Josh Gibson, one of the greatest hitters of all time, dreamed of breaking baseball's color barrier. It may be that he nearly got his wish. It's rumored that at least two teams, the Pirates and the Senators, pursued Gibson during his prime in the late 1930s and early 1940s. Sadly, the powers that kept black players out of the Majors were very strong and neither team could get the deal done. Some say the team owners caved to pressure from the Commissioner's Office. Others speculate that the influential Negro Leagues boss Cum Posey had his hand in delaying integration, knowing that it would be the beginning of the end for his lucrative franchise. Several popular white sports figures of the day, such as pitcher Walter Johnson and journalist Shirley Povich, opined for Gibson's inclusion in the MLB - along with other talented black players - but to no avail. Years after Gibson's death, Larry Doby (the player who integrated the American League) said "One of the things that was disappointing and disheartening to a lot of the black players at the time was that Jackie [Robinson] was not the best player. The best was Josh Gibson. I think that's one of the reasons Josh died so early. He was heartbroken."
