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The Nationals have been making history on their first-ever World Series run, but just as importantly, they鈥檝e been reviving the history of this city that鈥檚 already been made. As writers look backward to remember the last time Washington fielded a great baseball team, their eyes are turning to the under-studied history of baseball鈥檚 Negro Leagues.

鈥淭his is good for us, it鈥檚 good for the foundation, it鈥檚 good for major league baseball,鈥� said Sean L. Gibson, executive director of the Josh Gibson Foundation.

Gibson is the great-grandson of his foundation鈥檚 namesake, who is widely considered one of the best sluggers of all time. Josh Gibson played for the Homestead Grays, a team based outside Pittsburgh before financial reasons in the 1930s brought their success to D.C., where they were renamed the Washington Homestead Grays.

Today, his great-grandon continues to honor the family legacy by serving 鈥渋nner-city kids through the name of the great Negro League baseball player.鈥� This work has occasionally brought him to Washington, where as recently as last summer two Little League teams played the first Pittsburgh Homestead Grays versus Washington Homestead Grays game at the Nationals Academy.

鈥淚 think our foundation has definitely brought a lot of awareness to the Homestead Grays,鈥� GIbson said. 鈥淒.C. was our second home, so we would love to be a part of that D.C. tradition.鈥�

In fact, Gibson credits the World Series with bringing greater attention to his work and the history of the Negro Leagues right before the centennial of the Leagues鈥� founding on Feb. 13, 2020.

鈥淭his would not be happening if the Nationals didn鈥檛 win a championship,鈥� Gibson said. 鈥淪ometimes it takes something like this to bring the Negro Leagues back into the forefront.鈥�

Roy Doswell, curator of the Negro Leagues Historical Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, said the importance of the Washington-Baltimore corridor for black baseball cannot be understated.

鈥淚 think it is important for Washington to recognize the Grays and not forget them because they were really good,鈥� Doswell said.

In fact, Doswell calls the Grays the 鈥済old standard of black baseball.鈥� During their time playing in Griffith Stadium alone, the ballpark that also hosted the beleaguered Senators, the Grays won the 1940, 1943 and 1948 Negro Leagues World Series.

But Washington sports fans at home never got to see the World Series games. As Jackie Robinson and others lead the way on integration in the Major Leagues, interest in black baseball teams dwindled.

Doswell said 鈥渢he success of these teams in the 鈥�40s鈥� helped white MLB owners and fans realize just how good black players really were. And with that recognition came increased poaching of black players from the Negro Leagues into Major League baseball.

Rick Bush co-edited 鈥淏ittersweet Goodbye,鈥� a book about the 1948 World Series that would ultimately be the last one played by the Negro Leagues. He said the interest he鈥檚 seen in his book, and the history of black baseball generally, has grown considerably as Washington residents wake up to the history of the sport in their own city.

鈥淢ost casual fans don鈥檛 even know that they existed, a die-hard fan might but most casual fans never really paid attention,鈥� Bush said.

After the interest in his first book, Bush said he鈥檚 working on two more about the 1946 Newark Eagles and the 1935 Pittsburgh Crawfords, two other outstanding black teams.

Meanwhile, Sean Gibson hopes that more recognition is coming for the early heroes of black baseball, and with it, more support for the programs that he funds today. On Feb. 13, 2020, his organization and others hope to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the founding of the Negro Leagues.

鈥淲e would like to hopefully hear from the Nats,鈥� Gibson said, 鈥渁nd we can maybe do something in D.C. next year for our centennial.鈥�

For more information about the Josh Gibson Foundation and the work that they do, .