SportsCentury: Bob Gibson

[Music] [Applause] [Music] on July 15 1967 the Cardinals pennant hopes dimmed when their star pitcher took a vicious line drive off his right leg he dropped as if he'd been shot the trainer raced at the tencel Bob Gibson Rose refused to leave the mound and waited for the catcher to flash the sign with pain shivering in his eyes he took on the next three batters then crumbled on the ground again x-rays later showed his leg was broken this was the heart of modern baseball's fiercest competitor Bob Gibson the man who stare alone put him one pitch up on any hitter five give us that was the most intimidating pitcher that ever played the game if you wanted to put the term true warrior to a baseball player he was in five Gibson he's the meanest of all pitchers not only that but he worked the hardest and projecting the image of being the meanest of all pitchers when you came to the ballpark and get some was pitching that day don't bother to say hello because it was Nancy he wouldn't speak to me that would get maybe John who might be Ben and he was developing that mindset that he was going into battle he was going to war when Bob gives me a pitch and transcended baseball it was an act of war if you were the opposing hitter he wore his mortal enemy I mean that's exactly the way he viewed the game obviously to stand out on the mound and look ferocious Liat batters I mean scared you before you even threw a pitch Gibson was my personality able to scowl project Patrick in a way that amplified the intimidation factor he's the only guy that ever to me when I was up to play need not be on your attitude that if you hug the plate like you're not supposed to some pictures got a chicken yeah think twice before that directed but Gibson didn't mind that leave meet you halfway the first time Jim right heart came to bat as a rookie in 1963 at the Giants have been telling heart you don't take him against this guy comes up to the plate pulls up his hand and stars digging in he's digging it in and finally looks up and gives some yells dancing make sure you dig it deep enough good I might have to bury you in that hole lovely maze from the dugout hooks up you know well first pitch goes by uneventful II it was the second pitch that got him I might have a little chip on my shoulder and that's where I fished this way drives over us for a Koufax kiss and that's the way you played the game those days those days were the 1960s when the brushback pitch was part of the pitchers arsenal with Gibson it was his first option whenever a batter tried to gain what he considered an unfair advantage it didn't matter who it was just look you're gonna get traded one of these days you get traded don't go in there on me first time that the white face pop gives him I'm bill white was traded away to Philadelphia flight wings into the ball and Yanks it hard and found bang hit me on the arm I've said a few things to them as we went to first base he's hooting at that Gibson you crazy so-and-so and Gibson says nay I told you if sinew is his anger not only to intimidate others but to motivate himself the result was almost universal dislike for years the other players and internationally the other stars thought Gibson was the biggest jerk there was when I went to an all-star game I tried my best not to associate a lot with the guys on the team because two days later three days later they would be trying to beat my brains in 1965 we playing in Minnesota Tony Oliva was the first hitter and he go strike one strike two now I'm saying to myself I want this fastball up and in Gibson throws hit up and outside and he whacks it for a double and then just to show that he can do it he strikes out the next two batters [Music] it was just Bob and I in the shower and we're soaping down and I said great pitching Bob and he continues to soak down like I wasn't even there in addition to opposing hitters and his own battery mates Gibson's relationship with the media ranged from cool to frigid I went to himself after he turned me down for an interview he was friendly guy said you know in all the years we know each other I don't think you ever suck I worded Bob Gibson was obnoxious he was mean crude personality great petrol and absolutely no compassion for people to talk to me for 15 years why didn't pop Gibson talk to me his wife had written a face off book that was dread and of notes town I had devoted one line to it said that Charlene Gibson's hooked on baseball was duller and the Phillies [Music] at times Gibson's disposition was so sour even as friends couldn't reach him Bob was a competitor among his teammates - Bob didn't giving it she didn't give an inch to anybody when tim mccarver would call for and he stopped me a minute season my father didn't call Freddy they made suggestions work very very fast and johnny can always wanted me to go out slow him down go out he would know what to say me what do you go tell Gibbs never McCarver would call timing to take two steps out to the mound Gibson with we're out of bark out that's the only thing I knew about pitching that was that it's hard to hit get the hell back behind the plate where you belong and it's not apocryphal he told me that and so I became gunshot McCarver was not alone in his assessment but sour or sweet Gibson consistently poured cold fire on National League bats five times a 20-game winner he was the first to strike out 200 batters nine times Bob knew how to take be paying her rage the frustration and make it work for him I think it may be that he hated to lose that's probably what spurred him on more than anything ruzek reminded Bob Gibson where he came from he couldn't move because it brought him back to being a poor ghetto kid smallest kind of shack in Omaha he saw him on the mound and you know that this was about more than baseball I said how did the Gibson family leave slavery and come to Omaha Nebraska gimme Sydnor I have no idea I don't know how we got to Omaha my father died three months before I was born who would poor people who didn't have the camera I not only didn't know my father I've never even seen a picture of him warned the youngest of seven on November 9th 1935 Bob grew up in an Omaha housing project his mother labored tirelessly cleaning houses and hospitals when she wasn't working as a laundress Bob's mother was a great mother for his family and great family that helps you if you live in a situation that might be called again Gibson was a sickly child suffering from pneumonia asthma and rickets but illness and poverty were not the only obstacles he encountered in pre-civil Rights America there wasn't a lot of racial mixing in and there wasn't a lot of economic opportunity for fox we didn't travel too much outside of North Omaha when you went to the Omaha theatre the darkened theater care about the energy or are allowed to sit from the main floor you have to sit up the balconies the number of flights delivered the Bob simply because of his color you know we're just countless although there were not a lot of cultural advantages and where he grew up there were some athletic advantages there were some hungry kids and a driving coach who happened to be his brother big brother Josh was the local coach and very much motivator Joshua raised that whole neighborhood athletically Josh Gibson had a way I think of taking a lot of us under his wing he wasn't wanted to be all the filter good person a good coach but more importantly he was a teacher that was his role model that was his mentor that was his surrogate father and obviously a very strong influence on him the father that he never had and Josh was there to keep Bob in line there were rules he weren't to spit you weren't to smoke Josh took that and imposed those rules on this gifted young man whom he sensed could be a great athlete Josh drove him what happened pitching in the winter we were taking infield practice and Josh's the ball pretty hard I don't know if I hit a rock or whatever but ball bounced up and hit bobbled I cut him open and guys taped him up got him we're not backing out there we'd be walking down the street they're getting on our bikes go home and Josh still had Bob up there working with him would just be swept him crying and hey Josh everybody's gone to school he may be out there too couldn't see [Music] he'll be out there's dust throwing the baseball we saw the strength the speed the power the nascent ability and he gave him and formed into him the discipline that would later emerge in the ferocity of Bob Gibson but Gibson's baseball career was almost derailed when the high school coach refused to let blacks on his team it wasn't until Gibson's senior year that a new coach welcomed him aboard baseball however was not Gibson's first choice as a way out of Omaha he had such tremendous ability particularly as a basketball player which was probably his best sport he was often a good guard he could jump and shoot and do all the sleight-of-hand in 1952 Gibson was devastated his team lost in the state tournament but a greater disappointment awaited him when he looked toward a basketball career in college somehow or other he had fixed his dream on getting an athletic scholarship to Indiana he was attracted to the fact that they had great basketball teams and thought he could get a scholarship there Gibson was told by Indiana in less formal terms sorry mr. Gibson our quota of Negro athletes has already been filled Oscar Robertson was turned away essentially for the same reason branch cracking didn't want Oscar Robertson I think because of Bransford racist I think he felt that a feeling blacks on the team I didn't realize that the Frank wouldn't take him either I suspect and then just using some common sense to have one or two black players was just plenty as far as most of the guys were concerned so what he was rejected by Indiana he went to Creighton Gibson played baseball and basketball at Creighton an outfielder and pitcher he hit 333 and compiled a 62 record as a senior before signing with the st. Louis Cardinals in 1957 but after averaging 20 points over three seasons the six-foot-one Gibson was not ready to leave basketball aside he played for the college all-stars he played against the Globetrotters when the Globetrotters were a great team and he excelled I didn't play the entire game until the fourth quarter and I scored like 15 points then they asked me if I would consider playing with them so Gibson decided to pull double duty after playing with the triple-a Omaha Cardinals in 1957 he joined the Harlem Globetrotters but once he got a taste of life as a Globetrotter his days on the hardwood remembered it was entirely different than I expected we played an afternoon and get on the bus and go 200 300 miles and play again that night I think in the four months I played 120 basketball games that was awful from then on baseball they came the sole means by which Bob Gibson expressed himself a hardship prejudice the lack of money all these things of being on the outside looking in somehow we can form himself into this invincible person who had to excel what Excel and would pay the price whatever took to be the best and he did not want to journey back to become the Bob Gibson he had once been as a boy is impossible for young Americans today to remember how awful it was in the late fifties and early sixties when you had state sanctioned racism you can't vote you can't eat up this grudge counter you can't stay this hotel you can't swim in the swimming pool the humiliation of that the loneliness I mean they'd been through a kind of social hell such was the environment when Bob Gibson arrived at the Cardinal spring training camp in 1958 the Cardinals had trained in Saint Peter for a long time and they used an old hotel called the Hanoi the black brothers were not allowed to stay with the white version spring training we stayed in other places I went through a whole spring training without even realizing that the black players had to be subjected to the living arrangements that they were subjected to hated the Cardinals for doing but he's quite bitter about the woman who ran the morning out he saw her as someone profiteering off an old-fashioned darker part of the feudal past in 1961 Gibson Curt Flood and Bill White began campaigning for change was was something like the work mule you know you could do the job but just style the way out someone had to say wait a minute this isn't legal it's not the right way let's change if we were going to do the same job on the field and then we ought to live together most of the black ballplayers were scared to death to say anything it was a very racist society what was so special about these guys is that in white society in the south in the early 60s these guys were not afraid to speak up being divine there was and general manager al Fleischman who was head of the PR department before Bush Bush himself [Music] they all got together and said let's lease a motel st. Louis Cardinals or the very first team can live in integrated housing like on my person had barbecues together the wives are getting together it was this real sense of community which at this time in America was pretty unusual the team was very much ahead of its time they have black leaders on the team and they had white leaders on the team and there were no distinctions there and there was a harmony that existed on that team and and intelligence yet that first great civil rights bill wasn't signed by Lyndon Johnson until 1964 this is three long years before that what Bill White and Bob Gibson worth just baseball players [Music] they were part of the civil rights movement but it wasn't always that way when Gibson arrived in the majors in 59 he faced an immediate problem with his manager some people say saw he was a racist he missed himself which would say it's a generation gap I think he felt because he was black because he said I was bigoted we just didn't see eye-to-eye he didn't know the world had changed and he was utterly insensitive to a new generation of players no comprehension of what they had gone through he must shook his confidence quite a bit he had gifts on a very short leash and so he Masuya tend to aggravate that the void and he compliments it Gibson had a meeting with the pictures and the how to pitch to certain hitters and he would say that Bob you know this isn't for you I thought they would say Bob you forget it this get to follow the play and that was the idea you're not as smart as the white pictures and that really was a spur to him I think that was almost the most racist thing about ergo the conclusion is pitching is a thinking man's position so blacks they don't think as well as whites so they can't be successful with pitches besides his mounting resentment of Hemus Gibson one only six games against eleven losses in two seasons at 24 he considered packing it in one day he must holds him too quickly and that's it he's about to just quit and walk out bob says to hell with it he'll I'm gonna go back home he runs into Harry Walker one of the coaches Harry Walker says what's the matter how did pours some gifts I'm gonna quit nice if I'm up Harry Walker says I bought a kid we're gonna be around a lot longer than he is in July of 1961 Walker's words proved prophetic Hemus was fired and the Cardinals hire Gibson's former minor league manager Johnny key Johnny key newest was fairly the best thing that ever happened to Gibson there was a maturation process and he finally got his opportunity when king gave him the ball and said you're in the rotation of my Tawaf if the situation were tough Johnny didn't come up and walk and run out and wait for somebody to come in he like Bob worked his way through those tough situations that gave him I think the confidence that was to come out later that perhaps he didn't have before finally Bob Gibson had a manager a man a mentor who could appreciate him for what he did as a player and not look at him in any other way but as a player after a Keane inserted him in the starting rotation Gibson's career took off in 1962 and 63 he won 33 games and the respect of many who rated him one of the best pitchers in the league [Music] he blossomed because John 18 gave him the ball that's a cold Bob had an entirely different attitude great great great [Music] if I were managing a team going into the seventh game of the World Series I said pick any pitcher in history of baseball who would you pick I pick Bob Gibson in the World Series he was sort of on another plane and everything seemed slow-motion to him it was sort of Nirvana in 1964 Gibson won 19 games including the pennant clincher on the last day of the season next up in new york yankees when we did face the Yankees it wasn't until I started pitching that I realized that we should be here I always thought well that these thank you we probably shouldn't be on the same bill with a pro bus I got on the mouth and the whole thing changed when his first two series starts and with the Fall Classic tied at 3 he faced Mel stottlemyre in the deciding game I actually felt like I had an edge going into Game seven because I recognized that Bob had thrown a lot more pitches and they pitched 10 innings in game 5 he was really strong with just two days rest on game 7 and they scored some runs early ahead 7 to 3 Gibson began to been under the heavy workload Gibson goes into the ninth inning and obviously has nothing left they're beginning to pout and he was out there struggling he was really laboring now this is the third game he pitched in about seven days it went down to seven to five there's men on base I'll logic that you bring in a relief pitcher there and he talks to Gibson thinking maybe he better get Barney Schultz up and this is where Johnny showed so much confidence and gives Bob was his best he knew the guy had a lot of heart and he knew he didn't want to come out if I had been able to get on base then Roger Maris would have been up in that Mickey met delivering on and when the game is over and Gibson have won the game and the Cardinals have won the series we asked him why he didn't bring in a relief that your team said well most wonderful things I've ever heard of mine I just say a quote I'll never forget his answer was I was committed to this heart he had that warrior's heart he was gonna win that game quinoa's Gibson Noah I think the Yankees probably do itself the 1964 World Series established him as a bona fide star and establish him as a big game big-money pitcher that started the Gibson era from then on the Cardinals were his team despite earning his first World Series MVP award Gibson failed to make the cut on Madison Avenue and 64 Gibson was extremely disappointed after the year that he had the Carnales winning the World Series that he was not able to get the kind of endorsements wide athletes were able to get there was a big clothing firm that typically signed the most valuable player of the series to a nice contract he got no office loft big handsome guy who wears a jacket and he's so good Bob Gibson if done in commercial and Bob did whatever you're supposed to do sure we've gone over of course but if you think about the time that we're talking about there were just some really crazy ideas still prevalent institutionally throughout America Gibson was offered just one postseason opportunity now flashbender who was the publicity director Fran has a bush called Bob and me and wanted us to ride in the parade of roses on the Budweiser float together with these seven horrible play replicas of players and we played pitch and catch going past the reviewing stand in 1967 Gibson recover from his broken leg to lead the Cardinals back to the World Series once more he was brilliant beating the Red Sox two to one in Game one before throwing a five-hit shutout in Game four Boston was in shock the American League teams hadn't seen the likes of him not just his stuff but his style if you weren't prepared for Bob Gibson then he came at you in a way there was not imagine hi face Bob Gibson in the World Series in my mind but now here it is it's live and in color and he was every bit as dominating that I had expected Jose Santiago would walk pitcher hit a home run against and he came in I said Jose what's the secret swing I tried that it didn't work the unit the Red Sox had no chance and except to win four games at Gibson didn't pitch Gibson was again path to pitch Game seven his adversary sy Young Award winner Jim Longworth who had pitched a one-hitter in Game two Boston paper day of the game says long book and champagne okay nobody was long for pitches we win the World Series we drink the champagne Gibson grabs the paper and he says tomorrow that's gonna save Gibson MVP even if we didn't get to Bob Gibson early in that game and we weren't going to be him he always won the big game there was no doubt he was gonna win that game because he's Bob Gibson and he wouldn't allow himself to lose Gibson just completely dominant he intimidated them and he dominated if the Cardinals had not had one man the Red Sox were the one I'm sorry that man with Bob Gibson this time after winning his second World Series MVP award Gibson was able to reap the ancillary rewards traditionally due to sports stars I was heading up a a sports marketing company called sports plan when I approached him I told him that he should have good representation and we didn't get him million dollar deals or anything like that but we got him a substantial dollars Bob Gibson did you know he has bronchial asthma that's right I do have bronchial asthma and if I get an attack is bad news Sian's primatene mist and private team tablets Gibson blazed a trail for other black athletes his success on the mound in 1968 would become even bigger than his most ardent admirer could have predicted [Music] Gibson 68 season is arguably the best season by any pitcher in baseball history that was the apex of his trip that was the peak I mean that's when he was the most dominating he made 34 starts 28 complete games 13 shutouts and allowed 38 runs 38 on drums and 300 plus innings is it's mind-numbing I mean what did the fielders do every time he went out there he gave up just a little bit more than one run again Gibson had an earned run average for the season at one point one to one point one to one point one - that's incredible that's remarkable it's impossible I pitched 300 innings I think somebody will have earned run average slower than one point one two but I doubt that they'll pitch three on any how can you have a better year than the you had 1968 you hear that line about Koufax used to take the mound and he was unhittable Nolan Ryan was unhittable Gibson was unhittable for a season in the American League but I actually was a fan of his because he was pitching so well and was dominating so many clubs and throwing all those shutouts that every time he pitched I couldn't wait to pick up the box score and see how many zeros he'd put up in the year of the pitcher Bob Gibson was the picture of the year he won 22 times pitched 304 innings led the league in strikeouts and in 110 start stretch through an inconceivable eight shutout that was the year that Dennis McLain won over 30 games Don Drysdale set the record for most consecutive scoreless innings you had won Marshall at the top of his game but in 1968 they all stood aside in fealty to Bob Gibson CEO not only is he at the peak of his ability but he has the power of the myth people are afraid to step in against the great Bob Gibson so he is a kind of legend on riding Gibson's arm the Cardinals reached the World Series in the first matchup of Sai Young Award winners Gibson took the mound against baseball's first 30 game winner in 34 years that was Gibson against maybe that's that's all it was I mean they didn't talk about anything else Sandy Koufax was doing a series on radio he said that's great here but is it Gibson had that one one two or whatever he said I'll tell you one day I said what's that sandy Gibson is you're gonna eat him up tomorrow the first game of a 1968 World Series is about the stuff is stuff that particular day was as good as he I guess he's ever had on the mound he striking out batter after batter [Music] Lauren cash me back after the first time up pieces I'm going up without a bat next time doesn't make any difference NBC did a brilliant job that day again and again Gibson's face like great tribal keeping the power the intensity the focused I mean you looked at that face and you just pitied the Detroit haters and the Tigers have never seen anybody like this nationally did her said and they could probably empathize with the Tiger hitters here's the freight defense [Music] you don't count you just know there's Lago and it just feels like you just on strike on everybody [Music] [Applause] this 12 strikeouts and 13 strikeouts I got the record book out and saw that he was approaching the World Series record for practice [Music] [Applause] [Music] I didn't know that I was even close to a record of any sorting the first time I knew that was when tim mccarver thought time out he walked out from Carver's trying to get him to turn around and look what's on the scoreboard and see it out of record he wants nothing ominous he's shooing Micawber away get out of here go let's go let's go and he pointed at the scoreboard I turned around and then that's when I saw that I had 15 strikeouts and tied Sandy Koufax well I turned my promises yeah that's fine let's go give me the ball [Music] he literally have - fee that there's the best performance I've ever saved by anybody the last hitter that he struck out was Willie Horton and it was one of those inconsistent gyroscope type sliders [Music] and to this day I can still hear Willie shouting like that he thought the ball of hitting and the balls the strike it was like it all came together for this moment in history after Gibson defeated MacLean again in Game four the Cardinals held a three games to one lead but Detroit rally setting up Gibson's third game seven in five seasons when he faced mickey lowlich that heartbreaking loss in game 7 1968 his best friend Curt Flood this plays a fly ball [Music] even though they beat the Cardinals in the World Series that year they had an understandable respect for Bob Gibson the dating the last game but they earned that when a stunning stunning loss for the players on that Cardinals team who had just come to count on Gibson as money in the bank every single time in nine World Series starts Gibson pitched eight complete games and won seven both surrendering less than two earned runs per game opposing hitters at a batting average of 143 he was the greatest World Series pitcher [Music] coming up next it's the end of an era for the Cardinals and Bob

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Id: cL-CNKLfRy4

Length: 36min 12sec (2172 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 21 2018