Conversation with the Sean Gibson, great-grandson of baseball hall-of-famer Josh Gibson

MADISON, Ala. — TELL ME A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE JOSH GIBSON FOUNDATION. FIRST OF ALL, HOW DID THAT START?

Well my grandfather Josh Gibson Jr. actually started the foundation. Of course, his father was Josh Gibson. And he wanted to preserve the history and legacy of his father so he created the Josh Gibson Foundation. He served over 300 kids in the city of Pittsburgh. And we provide athletic programs, educational programs as well as scholarships for intercity kids.

CARRYING FORWARD YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER'S LEGACY MEANS WHAT TO YOU?

It's very important. My grandfather would always say, you only have your last name. For us to be carrying on the legacy of Josh Gibson is phenomenal. And through the Josh Gibson Foundation, we do a lot of great work in the city of Pittsburgh, we're also spreading that to these cities like Huntsville and Madison. And so, for us to carry on that legacy not just for Josh Gibson but there's a ton of great Negro League baseball players that played in the Negro Leagues.

I'M SURE YOU'VE HEARD TONS OF STORIES ABOUT YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER. IT'S EASY TO LOOK UP STATISTICS AND SEE JUST HOW GREAT OF A BALLPLAYER HE WAS, BUT WHO WAS THE MAN BEHIND THE UNIFORM? WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE STORIES THAT YOU'VE HEARD ABOUT YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER?

You know there's several stories, and I'm glad you asked that question, because everybody knows Josh Gibson the great baseball player. But he was a great family man. Some of you may or may not know but he was a single parent. His wife died giving birth to his twins. And the story was that Josh wanted the doctor to save his wife and let the children go but it was already too late. He was a great swimmer. A great track runner as well as a great athlete. He liked to dance. He was a happy-go-lucky type of guy. Not a serious gentleman. He was very into etiquette. He dressed very well. Very well-dressed man. Those are some of the things that people don't know about Josh Gibson that's off the field. But overall he was just a great human being.

AND NOW MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL RECOGNIZES NEGRO LEAGUE STATISTICS. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN, NOT ONLY FOR YOUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER, BUT FOR ALL OF THOSE TEAMMATES AND OTHER PLAYERS HE PLAYED WITH THROUGHOUT THE YEARS IN CARRYING FORWARD THEIR LEGACY?

It's tremendous. We always considered Josh Gibson a major leaguer. It's now Major League Baseball recognizes them as major leaguers. As you mention now, the men that didn't have the opportunity to play in the major leagues will now be recognized on a Major League Baseball level. For Josh Gibson it's phenomenal because now Josh Gibson will be considered one of the greatest baseball players of all time. Not that we didn't think that. People would always say, Josh was considered one of the greatest black baseball players...you can no longer say that no more. With the new statistics coming out, he'll be considered one of the greatest baseball players. His stats will be in several Major League Baseball record books. Some number one and some in the top 5. When you look at the Negro Leagues, his is recognition was long overdue. He's been deserved. Unfortunately, all these guys are pretty much gone now. We're excited about carrying on their legacy. We're very excited that Major League Baseball made the announcement to integrate the statistics.

CERTAINLY LONG OVERDUE. WHAT'S ONE THING YOU WANT PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR FOUNDATION?

One of the things we have going on right now is the Josh Gibson MVP campaign. Some of you may or may not know but Josh is one of the three names they're considering renaming the MVP award after. These are MVP campaign shirts we're wearing tonight. There's three names they're considering: Branch Rickey, Frank Robinson and Josh Gibson. And so that's a big push for the foundation. We don't know when that's going to happen. It's not a Major League Baseball decision. It's the baseball writers association. We're hoping that by the time the MVP is announced this year, they'll have a name on the MVP award. What I want people to know, if you want to learn more about the Josh Gibson foundation just go to our website at Josh Gibson dot org. And learn about all the great things we're doing in the city of Pittsburgh and we're trying to spread that here in the city of Madison, Alabama.