Bob Gibson was one of the greatest of all time. in 1968 he had an ERA of 1.12 for the season! In Game 1 of the '68 Series he struck out 17 Tigers.
"Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn't score any runs."
- Former Cardinal Catcher Tim McCarver
BTW, he also played NCAA basketball while at Creighton.
Mirengoff compares Scherzer to Bob Gibson.
Cletus wants to share his sad with you.
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Also during an era in which a starter regularly logged 20+ complete games in a season. Nowadays, they rarely go past the fifth inning, yet their careers aren’t being lengthened by shortening their time in the game.
Greatest pitcher of the modern era, and I’m a Tigers fan.
I wonder if he ever ‘took a knee’.
The country was different then...even if people wanted to take knees, they knew better.
Kirk Gibson was a pretty good player too. It must run in the family?
That's what I liked about Pete Rose. He always gave it maximum effort, I think, partly, because he felt obliged to give the fan his money's worth. No one wants to pay good money to see a game and have the players give less than all they've got.
The last batter Gibson faced in his major league career hit a home run off of him. Years later in an old-timers game, Gibson threw at him. Wish I could remember names, but that is my favorite Bob Gibson story. The guy was truly great, an unbelievable competitor, and tough as nails. One of my all time favorite baseball players!!!!
Thanks for the memories.
Woo-hoo! Go Cards, boo Cubs. Fourth generation (and maybe more) Cards fan here.
1968 was a magical year for Gibson. He had more complete games than he did wins - and he had plenty of wins. That is why his ERA was 1.12. He is the only pitcher that caused the dimensions/measurements of the baseball field to be changed. Because of him the pitcher’s mound was lowered in 1969. He was overpowering. My favorite Gibson quote was when he was asked if he would brush his mother back off the plate. He quietly said yes, I’f she was crowding the plate. The manager (Ken Boyer) once signaled Keith Hernandez (a pretty good first basemen) as a rookie to go to the mound after a walk, to slow Gibby down. Gibson glared at him all the way and barked, “What are you doing here. This is my place. You belong at first base. Now go!”
This guy would have made it to the hall of fame even if he had stayed a pitcher throughout his career. But, alas, he was moved to the outfield.
Also, he could hit pretty good too.
But went 2-1 for the series, losing the series to Mickey Lolich in game 7, who was 3-0 for the series.......
Unfortunately for Gibson, he had to take a back seat in 1968 to that career felon and fat ass Denny McLain who was 31-6 for the season.
Years ago, as part of a work release program, McLain was working at a local 7-11......
As a kid, I was a huge baseball card collector. The back of the card always had a short bio of the player and his career stats.
I remember getting Gibson’s card,turning it over and thinking “Holy Cow!” His stats were eye-popping. At first I thought it was a typo. Really.
He was a great pitcher but I hated him as a commentator. He’d get mad if a player took a good hard swing at the ball. He’d say, “There’s no point in swinging that hard. You don’t have to swing that hard to knock it out of the park. If I were pitching, the next one would be right at his head”.
Bttt.
5.56mm
Since you brought up the 1968 World Series, he lost the 7th game to Mickey Lolich 4-1.
Blue eye!