Bob Gibson
Robert Gibson, nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", was an American baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959 to 1975. Known for his fiercely competitive nature, Gibson tallied 251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a 2.91 earned run average. A nine-time All-Star and two-time World Series Champion, he won two Cy Young Awards and the 1968 National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Gibson overcame childhood illness to excel in youth sports, particularly basketball and baseball. After briefly playing with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, he chose to pursue baseball and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He became a full-time starting pitcher in July 1961 and earned his first All-Star appearance in 1962. Gibson won 2 of 3 games he pitched in the 1964 World Series, then won 20 games in a season for the first time in 1965. Gibson also pitched three complete game victories in the 1967 World Series. He is one of four players and two pitchers to win multiple World Series MVPs.
The pinnacle of Gibson's career was 1968, during the "Year of the Pitcher", which is regarded as one of the greatest single pitching seasons of all-time; he posted a 1.12 ERA for the season and then recorded 17 strikeouts in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Gibson threw a no-hitter in 1971 but began experiencing swelling in his knee in subsequent seasons. At the time of his retirement in 1975, Gibson ranked second only to Walter Johnson among major-league pitchers in career strikeouts. When describing Gibson’s career, his former all-star teammate Tim McCarver jokingly remarked, "Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher in baseball. He always pitches when the other team doesn't score any runs.”
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, his first year of eligibility, and the Cardinals retired his uniform number 45 in September 1975, the year he retired. Gibson was later selected for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. He died of pancreatic cancer on October 2, 2020.
Early life
Gibson was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 9, 1935, the youngest of Victoria and Pack Gibson's seven children. Gibson's father died of tuberculosis three months prior to Gibson's birth, and he was named "Pack Robert Gibson", in honor of his late father. While he revered his father's legacy, Gibson disliked the name "Pack" and later legally dropped it.Although afflicted by rickets and respiratory disease as a child, Gibson was active in sports, particularly baseball and basketball, in both informal and organized settings. Gibson's brother Josh, 15 years his senior, had a profound effect on his early life, serving as his mentor and a father figure. Gibson played on a number of youth basketball and baseball teams his brother coached, many of which were organized through the local YMCA.
Gibson attended Omaha Technical High School, where he participated on the track, basketball, and baseball teams. Gibson was named to the All-State basketball team during his senior year of high school by a newspaper in Lincoln, Nebraska, and soon after won a full athletic scholarship for basketball from Creighton University. Indiana University had rejected him after stating their "Negro athlete quota" had already been filled.
While at Creighton, Gibson majored in sociology, and continued to experience success playing basketball. At the end of his junior basketball season, he averaged 22 points per game, and made third team Jesuit All-American. As his graduation from Creighton approached, the spring of 1957 proved to be a busy time for Gibson. Aside from getting married, Gibson had garnered the interest of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team and the St. Louis Cardinals baseball team.
Gibson eventually signed a deal which allowed him to play baseball in the Cardinals minor league system for the rest of the summer after which he would play for the Globetrotters for four months. After the four months were over, he and the Cardinals agreed that he would focus solely on baseball; he received a $3,000 signing bonus to sign with the team.
Baseball career
Early struggles
Gibson made his pitching debut for the Omaha Cardinals of the American Association, one of the Cardinals' Triple-A affiliates. He struggled against Triple-A hitting however, recording an earned run average of 4.29 in his first ten games, including four starts. He was reassigned to the Columbus Foxes of the South Atlantic League, the team's Single-A affiliate where his performance improved a little; making eight starts, he recorded an earned run average of 3.77 for the team.The following season, he was first assigned to the Rochester Red Wings of the International League, another Triple-A affiliate of the Cardinals. He improved significantly, recording an earned run average of 2.45 in twenty games, including eleven starts. He threw seven complete games and 103 innings. The Cardinals reassigned him to Omaha where his performance slightly worsened, with an ERA of 3.31 in eleven starts, though he did record his first professional shutout.
Gibson was assigned to the Cardinals' big league roster for the start of the 1959 season, making his Major League debut on April 15 against the Los Angeles Dodgers; he pitched two innings in relief, giving up two runs, including a home run to Jim Baxes, the very first batter he faced. Reassigned to their Omaha affiliate soon after, Gibson returned to the Major Leagues on July 30 to make his first career start; he earned his first Major League win the same day, a shutout against the Cincinnati Reds.
Gibson's experience in 1960 was similar to his first season in the majors, pitching nine innings for the Cardinals before shuffling between the Cardinals and their Rochester affiliate until mid-June. After posting a 3–6 record with a 5.61 ERA for the season, Gibson traveled to Venezuela to participate in winter baseball at the conclusion of the 1960 season. He was also sent to Puerto Rico to play for the Cangrejeros de Santurce before and after the 1961 season.
Cardinals manager Solly Hemus shuffled Gibson between the bullpen and the starting pitching rotation for the first half of the 1961 season. Years later, Gibson indicated that Hemus's racial prejudice played a major role in his misuse of Gibson, as well as of teammate Curt Flood, both of whom were told by Hemus that they would not make it as major leaguers and should try something else. Hemus was replaced as Cardinals manager in July 1961 by Johnny Keane, who had been Gibson's manager on the Omaha minor league affiliate several years prior. Keane and Gibson shared a positive professional relationship, and Keane immediately moved Gibson into the starting pitching rotation full-time. Gibson proceeded to compile an 11–6 record the remainder of the year, and posted a 3.24 ERA for the full season.
Off the field, Gibson, along with teammates Bill White and Curt Flood, started a movement to make all players live in the same clubhouse and hotel rooms. Their campaign led the St. Louis Cardinals to become the first sports team to end segregation, three years before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Breakthrough
In late May of the 1962 season, Gibson pitched consecutive scoreless innings on his way to being named an All-Star for the first time. He was named to both All-Star Games that year, pitching two innings in the second. Despite suffering a fractured ankle late in the season, Gibson still finished 1962 with his first 200-strikeout season.The rehabilitation of Gibson's ankle was a slow process, and by May 19 of the 1963 season he had recorded only one win. Gibson then turned to rely on his slider and two different fastball pitches to reel off six straight wins prior to late July. He and all other Major League pitchers benefited from a rule change that season which expanded the strike zone. Adding to his pitching performances was Gibson's offensive production, with his 20 RBIs outmatching the combined RBI output of entire pitching staffs on other National League teams. Even with Gibson's 18 wins and the extra motivation of teammate Stan Musial's impending retirement, however, the Cardinals finished six games out of first place.
Building on their late-season pennant run in 1963, the 1964 Cardinals developed a strong camaraderie that was noted for being free of the racial tension that predominated in the United States at that time. Part of this atmosphere stemmed from the integration of the team's spring training hotel in 1960, and Gibson and teammate Bill White worked to confront and stop use of racial slurs within the team. On August 23, the Cardinals were 11 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and remained six-and-a-half games behind on September 21. The combination of a nine-game Cardinals winning streak and a ten-game Phillies losing streak then brought the season down to the final game. The Cardinals faced the New York Mets, and Gibson entered the game as a relief pitcher in the fifth inning. Aware that the Phillies were ahead of the Cincinnati Reds 4–0 at the time he entered the game, Gibson proceeded to pitch four innings of two-hit relief, while his teammates scored 11 runs of support to earn the victory.
They next faced the New York Yankees in the 1964 World Series. Gibson was matched against Yankees starting pitcher Mel Stottlemyre for three of the Series' seven games, with Gibson losing Game 2, then winning Game 5. In Game 7, Gibson, who only had 2 days rest, pitched into the ninth inning, where he allowed home runs to Phil Linz and Clete Boyer, making the score 7–5 Cardinals. With Ray Sadecki and Barney Schultz warming up in the Cardinal bullpen, Gibson retired Bobby Richardson for the final out, giving the Cardinals their first World Championship since 1946. Along with his two victories, Gibson set a new World Series record by striking out 31 batters.
Gibson made the All-Star team again in the 1965 season, and when the Cardinals were well out of the pennant race by August, attention turned to Gibson to see if he could win 20 games for the first time. Gibson was still looking for win number 20 on the last day of the season, a game where new Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst rested many of the regular players. Gibson still prevailed against the Houston Astros by a score of 5–2.
The 1966 season marked the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium for the Cardinals and Gibson was selected to play in the All-Star Game in front of the hometown crowd, though he did not as he was hurt at the time.
The Cardinals built a -game lead prior to the 1967 season All-Star break, and Gibson pitched the seventh and eighth innings of the 1967 All-Star game. Gibson then faced the Pittsburgh Pirates on July 15, when Roberto Clemente hit a line drive off Gibson's right leg. Unaware his leg had been fractured, Gibson faced three more batters before his right fibula bone snapped above the ankle. After Gibson returned on September 7, the Cardinals secured the National League pennant on September 18, games ahead of the San Francisco Giants.
In the 1967 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Gibson allowed only three earned runs and 14 hits over three complete-game victories in Games 1, 4, and 7, the latter two marks tying Christy Mathewson's 1905 World Series record. Just as he had in 1964, Gibson pitched a complete-game victory in Game 7, against Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg, who pitched a one-hitter in Game 2. Gibson also contributed offensively in Game 7 by hitting a home run that made the game 3–0. Unlike his last win as World Series MVP, he finally got the endorsements that had eluded him in 1964, including endorsement and sponsorship for his asthma medication, namely Primatene mist inhaler and tablets.