'75 Gibson, not a mini. But sweet nonetheless. Just a bit(!) off-center but then again aren't we all? The corners are nice and the colors bright...and that wall of stats on the back. Holy cow! Kind of neat to see a player who plays his whole career with one team and to read down the rows of stats.
I was struck by Gibby's reduced load in 1967 so I checked Wikipedia and was reminded of the broken leg he suffered that year. I also found this little gem of a story told by the Giants' Jim Ray Hart:
"Between games, Mays came over to me and said, 'Now, in the second game, you're going up against Bob Gibson.' I only half-listened to what he was saying, figuring it didn't make much difference. So I walked up to the plate the first time and started digging a little hole with my back foot...No sooner did I start digging that hole than I hear Willie screaming from the dugout: 'Noooooo!' Well, the first pitch came inside. No harm done, though. So I dug in again. The next thing I knew, there was a loud crack and my left shoulder was broken. I should have listened to Willie."There were not many pitchers like Bob Gibson.
—Jim Ray Hart
nice.
ReplyDeletenowadays we'd have benches clearing, managers being ejected, league inquiries, players fined, and the media looking back into someone's little league career to see if they had ever 'dug in' on any other pitcher.
We need a Bob Gibson playing now. Half of Twitter would have a heart attack.
ReplyDeleteIn 1967, the Cards clinched the NL pennant in mid-September, despite Gibson missing 6 weeks in August & September.
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