The Homestead Grays

An athlete himself, my dad appreciated the skills and performance of his fellow athletes.  His first sport was football; at one point he had an offer from Art Rooney to become an early Pittsburgh Steeler.  He also delighted in baseball.  My earliest memory of learning about our national pastime was my asking Dad why there was a photo, on the  front-page of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette, of a man with his shoulder covered with an ice pack.  He's having his arm iced down, Dad said, because he just pitched twelve perfect innings.

The Pirates weren't the only baseball professionals my dad viewed from the stands. With the steel town of Homestead across the Monongahela River, and only a few miles from, our home in Braddock, he also had the delight of seeing Josh Gibson and Cool Papa Bell when they played for the Homestead Grays of the Negro League.

The Homestead Grays

Dad's opinions of Gibson and Bell squared with those of baseball writers and just-plain-fans: He said, in his deep baritone and with obvious admiration, that Gibson was one of the best power hitters, and Bell by far the fastest, ball player, of any color and in any league.

I'll close with a vignette about Bell.  It's been said he was so fast he could flip the light switch and get under the covers before the room got dark ...