Posted on 10/02/2020 8:39:57 PM PDT by ifinnegan
By almost any account, Stan Musial was considered the greatest Cardinals player. By the same accounts, Bob Gibson, who died at age 84 Friday night in Omaha, Nebraska, under hospice care after fighting pancreatic cancer for more than a year, was considered the franchises greatest pitcher.
Gibson was the Cardinals' second National Baseball Hall of Famer to die in the past month. His longtime teammate, Lou Brock, died at age 81 on Sept. 6. Gibson's death came on the 52nd anniversary of perhaps his greatest game, a record 17-strikeout performance in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
Rest in Peace
Rest in peace, Bob.
He was one of the all time greats.
“Bullet Bob”. God rest him. great player, great man.
My favorite Cardinal player when I was a kid. I attempted to model my “pitching style” after his. RIP.
As the saying goes:”He used to throw aspirins”.
RIP Mr Gibson. Sad day for Cards fans. The man could pitch.
One of the best ever.
RIP, Bob.
No doubt Gibson was one of the greatest pitchers of all time. He may have struck out 17 in Game 1, but the Tigers won the World Series.
1968 was the year of the pitcher, for sure. Denny McLain won 31 games that year which likely will be the last time a major league pitcher wins 30 or more games in a single season.
As I recall, after 68, MLB changed the pitching mound, lowering it I think. This was done because it was deemed that pitchers had too much of an advantage over the hitter.
Back to the World Series: Micky Lolich of the Tigers won 3 games and hit a homerun to boot. As a Tiger fan, I recall rushing home after the school to watch the rest of the games. At the time, all World Series games were played during the day, no night games.
I remember listening to that on the the radio....didn’t he go up against Denny Mclain?
One of the better hitting pitchers of his time, and nine Gold Gloves for fielding as a pitcher. Amazing athlete.
Yeah. The 68 series was incredible. The battle of the pitchers. Not another as exciting as that one since. Gibson gave us great memories.
I collected baseball cards when I was kid. I had shoe boxes full.
I learned much about players by reading the short bio and the career stats on the back of the card.
I remember getting Gibsons card and thinking it must be a misprint. The stats were jaw dropping. The man could pitch with the best of them. A legend of the game.
Rest In Peace.
Rest in peace, Bob.
He was one of the all time greats.
Agree. One of the few truly dominate athletes of his or any era. RIP.
As a kid l remember in 1968 whenever Gibson was scheduled to pitch against my beloved Giants I would cringe. He was an incredible competitor and phenomenal pitcher. Certainly one of the very best in an era of great pitchers. RIP Mr. Gibson.
I was a Red Sox fan during that amazing 1967 season, the first year I was interested in baseball. I got to know a lot of the American League players like Mickey Mantle, Dean Chance, Al Kaline, Frank Howard, Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Ken Berry. I didn’t know anyone in the National League except Don Drysdale, who had the same name as the banker in the Beverly Hillbillies, and Sandy Koufax, who had been on an episode of Dennis the Menace.
When the Sox won the pennant my Dad said “They aren’t going to win the Series. St. Louis has a pitcher by the name of Bob Gibson who is almost unhittable.” And that’s how it happened.
In 1968 he started 34 games and pitched 304 innings for 8.9 innings per game. Compare that to todays buttercups whose arms might fall off of they go more than 5 innings.
Nobody crowded the plate on Bob Gibson. My favorite memory is when Gibson threw at Roberto Clemente. Later on Clemente hit a bullet back up the middle and broke Gibson’s leg.
I loved that 1967 Boston Red Sox team. Great players and personalities. Your dad was right about Gibson, he was almost unbeatable.
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