When Sean Gibson sees the mural of his famous great-grandfather — all 27,000 square feet of it — he believes one of baseball’s greatest players is coming to life right there on E. 9th Avenue in Homestead.
“It is just like Josh is coming out of the wall,” Sean Gibson said.
The mural, created by artist Jeremy Raymer and finished in a little more than a month, was unveiled Friday afternoon on the outside of the Voodoo Brewing Company. Raymer also created the mural of Roberto Clemente that greets motorists as they enter the Parkway North, not far from PNC Park.
“Anytime you can have (Josh Gibson’s) 27,000-square feet (likeness) on a building is amazing,” Gibson said.
Gibson said Voodoo owner Jake Voelker approached him about the project.
“Our family is very excited about this project because of the photo they chose. Jeremy Raymer did an excellent job, a fantastic job on the likeness,” he said.
“We are very excited to have it in Homestead, being as the Grays were one of the most dominant teams, not just in the Negro Leagues, but in baseball. To have Josh’s face immortalized in that community is an honor to our family and to Josh.”
Josh Gibson is recognized as one of the greats of the game, having hit more than 800 home runs while playing for Homestead Grays and Pittsburgh Crawfords in the Negro Leagues and other teams. He was the second Negro League player inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972, following Satchel Paige.
Gibson, the executive director of the Josh Gibson Foundation, is spearheading a campaign to have baseball’s National League and American League MVP awards named in his great-grandfather’s honor. Gibson supporters can sign a petition on the website JG20MVP.com. So far, 2,409 people have signed it, with a goal of 2,500.
Other candidates mentioned are Branch Rickey, who brought Jackie Robinson to the majors in 1947, and Frank Robinson, the only player to win MVP awards in the National and American Leagues.
The awards were blank in 2020 after the Baseball Writers Association of America voted to remove the name of former Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis. During Landis’ tenure from 1920-44, there were no Black players in the major leagues.
The Pittsburgh Pirates released a statement last year boosting the idea of honoring Gibson.
“The Pirates are enthusiastically supporting the idea of renaming the MVP award after Josh Gibson, as he was one of the greatest players to ever play the game of baseball,” the statement read. “We would applaud such action in order to ensure that future generations are educated on his lasting impact on our game.”
Sean Gibson said the award is bigger than his great-grandfather.
“The award would be for the 3,400 men denied the chance to play major-league baseball,” he said. “It’s great that Josh Gibson’s name would be on the award, but he will be carrying all those men on his shoulders.”
