The Great Bob Gibson

 The video is of game 1 of the 1968 World Series vs the Detroit Tigers -  the announcers are Curt Gowdy on TV and on KMOX radio the one and the only Harry Caray.   Gibson would strike out 17 in his shutout of the Tigers. 

As a kid growing up and being part of the great rivalry between the Chicago Cubs and the St Louis Cardinals, I am reminded of those great pitchers duels between MY beloved Ferguson Jenkins of the Cubs and the hated but well respected Robert Gibson of the Cardinals.   Statistically to me there has never been a season for a pitcher as was 1968.  This was the year that Denny McLain won 31 games.   Carl Yaztremski won the batting title with a .301 average and Bob Gibson put on a show for the ages.  

His stat line that year just screams hall of famer.    He went 22-9, with a 1.12 ERA and 13 shutouts in 34 starts.  Gibson had 28 complete games.   Gibson had an amazing run from 1965-1972. In each of those years except 1967, Gibson started at least 30 games and completed at least 20.  But 1968 was the gem.   304 2/3 innings with only 198 hits allowed.   62 walks and 268 strikeouts, for a WHIP of 0.853.  

What I did next was to really go behind those numbers and assuming that his 13 shutouts were all 9 inning affairs which is probably very close to the truth and subtracting those 117 innings from his 304 2/3 innings pitched leaving 187 2/3 innings in which he did not throw a shutout – these were the innings that runs were scored against him.   Yeah right, Gibson’s ERA in those innings was STILL below 2.00   1.822. The league ERA in 1968 which was coined as the year of the pitcher was 2.90.   Gibson was 1.78 below.  He was still 1.08 below if he never pitched any of those shutouts.  Amazing.   In Gibson’s illustrious career he was only below the league ERA 2 times, once in 1960 his second year and in his final season 1975.   Gibson also only had 3 years in those 17 where he allowed more hits than innings pitched and it was 1959- his first year ,1960- his second year  and 1975, his final year. .

In my opinion probably the greatest pitcher in baseball history to never win 300 games and the owner of the greatest single season any starter has ever seen in the modern era.

McLain, yeah  he won 31 games that year in 41 starts, 7 more starts than Gibson.  His ERA was 1.96 0.84 points higher.  McLain allowed 31 home runs to Gibson’s 11.  Denny only pitched in 31 1/3 innings more than Gibson despite having 7 more starts.  Gibson averaged 8.96 innings per start.    McLain averaged 8.19.  In the year of the pitcher, these two put on a show with McLain winning the Cy Young award in the American League and Gibson winning in the National League.  As a Cubs fan, I hated Gibson but you have to tip your cap to him and believe me the Cubs would have loved to have him anchor the pitching staff, no disrespect to Ferguson Jenkins.