Ever since their playing days, baseball followers have been comparing Babe Ruth and Negro Leagues slugger Josh Gibson. In some ways, it's a fair comparison. Both men were the defining home run hitters in their respective leagues and generations. I could go on for a long time about Josh Gibson's athletic accomplishments, as I intend to in a future article, but in my opinion a better comparison would be Babe Ruth and hall-of-fame pitcher Leon Day. Ruth and Day both grew up in Baltimore. They were both child prodigies and initially signed as teenagers by Baltimore teams. Both were great pitchers who also became known for their hitting prowess. Both played professional ball for 22 years. And the similarities don't stop there. Ruth's last full season as a player was the same year as Day's first season in the Negro Leagues (1934). At the beginning of that year, Ruth's New York team (the Yankees) offered him a position as the manager of the Newark Bears (he declined). Two years later, Day's New York team (the Eagles) left New York and moved to Newark, where they shared a stadium with the Bears. But my favorite similarity is how both men are honored and remembered in the Baltimore area.
