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.
Posted on 05/13/2019 9:12:55 AM PDT by Rummyfan
Whitey Ford pretty good too.
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!”
Until the 7th Inning of Game Seven of the World Series. ;)
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......
This story illustrates the competitive nature of Gibson:
Years after he retired from the Cardinals, Gibson served a stint as a pitching coach for the Atlanta Braves. The Brave pitcher was in trouble so Gibson paid a visit to the mound. The hometown Cardinal fans were ecstatic to see their former hero and gave a rousing reception to Gibson. I expected him to tip his cap or acknowledge the warm reception in some way but Gibson strode back to the dugout after talking to his pitcher and never even glanced up. Nowadays there would be a reception and hugs all around but Gibson was too competitive for that.
Yes there was a bit of luck involved (there usually is), especially in Game 7 when Curt Flood misplayed a fly ball into a triple that was critical. But give the Tigers credit - they came back from 3 - 1 down to win.
Without a doubt the greatest Jewish lefthander ever.
Once in the World Series Koufax sat because it was Yom Kippur and the Dodgers started Drysdale. Drysdale proceeded to get hammered and when Walter Alston came to pull him he supposedly said 'I bet you wish I was Jewish too' LOL!
I wonder if he's on the "Famous Jewish Sports Legends" leaflet?
Gibson couldn't do it all on his own!
Him and Hank Greenburg for sure!
Not even Gibby could win them all against the 1968 Tigers, and I’m a Cardinals fan.
Hats off to Mickey Lolich.
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.
Remember Spahn, Sain, and pray for rain?
He pitched 314 innings for those 35 starts, meaning he pitched an average of 8.9 innings a start! Assuming a few of those games were extra innings, that meant he lasted until at least two outs in the 8th inning nearly every time he started!
Those are incredible figures, especially considering that today the girly-man coaches are pulling the girly-man hurlers in the 7th inning even with a big lead.
See my post #35. I was a boy and had Gibson’s card too. I lived in LA and luv’d Koufax and Drysdale, but also Gibson.
Of course, as a Dodger I wanted to whack the SF Giants Juan Marichal with a bat myself.
Low pitch counts today are probably due to economics - no one wants a Dusty Baker or Billy Martin overusing pitchers with guaranteed contracts - and today’s medical monitoring that recognizes the arm stress that leads to real damage.
The drawback is that the rare guys who can handle 125 or more pitches per outing might never be known.
Apparently he was really in the zone before the game and he was frightening to be around.
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”.
There can't be any more pitching heroics, for starters at least. Watching a Koufax or a Gibson waving off his manager after walking the first batter in the 9th, and then gritting his teeth even harder is an act of strength, grit, and determination.
Winning is everything, of course. But so are the stories of endurance and personal achievement. We don't take tired QBs out of tough games either in college or the NFL. Yet, we take star pitchers out after 7 innings even if he has a shutout going.
I don't really want to blame the pitchers themselves, but I do. They should demand that they be allowed to stay in the game. They should take pride in the fact that they won a game that was all theirs. Was it really a win that they earned if they left with a 3-1 lead after 100 pitches and 7 innings, and had their game saved by someone else?
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