing this moment captured in time, having now met their extended families, makes this piece that much cooler to me.

Thanks for reading!

2020: The Year of the Book

Happy New Year! Clearly it's been a while since there has been any activity here -- but I feel it's been for good reason. Back in the Spring of 2016, Marty and I set out to write a book about George Gibson. Neither of us is a writer, but we were, and are, intrigued by Gibson, and his story, and felt it was one worth researching and sharing. In the late Summer / early Fall of 2018, we pitched the book to McFarland, and they agreed to work with us! We spent the new few months working feverishly to complete the manuscript, locate pictures, secure the rights to use them, get the book edited, and finally submitted.

Fast forward to this week, and the book has now also passed through the editing phase at McFarland. We are still a few months away from the book being readily available, but at this point, it has a cover, and is available for pre-order through McFarland or Amazon!

As you would expect, the book focuses on the life of George Gibson. It talks about how he found his way from the sandlots of London, Ontario, to the big stage of the World Series with the Pittsburgh Pirates. The book follows his career as he establishes himself as one of the premier backstops in professional baseball, before retiring as a player and becoming a coach and manager with numerous teams.

In this book you'll see many never seen photos, and learn the story of George Gibson from period accounts, and many stories and anecdotes from George himself!

The book is set to be released in April, 2020!