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The scene is players from the Tigres Del Licey, Concordia Eagles and Escogido during a baseball tournament in Venezuela for the championship of Latin America. his was no simple barn storming tour. This was a championship series with Concordia winning it all. The squad had baseball legends Martin Dihigo who is the first player on the left with a black jacket on and slugger Josh Gibson who is dead center just to the left of the boy squatting in front. Also in the image are HoFer Alejandro Oms (in the white suit), Rap Nixon, Tetelo Vargas and Luis Aparicio Sr. who were on the team but we cannot confirm they are in the image. There is some mild wear so the SGC Fair 1.5 assessment is due to the hand-writing on the reverse. Team photos of the 1934 Concordia team are about as rare as they come. This is a fascinating piece from a key baseball tournament of the era and one that features the "Ruth and Gehrig" of the Negro Leagues.
"Joshua Gibson played with the famous Venezuelan team Concordia, owned by Gonzalo Gómez, son of the Benemérito General Juan Vicente Gómez, President of the Republic of Venezuela. He joined the team to play a series with the Almendares team from Cuba, the Puerto Rico Stars and other teams from the Island of Enchantment. The tournament began on March 10, 1934.
Joshua Gibson was part of the Venezuelan team Concordia , a team that brought together three future members of the Cooperstown Baseball Hall of Fame, along with Johnny Mize and the Cuban Martín Dihigo (1934).
The famous Concordia team was the first Venezuelan team to travel abroad and win tournaments in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico, against the best teams of the time.
His teammates at Concordia were: Martin Dihigo, Johnny Mize, "Tetelo" Vargas, Herbert A. "Rap" Dixon, James "Jimmy" Jordan, Marcelino Blondet "Moncho Brujo" , Luis Aparicio Ortega, Balbino Inojosa, Manuel Antonio "El Pollo" Malpica, Cesar Nieves, Francisco Quevedo, Pedro Alejandro San, Silvino Ruiz and Luis Jimenez, among others.
On March 11, 1934, at the Escambrón Stadium in the city of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Joshua Gibson had a perfect day with the bat, he went 6-6, 1 single, 2 doubles, 1 triple and 2 home runs. Joshua Gibson hit for the
"cycle" or
"ladder" , with 2 home runs, reaching a total of 16 bases in the game. His performance was impressive. However, Concordia
lost to the Cuban team
Almendares , 19-17. Errors by Luis Aparicio Ortega and César Nieves allowed the defeat. The winning pitcher was
"Yo-Yo" Díaz and the losing one was Martín Dihigo.
The great star Joshua Gibson, who was called
"The Black Babe Ruth" , wearing the Concordia uniform was the star of the contest by being the Leader in: Batting (.643), Home Runs (2), Triples (1), Doubles (2) and Stolen Bases (1). There, the Venezuelan team, faced in the Escambrón stadium, the young Hiram Bithorn, who was only 18 years old.
Joshua Gibson was in Venezuela, as a baseball player playing for the Centauros de Maracaibo team . There he shared with his teammates: Roy Partlow, José Antonio Casanova, Fausto Fuenmayor, Luis Aparicio Ortega, Antonio Briñez, Antonio Fuenmayor, Perucho Cepeda, Billy Byrd, Teófilo Ugarte, Guillermo Vento and Benjamín "Mimí" Soto. The Manager was the Cuban Pelayo Chacón.
On April 7, 1940, the first game of the championship took place, which resulted in a pitching duel between Leon Day, of the Vargas and Billy Byrd, of the Centauros , in 11 innings, which Vargas won 2-1 . Gibson's first hit in Venezuela was a double over third base, later scoring on a RBI single by José Antonio Casanova, in the second inning. In the eighth inning, Vargas tied the game with a double by César Nieves and an RBI single by Carlos "Terremoto" Ascanio. Finally, in the closing of the eleventh inning, the first batter, Ray "Talúa" Dandridge, hit the ball out of the park, facing a high ball by Byrd, leaving them on the field. The winning pitcher was Leon Day, who allowed 4 hits, walked 3 and struck out 11 batters. Byrd was the loser, he received 6 hits, gave up 3 walks, hit 1 pitch and struck out 8 opponents.
On May 11, 1940, Joshua Gibson hit two home runs in a game against Venezuela , joining Venezuelan Vidal López as the only players to achieve that feat.
Gibson's home runs were off Cuban pitcher Silvio Garcia. Vidal Lopez had set the record in 1938. Joshua Gibson's first hit was in the fifth inning, and according to those present it was the longest hit seen at the San Agustin stadium in Caracas since its inauguration in 1928. The hit landed50 meters beyond the left fence. Gibson that day, as the third hitter, went 3-for-5, 1 single, 2 home runs, 2 runs scored and 5 RBIs, giving his batting average at .412.
On June 16, 1940, in Maracaibo, Centauros defeated Vargas , 4-1, avenging the defeat inflicted in the inaugural game. Vargas ' only run came from an error by Luis Aparicio Ortega, who could not catch Gibson's powerful throw, which broke him and left him in pain, due to a double steal play, with runners on third and first base.
In the book written by Manuel Antonio "El Pollo" Malpica, titled "Baseball Stories. The ones they told me and the ones I lived" , an anecdote about Joshua "Trucutú" Gibson is told , which I reproduce below:
"On June 30th the first category championship between the Centauros club and Venezuela continues. I mention this game because there was an incident between Joshua Gibson and Augusto Gonzalez, who served as official umpire. The events happened as follows: Silvio Garcia, who was a burly, fiery young man and always with that desire to win, had struck out Gibson on the three occasions he had gone to bat, but the fourth time it was his turn to bat, he barely lowered it a little, at the height of his knee, he hit it out of the stadium, so far that the boys who were in charge of collecting the balls did not find it, and some say that it landed about 100 meters from the stadium. In his fifth appearance at bat a strike was called, which he considered a ball. When he went to serve again, he agreed with Byrd to throw a hard ball in the direction of the umpire, because I, who was at bat, had heard the conversation roughly, and Augusto Gonzalez, Knowing how upset the Centauros catcher was, he never took his eyes off the pitches Byrd was making and when the agreed upon event happened, Gonzalez threw himself to the ground and jumped up to throw Gibson out of the field . "
On July 15, 1940, the Centauros defeated the Cardinals , 9-1. That day, Joshua Gibson and the Venezuelan Vidal López showed all their power, both hitting long home runs. Vidal López, from the mound, faced two of the great stars of the Negro Leagues, Joshua Gibson and Roy Partlow.
The Vargas team was crowned champion, after the withdrawal of the Valdés and Centauros teams , leaving Cardenales and Venezuela .
Another anecdote about Joshua Gibson was remembered by Vargas third baseman Luis Romero Petit, who said: "Tetelo" Vargas had become that season the scourge of all catchers for his continuous stealing of bases and once in front of Gibson, "Tetelo" wanted to go out and steal second but "Trucutú" Gibson's throw was so violent to second base that the Dominican had time to return to first base more repentant than scared, while Gibson laughed, showing his big white teeth and yelled, "Run Titilo! Run Titilo!"
Because the Centauros team withdrew from the championship, all of its players' statistics were excluded by mandate of the Venezuelan Baseball Association. However, for the readers' knowledge, Joshua Gibson had played in Venezuela, 13 games, took 37 at-bats, hit 13 hits, 3 doubles, 4 home runs, scored 8 runs and drove in 10, leaving his batting average at .351. On defense, he made 64 putouts, 7 assists and committed 1 error. Joshua Gibson had been Co-Leader in home runs, with 4, along with Vidal López.
Jimmy Jordan, the first major leaguer to play in Venezuela. Played with Concordia in 1934. Gives pictures of some game accounts.
First national championship was played 1927-28
