With the recognition, Gibson became just the third pitcher to win multiple Cy Young Awards, joining Sandy Koufax and Denny McLain. Gibson previously had won the award in 1968.

“It’s a great honor,” said Gibson, who went 23-7 with a 3.12 ERA on the season. “I’m looking forward to winning 20 games – at least that many – next year. My arm is fine and I just like to keep on winning as much as I can.”[1]

The 34-year-old Gibson started the season slowly. After a disastrous outing against the Astros on May 18 in which he allowed six earned runs on 12 hits in 5 2/3 innings, he found himself with a 2-3 record and 5.34 ERA.

From that point forward, however, Gibson returned to vintage form. In his next start, Gibson struck out a season-high 16 batters in a complete-game win over the Phillies. It marked the first of 10 consecutive wins, including wins in all seven of his June starts. He won 21 of his final 25 decisions. On the final day of the season, Gibson signed a $150,000 contract for the 1971 season that made him baseball’s highest-paid player.

“I think 1970 was the second-best season of my career – second to 1968,” Gibson said. “The season was somewhat disappointing because we were never in the race and winning the pennant and getting into the World Series is what it is all about.”[2]

Gibson’s 23 wins tied San Francisco’s Gaylord Perry for the National League lead. It marked the fifth time in his career he had reached 20 wins in a season, breaking the franchise record he previously shared with Dizzy Dean.

“Actually, Gibson had his best won-and-lost season, and in many ways he did it under trying conditions,” Cardinals general manager Bing Devine said. “This was his first year on AstroTurf, which had to be somewhat detrimental to him, and there were all those other things – shortened strike zone, lowered mound, etc.”[3]

Gibson’s 274 strikeouts marked the third consecutive year he had broken the franchise record for strikeouts in the season, and made him the first pitcher in major-league history to post eight seasons with at least 200 strikeouts.

Of the 24 Cy Young Award ballots, 23 placed Gibson first on 23 and was the only player named on every ballot. Perry, who went 23-13 with a 3.20 ERA and 214 strikeouts, received the only other first-place vote (Gibson was second on that ballot).

The Cubs’ Fergie Jenkins finished third in the balloting after he went 22-16 with a 3.39 ERA and 274 strikeouts.

In addition to the Cy Young Award, Gibson won his sixth consecutive Gold Glove Award and finished fourth in the National League MVP voting behind Cincinnati’s Johnny Bench, Chicago’s Billy Williams, and Cincinnati’s Tony Perez.

He also hit .303 with two homers and 19 RBIs, marking the only time in his career that he hit over .300.

Gibson finished the season with 190 career wins, leaving him 10 shy of 200.

“I don’t have any special goals along those lines and winning 200 doesn’t mean too much to me,” he said.[4]

Gibson went on to pitch five more seasons for the Cardinals. In 1971, he threw the only no-hitter of his career and in 1974 he recorded his 3,000^th strikeout. He retired with a 251-174 career record and a 2.91 ERA over 17 seasons, all in St. Louis. In 1981, he was elected to the Hall of Fame.

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[1] “Award OK But Gib Likes Wins,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 4, 1970.

[2] “Award OK But Gib Likes Wins,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 4, 1970.

[3] Neal Russo, “Gibson’s Reward: $150,000 Pact for ’71,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 2, 1970.

[4] “Award OK But Gib Likes Wins,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 4, 1970.

The post How Bob Gibson won his second Cy Young Award in 1970 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

To recruit the catching prospect, the Yankees called upon no less an authority than Bill Dickey, the Hall of Fame catcher who won 11 World Series titles over a 17-year career. Dickey gave McCarver a brand-new mitt and offered to take him on a fishing trip to discuss the finer points of the position,[1] but the Yankees’ $60,000 bid ultimately fell short of the Cardinals’ $75,000 offer.[2]

Five years later, McCarver had the Yankees wishing they bid just a bit more, especially after his three-run, 10^th-inning homer put the Cardinals just one win away from the 1964 World Series title.

“That home run did much more than win a game for us,” Cardinals manager Johnny Keane said after the game. “It did a lot for the boy’s career. He’s only 23. That home run will bring his career ahead a couple of years. You could see that when he came into the dugout.”[3]

Led by third baseman Ken Boyer, pitching ace Bob Gibson, and the midseason acquisition of outfielder Lou Brock, the 1964 Cardinals surged late in the season to beat the Cincinnati Reds by a single game for the National League pennant. In the American League, the Yankees went 22-6 in September to surge from third place and win the pennant by a game over the White Sox.

Following two tight races for the American and National League pennants, it was fitting that the Cardinals and Yankees were deadlocked at two games apiece after Ken Boyer’s grand slam lifted the Redbirds to a 4-3 win in Game 4.

Game 5 matched Gibson against 22-year-old rookie Mel Stottlemyre. Gibson had battled flu symptoms and a sore throat for three days, and the night before, he hadn’t been able to sleep. He called trainer Bob Bauman to give him a sleeping pill at 2 a.m., but it didn’t “go too well,” and he wasn’t sure he had his good stuff.[4]

His pitches may have been better than he thought, however. Gibson and Stottlemyre maintained a scoreless tie until the Cardinals pushed two runs across in the fifth. Gibson started the rally himself with a single to left field before Curt Flood reached on an error by Bobby Richardson, the Yankees’ normally sure-handed second baseman. Brock singled to right field to score Gibson, and Flood made it 2-0 when Bill White grounded into a fielder’s choice.

Gibson, meanwhile, cruised through the Yankees’ lineup. His greatest danger had come in the second inning, when he issued a leadoff walk to Mickey Mantle and then hit Elston Howard with a pitch. Joe Pepitone hit a bouncer back to Gibson for the first out of the inning, and after he intentionally walked Tom Tresh, Gibson struck out Clete Boyer and Mel Stottlemyre to end the threat.

Seven innings later, however, Gibson couldn’t work around a misplayed ground ball that allowed Mantle to reach first with nobody out. Gibson struck out Howard, then Pepitone lined a pitch off Gibson’s hip. Gibson reacted quickly, pouncing on the ball near the third-base line and firing a strike to White to catch the fleet-footed Pepitone at first base.

“Gibson is the only pitcher I know who can make that play,” Keane said.

For his part, Pepitone wasn’t convinced.

“I want to see those pictures,” he said. “My foot hit the base, and then I heard the ball hit White’s glove. I couldn’t believe it when the umpire called me out.”[5]

With the Yankees down to their final out, Gibson’s athletic play seemed to have all but clinched the game, but Tresh homered to right field to tie the score.

“Sometimes a situation arises, after a controversial play or something like what happened to Gibson, that breaks a pitcher’s concentration,” Tresh said. “Then I look for a chance to swing at the next pitch. I figure three swings are better than two. It was a real good fastball and I was lucky to be swinging in the same zone.”[6]

If Gibson hadn’t been able to throw out Pepitone one batter earlier, the game would be over, and the Yankees would be one win away from winning the series. Instead, the two teams went to extra innings.

“Don’t worry,” Gibson told his teammates when he returned to the dugout. “We’ve been a scrapping team all year, and we can scrap back again.”[7]

Yankees reliever Pete Mikkelsen walked White to start the 10^th. Boyer, who had won the game one day earlier with a grand slam, reached on a bunt single.

“I can’t remember going through with a bunt since 1961,” he said.[8]

“I decided on the Boyer bunt at the last moment,” Cardinals manager Johnny Keane said. “After all, Ken hasn’t practiced it much. If he didn’t bunt on the first chance, we were switching to the hit sign.”

Keeping up the pressure, Cardinals shortstop Dick Groat attempted a bunt of his own, but he had to pull the bat back on a pitch outside the strike zone. That left White ranging off the base, but as Howard attempted to pick him off at second, White advanced to third.

After Groat hit into a fielder’s choice, Keane considered calling for yet another bunt – this time from McCarver.

“I considered a squeeze for Tim, but I was afraid of a pitchout,” he said. “Howard kept looking at me all day.”[9]

After McCarver worked the count full, Mikkelsen threw a fastball over the heart of the plate. The lefty swinger, who only hit nine homers during the regular season, pulled it over the right-field wall.

“I should have been extra careful,” Mikkelsen said. “If I walk him, it loads the bases, but no one scores. I’m a sinkerball pitcher, and that one was up too high, but you’ve got to give that guy credit.”[10]

“I was just trying to meet the ball, to get the guy in from third base,” McCarver said. “I didn’t think the ball would carry to the bullpen in right field. I was happy when I got to first base because I knew the run was in, but I was dazed when I saw the ball go out. By the time I got to third, I was laughing out loud. I’m always laughing, you know, even when I’m sad. The way I feel now, I’ll never be sad again.”[11]

Of course, before McCarver could celebrate, Gibson and the Cardinals had to hold off the Yankees. Gibson struck out pinch-hitter Mike Hegan, then got Phil Linze to fly out. Richardson kept the Yankees’ hopes alive with a single to center that brought slugger Roger Maris to the plate, but Gibson got him to pop the ball up, and Boyer reached into the grandstand to make the catch for the final out.

Gibson finished the game with 13 strikeouts, the third-highest total in World Series history. His 12 strikeouts through nine innings matched Mort Cooper’s Cardinals World Series mark set when he fanned 12 Browns in 1944. Both of the Yankees’ runs against Gibson were unearned.

“They were swinging at a lot of high pitches, Elston Howard twice,” Gibson said. “The Yankees don’t normally swing at those.”

When the Cardinals returned to St. Louis that evening with a 3-2 lead in the series, they were greeted by a crowd of 10,000 Cardinals fans who chanted, “Timmy, Timmy, Timmy.”[12]

The Yankees evened the series two days later with an 8-3 win, but with Gibson and Stottlemyre squaring off once more, the Cardinals won Game 7 for the seventh World Series championship in franchise history.

McCarver finished the series with a team-leading 11 hits in 23 at-bats for a .478 average and a .552 on-base percentage. His 21-year career included 12 seasons with the Cardinals and nine with the Phillies. In addition to the 1964 championship, McCarver played for the Cardinals’ 1967 championship team and the 1968 National League pennant winners.  

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[1] Neal Russo, “Tim, Who Got Away, Puts Yanks On Hook,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[2] Tim McCarver with Ray Robinson (1987), Oh, Baby, I Love It! Baseball Summers, Hot Pennant Races, Grand Salamis, Jellylegs, El Swervos, Dingers and Dunkers, Etc., Etc., Etc., Villard Books, New York, Page 11.

[3] Jim McCulley, “Big Hit in 10^th Put McCarver On the BB Map,” New York Daily News, October 13, 1964.

[4] Ed Wilks, “Gibson Took Pill, Threw Aspirins,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[5] Ed Wilks, “Berra Is Still Chasing Birds,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[6] Ed Wilks, “Berra Is Still Chasing Birds,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[7] Neal Russo, “Tim, Who Got Away, Puts Yanks On Hook,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[8] Neal Russo, “Tim, Who Got Away, Puts Yanks On Hook,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[9] Neal Russo, “Tim, Who Got Away, Puts Yanks On Hook,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[10] Ed Wilks, “Berra Is Still Chasing Birds,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[11] Neal Russo, “Tim, Who Got Away, Puts Yanks On Hook,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

[12] “Cards Tell Crowd They’ll Win Series,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1964.

The post How Tim McCarver won Game 5 of the 1964 World Series first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Knowing that Game 7 would match Cardinals ace Bob Gibson against Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg, Boston first baseman George Scott predicted that Gibson wouldn’t “survive five” innings.[1] Earlier in the series, the Red Sox had offered the Boston press other indications that they didn’t think much of their National League foes.

“What did they say?” Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver asked. “Well, (Boston manager Dick Williams) said Bob Gibson was the only pitcher on our club. And over his column yesterday, the paper had the headline: ‘Lonborg and Champagne.’ That was supposed to be Williams’ pitching ‘rotation.’ And (Carl Yastrzemski) was saying, ‘We’ll win it in six,’ and ‘I’ll hit the fence.’”[2]

Heading into Game 7, Boston’s hospitality industry seemed to annoy Gibson more than the Red Sox did. It didn’t help that the team hotel’s air conditioning hadn’t been turned on during the Cardinals’ stay.[3] When Gibson, McCarver, Dal Maxvill, and their wives went downstairs for breakfast, everyone received their food except for Gibson. After 45 minutes and several complaints, Gibson finally received a piece of burnt toast. When Gibson asked the waitress to take it away, she replied, “We’ll take you away.”[4]

With no breakfast coming, Gibson was forced to get on the team bus with an empty stomach. When St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg learned of Gibson’s situation, he hopped off the bus at a red light and caught a cab to a local diner, where he purchased two ham-and-cheese sandwiches. He then brought them to the clubhouse, where Gibson ate one and saved the other for later.[5]

Gibson had been dominant through his first two appearances in the series, striking out 10 batters while allowing just one run in a 2-1 victory in Game 1. In Game 4, Gibson threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just five Boston hits while striking out six.

The Red Sox, however, won the fifth game 3-1, then returned home to Fenway Park to pick up an 8-4 win in Game 6. That forced the decisive seventh game and the match-up between Lonborg, who had won Games 2 and 5, against Gibson.

The Cardinals struck first in the top of the third when Maxvill led off with a triple to center field.

“I was just hoping it was going to go over (Red Sox center fielder Reggie Smith’s) head,” Maxvill said. “When I saw it hit the wall, I was on my way to second base and I told myself, ‘We better get to running.’”[6]

Lonborg appeared primed to escape the jam unscathed when he got Gibson to line out to third base and Lou Brock flied out to shortstop. With two outs, however, Curt Flood singled up the middle to score Maxvill. Roger Maris’s second single of the game advanced Flood to third base, and when Lonborg threw a wild pitch that got past catcher Elston Howard, Flood scampered home to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead.

The Cardinals used a mix of power and speed to add two more runs in the fifth inning. With one out, Gibson helped his own cause when he homered for his first hit of the series. Lou Brock followed with a single to left field, then stole second and third before Maris lofted a sacrifice fly to right field to extend the Cardinals’ lead to 4-0.

Brock’s two stolen bases gave him six for the World Series. When he added another in the ninth, it broke the old record set 58 years earlier. His eight runs scored in the series tied the record held by Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.[7]

“The only thing he might go back to Boston for is some of those wonderful lobsters,” Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst said. “He’s stolen everything else in Boston.”[8]

The Red Sox got on the scoreboard in their next at-bat when Scott led off with a triple and scored on a throwing error by Julian Javier, who attempted to catch Scott at third base.

“Scott hit a pretty good pitch, I thought,” Gibson said. “It was down and away. When he hit it, though, I thought it was gone.”[9]

The Cardinals answered with three runs in the top of the sixth. McCarver led off the inning with a double to right field before Mike Shannon smashed a hard-hit ground ball that glanced off Red Sox third baseman Joe Foy. With runners on first and second, Javier broke the game open with a three-run homer over the left-field wall.

With a 7-1 lead, the rest of the game belonged to Gibson. He worked around a leadoff walk to Yastrzemski in the seventh before the Red Sox scored their second run of the game on a ground ball in the eighth.

Yastrzemski led off the ninth inning with a single to right field, but he was erased from the base paths when Ken Harrelson hit into a 6-4-3 double play. When Scott, who had predicted that Gibson wouldn’t last five innings, struck out to end the game, the Cardinals were World Series champions for the eighth time in franchise history.

The top three hitters in the Cardinals’ lineup each reached base three times, as Brock singled, doubled, and walked; Flood singled and walked twice; and Maris singled twice and walked. Javier’s three-run home run was one of two hits for the second baseman on the day.

Maris’s seven RBIs for the series set a new record for the Cardinals, topping the previous franchise high of six that had been set by Les Bell in 1926, Jack Rothrock in 1934, Harry Walker in 1946, and Ken Boyer in 1964.[10] As his teammates doused one another in champagne after the win, Maris sipped from a can of beer and watched the others celebrate.

“I’m not a champagne guy,” he explained. “Sure, I’m happy, but my thrill is just watching these other guys be happy. That’s my thrill. I’m all tied up inside, but I don’t show emotion. I’ve always been that way.”[11]

Gibson’s win was his third of the series, making him just the seventh pitcher in major-league history to go 3-0 in a World Series.[12] Pitching on three days’ rest, he held the Red Sox to just three hits and three walks while striking out 10.

For the series, he allowed just three earned runs over 27 innings for a 1.00 ERA while striking out 26. With just 14 hits allowed over that span, he tied Christy Mathewson for the lowest hit total in three successive World Series games, matching a mark that was set 62 years earlier in 1905.[13]

“Too much Gibson and Brock,” Williams said to explain Boston’s defeat.[14]

Incredibly, less than three months earlier, Gibson’s leg had been broken by a line drive off the bat of Roberto Clemente.

“That’s really something, winning three World Series games with a broken leg,” Flood said. “Don’t let anyone kid you. The leg is still bothering Gibby. He had to take some medicine several times each game to kill the pain. It’s some kind of big-league aspirin.”[15]

After the game, the first reporter in the clubhouse asked Gibson how his arm felt.

“I wish I could take it off and hang it up somewhere,” Gibson replied.[16]

“Listen, Gibson’s got some kind of vicious desire, hasn’t he?” McCarver said. “Tenacious. That’s what he is. Tenacious. He pitches on guts. You can see it. He challenges anybody. Hell, he’d challenge Michael the Archangel if he had to.”[17]

Pitching on two days’ rest, Lonborg took the loss after allowing six earned runs on 10 hits and a walk. He lasted six innings before four Red Sox relievers combined to throw the final three innings.

“Lonborg is eating ice cream now,” Brock said. “The only way Lonborg gets champagne is to order it himself.”[18]

“The Red Sox spent half their time popping off,” Flood said. “They would have spent that time better by taking extra batting practice. Now it’s our turn to pop off.”[19]

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[1] Ed Wilks, “Red Sox Columnists ‘Woke Up’ Cards,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[2] Ed Wilks, “Red Sox Columnists ‘Woke Up’ Cards,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[3] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), “Stranger to the Game,” New York; Penguin Books USA, 146.

[4] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), “Stranger to the Game,” New York; Penguin Books USA, 146.

[5] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), “Stranger to the Game,” New York; Penguin Books USA, 146.

[6] Ed Wilks, “Red Sox Columnists ‘Woke Up’ Cards,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[7] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[8] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[9] Ed Wilks, “Tim Hails ‘Vicious Desire’ by Hoot,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[10] Neal Russo, “7^th Theft Puts Lou in Book,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[11] Neal Russo, “7^th Theft Puts Lou in Book,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[12] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[13] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[14] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[15] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[16] Ed Wilks, “Tim Hails ‘Vicious Desire’ by Hoot,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[17] Ed Wilks, “Tim Hails ‘Vicious Desire’ by Hoot,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[18] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

[19] Neal Russo, “Gibson and Brock: 2 for the Whole Show,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, October 13, 1967.

The post Bob Gibson pitches St. Louis past Boston in Game 7 of the 1967 World Series first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

The Cardinals entered their July 15 game against the Pirates with a 51-33 record and a four-game lead over the second-place Cubs. Earlier that month, Gibson had earned his 10^th win of the season, and he entered the contest with a 3.54 ERA. In his previous start, he had thrown 9 2/3 innings against the Phillies, striking out eight in a no-decision.

Despite Roberto Clemente’s powerful presence in the middle of their lineup, the Pirates were just 41-40, 8 ½ games behind the Cardinals for sixth place. Manager Harry Walker, a former Cardinals star, held a 45-minute meeting at the Pirates’ team hotel before the game to discuss misplays on the field and missed curfews off it.[1] Despite his efforts to rally the troops, the Pirates’ 6-4 win over the Cardinals was the last of Walker’s tenure in Pittsburgh, and he was replaced by Danny Murtaugh just a few days later.

The game opened well enough for Gibson as he retired the first six batters he faced. Roger Maris hit an RBI triple in the first inning that scored Lou Brock for the game’s first run. In the third, Gibson walked the first two batters he faced before escaping the jam with a ground ball and two consecutive pop flies.

The fourth inning, however, proved to be his final inning for almost eight weeks.

Though Gibson and Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver usually were on the same page, on this occasion they differed in how to attack Clemente to lead off the fourth. McCarver first called for a fastball, then a curve, but Gibson shook him off each time.[2]

Instead, Gibson wanted to throw his best pitch, his slider. The idea was for the pitch to start out over the middle of the plate and then dart outside, but on this occasion Gibson’s slider hung out over the middle of the plate. Clemente smacked the ball back up the middle and struck Gibson’s right shin. The Cardinals’ ace fell to the ground as the ball rolled to Eddie Bressoud at shortstop and Clemente arrived safely at first base.

“I’m fine,” Gibson told Cardinals trainer Bob Bauman when he came out to check on him.[3]

Nonetheless, Bauman could see a dent in Gibson’s leg shaped suspiciously like a baseball. Dutifully, Bauman sprayed Gibson’s leg with ethyl chloride, a cooling substance used for the temporary relief of minor injuries.

“I hate to tell you, Doc, but you’re spraying in the wrong place,” Gibson said.[4]

That was when Bauman showed him the dent in his leg.

“It was odd that I couldn’t feel where I had been struck, but since I couldn’t feel it, I wasn’t particularly worried,” Gibson wrote in his autobiography, Stranger to the Game. “I told Doc to put a little tape on it and let me get back to work.”[5]

Gibson walked the next batter, Willie Stargell, before getting Bill Mazeroski to fly out to Curt Flood in center field. Gibson had a full count on Donn Clendenon when he attempted to put a little extra effort into the pitch.

For the second time that inning, he collapsed. This time, his fibula had snapped completely, 3 ½ inches above his right ankle.[6]

As Gibson explained decades later: “Initially, the bone had been fractured but not separated. It was only when I came down on it so hard – my motion concentrated a lot of weight and spinning momentum on my right leg – that it broke cleanly in two. If that hadn’t happened, I might have continued the season uninterrupted.”[7]

Unfortunately, the Cardinals were forced to continue without him. Manager Red Schoendienst called upon Al Jackson, a 31-year-old lefthander from Waco, Texas, to pitch the next 3 1/3 innings. Gene Alley greeted Jackson with a sacrifice fly that scored Clemente, and Clendenon added an RBI single two innings later.

In the bottom of the sixth, Orlando Cepeda hit a two-run shot off Dennis Ribant to give the Cardinals a brief 3-2 lead, but Clemente and Stargell answered with RBI singles in the seventh.

Cardinals pinch-hitter Alex Johnson hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to tie the score, but the Pirates continued to chip away at the Cardinals’ bullpen. Pittsburgh’s Jose Pagan pushed the go-ahead run across in the eighth, and Mazeroski added an RBI single in the top of the ninth to give the Pirates a 6-4 win.

With three hits on the day, Clemente upped his average to .353, pulling even closer to Cepeda, whose .355 clip led the league.

Juan Pizarro earned the win for the Pirates in 2/3 of an inning of relief, while Nelson Briles took the loss for the Cardinals.

Everyone’s attention, however, was focused on how Gibson’s absence would impact the Redbirds’ championship hopes. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that “the Cardinals’ run at the head of the National League pennant race was dealt possibly a crippling blow,” and described a postgame scene in which, “Mike Shannon, slouched in a chair, looked forlornly at the figure who sat in front of a locker on pitchers’ row. Tim McCarver, drawing on a T-shirt, gave a long glance in that direction too.”[8]

“What’s it mean?” Shannon asked in response to a reporter’s question. “It means the monkey’s on somebody’s back now. Somebody has to pick us up. We’ve lost him for six weeks. What’s that – eight or 10 starts? You know he wins six of those starts. Even if he’s going bad, he wins five of them.”[9]

Gibson ended up missing almost eight weeks due to the injury. After the loss to the Pirates dropped them to 51-34, the Cardinals went 36-19 in Gibson’s absence. St. Louis won 11 of 12 games from July 25 through August 6, then reeled off eight consecutive wins from August 11 through August 19. Incredibly, the Cardinals actually extended their National League lead from four games to 11 ½.

Gibson’s return only helped the cause. In his first game back, he allowed two runs over five innings, earning the win in a 9-2 decision against the Mets.

“I was feeling my way at first, but then I said, ‘To heck with it,’ and cut loose,” Gibson said.[10]

He won his next two starts as well, improving to 13-6 on the season before taking a tough-luck loss against the Braves (he allowed one earned run over eight innings). In his regular-season finale, he pitched nine innings without allowing an earned run.

“I was never surprised at anything Bob did, but coming back from a broken leg in the way that he did and the time that he did it, I don’t think that will ever happen again,” McCarver said.[11]

The Cardinals finished the regular season 10 ½ games ahead of the Giants and 14 games ahead of the Cubs for the National League pennant.

Gibson earned World Series MVP honors in the Fall Classic, going 3-0 with a 1.00 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 27 innings. After going the distance to win Games 1 and 4, Gibson pitched all nine innings in the decisive seventh game, striking out 10 Red Sox in a 7-2 Cardinals win.

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[1] Lester J. Biederman, “Walker, Bucs Hold Another Meeting,” Pittsburgh Press, July 16, 1967.

[2] Sridhar Pappu (2017), The Year of the Pitcher: Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball’s Golden Age, New York: First Mariner Books, Page 93.

[3] Sridhar Pappu (2017), The Year of the Pitcher: Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball’s Golden Age, New York: First Mariner Books, Page 93.

[4] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), Stranger to the Game, New York: Penguin Books USA, 135.

[5] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), Stranger to the Game, New York: Penguin Books USA, 135.

[6] Ed Wilks, “Gibson Suffers Broken Leg as Cards Lose,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 1967.

[7] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), Stranger to the Game, New York: Penguin Books USA, Page 136.

[8] Ed Wilks, “Gibson Suffers Broken Leg as Cards Lose,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 1967.

[9] Ed Wilks, “Gibson Suffers Broken Leg as Cards Lose,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 16, 1967.

[10] Neal Russo, “Gibby Makes Winning Return,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, September 8, 1967.

[11] Sridhar Pappu (2017), The Year of the Pitcher: Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, and the End of Baseball’s Golden Age, New York: First Mariner Books, Page 96.

The post Bob Gibson pitches with a broken leg: July 15, 1967 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

On July 8, 1962, four months prior to his 42^nd birthday, Musial hit three home runs to lead the Cardinals to a 15-1 win over the Mets and become the oldest player to hit three homers in a game.

With the game-winning home run in the eighth inning of the Cardinals’ 3-2 win over the Mets the night before, Musial’s three homers gave him four consecutive round-trippers over the span of two days. The last time Musial slugged three homers in a game came eight years earlier, in 1954, when he hit five home runs in a double-header against the Giants.

With a 46-38 record, St. Louis entered the game tied for fourth place in the National League, 9 ½ games behind the league-leading Giants. The Cardinals hadn’t done themselves any favors in dropping the first two games in their four-game series against the last-place Mets, who were just 23-58 on their way to a 40-120-1 season. As Dick Young of the New York Daily News wrote, “Trouble with the Amazin’ Mets isn’t that they have old ballplayers; it’s that they don’t have any old ballplayers named Musial.”[1]

The fireworks began in the first inning as first baseman Bill White and Musial hit back-to-back home runs off Mets starter Jay Hook to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. In the third inning, starting pitcher Bob Gibson launched a solo home run and third baseman Ken Boyer drove in a run with an infield single.

In the fourth, the Cardinals broke the game open. Two Mets errors allowed the Cardinals to extend their lead to 6-0 before White hit an RBI double into the left-field gap. Musial followed with a two-run blast that landed in the upper deck in right field to make the score 9-0.

Musial led off the seventh inning with another home run to right field, this time off Willard Hunter. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s Bob Broeg noted that the home run on a high and inside fastball reflected Musial’s longtime strategy regarding hitting in the Polo Grounds: “Don’t let an inside pitch go by if you’ve got quick hands.”[2]

An inning later, rookie Fred Whitfield hit a two-run homer off Mets reliever Bob Miller to make it 12-0. With an opportunity to set a record with a fifth consecutive homer in the eighth, Musial struck out but reached first base safely on a wild pitch. Cardinals manager Johnny Keane replaced Musial with a pinch-runner and the St. Louis star received a standing ovation from the New York fans as he returned to the dugout.[3]

“The last time up, I was going for the fence,” he admitted. “You can’t swing for home runs. I came here in a slump, tried to perk the ball the first night, and then just tried for base hits. Look what happened.”[4]

Gibson and Whitfield added RBI singles in the ninth and Julio Gotay scored on New York’s fourth error of the game. Felix Mantilla led off the Mets’ half of the ninth inning with a triple into the left-field gap and Joe Christopher grounded out to second base to spoil Gibson’s bid for a complete-game shutout.

Nonetheless, with the 15-1 final score, Gibson earned his 10^th win of the season, holding the Mets to just three hits as he worked around six walks. He struck out four.

After the game, Musial posed for photos with his wife Lil and daughter Janet, who were accompanying him to New York and Washington, D.C., where Musial would play in the All-Star Game. Lil and Janet were only at the game after Lil turned down an offer to take a boat ride around Manhattan Island.[5] Musial also took time to sign autographs for a Little League team that came down to the field.[6]

With his 3-for-4 performance, Musial entered the All-Star break with a .333 average and 12 home runs. He finished the year with a .330 average, 19 homers, and 82 RBIs.

He played one more season in 1963, earning his 24^th and final All-Star appearance before retiring at the age of 42. In 1969, Musial was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot.

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[1] Dick Young, “Stan’s 3 HRs Kill Mets, 15-1,” New York Daily News, July 9, 1962.

[2] Bob Broeg, “Musial Still The Man – Hits 4 Straight Homers in Two Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1962.

[3] Dick Young, “Stan’s 3 HRs Kill Mets, 15-1,” New York Daily News, July 9, 1962.

[4] Bob Broeg, “Musial Still The Man – Hits 4 Straight Homers in Two Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1962.

[5] Bob Broeg, “Musial Still The Man – Hits 4 Straight Homers in Two Games,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 9, 1962.

[6] Jack Herman, “Stan Belts 3 Homers In 15-1 Romp,” St. Louis Globe-Democrat, July 9, 1962.

The post 41-year-old Stan Musial hits three homers: July 8, 1962 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

Bill White hit three home runs and a double and Bob Gibson threw a complete-game four-hitter to lead the Cardinals to the win. The following day, the Cardinals called an 11 a.m. press conference to announce that they were replacing Hemus with Johnny Keane.

The Cardinals entered the game with losses in three of their previous four games. At 32-41, they were in sixth place in the National League, 14 ½ games behind the first-place Reds.

Gibson, the Cardinals’ starter, had not yet made a name for himself as a big-league pitcher. He entered the game with a 5-5 record and 3.34 ERA and was coming off a disappointing loss to the Braves in which he allowed seven runs – four earned – in 4 1/3 innings. His career mark was just 11-16.

Nonetheless, the former Harlem Globetrotter had shown flashes of his superior athleticism and competitive fire. In the second inning, he demonstrated both qualities with a two-run home run off Dodgers starter Johnny Podres. It was the first of 24 home runs Gibson hit over the course of his career.

White, who would hit 202 homers over the course of his 13-year major-league career, launched his first shot of the game to lead off the third inning. The Dodgers scored their lone run in the bottom half of the inning when Maury Wills and Ron Fairly each singled and Willie Davis grounded out to score Mills.

In the fourth, White extended the Cardinals’ lead to 5-1 when he hit a two-run homer off Dodgers reliever Roger Craig. St. Louis maintained its four-run lead until the seventh, when Ken Boyer scored on a ground ball off the bat of Jimmie Schaffer and Carl Warwick added a two-run single that made the score 8-1.

In the eighth, White faced his third pitcher of the day in reliever Jim Golden. It didn’t make a difference. For the third time that day, White homered to right field to make the final score 9-1. In the ninth, White added a double for his fourth extra-base hit of the day.

“I wasn’t thinking so much about (another home run) as the fact that the first pitch might come pretty close to me,” White said. “Then, when I did hit the ball, it looked for a second or two like it might hook in there for another homer.”[1]

Gibson retired the final 10 batters he faced in a complete-game effort. He held the Dodgers to just four hits as he walked three and struck out five.

Hemus gets fired

Despite the lopsided win, Hemus’s fate already had been determined. Owner August A. Busch Jr. had made the call, and general manager Bing Devine had arrived in Los Angeles that day to make the announcement at 11 a.m. the following day.[2] In three seasons as the Cardinals’ manager, Hemus had compiled a 190-192 record.

Johnny Keane, whose coaching career began in the Cardinals’ organization in 1938, was named the team’s new manager. Keane had spent a decade as the manager of the Cardinals’ Triple-A club before he was promoted to the majors as the Cardinals’ third-base coach in 1959.

Hemus and Keane were both at the press conference announcing the managerial change, and St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports editor Bob Broeg noted the coolness between the two men. After initially refusing to discuss his relationship with Keane, Hemus said he had no comment when he was asked directly whether Keane may have undermined him.[3]

For his part, Keane said he had been frustrated by Hemus’s reluctance to utilize his baseball knowledge.

“I did the only thing I could do then – my job and no more,” Keane said.[4]

Cardinals thrive with Hemus gone

Many of the Cardinals who would play a key role in the team’s 1960s championships – including White, Gibson, and Curt Flood – were ready for the change. In 1959, Hemus famously lost the team after an incident in which Pittsburgh pitcher Bennie Daniels hit him with a pitch and Hemus allegedly called Daniels a “black son of a bitch”[5] or a “black bastard.”[6] Hemus also created friction when he began to limit Stan Musial’s playing time, believing that Musial’s days as an effective big leaguer were done.[7] Musial went on to bat .330 and place 10^th in the NL MVP voting in 1962.

Gibson thrived once Hemus was replaced by Keane. As he recalled in Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game: “I’d been unpolished when I arrived in St. Louis in 1959, and that might be an understatement – I led the league in walks in ’61, my first year in the rotation – but my pitching skills weren’t as hopeless as Hemus would have had me think. He held them in such contempt that, when he went over an opposing team’s scouting report with the pitching staff, he’d pause and tell me not to worry about all that stuff, just try to throw some strikes. Maybe that’s why I felt as I did about scouting reports. And Solly Hemus.”[8]

Catcher Tim McCarver was witness to the interactions between Hemus and Gibson.

“He said Gibby’d never make it as a big-league pitcher,” McCarver said. “‘Hell,’ he’d mumble, ‘the guy throws everything the same speed.’ Maybe he did, but that speed was about a thousand miles an hour and it nearly tore up my hand every time I caught him.”[9]

Hemus had similar doubts regarding Flood’s abilities.

“Hemus did not share the rather widely held belief that I played center field approximately as well as Willie Mays,” Flood said. “He sat me on the bench, preferring to use men such as Gino Cimoli, Don Taussig, Don Landrum, and even poor Bill White, who unquestionably was the best first baseman in the league but was its most miscast outfielder. Hemus acted as if I smelled bad. He avoided my presence, and when he could not do that, he avoided my eyes.”[10]

Though White had proven himself to be an above-average first baseman, Hemus used him in the outfield in 92 games in 1959, instead opting to use Musial at first base. In 1960, White won the first of seven consecutive Gold Glove awards at first base.

Keane managed the 1961 Cardinals to a 47-33 record the rest of the season to finish fifth in the National League, all the while building up the confidence of future franchise cornerstones such as Gibson and Flood. After leading the Cardinals to 84 wins in 1962 and 93 wins in 1963, Keane reached the pinnacle, guiding St. Louis all the way to the 1964 World Series championship. The feat would not have been possible without Gibson’s 19 regular-season wins, White’s 21 homers and 102 RBIs, and Flood’s .311 batting average and 97 runs scored.

After the season, knowing that Busch had interviewed Leo Durocher for his job prior to the Cardinals’ late-season surge, Keane surprised everyone by announcing at a press conference that he would not be returning to St. Louis for the 1965 season. A few days later, the Yankees announced that they had hired him to replace Yogi Berra.

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[1] Al Wolf, “‘Roomies’ Team Up to Wreck Dodgers,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1961.

[2] Bob Broeg, “Cards Fire Hemus; St. Louisan Keane New Manager,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 6, 1961.

[3] Bob Broeg, “Cards Fire Hemus; St. Louisan Keane New Manager,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 6, 1961.

[4] Bob Broeg, “Cards Fire Hemus; St. Louisan Keane New Manager,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 6, 1961.

[5] Sridhar Pappu (2018), “Year of the Pitcher,” New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, Page 44.

[6] Bill White (2011), “Uppity: My Untold Story About the Games People Play,” New York: Grand Central Publishing, Page 65.

[7] Paul Golenbock (2000), “The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns,” New York: Harper Collins eBooks, Page 433.

[8] Bob Gibson with Lonnie Wheeler (2015), “Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game,” New York: Flatiron Books, Page 9.

[9] Paul Golenbock (2000), “The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns,” New York: Harper Collins eBooks, Page 433.

[10] Paul Golenbock (2000), “The Spirit of St. Louis: A History of the St. Louis Cardinals and Browns,” New York: Harper Collins eBooks, Page 433.

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The St. Louis Post-Dispatch even ran a story noting that all six players were strong candidates to receive the 75% of the vote necessary for induction, noting that no more than four players had been elected in a single year since 1936, when Ty Cobb, Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Babe Ruth, and Honus Wagner were inducted. The last time four players had been inducted into the Hall was in 1955.[1]

Ultimately, however, just one member of the ballot earned induction that year: Gibson. With 337 of 401 votes, Gibson received 82% of the vote and became just the 11^th player in history to be recognized as a first-year candidate, joining Al Kaline, Ted Williams, Stan Musial, Bob Feller, Jackie Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, Warren Spahn, and Mickey Mantle.[2]

“That’s pretty fast company,” Gibson said.[3]

There had been concern that members of the media might punish Gibson for insisting on speaking to them only on his terms. As St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Neal Russo described it, “Gibson drew the wrath of some media personnel because of what they considered at times a somewhat surly, uncooperative attitude. And he offended some fans by often declining to sign autographs. However, the writers and broadcasters who were patient with Gibson, especially following a tough defeat, found him an excellent interview.”[4]

Drysdale came the closest of the remaining candidates with 243 votes. Hodges received 241, Killebrew had 239, Wilhelm received 238, and Marichal had 233. Like Gibson, Marichal and Killebrew each were eligible for the first time.

“When I came into the majors, (Marichal) was the best pitcher around,” Gibson said. “He had a variety of pitches and a lot of control, and in that class of pitchers – Koufax, Drysdale, that group – I thought he was the best.”[5]

Gibson grew up fatherless in Omaha, Nebraska, and quickly learned to overcome adversity. As he recounted in his biography, Stranger to the Game, as a baby, he was bitten on the ear by a rat. He also suffered from rickets and asthma, and a bout of childhood pneumonia was so severe that his older brother Josh promised him a baseball glove if he survived.

Josh played a key role in his development as an athlete, coaching Gibson’s youth team and teaching him to compete to the best of his abilities. A gifted athlete, Gibson became the first black player on Creighton University’s baseball and basketball teams.

“I remember when I first started playing baseball and basketball at Creighton University,” he said. “I was 17. I went to a game, and we were halfway to Tulsa on the bus, and the coach told me I had to stay behind at a hotel on the other side of the city. I started crying because I was hurt. I told him that I wouldn’t have come if I had known that, and he said that he knew. That’s why he didn’t tell me.”[6]

Gibson enjoyed a season with the Harlem Globetrotters before the Cardinals convinced him to play baseball full-time. At the time, Gibson viewed himself as more of an everyday player than a pitcher.

“When I was signed in 1957, I was a good outfielder and a pretty good hitter,” Gibson said. “The Cardinals didn’t have much of a pitching staff, so no matter who you were, they asked you to be a pitcher. I figured there were only three spots in the outfield and 10 pitchers, so I said yes.”[7]

Even after he signed with the Cardinals, Gibson didn’t have an easy road. As a black player, he faced racism and abuse. In the early days of his career, black players were not allowed to stay with their white teammates at team hotels or at their spring training accommodations. The Cardinals did not Bill White, Curt Flood, and others integrated Cardinals spring training” href=”https://www.stlredbirds.com/2020/11/08/how-bill-white-curt-flood-and-others-integrated-cardinals-spring-training/”>integrate their spring training accommodations until 1961.

When Gibson arrived for his first Cardinals spring training in St. Petersburg, Florida, he went to the team hotel and introduced himself.

“I walked in and said, ‘I’m Bob Gibson with the St. Louis Cardinals. Do you have a place for me?’ They had a place … right through the back door, into a cab, and over to the other side of town,” Gibson said. “Things like that teach you toughness. You had to fight that as well as guys like Mays and Mantle on the field.”[8]

Knowing that nothing would be given to him, Gibson dedicated himself to his craft and famously refused to exchange pleasantries with opponents. Though his career started slowly under Cardinals manager Solly Hemus, the arrival of Johnny Keane midway through the 1961 season proved a turning point for Gibson. The following year, Gibson made his first All-Star appearance and led the league with five shutouts.

In a career that included 251 wins, a 2.91 career ERA, nine All-Star selections, and two Cy Young Awards, Gibson’s best season came in 1968, when he set a major-league record with a 1.12 ERA. After losing three of his first eight decisions, he rattled off 15 straight wins, including 10 shutouts. In a stretch that ran from June 2 through July 30, he allowed just two runs over 96 2/3 innings, and he was never removed in the middle of an inning that season.

“I can’t remember having a bad start that season,” he said. “I did everything right. Everything I threw was knee-high and on the corner. It was a once-in-a-lifetime year. I cherish that season.”[9]

If possible, Gibson was even more dominant in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series against the Tigers, a game in which he struck out 17 batters.

“Watching him pitch in 1968 was like watching Rembrandt paint a picture, especially in the first game of the World Series that year,” teammate Mike Shannon said. “I talked to a lot of the Tigers after the Series, and they said they had never seen a pitcher more overpowering than Gibson was that day.”[10]

Gibson won two World Series MVP trophies in his career and was 7-2 in nine World Series starts.

“Gibby was the man you could almost always turn to when your team got into a rut or a slump,” said Red Schoendienst. “He was always ready to be handed the ball.”[11]

In 1971, Gibson no-hit the Pirates in a contest that he called his “greatest game.” In addition to the no-hitter, he also threw two one-hitters, eight two-hitters, and 24 three-hitters. Three years later, Gibson Dizzy Dean passes away” href=”https://www.stlredbirds.com/2021/06/19/july-17-1974-bob-gibson-throws-3000th-strikeout-the-same-day-dizzy-dean-passes-away/”>recorded the 3,000^th strikeout of his career on the same day that another Cardinals Hall of Famer, Dizzy Dean, passed away. He retired after the 1975 season with a National League record 3,117 strikeouts.

“There were two reasons that I retired,” Gibson said. “My legs were killing me. I had broken two ankles and had ligament damage in my knee, and I had personal problems. I found myself one day on the mound with the bases loaded. I don’t even know who the batter was, but I was in trouble, and I was thinking about my ex-wife. I decided then that it was time to quit.”[12]

With the news of Gibson’s election to the Hall of Fame, accolades from former teammates and opponents poured in from across the baseball world.

“He’s the greatest pitcher I ever saw or caught,” said Ted Simmons. “He certainly must be one of the greatest pitchers who ever lived.”[13]

Slugger Lee May, who played 18 major-league seasons with the Reds, Astros, Orioles, and Royals, said, “When Bob Gibson pitched against us, I didn’t want to play.”[14]

Vada Pinson, also an 18-year major-league veteran, played 11 seasons with the Reds before he joined the Cardinals in 1969.

“When I first came up, he was the meanest man alive,” Pinson said. “I didn’t like him, but I really didn’t know him. When I joined the Cardinals, I really learned to appreciate the man by playing behind him. He’s a man of men – all business on the field. He’s in a class by himself. If hard work pays off, he’s the perfect example.”[15]

Rusty Staub, who was back with the Mets in 1981 as part of a 23-year major-league career, said, “In all my years in the big leagues, for consistency of performance, competitiveness and desire, and plain, old guts, Gibson was my idea of what it takes to be a true champion. I wish I could have played on the same team with him.”[16]

On August 2, 1981, Gibson was inducted into the Hall of Fame alongside another former Cardinal, Johnny Mize, and the late Rube Foster. In his remarks, he recognized his brother Josh, who was not in attendance, as well as Keane. He also recognized Schoendienst and drew laughs when he said that he had lost 174 games, “and Red was probably responsible for more of them than I was.”[17]

Afterwards, Gibson apologized for forgetting to thank Cardinals chairman August A. Busch, Jr., and former general manager Bing Devine in his remarks.

“I already sent Mr. Busch a note,” Gibson said. “Not only was it a pleasure to play for him, but he also stood strongly in my corner when I had personal problems and gave me oral encouragement and an offer of his help. I’m just sorry that, in speaking without notes and in some emotion, I forgot to mention him and also Bing. I felt sick about it the minute Jack Buck mentioned it to me after the induction.”[18]

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[1] “Bob Gibson Awaits Fame Hall Vote,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 11, 1981.

[2] “Gibby In ‘Fast Company’ As First-Vote Selection,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 16, 1981.

[3] “Gibby In ‘Fast Company’ As First-Vote Selection,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 16, 1981.

[4] Neal Russo, “Gibson Solos Into Hall of Fame,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 15, 1981.

[5] Neal Russo, “Gibson Solos Into Hall of Fame,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 15, 1981.

[6] “Gibby In ‘Fast Company’ As First-Vote Selection,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 16, 1981.

[7] “Gibby In ‘Fast Company’ As First-Vote Selection,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 16, 1981.

[8] Associated Press “Bob Gibson elected to baseball Hall of Fame,” Statesman Journal, January 16, 1981.

[9] Associated Press “Bob Gibson elected to baseball Hall of Fame,” Statesman Journal, January 16, 1981.

[10] Neal Russo, “Bob Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 18, 1981.

[11] Neal Russo, “Bob Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 18, 1981.

[12] Neal Russo, “Gibson Solos Into Hall of Fame,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 15, 1981.

[13] Neal Russo, “Bob Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 18, 1981.

[14] Neal Russo, “Bob Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 18, 1981.

[15] Neal Russo, “Bob Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 18, 1981.

[16] Neal Russo, “Bob Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 18, 1981.

[17] Bob Broeg, “Fans Boo Kuhn, Cheer For Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 3, 1981.

[18] Bob Broeg, “Gibson Apologizes For Overlooking Busch,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 3, 1981.

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That mastery was rewarded with both the National League Cy Young and Most Valuable Player awards. On November 13, 1968, Gibson became the 14^th Cardinal in franchise history to win the MVP Award since it had been established 44 years earlier.[2] In doing so, he became the third Cardinal in five seasons to win the MVP, joining Ken Boyer, who won the award in 1964, and Orlando Cepeda, who was a unanimous selection in 1967.

Of those 14 Cardinals MVPs, Gibson was just the third pitcher to win the MVP, joining Dizzy Dean and Mort Cooper.

“It’s great,” Gibson said from Matsuyama, Japan, where he and the Cardinals were participating in a goodwill tour. “It’s just great because pitchers usually don’t win MVP awards. I’ve got to thank everyone on the team because they all helped me have a good year.”^[3]

Cepeda and Brock were with Gibson when he learned by phone that he had won the award.

“Now you’ll have to win it next year,” Cepeda said to Brock.^[4]

Meanwhile, Gibson’s first response was, “You’re kidding,” the same thing he said two weeks earlier when told he had won the Cy Young Award.^[5]

Gibson received 14 first-place votes to finish with 242 points while Cincinnati’s Pete Rose, who led the league with a .335 batting average, received the other six and placed second with 205 total points. Willie McCovey was third with 135 points, Curt Flood was fourth with 116, and Juan Marichal was fifth with 93. Brock placed sixth with 73 points and Mike Shannon was seventh with 55.

Gibson’s 22-9 record for the season failed to capture how dominant he was. Over 304 2/3 innings, Gibson posted a 1.12 ERA while striking out a league-leading 268 batters. Along the way, he threw a franchise-record 13 shutouts and posted a 15-game win streak, the longest ever by a Cardinals pitcher.

The top four hitters in the league – Rose (0-for-8), Matty Alou (2-for-14), Felipe Alou (2-for-15), and Alex Johnson (1-for-8) hit just .111 against him, and league-wide, batters hit just .184 against Gibson.^[6]

While Gibson had already appeared in four all-star games heading into the 1968 season, he reached a new level that year due to improved command and the emergence of his slider as a dominant pitch.

“In spring training that year, Tim (McCarver) had encouraged me to throw it,” Gibson wrote in 2015. “I’d always had difficulty controlling my breaking pitches on the arm side of the plate, which is outside to a left-handed hitter, and was reluctant to throw a slider that I was afraid might sweep right into the sweet spot over the middle. But McCarver convinced me that my control had improved enough that I could now deliver that pitch with conviction. He was right, and it made a profound difference. Left-handers were still the batters that most threatened me, as a rule, but in 1968 I felt that I’d finally grabbed the upper hand against them.”[7]

Heading into June, Gibson was just 3-5 despite a 1.52 ERA. He received no decision in his first two starts and was just 1-1 at the end of April. In May, he won his first two games, but then lost his next four starts despite allowing just seven earned runs over 33 2/3 innings (a 1.87 ERA).

With the beginning of June, however, he began to roll, winning all six of his starts that month. In each of his last five starts, he threw complete game shutouts as part of 47 2/3 consecutive innings in which he did not allow a run.

Then he won all six July starts. After a no-decision against the Cubs on August 4, Gibson picked up three more wins to improve to 18-5 before he finally lost to the Pirates, allowing three earned runs over nine innings while striking out 15. The loss increased his ERA to 1.07.

Throughout the entire season, Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst never came to the mound to take the ball from Gibson in the middle of an inning. In fact, Gibson completed 28 of his 34 starts and only failed to get to the eighth inning twice.

“He carried the whole team,” Cepeda said. “He should get all the awards that are presented.”^[8]

With Gibson leading the way, the Cardinals won the National League pennant with a 97-65 record.

Though award voting took place before the postseason, Gibson added two more wins in the World Series, defeating American League Cy Young and MVP Award winner Denny McLain in Games 1 and 4 while striking out a record 17 batters in the opener. In Game 7, Gibson struck out eight in a complete-game effort, but was out-pitched by Mickey Lolich, who allowed one run over nine innings.

With the announcement of the Cy Young and MVP awards, Gibson joined Don Newcombe, Sandy Koufax, and McLain as the only pitchers to win the MVP and Cy Young awards in the same year.[9]

In St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch quoted Rose arguing that his role as an everyday player made him the more valuable player.

“With all due respect to Gibson, he won 22 (actually 24) games for the Cardinals while I might have won 50 for the Reds,” Rose said.[10]

In the Cincinnati Enquirer, however, Rose was far more gracious, saying, “I couldn’t have picked a better man to finish second to.”[11]

“I think I knew all along I wasn’t going to win it,” Rose said. “I was just happy I came as close as I did. I’m just glad I made the showing I did. I got a lot more votes than any regular player.”[12]

After the season, with offense down league-wide, Major League Baseball made changes designed to generate more offense, including lowering the mound and – probably more importantly – warning pitchers who brushed back hitters. Sportswriters and others referred to these as the “Gibson Rules.”

“I can assure you I was not consulted,” Gibson wrote. “Nor was I flattered, much preferring not to be associated, in any fashion, with legislation that would diminish the power of the pitcher.”[13]

Gibson went on to win the Cy Young Award again in 1970 and placed fourth in the MVP voting that year. He retired after the 1975 season with 251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a career 2.91 ERA, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1981.

Years later, Doug Rader, a former Astros third baseman and a manager with the Rangers, White Sox, and Angels, was asked the names of the five toughest pitchers he ever faced.

“That’s easy,” he said. “Bob Gibson in 1968.” He paused for a moment, then rounded out his list. “Bob Gibson in 1969, Bob Gibson in 1970, Bob Gibson in 1971, and Bob Gibson in 1972. No one else was even close.”[14]

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[1] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), Stranger to the Game, Penguin Books USA, New York, N.Y., Page 1.

[2] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[3] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[4] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[5] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[6] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[7] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (2015), Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game, Kindle Android Version, Retrieved from Amazon.com, Page 13.

[8] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[9] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[10] Neal Russo, “Gibson Wins MVP to Complete ’68 Sweep,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 13, 1968.

[11] Jim Schottelkotte, “Rose Happy To Come As Close As He Did,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 14, 1968.

[12] Jim Schottelkotte, “Rose Happy To Come As Close As He Did,” Cincinnati Enquirer, November 14, 1968.

[13] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (2015), Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game, Kindle Android Version, Retrieved from Amazon.com, Page 13.

[14] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), Stranger to the Game, Penguin Books USA, New York, XIV-XV.

The post Bob Gibson is named 1968 National League MVP first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

“The Most Valuable Player Award, that’s the best compliment any ballplayer can desire,” Cepeda said.^[1]

The recognition capped a season in which Cepeda, in his second season with the Cardinals, batted .325 with 25 homers and a league-high 111 RBIs. It was a resurgent season for the 30-year-old first baseman, who experienced highs and lows during the first nine seasons of his career with the Giants.

Cepeda burst onto the major-league scene as a 20-year-old in 1958, batting .312 with 25 homers and 96 RBIs to win the Rookie of the Year Award. After six consecutive all-star seasons, Cepeda was hobbled by knee injuries in 1965 and made just 40 plate appearances. Herman Franks, newly installed as the Giants manager that season, was unimpressed.

On May 8, 1966, the Giants traded Cepeda to the Cardinals for left-hander Ray Sadecki, a 20-game winner in 1964. It proved to be a welcome change for Cepeda.

“Orlando loved being a Cardinal,” Bob Gibson wrote in 2015. “For one thing, he was allowed to play his countless Latin records and speak Spanish—although Julian Javier was the only one who could speak it back—in the clubhouse. Those things had been forbidden in San Francisco’s. Nor was our clubhouse divided into ethnic cliques like San Francisco’s.”[2]

In 123 games for the Cardinals that season, Cepeda hit .303 with 17 homers and 58 RBIs, winning the St. Louis writers’ comeback player of the year award.[3]

By 1967, Cepeda had become the heart and soul of the team he affectionately referred to as “El Birdos.” As George Vecsey described it:

He was more than the trusted cleanup hitter. Orlando was the life of the party.

The Cardinals would club somebody into submission and troop back into their clubhouse. First thing you knew, Orlando’s soul music was blasting from the phonograph and Cepeda was standing on a chair.

Who wins the game?” he would shout.

“El Birdos,” the Cardinals would respond in their pidgin Spanish.

“What’s the magic word?” Cepeda would ask.

“Nuts to Herman Franks,” the Cardinals would respond. Then they would be free to take their shower or open their beer. Orlando was satisfied.^[4]

The Cardinals’ pitching staff was particularly pleased to have Cepeda in the lineup. Gibson described the scene one day in 1967 when Cepeda was running late. With the team waiting on Cepeda, some of the players began to call for the driver to take them to Shea Stadium and leave the tardy Cepeda behind.

Gibson wasn’t having it. Standing up in the middle of the bus, he declared, “We’re waiting for Cepeda. The pitchers aren’t leaving without him.”[5]

Cepeda was one of four Redbirds to place in the top 10 in that year’s MVP voting. Tim McCarver, who hit .295 with 14 homers and 69 RBIs, placed second in the voting with eight second-place votes. His 136 points edged the Pirates’ Roberto Clemente, who tallied 129 in the voting.

Lou Brock hit .299 with 21 homers, 76 RBIs, and 52 stolen bases to finish seventh in the voting. Julian Javier, who hit .281 with 14 homers and 64 RBIs, placed ninth.

The Reds were the only other team in the National League with multiple players in the top 10, as Tony Perez finished seventh and Pete Rose was 10^th.

“I have to thank Bob Howsam for taking the big chance on me, and I have to thank Stan Musial for the encouragement and trainer Bob Bauman for helping with my leg,” Cepeda said after winning the MVP Award. “They have had a lot to do for me. I think for Bauman they should give him the Most Valuable Trainer Award.”^[6]

In 1968, Cepeda hit .248 with 16 homers and 73 RBIs, a far cry from his MVP numbers a year earlier. On March 17, 1969, the Cardinals traded Cepeda to the Braves for Joe Torre. The trade marked the end of the “El Birdos” era of the Cardinals, though Torre did win his own NL MVP trophy in 1971 and represented the Redbirds in four all-star games.

In three seasons in St. Louis, Cepeda hit .290 with 58 homers and 242 RBIs. He retired following the 1974 season after 17 years in the majors. An 11-time all-star, he retired with a .297 batting average, 379 home runs, and 1,365 RBIs and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1999.

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[1] Ed Wilks, “MVP Cepeda Has ‘Big Day,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 8, 1967.

[2] Bob Gibson with Lonnie Wheeler (2015), Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game, Kindle Android Version, Retrieved from Amazon.com, Page 53.

[3] Ed Wilks, “MVP Cepeda Has ‘Big Day,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 8, 1967.

[4] George Vecsey, “Now Cepeda Has His Vindication,” Newsday, November 8, 1967.

[5] Bob Gibson with Lonnie Wheeler (2015), Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game, Kindle Android Version, Retrieved from Amazon.com, Page 53.

[6] Ed Wilks, “MVP Cepeda Has ‘Big Day,’” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, November 8, 1967.

The post How Orlando Cepeda was unanimously voted 1967 NL MVP first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.

That April, Gibson had made three appearances for the Cardinals, each in relief.

On April 15, Gibson made his major league debut, pitching the seventh and eighth innings of a 5-0 loss to the Dodgers. Pitching opposite Don Drysdale, who threw a complete-game shutout, Gibson allowed a home run to the first batter he faced, Jim Baxes, and another run in the eighth on a sacrifice bunt.

The following day, he entered the game in the fifth inning and allowed one run on three hits, retiring just one of the four batters he faced. On April 18, Gibson entered a game against the Giants down 7-1 in the eighth inning. Orlando Cepeda greeted Gibson with an RBI double before Gibson got Felipe Alou to ground out to the shortstop to end the inning.

With three earned runs allowed in 2 2/3 innings, Gibson was returned to Triple-A Omaha. He remained in his hometown until July 29, when right-hander Dick Ricketts was optioned to Rochester and Gibson was summoned to take his spot on the roster.[1] Gibson had been 9-9 with a 3.07 ERA in Omaha.[2]

It was poetic that Gibson was making his first start against the Reds, the franchise that had come so close to signing him out of Creighton University.

“As late as two in the morning he agreed to verbal terms with us, but by daylight he had jumped to the Cardinals,” Reds farm director Phil Seghi told the Cincinnati Enquirer, noting that he believed a family member had nixed the deal. “I don’t know what he’ll do tonight, but he’s a pretty good major league prospect.”[3]

The 23-year-old Gibson’s biggest challenges came in the first and ninth innings. After Johnny Temple walked to lead off the first, Vada Pinson singled to left. With runners on first and second, Gibson got Gus Bell to ground into a force out at second, Frank Robinson to fly out to center field, and Jerry Lynch to ground out.

The Cardinals gave Gibson all the offense he would need in the second. Ken Boyer led off the inning with a double to center field. Bill White advanced Boyer to third base, then Joe Cunningham singled to left off Reds left-hander Jim O’Toole, giving the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

From there, Gibson refused to allow a runner past first base until the ninth inning.

The 22-year-old O’Toole pitched seven innings for the Reds, escaping a bases-loaded jam in the sixth when he got Hal Smith to ground into an inning-ending double play. After O’Toole was removed for a pinch hitter, Brooks Lawrence threw two scoreless innings in relief.

In the ninth, Cardinals manager Solly Hemus subbed Curt Flood into the game to play center field, moving Gino Cimoli to left field and White to first base in place of the 38-year-old Stan Musial. Lynch led off the inning with a single to right field, but was retired when White knocked down a liner by Ed Bailey and threw to second for the force out.

Gibson got Willie Jones to pop up for the second out of the inning before he walked pinch hitters Frank Thomas and Don Newcombe on eight consecutive pitches. With the bases loaded and Marshall Bridges warm in the bullpen,[4] Gibson fell behind in the count 2-0 before Temple flied out to Flood to end the game.

Gibson finished the game with eight hits and three walks allowed. He struck out two.

“I can throw a lot harder but my shoulder has been a little sore for the past week,” Gibson said.[5]

Boyer led the Cardinals’ offense with three hits, including a double, and Smith and Alex Grammas each singled twice.

While Gibson’s performance demonstrated his outstanding potential, he wasn’t yet the dominant pitcher of the mid- to late-1960s. He allowed five earned runs in 4 1/3 innings in his next start, a 7-3 loss to the Pirates, then walked eight batters in his next outing, a 10-inning performance against the Phillies. After losing five consecutive decisions, he finished the year strong, striking out 10 Cubs in a complete-game win on September 12 and throwing 4 2/3 innings of relief to earn the win in a 14-8 victory over the Giants.

It was a mixed season for Gibson, who was still learning the slider, which would become a key pitch for him when paired with his fastball. On the other hand, Gibson was unlikely to reach his full potential while playing for Hemus.

“He told me, like he told Flood, that I would never make it in the majors, and he went so far as to suggest that I take a shot at basketball instead,” said Gibson, who had played for the Harlem Globetrotters before Cardinals general manager Bing Devine increased his salary enough to convince him to give up basketball. “He was apparently convinced that I didn’t have a thought in my head when I was on the mound, and was not the least reluctant to insult my intelligence. When the pitchers would meet before a series to review the hitters on the other team, Hemus would say things like, “You don’t have to listen to this, Gibson. You just try to get the ball over the plate.”[6]

In his third season as the Cardinals’ manager in 1961, Hemus was fired and replaced with Johnny Keane. With Keane’s encouragement changing the trajectory of his career, Gibson went on to establish himself as the most dominant pitcher in franchise history. Over 17 seasons, Gibson won one National League MVP trophy, two Cy Young awards, two World Series MVP awards, and nine Gold Globe Awards. He led the Cardinals to two World Series championships and appeared in nine all-star games before retiring in 1975. Gibson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981 with 251 career wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a 2.91 ERA.

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[1] “Ricketts Sent To Rochester; Gibson Back,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 29, 1959.

[2] “Birds to Start Gibson, Former Basketball Pro,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 30, 1959.

[3] Bill Ford, “Don’s Control Just Too Good,” Cincinnati Enquirer, July 31, 1959.

[4] Neal Russo, “Cards’ Gibson, in First Big League Start, Shuts Out Reds,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 31, 1959.

[5] Neal Russo, “Cards’ Gibson, in First Big League Start, Shuts Out Reds,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, July 31, 1959.

[6] Bob Gibson and Lonnie Wheeler (1994), “Stranger to the Game,” Penguin Books USA, New York, Page 52.

The post Bob Gibson gets his first career win: July 30, 1959 first appeared on STLRedbirds.com.