Is Josh Gibson in the conversation for greatest baseball player of all time?

Gibson alone now holds the all-time career and single-season records for batting average, slugging and on-base plus slugging (OPS). He also trails only Ted Williams and Ruth in career on-base percentage (OBP).

So, why were Gibson and his colleagues' achievements excluded until now?

In 1969, the Special Baseball Records Committee decided to recognize six major leagues dating back to 1876 in its official annals. The seven Negro Leagues dating from 1920-1948 were left out.

In 2020, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced the official recognition and planned integration of the Negro Leagues into the record books.

So, Gibson can now lay claim to the greatest of all time title and make his case with the newly acquired records without fear of any legacy staining asterisks or footnotes. The MLB followed the 1969 commission's precedent from when it integrated the older statistics without annotations.

Ruth, Cobb and  Bonds — all three frequently mentioned in the GOAT debate — were dethroned by Gibson in their respective categories.

And even though anecdotal evidence is not officially tallied in the record books, Gibson's fabled 800 home runs — inscribed on his Hall of Fame plaque — are John Henry-esque enough to overshadow Ruth's "called shot" and Cobb's supposed herculean reputation in American baseball mythology.

Gibson was already immortalized in Cooperstown, but his career achievements being officially added to MLB chronicles lends greater credibility to definitively crowning him as baseball's best ever.