George Gibson (baseball)

George Gibson baseball card, 1911

For other people named George Gibson, see George Gibson (disambiguation).

George C. Gibson (July 22 1880 - January 25 1967), nicknamed Mooney, was a Canadian baseball player who caught for two different Major League teams during the 1910s. In the 1920s and 1930s he served as manager for Pittsburgh and for the Chicago Cubs. He started his managerial career with the Toronto Maple Leafs, a AAA Class team in the International League.

Gibson was the nephew of William Southam, founder of Southam Newspapers, the brother of Richard Southam, manager of the London Tecumsehs, and the father-in-law of Bill Warwick, a major league baseball player in the 1920s.

1909 World Series winner

The highlight of Gibson's playing career was winning the best-of-nine- games World Series with Pittsburgh in 1909 by beating Ty Cobb's Detroit Tigers five games to two.

Arriving back at the train station in his hometown of London, Ontario, on October 27, 1909, after winning the World Series, Gibson found more than 7,000 cheering fans to greet him. At the time, the population of London was approximately 35,000.

On September 9, 1909, Mooney caught his 112th consecutive game, breaking Chief Zimmer's 1890 record. Gibson's streak came to an end at 140 consecutive games behind the plate.

In 1921, Gibson, as manager of Pittsburgh, led the Pirates to his third consecutive first-division finish.

Born a stone's throw away from Tecumseh Park (today's Labatt Memorial Park) in London West, Gibson gained the nickname, "Mooney" early in his career due to his round, moon-like face. (The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) dispute this, saying that Gibson picked up the nickname as a youngster when he played on a sandlot team known as the Mooneys.)

At age 12, Gibson played for the Knox Baseball Club in a church league. In 1901, he played for the West London Stars of the Canadian League and the Struthers and McClary teams of the City League.

Today, there is a commemorative plaque prominently displayed at the entrance to the main grandstand at Labatt Park in Gibson's honour.

Twenty-nine years in the Big Leagues

Gibson first signed a pro contract in 1903 and developed his talents in Buffalo, New York of the Eastern League and in Montreal before joining the Pittsburgh Pirates two years later on July 2, 1905, at age 24. He had a strong throwing arm and led National League catchers in fielding percentage several times.

Gibson played in the Major Leagues until August 20,1918, 12 years with the Pirates and two years with the New York Giants, appearing in 1,213 games.

Known as a developer of young pitchers, Gibson later managed the Pirates (1920-1922, 1932-1934) and the Chicago Cubs (1925).

On May 9, 1921, under manager George Gibson, the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the London Tecumsehs 8-7 at Tecumseh Park before 3,500 people in an exhibition baseball game. Before the game, Gibson and his team is presented with a silver loving cup by the London Kiwanis Club. Gibson thrills the locals by catching the opening inning with his 1909 battery mate Babe Adams and singling and scoring a run in his lone at-bat. London Mayor Sid Little entertains the team that evening at his home.

Post-career honours

Gibson was named Canada's baseball player of the half century in 1958 and was the first baseball player elected to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. He was subsequently inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in 1987 and was one of the inaugural 10 inductees into the London Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. In February of 1955 while organizers were planning the charter season of the Eager Beaver Baseball Association, Gibson was named "honorary lifetime president."

Home demolished

During his managing years, Gibson owned both a large farm near Delaware, Ontario, where he often entertained many of the major-league stars of the day during the off-season and a large home at 252 Central Avenue across from Victoria Park in downtown London.

The home on Central Avenue was demolished by prominent London land developer Farhi Holdings Inc. after a protracted and heated public debate in 2003. In exchange for the demolition permit from the City of London, Farhi Holdings President Shmuel Farhi promised to erect a plaque or statue in Gibson's honour at Labatt Park or 252 Central Avenue, neither of which has occurred, notwithstanding that this condition was part of a council resolution.

However, there has been a plaque at Labatt Park to Mooney Gibson since 1988, erected by the London Public Library Board's Heritage Sites Committee. The plaque went missing in 2000 and was replaced at the initiative of The Friends of Labatt Park and the LPL's Heritage Sites Committee in 2002 and placed on the wall of the park's new main grandstand, completed in the Spring of 2001.

Connection to Labatt brewing family

When Gibson lived at 252 Central Avenue in London during the 1920s and 1930s, his immediate neighbours to the east were members of the Labatt brewing family, with whom Gibson frequently socialized. It is believed that Gibson played a significant role in the decision by John and Hugh Labatt to purchase Tecumseh Park and donate it to the City (along with $10,000 for repairs and maintenance), which occurred on December 31, 1936, after which Tecumseh Park was officially renamed "The John Labatt Memorial Athletic Park."

Gibson died at age 86 in London and is buried at Campbell Cemetery in Komoka, Ontario, not far from his Delaware farm. Near Gibson's former farm is a road named in his honour after Gibson donated some land for public use to the area conservation authority of the day.

External links

• Baseball-Reference.com - career playing statistics and managing record
• Gibson's SABR Bio
• Gibson never forgot his London, Ontario, roots by Jeff Hale of The London Free Press story, Sept. 8, 1997
• Circa-1920 London Tecumsehs by Jeff Hale of The London Free Press, Sept. 9, 1997
• Map: location of Labatt Park (formerly Tecumseh Park) in London

References

• Who's Who in Canadian Sport by Bob Ferguson (Sporting Facts Publications, Ottawa, 3rd edition, 1999), ISBN 1-894282-00-0.
• EBBA: 40 Years of Baseball by Jeffrey Reed (Eager Beaver Baseball Association, Inc., London, Ontario, 1994, ISBN 0-9698289-0-X).
• An Eight-Page Indenture/ Instrument #33043 between The London and Western Trusts Company Limited, The Corporation of The City of London and John Labatt, Limited, dated December 31, 1936, and registered on title in the Land Registry Office for the City of London on January 2, 1937, conveying Tecumseh Park to the City of London along with $10,000 on the provisos that the athletic field be preserved, maintained and operated in perpetuity "for the use of the citizens of the City of London as an athletic field and recreation ground" and that it be renamed "The John Labatt Memorial Athletic Park."

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