Bob Gibson was the most ferocious pitcher. If someone leaned over the inner third of the plate, he took serious offense. He fed his children off that plate and no one would take food out of their mouths on his watch. Soon they backed off. Nor did it frighten him when he came to bat and would inevitably get hit. One tough and memorable man.
Right. Gibson was one of the most ferocious pitchers in baseball history. Had a 1.12 ERA (1.12!!!) in 1968 and was under 3.0 for his entire career. And this was back before the massive talent dilution that is today’s MLB.
Don Drysdale used to say that if he saw a batter digging a hole in the batter’s box that he would tell them to dig it deep enough to crawl in but he was coming at them.
Gibson couldn’t see very well.
Gibson was as intimidating as hell. He’s one of the main reasons why MLB lowered the mound from 15” to 10”.