Bob Gibson: St. Louis’ Untouchable Pitcher
Bob was born on November 9th, 1935, in Omaha, Nebraska. His father had died before he was even born, and Victoria Gibson, his mother, had to work in a laundry to provide for her seven children. Bob Gibson suffered from a multitude of medical problems as a child. He persevered through bouts of rickets, pneumonia, asthma, hay fever and also was diagnosed with a heart murmur. But despite all the maladies, Gibson became a wonderful athlete, starring in baseball, basketball and track in his Omaha high school. Upon graduation, he happily accepted a basketball scholarship from Creighton University, right there in Omaha. Besides basketball, he also was on the school’s baseball team, and when the Cardinals scouted him they offered him a $4,000 bonus to sign with them in 1957.
Before he began his major league career, Bob Gibson, an African-American, joined the Harlem Globetrotters. He was given the nickname “Bullet” Bob and played with the team for a year before devoting himself to baseball. He spent 1958 with the Triple A Omaha farm team of St. Louis and made the jump to the bigs in 1959. His first two campaigns were anything but impressive as he went 6-11, starting only occasionally. Cards’ skipper Solly Hemus was given the boot in 1962 and Johnny Keane took the helm. He had been the manager of Gibson in Omaha, and thought enough of the big right hander to allow him to work through his troubles with his control. 1962 saw Gibson go 15-13 at the age of 26; he went 18-9 in 1963 and finally started to fulfill his vast potential. Mixing a fastball and great slider with an improving curve, Gibson was not afraid to pitch batters inside. It soon became apparent that it was foolhardy to crowd the plate against Gibson, as he was not at all shy about knocking people off of it.
In 1964, Bob Gibson went 19-12 and pitched the Cardinals to a World Series victory over the Yankees. He lost Game Two by an 8-3 count and won Game Five 5-2 over Mel Stottlemyre in ten innings. Pitching Game Seven on two days rest and in pain from an arthritic elbow that nagged him all season long, he held on and beat the Yankees 7-5. He was named Series MVP and Johnny Keane said, “He pitched the last three innings on guts.”
Gibson won twenty for the first time in 1965, as the 29 year old went 20-12 with six shutouts. St. Louis fell into the second division, where they remained in 1966 as Gibson posted 21 victories. During a game against the Pirates in 1967, Gibson was the victim of a Roberto Clemente line drive that broke his leg. He missed two months, but returned in time to pitch the pennant clincher against the Philadelphia Phillies in September as the Cardinals coasted to yet another pennant. ’67 was his only season from 1965 through 1970 that he failed to win twenty games, but Bob made up for this by winning three Series games against the Red Sox. He surrendered but three runs and fourteen hits while striking out 26 in 27 innings. He pitched a three hitter to win Game Seven and was named MVP of the Series for a second time.
In 1968, Bob Gibson had what was arguably the greatest year by any pitcher in baseball history. Although his record was “only” 22-9, he pitched thirteen shutouts and had a miniscule ERA of 1.12. He led the league in strikeouts and threw 28 complete games. His dominance was so awe inspiring that baseball lowered the pitching mound the next season by five inches to try to offset his dominance. He won both the league MVP and the Cy Young Award. In the World Series versus the Tigers, he struck out 17 batters in the first contest to set a record that still stands. He took Game Four 10-1, despite four errors behind him, but lost the deciding Seventh Game when Curt Flood misjudged a fly ball into a two run triple. His World Series pitching produced a 7-2 mark with a 1.89 ERA and more than a strikeout an inning.
A fabulous fielder, Gibson won the Gold Glove for pitchers every season from 1965 through 1973. He was also an accomplished hitter, as his 24 home runs and lifetime .206 batting average will attest. He even hit two home runs in World Series play to help his cause. He is one of only a pair of pitchers since WW II to have an average over .200 and more than twenty homers and a hundred RBI, Bob Lemon being the other. But it was his demeanor that set him apart from all others. Hank Aaron told a young Dusty Baker, his Braves teammate how to act when facing Gibson. “Don’t dig in against Bob Gibson, he’ll knock you down. Don’t stare at him. He doesn’t like it. If you happen to hit a home run, don’t run too slow, don’t run too fast. If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first. And if he hits you, don’t charge the mound, because he’s a Gold Glove boxer”. Baker’s seventeen game hitting streak ended that evening.
The Cardinals failed to reach the post-season again with Gibson on their roster. He went 20-13 in 1969 and 23-7 in 1970, once again garnering a Cy Young, but age and injuries began to exact their toll. He did pitch a no-hitter in 1971 against the Pirates, and won 19 games in 1972, but he knew it was time to hang it up when light hitting Pete LaCock of the Cubs hit a grand slam off of him in a 1975 game. He retired after that year, with his legacy intact. He left with a 251-174 won-loss record and a lifetime ERA under 3.00. At the time of his retirement, he had the second most strikeouts ever, 3,117, behind only the great Walter Johnson. His number 45 was retired by St. Louis and he was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1981 with 84% of the eligible voters casting ballots for him.
Perhaps his catcher, Tim McCarver, jokingly summed it up best when he said of Bob Gibson, “He’s the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn’t score any runs.”
