RIP Bob Gibson

[Neutral Corner]

1987, 8-16 with a 2.76. As I was looking that up, I saw that he was 11-6 with a 1.69 in '81 with the Astros. Man.

 

[Sea Bass]

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.

In Gibson’s case, he completed 28 of 34 starts, giving his bullpen a hell of a lot of rest. I know bullpens weren’t a big part of the game back then, but there’s that.

 

[heyabbott]

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?

1987 Led the League in Ks and ERA. 8-16