This lot is closed. Bidding ended on 5/11/2001.
Negro League historians would make the case that Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson weren't only
the two greatest to ever play in those segregated leagues, but the greatest to have ever played,
period. While we'll never know if Satch won 2,000 games with his "Trouble Ball" or if Josh hit 75 home runs in a season, we do know they carried the honor of black baseball on their shoulders.
No philosopher was wiser than Paige, who famously uttered, "Don't look back, something might be gainin' on you." He proved that when he got to show his stuff as a big league "rookie" at age 42 in 1948. Gibson, however, never got his shot, dying at age 38 in 1947. In triumph and tragedy,
they were legends that are beautifully recreated by these extremely rare, hand-painted ceramic bobbin-head dolls that were constructed in 1994 and given to the author of biographies of Paige and Gibson. Only 10 of these dolls were made, and due to their delicate nature only a very few likely exist today. The impeccable detailing of the dolls, which stand 8" high, faithfully portrays Paige in a red Kansas City Monarchs uniform and Gibson, in catching gear, in a Homestead Grays uniform. Their facial expressions seem so real that each man's personality radiates. Both dolls are in near-mint condition, with the Paige doll containing only a tiny chip on the cap and on the back of the head. The Gibson doll is pristine. The dolls comes with author-signed, mint-condition copies of the aforementioned books, "Don't Look Back" and "The Power and the Darkness", by author Mark Ribowsky.