And another part of my youth slips into the black hole. If there was ever a pitcher more feared than Bob Gibson I sure don't know who that might be.
He was one of my childhood baseball heroes back in my Little League days.
17 years. That is what I miss most about MLB. Players didn’t change teams as often as they change their underwear.
OUCH! This one hurts. Condolences to Bob Gibson’s family and friends! One of my favorites. One of THE GRRRRREATS. The 1968 series with the Tigers was classic. Mickey Lolich the donut peddler and many others to the rescue. Read up on this one sportsfans.
I used to love sports. I went to CMU on a baseball scholarship. I was a pitcher. 5-0 on the freshman team with a 0.89 ERA. It was a school record at the time. Home that summer I found something I liked more than baseball. Girls. Bye bye baseball.
I’ll sign autographs for the cardboard fans this afternoon.
Boy have I got some baseball stories.
Thanks, Mr. Bob Gibson. R.I.P., sir.
love
A batter would be crazy to crowd the plate with Bob Gibson on the mound. RIP.
(prayer)
I remember in 1968 Bob Gibson had a 1.12 ERA for the year, Denny McClain won 31 games and Don Drysdale had a 58 inning scoreless streak which at the time was a MLB record
Bob Gibson was a fearless competitor. If someone leaned over the plate or tried to take away the inside corner, Gibson would push them back or plunk them with a 95 mph fastball. No apologies and Gibson knew he would come to bat himself and would stoically take the inevitable retaliation. No posturing, whining or fighting, just men doing what they had to do.
There is a story, probably not entirely accurate, that Gibson once explained his tactics. Gibson explained that he fed his family off that plate. If someone leaned over it, they were taking food out of the mouths of his children. Therefore leaning over the plate was simply not tolerated.
Its been said that baseball is a metaphor for America. It is. There once were men like Bob Gibson who were competent, feared and admired. Today if you watch baseball carefully, its clear the country has changed.
I had two groups of heroes as a kid:
One group was the Gemini and Apollo astronauts.
The other group was my favorite MLB players, Gibby in particular.
I can remember standing in front of the mirror before a Little League game. I wanted to mimic the famous Bob Gibson stare/frown so I would look just like him on the mound.
“A roundin’ third and headed for home is a brown eyed handsome man” - John Fogerty
Gibson was fierce competitor, in fact on the field he was just plain fierce. Story was that the catcher ran out to the mound to discuss what pitch to throw with Gibson. Gibson said ‘Get back behind the plate, the only thing you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it’.
1968, Gibson started 34 games, pitched 28 complete games including 13 shutouts. The most complete games by a pitcher in 2019 was 3.
He had a reasonable chance of more wins, but he played with the Harlem Globetrotters for a year (1957) before he finally signed with St. Louis and went with baseball, only.
This is what you don’t see anymore:
9 time all star, 2 world series championships, NL MVP (as a starting pitcher), 2 Cy Youngs, 2 WS MVP’s, 9 gold gloves, no hitter in 1971, a lifetime era under 3.0, over 3000 strikeouts, HOF and all century team. Of the 528 professional games in the majors, he had 255 complete games and 56 shutouts when people could hit. 15 and a partial years in the majors.
He was a fierce competitor, but he treated everyone equal. As the story goes...when his catcher Tim McCarver went to the mound for a conference, Gibson brushed him off sending him back to the plate saying “The only thing you know about pitching is that it’s hard to hit.” McCarver told this story.
rwood
Lifelong Cardinals fan. Loved Gibson as a kid. I still remember his autobiography, “From Ghetto to Glory.” RIP
Agree... Although I was already in my 40's when he was pitching...