Mike Piazza vs Josh Gibson

[Los Bravos]

Witnesses say he hit 600 foot homers and boulders simply broke apart when getting within 10 feet of his forearms.

On top of that, he hits 1000 homers in pickup games and the consensus opinion is that Ruth and Williams can't sniff his jock.

Good grief, man...

[Sultan_1895-1948]

No one was attacking Babe Ruth. It's bad enough Sultan has to make up derogatory things about the Negro League's as a whole just because Gibson was nicknamed the "Black Babe Ruth." I realize you guys see that as a threat to your god and will go above and beyond the call to make sure we all never forget everyone else is a distant second to him always and forever. There are plenty of threads you guys can worship him in.

Absolutely asinine Blue

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Good grief, man...

Tell me about it...

[1905 Giants]

I'm guessing Gibson would be drafted higher than Piazza was.

[Yankillaz]

Anyone equating Gibson or Paige or Suttles with say Ron Kittle should know better. Al Simmons obviously is a fave, but I don't for a minute think Gibson wasn't his equal.

Hey, that hurts. How should I know better. Ron Kittles was a sensation in 1983.

[Yankillaz]

From my understanding, Piazza also used artificial supplements to increase his ability:

http://www.metstoday.com/8374/12-13-...mits-peds-use/

I'm not sure whether the Piazza votes take this into account, or don't care.

We don't care....

[Yankillaz]

The NeL released to MLB the following players:

1) Jackie Robinson 1947
2) Larry Doby 1947
3) Roy Campanella 1948
4) Monte Irvin 1949
5) Willie Mays 1951
6) Ernie Banks 1953
7) Hank Aaron 1954

Holy cow, never noticed that the first 7 players to debut in the MLB from the NeL were HOFers??? That has to be 100/100. Unless, you're just taking some of the long list. Heck, by what I've been reading african american ballplayers were 17% of the Majors in 1959 fwiw. So that list is taking things to ones advantage. For instance check the best players each team thought they could bring from the NeL, consisting of the fi

Player Team Date
Jackie Robinson † Brooklyn Dodgers, NL April 15, 1947
Larry Doby † Cleveland Indians, AL July 5, 1947
Hank Thompson St. Louis Browns, AL July 17, 1947
Monte Irvin † New York Giants, NL July 8, 1949
Hank Thompson New York Giants, NL July 8, 1949
Sam Jethroe Boston Braves, NL April 18, 1950
Minnie Miñoso Chicago White Sox, AL May 1, 1951
Bob Trice Philadelphia Athletics, AL September 13, 1953
Ernie Banks † Chicago Cubs, NL September 17, 1953
Curt Roberts* Pittsburgh Pirates, NL April 13, 1954
Tom Alston St. Louis Cardinals, NL April 13, 1954
Nino Escalera Cincinnati Reds, NL April 17, 1954
Chuck Harmon[2] Cincinnati Reds, NL April 17, 1954
Carlos Paula Washington Senators, AL September 6, 1954
Elston Howard New York Yankees, AL April 14, 1955
John Kennedy Philadelphia Phillies, NL April 22, 1957
Ozzie Virgil, Sr.[3] Detroit Tigers, AL June 6, 1958
Pumpsie Green Boston Red Sox, AL July 21, 1959

[GiambiJuice]

Super cursory from Baseball-Reference.com: Gibson slugged .907 in 97 at bats in 1937 and he slugged .865 in 74 at bats in 1939. Wow! I wonder how that would have worked out in over 500 at bats. Ruth slugged .900 at home at the Polo Grounds for a half season. I'm a slower typist and this took 30 seconds. Ruth is the only player in the 20th century to slug over .800 over the length of a season, not once, but twice.

Didn't Bonds miss doing so by one point because he stood and admired a ball that he thought would clear the fence, but ended up with a single?

[willshad]

Didn't Bonds miss doing so by one point because he stood and admired a ball that he thought would clear the fence, but ended up with a single?

Didn't Bonds also slug over .800 in 2001 as well as 2004?

[GiambiJuice]

Didn't Bonds also slug over .800 in 2001 as well as 2004?

You are correct, to go along with his .799 in 2002.

In other words, Ruth is NOT the only player to slug .800 twice and Bonds was one baserunning blunder from being the only player to slug .800 thrice!

But I now see that he said "in the 20th century".

[Honus Wagner Rules]

The more I research Piazza's and Gibson's career the more I believe they were like carbon copies of each other at least in terms of hitting talent. Both had insane home run power for one.

[pheasant]

I believe that I have greatly underrated Piazza.

Here are Piazza's road numbers for his 7 and 10 year peaks:

1994-2000, 1831 AB, 654 hits, 1167 TB, .357 AVG and .637 SLUG%
1993-2002, 2630 AB, 895 hits, 1620 TB, .340 AVG and .616 SLUG%

These numbers are off the charts at face value. The fact that they were put up by a catcher seems nearly impossible.

I'm starting to believe that Piazza was perhaps the most talented right-handed hitter of all time. However, catching didn't allow him to put up the numbers to back up my case. But the numbers above are incredible.

With that being said, I am still undecided between Gibson and Piazza. Josh Gibson was a monster at the dish too. Gibson also was known to extend the hitting zone to drive in more runs. Gibson was also known to be a great contact hitter, despite having the ability to smash a 500 ft home run. My gut is that Gibson hit like Ted Williams, except that he didn't have the plate discipline to match Ballgame's OB%.

I think these two comp out well. Had Piazza and Gibson both played 1st base, they'd both would probably be in my top 10 hitters list of all time.

l

[torez77]

"And he was one of those sluggers that seldom struck out. You couldn't fool him; he was too quick with the bat."

I love this quote. Leads one to speculate Josh may very well have been the greatest hitter who ever lived.

[torez77]

My gut is that Gibson hit like Ted Williams, except that he didn't have the plate discipline to match Ballgame's OB%.

Which tells me he was a great bad-ball hitter, if he seldom walked or struck out.

[Sultan_1895-1948]

Gets better and better