Christian Weakness in Josh Gibson’s Story
American history often gets things backwards. Nowhere is this clearer than in the case of Josh Gibson (1911–1947), known for years as “The Black Babe Ruth”—a nickname Josh should have been offended by.
Gibson hit somewhere between eight hundred to a thousand career home runs. Ruth hit seven hundred and fourteen. Josh Gibson boasted a lifetime batting average almost twenty points higher than the Babe. The most home runs Babe Ruth hit in a season was sixty. Josh maxed out with sixty-nine. And Josh compiled his statistics while playing the last four years of his life with a brain tumor, which led to his untimely death at age thirty-five (Andrew Simon, “Josh Gibson: A Larger-Than-Life Legend,” mlb.com). Babe retired at forty.
Christian Weakness and the Cost of Being Great
Josh never got a shot to play in the major leagues because of the “gentlemen’s agreement” that banned him and his fellow Black ballplayers. Eventually, Josh would get his due, though he never lived to see it. In 1972, Josh became one of the first players from the Negro Leagues to be inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. And in 2024, Major League Baseball incorporated Negro League statistics, making Josh Gibson the all-time leader in batting average and slugging percentage (among other categories).
Most people still have never heard of him, because Josh Gibson is a reminder that to be Black and great in America often comes with an asterisk. People wrongly assume that Josh played against inferior talent, which is why they saw his astronomical numbers as being inflated. In their eyes, Josh and the whole system he played in are second class, glorified minor leagues, weak.
Christian Weakness and Paul’s Message
“Weak.” Now, that’s a word Paul uses to describe how the Corinthians viewed him. Like any city steeped in first-century Greek culture, the Corinthians were obsessed with those who possessed extraordinary gifts of speech. You know the type: those who could move a crowd from laughter to tears with the flip of a phrase or the telling of a story. And then came Paul, who didn’t rely on powers of Greek rhetoric, but on a man who, he said, had died on a cross and risen from the grave for the forgiveness of their sins.
Christian Weakness Versus Worldly Power
Paul was so convinced by the message of the cross that he intentionally stayed away from catchy phrases or moving stories. He didn’t want their faith to rest in the messenger but in the message. Most in Corinth rejected that message, and even people in the church considered Paul to be in the minor leagues of speakers—boring and weak.
Now as one who makes his living with words, I can tell you nothing would keep me up at night more than the ridicule Paul experienced at the hands of the Corinthians. Do you know how many times I’ve berated myself over the mediocre (or downright bad) sermon I preached? How often I thought the story I told wasn’t a good one, or how the joke didn’t resonate, or how no one responded? It’s unthinkable to me that what I flog myself over, Paul boasts in.
Christian Weakness God Sees
Feeling weak? Feeling a touch like Josh Gibson, in that you’ve accomplished so much and gone unnoticed all at once? Don’t think you’ve received your just due? Yeah, there’s a place for standing up for yourself, but while you are in pursuit of justice, remember that God sees.
It’s been said that white fans who saw Josh Gibson, the “black Babe Ruth,” play were so impressed that they started calling Babe Ruth the “white Josh Gibson.” Going by the numbers, they’re on to something.
Adapted from Grace to Overcome by Bryan C. Loritts. ©2025 by Bryan C. Loritts. Used by permission of InterVarsity Press. www.ivpress.com
Bryan C. Loritts (DMin, Liberty University) is teaching pastor of the Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina. He has dedicated his life and ministry to seeing the multiethnic church become the new normal in our society. He is also vice president for regions for the Send Network, the church planting arm of the Southern Baptist Convention, where he is responsible for training church planters in multiethnic church planting. He has been a featured speaker at the Global Leadership Summit and Catalyst. His books include Insider Outsider, The Offensive Church, and Enduring Friendship.
