History of Bob Gibson in Timeline
1907
Gibson achieved two highlights in August 1971. On the 4th, he defeated the Giants 7–2 at Busch Memorial Stadium for his 200th career victory. Ten days later, he threw a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, beating the eventual World Champions by a score of 11–0 at Three Rivers Stadium. Along the way, he registered 10 strikeouts, including the game's final out. Gibson also drove in three runs, one on a fifth-inning sacrifice fly and two on an eighth-inning single, to help his own cause. The no-hitter was the first in Pittsburgh since Nick Maddox at Exposition Park in 1907; none had been pitched in the 62-year history of Three Rivers Stadium's predecessor, Forbes Field.
November 09, 1935
Gibson was born in Omaha, Nebraska, on November 9, 1935, the youngest of Victoria (née Brown) and Pack Gibson's seven children. Gibson's father died of tuberculosis three months prior to Gibson's birth, and he was named "Pack Robert Gibson", in honor of his late father. While he revered his father's legacy, Gibson disliked the name "Pack" and later legally dropped it.
November 09, 1935
Robert Gibson (November 9, 1935 – October 2, 2020), nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", was an American baseball pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career for the St. Louis Cardinals from 1959 to 1975. Known for his fiercely competitive nature, Gibson tallied 251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a 2.91 earned run average. A nine-time All-Star and two-time World Series Champion, he won two Cy Young Awards and the 1968 National League Most Valuable Player Award.
1960
Building on their late-season pennant run in 1963, the 1964 Cardinals developed a strong camaraderie that was noted for being free of the racial tension that predominated in the United States at that time. Part of this atmosphere stemmed from the integration of the team's spring training hotel in 1960, and Gibson and teammate Bill White worked to confront and stop use of racial slurs within the team. On August 23, the Cardinals were 11 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and remained six-and-a-half games behind on September 21. The combination of a nine-game Cardinals winning streak and a ten-game Phillies losing streak then brought the season down to the final game. The Cardinals faced the New York Mets, and Gibson entered the game as a relief pitcher in the fifth inning. Aware that the Phillies were ahead of the Cincinnati Reds 4–0 at the time he entered the game, Gibson proceeded to pitch four innings of two-hit relief, while his teammates scored 11 runs of support to earn the victory.
1960
Gibson's experience in 1960 was similar to his first season in the majors, pitching nine innings for the Cardinals before shuffling between the Cardinals and their Rochester affiliate until mid-June. After posting a 3–6 record with a 5.61 ERA for the season, Gibson traveled to Venezuela to participate in winter baseball at the conclusion of the 1960 season. He was also sent to Puerto Rico to play for the Cangrejeros de Santurce before and after the 1961 season.
July 1961
Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Gibson overcame childhood illness to excel in youth sports, particularly basketball and baseball. After briefly playing with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, he chose to pursue baseball and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization. He became a full-time starting pitcher in July 1961 and earned his first All-Star appearance in 1962. Gibson won 2 of 3 games he pitched in the 1964 World Series, then won 20 games in a season for the first time in 1965. Gibson also pitched three complete game victories in the 1967 World Series.
July 1961
Cardinals manager Solly Hemus shuffled Gibson between the bullpen and the starting pitching rotation for the first half of the 1961 season. Years later, Gibson indicated that Hemus's racial prejudice played a major role in his misuse of Gibson, as well as of teammate Curt Flood, both of whom were told by Hemus that they would not make it as major leaguers and should try something else. Hemus was replaced as Cardinals manager in July 1961 by Johnny Keane, who had been Gibson's manager on the Omaha minor league affiliate several years prior. Keane and Gibson shared a positive professional relationship, and Keane immediately moved Gibson into the starting pitching rotation full-time. Gibson proceeded to compile an 11–6 record the remainder of the year, and posted a 3.24 ERA for the full season.
1964
Gibson is considered one of the greatest postseason pitchers in baseball history. Across three World Series and nine games started, he had a record of 7–2 with a 1.89 ERA and 92 strikeouts. He became the second player, after Sandy Koufax, to win two World Series MVP awards, receiving the honor in 1964 and 1967.
1964
In 1964, he set a World Series record for most strikeouts in a seven-game World Series with 31, a record he broke in 1968 when he recorded 35, including a record 17 strikeouts in Game 1. Additionally, Gibson is one of two pitchers, the other being Dave McNally, to hit two home runs in World Series play, hitting one each in the 1967 and 1968 World Series.
1964
In the 1967 World Series against the Boston Red Sox, Gibson allowed only three earned runs and 14 hits over three complete-game victories in Games 1, 4 (five-hit shutout), and 7, the latter two marks tying Christy Mathewson's 1905 World Series record. Just as he had in 1964, Gibson pitched a complete-game victory in Game 7, against Cy Young winner Jim Lonborg, who pitched a one-hitter in Game 2. Gibson also contributed offensively in Game 7 by hitting a home run that made the game 3–0. Unlike his last win as World Series MVP, he finally got the endorsements that had eluded him in 1964, including endorsement and sponsorship for his asthma medication, namely Primatene mist inhaler and tablets.
1968
From 1963 to 1970, Gibson posted a win–loss record of 156–81, for a .658 winning percentage. He won nine Gold Glove Awards, the National League Cy Young Award in 1968 and 1970, and the National League MVP Award in 1968. His 1.12 earned run average and 13 shutouts in 1968 are both records in the live-ball era.
October 10, 1968
Gibson next pitched in Game 4, winning the game by a score of 10–1, beating Tigers' ace Denny McLain. The teams continued to battle each other, setting the stage for another winner-take-all Game 7 in St. Louis on October 10, 1968. In this game Gibson was matched against Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich and the two proceeded to hold their opponents scoreless for the first six innings. In the top of the seventh, Gibson retired the first two batters before allowing two consecutive singles. Detroit batter Jim Northrup then hit a two-run triple over the head of center fielder Curt Flood, leading to Detroit's Series win.
1969
Aside from the rule changes set to take effect in 1969, cultural and monetary influences increasingly began impacting baseball, as evidenced by nine players from the Cardinals' 1968 roster who had not reported by the first week of spring training due to the status of their contracts. On February 4, 1969, Gibson appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and said the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) had suggested players consider striking before the upcoming season began. Gibson himself had no immediate contract worries, as the $125,000 salary Gibson requested for 1969 was agreed to by team owner Gussie Busch and the Cardinals, setting a new franchise record for the highest single-season salary.
1969
Despite the significant rule changes, Gibson's status as one of the league's best pitchers was not immediately affected. In 1969, he went 20–13 with a 2.18 ERA, 4 shutouts, and 28 complete games. On May 12, 1969, Gibson struck out three batters on nine pitches in the seventh inning of a 6–2 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers. Gibson became the ninth National League pitcher and the 15th pitcher in Major League history to throw an immaculate inning. After pitching into the tenth inning of the July 4 game against the Cubs, Gibson was removed from a game without finishing an inning for the first time in more than 60 consecutive starts, a streak spanning two years. Gibson set another mark, on August 16, when he became the third pitcher in Major League history to reach the 200-strikeout plateau in seven different seasons.
1969
The overall pitching statistics in the 1968 season, led by Gibson and McLain's record-setting performances, are often cited as one of the reasons for Major League Baseball's decision to alter pitching-related rules. Sometimes known as the "Gibson rules", Major League Baseball lowered the pitcher's mound in 1969 from 15 inches (380 mm) to 10 inches (250 mm) – though teams had rarely followed this rule nor was it enforced by the league – and reduced the height of the strike zone from the batter's armpits to the jersey letters.
1970
As a hitter, he had a lifetime batting average of .206 with 24 home runs and 144 runs batted in. Gibson was sometimes used by the Cardinals as a pinch-hitter, and in 1970 he hit .303 for the season in 109 at-bats, which was over 100 points higher than teammate Dal Maxvill.
1970
Gibson experienced an up-and-down 1970 season, marked at the low point by a July slump where he resorted to experimenting with a knuckleball for the first time in his career. Just as quickly, Gibson returned to form, starting a streak of seven wins on July 28, and pitching all 14 innings of a 5–4 win against the San Diego Padres on August 12. He would go on to win his fourth and final NL Player of the Month award for August (6–0, 2.31 ERA, 55 SO). Gibson won 23 games in 1970, and was once again named the NL Cy Young Award winner.
1971
The pinnacle of Gibson's career was 1968, the "Year of the Pitcher", when he posted a 1.12 ERA for the season and then recorded 17 strikeouts in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Gibson threw a no-hitter in 1971 but began experiencing swelling in his knee in subsequent seasons. At the time of his retirement in 1975, Gibson ranked second only to Walter Johnson among major-league pitchers in career strikeouts.
January 1975
In January 1975, Gibson announced he would retire at the end of the 1975 season, admitting later on that he only continued to play baseball in order to cope with his recent divorce from his ex-wife, Charline. During his final season, Gibson went 3–10 with a 5.04 earned run average.
September 01, 1975
Gibson's jersey number 45 was retired by the St. Louis Cardinals on September 1, 1975. In 1981, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on his first ballot.
September 1975
He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, his first year of eligibility, and the Cardinals retired his uniform number 45 in September 1975, the year he retired. Gibson was later selected for the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. He died of pancreatic cancer on October 2, 2020.
1981
Gibson returned to baseball in 1981 after accepting a coaching job with Joe Torre, who was then manager of the New York Mets. Torre termed Gibson's position "attitude coach", the first such title in Major League history. After Torre and his coaching staff were let go at the end of the 1981 season, Torre moved on to manage the Atlanta Braves in 1982, hiring Gibson as a pitching coach. The Braves proceeded to challenge for the National League pennant for the first time since 1969, ultimately losing to the Cardinals in the 1982 National League Championship Series. Gibson remained with Torre on the Braves' coaching staff until the end of the 1984 season.
1990
Gibson then took to hosting a pre- and postgame show for Cardinals baseball games on radio station KMOX from 1985 until 1989. He also served as color commentator for baseball games on ESPN in 1990 but declined an option to continue the position over concerns he would have to spend too much time away from his family. In 1995, Gibson again served as pitching coach on a Torre-led staff, this time returning to the Cardinals.
1999
In 1999, he was ranked number 31 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players, and was elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. In 2020, The Athletic ranked Gibson at number 45 on its "Baseball 100" list, complied by sportswriter Joe Posnanski.
2002
In 2002, Gibson was involved in a road rage incident with a man named Miguel Sanchez. Both Gibson and Sanchez were cited by the police for third-degree assault after they got into a fistfight at a gas station.
2009
In 2009, with the help of sportswriter Lonnie Wheeler, he and fellow Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson wrote a book titled Sixty Feet, Six Inches: A Hall of Fame Pitcher & a Hall of Fame Hitter Talk About How the Game Is Played. Gibson wrote another book, also with Wheeler, titled Pitch by Pitch: My View of One Unforgettable Game; it was published in 2015 and described Game 1 of the 1968 World Series from his point of view.
2013
He has a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame. A bronze statue of Gibson by Harry Weber is located in front of Busch Stadium, commemorating Gibson along with other St. Louis Cardinals greats. Another statue of Gibson was unveiled outside of Werner Park in Gibson's home city, Omaha, Nebraska, in 2013. The street on the north side of Rosenblatt Stadium, former home of the College World Series in his hometown of Omaha, is named Bob Gibson Boulevard.
January 2014
In January 2014, the Cardinals announced Gibson as among 22 former players and personnel who made up the inaugural class of St. Louis Cardinals Hall of Fame Museum.
July 2019
In July 2019, Gibson's longtime agent Dick Zitzmann announced that Gibson had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer several weeks earlier and was due to begin chemotherapy. He died on October 2, 2020, at age 84, under hospice care after fighting cancer for more than a year.
2022
In 2022, as part of their SN Rushmore project, The Sporting News named Gibson on their "St. Louis Mount Rushmore of Sports", along with fellow Cardinals Stan Musial and Albert Pujols, and St. Louis Blues hockey player Brett Hull.