Today I'm doing something a little different for my blog.
I've been emailing back and forth with Richard Armstrong who does the George Moon Gibson blog. At one point, I saw the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame Twitter account mention a book about Gibson and I asked Richard if he was one of the two authors. It was him. He sent me a copy of the book and I had read it.
Today I want to just go over what I thought of it.
It was interesting to find out more about a guy who, from the accounts given, was felt to be one of the best catchers of his era. Admittedly, before reading the book all I really knew about him was that he existed, he was a manager at some point, and that his stats were underwhelming to a person with modern eyes.
The book gives an account of Gibson's early life in London and how he ended up in Pittsburgh playing for the Pirates. The chapters go over the seasons he played year by year for the most part. Generally ending with Gibson going back to London for the offseason.
What I found interesting is that even as a player, his managers had a high enough regard for him to lead the Pitchers and Catchers in Spring Training.
Even after he ended his career as a manager, he was prominent in baseball, helping out around London setting up a youth league and was a popular figure in Pittsburgh.
They included some pictures of his tobacco cards and his career batting and fielding stats.
Overall, if you're a fan of early baseball and particularly of the Pirates, it would be an interesting read. If you're a fan of Canadian baseball players, it's an interesting read.
I'll just say it's an interesting read regardless.
I've wanted to read this since Richard first announced it, but will likely have to wait until I can get a cheap used copy, which really isn't a problem, since I'm kind of pro when it comes to waiting for cheap copies of books.
ReplyDelete