Walter Lee Gibbons (October 13, 1928 – July 24, 2015) was an American

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who played in

Negro league baseball The Negro leagues were United States professional baseball leagues comprising teams of African Americans and, to a lesser extent, Latin Americans. The term may be used broadly to include professional black teams outside the leagues and it may be ...

and the

Minor Leagues Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...

. Listed at 5' 7" ft , 185 lb , Gibbons batted left handed and threw right handed. He was born in

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

.Negro and Independent Leagues statistics
''Baseball Reference''. Retrieved on February 14, 2019.
''Negro Leagues Baseball Museum''. Retrieved on February 14, 2019.

Biography

Gibbons, who earned the nicknames 'Dirk' and 'Bubblegum', was raised in the Historic Ybor City District, where he started playing baseball at age eight while pitching for the Pepsi Cola Juniors team.2008 Special Negro Leagues Draft
''MLB.com.'' Retrieved on February 16, 2019. From there, he played with the Pepsi-Cola Giants and the Tampa Rockets of the Florida State Negro League during his teenage years.In Memorian
''City of Tampa Government website''. Retrieved on February 16, 2019. Upon graduation from George S. Middleton High School in Tampa, Gibbons had the opportunity to play briefly in the Negro National League in 1941, as he compiled just one inning and lost his only decision while splitting the season between the Philadelphia Stars and the

New York Black Yankees The New York Black Yankees were a professional Negro league baseball team based in New York City; Paterson, New Jersey; and Rochester, New York. Beginning as the independent Harlem Stars, the team was renamed the New York Black Yankees in 1932 and ...

. Afterwards, Gibbons pitched for the

Indianapolis Clowns The Indianapolis Clowns were a professional baseball team in the Negro American League. Tracing their origins back to the 1930s, the Clowns were the last of the Negro league teams to disband, continuing to play exhibition games into the 1980s. The ...

from 1948 to 1949. Nevertheless, he had his greatest successes neither in Florida nor the Negro leagues. It came when the Clowns sold him to the Brandon Greys of the

Mandak League The Manitoba-Dakota League was an independent baseball league based in Manitoba and North Dakota that was founded in 1950. It became the home for many African-American and Latino players. The league lasted through the 1957 season. It was known i ...

.Negro Leaguers in Canada
''CNLBR website.'' Retrieved on February 16, 2019. Gibbons then went to

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and joined the Brandon club from 1949 to 1950. In his first season, he was the most dominant hurler in a league that also boasted

Leon Day Leon Day (October 30, 1916 – March 13, 1995) was an American professional baseball pitcher who spent the majority of his career in the Negro leagues. Recognized as one of the most versatile athletes in the league during his prime, Day could p ...

and

Satchel Paige Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) was an American professional baseball pitcher who played in Negro league baseball and Major League Baseball (MLB). His career spanned five decades and culminated with his induction in ...

, as he went 19-5 and fanned 229 in 198

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

, completing 20 of his 23 starts while leading the club in wins and the league in strikeouts. In addition, 12 of his 19 wins were consecutive and he tossed back-to-back one-hitters at one point. In 1950, he had a 8–4 in a short-season effort, completing 11 of his 12 starts, while finishing second in the league both in wins and complete games. After pitching in an exhibition game against the Jackie Robinson All-Stars late in the year, he was recruited for military service during the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

. Following his discharge, Gibbons returned to the Mandak League to play five more years, including a new stop in Brandon (1954) and with the Winnipeg Royals (1953) and the

Minot Mallards The Minot Mallards were a minor league baseball team based in Minot, North Dakota. Earlier Minot teams preceded the Mallards and played as members of the 1917 Northern League and 1923 North Dakota League. Beginning play in 1950, the Mallards ...

(1955–1957). Overall, he posted a 60–50 record during his seven years in the league.Kelley, Brent (2010). ''The Negro Leagues Revisited: Conversations with 66 More Baseball Heroes''. McFarland. After his baseball days, Gibbons went back to Florida and managed a night club for 20 years. He later worked for a long time at the training center of the

University of Tampa The University of Tampa (UT) is a private university in Tampa, Florida. It is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. UT offers more than 200 programs of study, including 22 master's degrees and a broad variety of majors, ...

as a supervisor for the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

franchise. In his spare time, he enjoyed the

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. Since its inception ...

games at

Tropicana Field Tropicana Field (commonly known as the Trop) is a Multi-purpose stadium, multi-purpose domed stadium located in St. Petersburg, Florida, United States. The stadium has been the home of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB) since the ...

, receiving a standing ovation when he threw out the

first pitch The ceremonial first pitch is a longstanding ritual of baseball in which a guest of honor throws a ball to mark the end of pregame festivities and the start of the game. Originally, the guest threw a ball from their seat in the grandstand to ...

in one of those home games. Among his many honors and recognitions, Gibbons gained induction into the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame in 2006.Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame 2006 Class
''MBHOF website''. Retrieved on February 16, 2019. Thereafter, he was selected by the Tampa Bay Rays during the 2008 Special Draft of the surviving Negro league players, which was held by

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

as a tribute for the surviving Negro leaguers who were kept out of the Big Leagues because of their race. During the ceremony, MLB clubs each selected a former NLB player. He then was honored in 2015 by the City of Tampa as part of its Annual Black History Month Celebration. Gibbons died in 2015 in his homeland of Tampa Bay, Florida, at the age of 86.

Sources

External links

an
SeamheadsHCPLC Digital CollectionsManitoba Baseball Hall of Fame
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbons, Walter Lee 1928 births 2015 deaths African-American baseball players American expatriate baseball players in Canada American military personnel of the Korean War Baseball pitchers Baseball players from Tampa, Florida Brandon Greys players Indianapolis Clowns players Minot Mallards players Newark Eagles players New York Black Yankees players Philadelphia Stars players Tampa Rockets players Winnipeg Royals players 20th-century African-American sportspeople 21st-century African-American people