Page 8-Saturday, May 27, 1978-The Michigan Daily Josh Gibson: Babe Ruth of black baseball Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues, by William Brashler. Harper & low. $9.95, 189 pp. By Ken Parsigian BASEBALL fans relish a chance to one-u each other with outrageous stories about one's favor- ite player, but when someone mentions Josh Gibson the arguments usually end. For that murderous slugger, the "Black Babe Ruth," hit more towering home runs than any player in history, Ruth and Hank Aaron notwithstanding. Tales of Gibson's awesome power abound, but my favorite is when he nearly struck out on a sucker pit- ch. Gibson, who was then playing for the Homestead Grays, was facing the American Giants' ace Sonny Cornelius, a wily pitcher with a good curve ball. Cor- nelius threw a good slow curve that completely fooled Gibson, who had started his swing long before the ball would reach the plate. But the moment he realized his mistake, he halted his swing by letting go of the bat with his left hand, and proceeded to literally swat the ball out of the park at the 375-foot marker. Sonny Cornelius just shook his head.. But though his legendary feats have been passed on from fan to fan, Gibson has never received the recognition he so richly deserves. William Brashler, with his new book Josh Gibson: A Life in the Negro Leagues, attempts to deliver him from obscurity. WHEN Brashler was researching his novel The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars and Motor Kings, a story about a team of barnstorming black baseball players in the 30's, he became acutely aware of the paucity of reliable information about the Negro leagues and their stars. This, plus his love of the sport, prompted Brashler to piece together Gibson's story from articles in black newspapers such as the Pittsburg Courier and the Chicago Defender, and from personal interviews with Gibson's former teammates, Ted Page, Jimmie Crutchfield, and James "Cool Papa" Bell. The result is a frank, believable account of Gibson's life, set against a background of an informative history of the Negro leagues in the 30s and 40s A typical baseball fan might be wary of a sports See GIBSON, Page 14 This parachutist, or skydiver, tensely awaits his moment in the plane when he will make the leap into thin air I F MEN WERE meant to fly, God would have given them wings. So why are these crazy people jumping out of air- planes? "I love skydiving and I love skydivers," declares Bob Mittig, instructor and jumpmaster at Parachuting Service, Inc., located at Al Meyer's Airport, in Tecumseh, about 25 miles west of Ann Arbor. Mittig has been skydiving since 1965 and has made about 650 "blasts." Mittig works for Harold Lange, owner of Parachuting Service, Inc. He teaches a weekend skydiving class - a one-day, six-hour intensive course on techniques and procedures in skydiving. The course is required for all first- time jumpers. Tooling between airport buildings in a rebuilt yellow car, the bearded skydiver talks about his sport. "The sport has changed so much. We had to just jump." In class, he talks about his first jump. "I HAD AS much instruction as you had breaks. I tum- bled around and around and the cars on the highway were going back and forth and the wires were over there and the trees were over there. I just missed the cars and landed in a ditch. I said, 'Shit, that was scary. Let's do it again.' Class begins in a marrow-chilling wooden building at 10 a.m. on a cloudy Sunday morning. From the ceiling billows a white parachute, tacked up here and there to hide the beams. Two hanging light bulbs glare on fifteen studen- ts: a Toledo bank manager and several other bank em- ployes, a few students from Toledo University, a photographer, a high school student, and a petite nurse from the University Hospital. "Uh, look and see how your parachute is doing?" mers the student. "What's the first thing you do when you jump out plane?" Mittig points to another student. "Check your chute," the student replies. So the rc continues five more times. Is there a student from c Mittig's first-jump classes who will forget to chec chute? Parachuting Service, Inc. has hosted a quarter million jumps in almost 15 years - 8000 of them first skydivers. Mittig says he's had over 40 people in a clas d O ONE OF Mittig's former students is Bob Domeier, a med University senior. In a year of skydiving, Domeie jumped over 100 times. "Skydivers are adrenalin junkies. They get nervo they don't make a jump," says Domeier. "If the weat: crummy for three weeks, you start clawing for a skyd Domeier claws at the arms of his chair. "It's likea fix.' Mittig quickly wins the class over with his easy-going, Domeier is one of "the regulars" at the Tecumseh joking style. "Let's start in the middle," he says, and class zone. The number of regulars has fluctuated over the yE begins with quips and introductions. says Judy Lange, who helps her husband run the skydi business. On to the basics-how to jump. Mittig explains the procedures, the physics, the emergencies and their remedies. ONE POSSIBLE malfunction is the "Mae West." "It looks like a bow tie," explains Mittig. Lines get wrapped around the top of the parachute, which is forced into two bubbles. There is the "streamer," when the parachute is released, but fails to inflate. Of course, there is always the total malfunction: nothing happens. "What's the first thing you do when you jump out of the plane?" Mittig points to a slouching student. "It used to be on a nice day we'd have 50 regulars hundreds of jumps. Now its 12 to 15 regulars and the are students." Ms. Lange says the number of regl totals 150. BACK IN class, Mittig explains the function of the r ve parachute: "When in doubt, whip it out." The reser contained in a packet snapped in front of the juS Parachuting Service Inc.'s equipment is made of pound test hardware and cloth. This heavy-duty pack and a parachute held together a half a million stitches are all that keep the jumper crashing to earth at 120 miles per hour terminal velocitl