As great as the Crawfords of the 1930s were, there was a greater Negro League team in Pittsburgh: the Homestead Grays, led by Gibson, a larger- than-life figure. The Grays set a record that has never been equaled by any professional team in any sport by winning nine consecutive league titles from 1937 through 1945.3 But the greatest Homestead Grays team wasn't one of those nine. Most historians of an earlier generation would nominate the 1927 New York Yankees as the greatest team of all time. Later generations might favor the 1975 Cincinnati Reds. Among Negro League historians, one of the favorites (among many) is the 1931 Homestead Grays. In 2009, Kansas City baseball historian Phil S. Dixon published a work in which he painstakingly researched, collected, and collated every box score available for the 1931 Grays. According to Dixon’s research, they finished with a 143-29-2 record for an .828 winning average. Gibson batted an estimated .390 with a team- leading 40 home runs. Charleston batted an estimated .346 with 58 doubles, 19 home runs, and an estimated 26 triples. Third-baseman Jud Wilson batted an estimated .486 and outfielder (and later manager) Vic Harris batted an estimated .403. Lefty Williams won 23 games and was joined in the 20-win club by George “Chippy” Britt (21), Willie Foster (20), and Smokey Joe Williams (20).4

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