Racial prejudice is an issue throughout Josh Gibson. Holway presents Josh Gibson's life as one that was constantly influenced by his race and by the racial relations of the catcher's era. Gibson remarked that the best thing his father did for him was move him out of the South to Pennsylvania, away from the sharecropper's life and institutionalized segregation of the races. This does not mean that Gibson escaped racial discrimination, but it means that he had economic opportunities he probably would not have had if he had remained in Georgia.

In Pennsylvania, he was able to get a job at a local factory. Although this curtailed his education, the job meant a chance to raise himself out of poverty. It also meant a chance to play baseball on an organized amateur club, which in turn meant a chance to show his talent.

Although Holway does...