RIP Bob Gibson

[micropolitan guy]

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.

 

[FileNotFound]

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.

 

[Liut]

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.

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.

 

[Splendid Splinter]

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

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.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

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

 

[Baron Scicluna]

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.

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.

 

[heyabbott]

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

 

[Splendid Splinter]

Amazon product ASIN 0805020020
great book about the man.

 

[cyclingwriter2]

Hornsby later scouted for the mets when they were starting up. Mickey Mantle was the only player who got a positive report, which stated “looks like he can play.”

 

[Splendid Splinter]

Hornsby later scouted for the mets when they were starting up. Mickey Mantle was the only player who got a positive report, which stated “looks like he can play.”

didn’t know that part about Mantle. That’s awesome. and seems like something he would say.

 

[goalmouth]

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.

My neighbor keeps to himself and is still a mensch, and we love him. He'll always say hello but never ask you anything personal, ever. He is quick to help when asked and never asks back. He got out in a blizzard with an abrasive cable to laboriously saw a tree branch that was leaning on our wires, but hasn't complained about our tree branches touching his house. He sells bonds but was once pit crew for an SCCA team and a knowledgeable car guy. This summer he excitedly asked me to come look at his new LED headlights system, which he had constructed from scratch. It was the first time in 15 years he had asked something like that.

Hmm. Maybe I'm the jerk.

 

[mpcincal]

This guy raises as issue on Gibson obit in the Post-Dispatch:



What do you all think about Rick Hummel's lead? Is it a valid complaint or some guy on Twitter just spouting off?

 

[qtlaw]

He was in the cover of my “Star pitchers in the MLB” “hardcover” book. Loved those books and learning about those I didn’t get to see. May he RIP.

I think I’ll take Gibson in GM. 7.

 

[Jake from State Farm]

The 1968 World Series is getting discussed in heaven. Kaline, Brock, Gibson all this year. Freehan barely hangs on.

RIP, original Gibby.

But Mickey Lolich is still going strong at 80

 

[MTM]

This is from Jerry Reuss on Facebook

In the spring of 1969, I was nineteen years old when I attended my first Major League Spring Training with the hometown Cardinals —less than two years after graduation from Ritenour High School, located in the St. Louis suburbs.

The landscape of baseball was changing with expansion, San Diego and Montreal in the National League and Kansas City and Seattle in the American League. Baseball created a playoff system to qualify a team for the World Series, watched the minimum salary rise from $7000 to $10,000 and instituted rule changes made to benefit hitters as two pitchers dominated baseball in 1968 — Denny McClain won 31 games for Detroit while the Cardinals' Bob Gibson was 22-9 with 28 complete games, 13 shutouts and an ERA of just 1.12 — arguably, the greatest performance ever by a pitcher for an entire season.

There I was in the locker room of Al Lang Field with the core of a Cardinals team that was World Champions in 1967 and National League Champs in 1968. I still had my baseball cards from a few years earlier sitting at home while I watched that collection come alive in the cramped spring training headquarters. The Cardinals arranged the lockers numerically which put me, wearing 49, just a few feet away from the man who wore 45 — Bob Gibson.

Gibson had a persona larger than life. Based on three World Series appearances in 5 years (7-2, with eight complete games and two World Championships) coupled with his 1968 season, his every move was observed. He walked in a spotlight he neither embraced or denied; for him, it was business as usual. He had a voice that boomed through walls, even some doors as he needled teammates, Lou Brock, Tim McCarver and others who gave it back to him as good as they received.

But it was his intensity I remember most. He watched, observed and drew accurate conclusions of the people around him...especially media. He could pick out the grandstanders who wanted to use him and had very little patience with those who approached him and weren't prepared. He respected those who did their homework and was more than generous with his time.

When I first met him, I asked if I could call him "Bob." He paused, squinted and immediately understood I was asking out of respect. With the intensity softening in his eyes, he smiled and asked if he could call me "Jerry" even though he most often referred to me as "Lefty." That was the beginning of a relationship that lasted for decades.

We weren't close but I sought him out just to say hello whenever our teams met. Sometimes, it was just hello but after he retired and our paths crossed, a bit of conversation was added. We ran into one another in Cooperstown, airports, B.A.T. dinners, autograph appearances and once when I coached for the Iowa Cubs in his hometown of Omaha. My son recalled the conversation he had with Bob when I introduced him during a layover at the Denver airport. "One of the nicest guys I ever met," he remembered.

Bob, thanks for being who you were. For me, that was more important than what you did! RIP.

 

[Starman]

Denny McLain is keeping busy


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[maumann]

SHOCKED! Shocked, I tell you!

 

[Splendid Splinter]

SHOCKED! Shocked, I tell you!

lol. Same.

 

[Neutral Corner]

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.

I don't know quite how to dig out the stats, but it seemed to me that Ryan lost a large number of games he pitched well enough to win, either by losing one run games/lack of run support or having the reliever come in and fail. He also took a lot of no-decisions that he pitched well enough to win but didn't get run support. I was a big Astros fan while he was there and he just seemed snakebit that way. Might just be my perception, I dunno.

 

[mpcincal]

I don't know quite how to dig out the stats, but it seemed to me that Ryan lost a large number of games he pitched well enough to win, either by losing one run games/lack of run support or having the reliever come in and fail. I was a big Astros fan while he was there and he just seemed snakebit that way. Might just be my perception, I dunno.

I think you may be right to some point. I believe some of his best seasons were in the mid-'70s when the Angels offense was a real black hole. Also, didn't he have one year in Houston where he led the league in ERA but finished something like 8-16?