Buck Ewing vs Josh Gibson: Career Stats Comparison
Buck Ewing (1880–1897) and Josh Gibson (?–1946) — their careers are worth a careful side-by-side. Buck Ewing finished with 1,625 hits and 71 home runs; Josh Gibson finished with 1,007 hits and 197 home runs. Below is the full career table, PIV adjustment, peak seasons, and a verdict.
Josh Gibson
Career Stats Side-by-Side
Every cell below is a career total or career rate for Buck Ewing and Josh Gibson. Cells highlighted in green mark the category leader. Counting stats reward longevity; the rate stats at the bottom are era-agnostic.
| Statistic | Buck Ewing | Josh Gibson |
|---|---|---|
| Games | 1,315 | 766 |
| At-Bats | 5,363 | 2,768 |
| Runs | 1,129 | 733 |
| Hits | 1,625 | 1,007 |
| Doubles | 250 | 170 |
| Triples | 178 | 72 |
| Home Runs | 71 | 197 |
| RBI | 883 | 872 |
| Walks | 392 | 400 |
| Strikeouts | 294 | 20 |
| Stolen Bases | 354 | 44 |
| Batting Avg | .303 | .364 |
| On-Base % | .351 | .446 |
| Slugging % | .456 | .691 |
| OPS | .807 | 1.136 |
PIV Comparison
By PIV (Player Impact Value), Josh Gibson outpaces Buck Ewing 28,319 to 17,919 — a gap driven primarily by per-season impact (1,666 vs 995 per year). PIV adjusts each season to league baselines, so it's the cleanest way to compare careers across eras.
Peak Seasons
The best single seasons each player produced, ranked by OPS among qualified workloads (300+ at-bats).
Buck Ewing — top 3 seasons by OPS
Josh Gibson — top 0 seasons by OPS
Verdict
On the head-to-head card, Josh Gibson leads in home runs, batting average, OBP, and OPS, while Buck Ewing owns hits, RBI, and runs. That doesn't settle the era debate, but on the raw scoreboard the edge goes to Josh Gibson. PIV agrees: Josh Gibson grades out higher across their careers. Click through to each profile for the full season-by-season breakdown.