RIP Bob Gibson

I didn't know he played his final six seasons with the Browns, as a part-timer. Averaged about .330 in that span. I'm not sure he was ever a very likeable player, though.

 

I thought about mentioning Medwick as well. And you can add Frankie Frisch to that list as well.

And if you factor in managers: Red, Whitey, LaRussa; Gibson could fall outside the top 10.

 

Well, he did call Jimmy Dugan a talking pile of pigshit after Jimmy’s parents had driven a long way to see him play.

 

Geez, the contrarians take over, as usual. The longer this thread goes, the more Gibson becomes a POS. Nobody wanted to bat against him. That made him one of the greatest of all-time. Nobody wanted to bat against Nolan Ryan, that made him one of the greatest of all-time regardless of what Bill James and Buzzie Bavasi thought.

 

The hard thing is, measuring the greatness of a once-every-four-day player against the greatness of an everyday player.

Gibson, who appeared in about 1/4 of his teams games, is unquestionably the Cardinals' greatest pitcher. But there were 115-120 games every year where he contributed nothing.

But guys who played every day - Musial, Brock, Pujols, etc. - had far more impact on the franchise, I believe.

And that's why I don't think pitchers should ever be MVPs. Starters play in 1/5 of the games, closers in 1/2, at the most. Other's mileage may vary, of course.

 

Grew up in Missouri as a Cardinals fan in a family of Cardinals fans. Musial and Gibson were just a bit before my time — I was 7 when Gibson retired — and I still have him No. 2 behind Musial, at least on the list of post-WWII Cardinals players. For me that top 5 would be:

1. Musial
2. Gibson
3. Ozzie
4. Molina
5. Brock

With Pujols atop the “others receiving votes” list.

 

It's the "in-thing" to do. As you are already aware, of course. Sort of like having a hot, "funny" take on the politics thread.

 

nope. Was a well-known jerk and kept to himself quite often.

i love that he would never go see movies or read books because he believed that he would harm his eye sight.

 

After Game 1 Dick McAuliffe said: “I was awed. I was AWED.”
Willie Horton was asked who Gibson reminded him of: “Nobody. Never seen anybody like him.”

 

I always love Hornsby’s quote about how during the wintertime, he tells people that all he does is sit at the window and wait for spring.

I like to imagine he’s sitting in a log cabin somewhere in the woods. He wakes up, dresses, eats breakfast, sits at the window staring at the snow-covered woods on a gray day until lunchtime. Then stares out the window until dark. Dinner, then bed.

 

The ‘68 WS, the losing teams combined to score 10 runs in 7 games.

 

great book about the man.