From Ghetto To Glory

As a young man growing up outside of St. Louis, I was captivated by the intensity of one baseball player….Bob Gibson.

The man who is undoubtedly the greatest Cardinal pitcher of all time notched 251 wins, 56 shutouts and 3117 strikeouts. But his most notable accomplishments to me were….the fact that he threw 255 complete games. Astounding. And in 1967 and ’68 he was so dominant, baseball lowered the mound height to give batters a chance.

Gibson refused to lose. That is a wonderful American trait. He didn’t pitch for a participation award. He pitched to win.

There is a great story about Gibson. Cardinal manager Red Schoendienst did not want to take him out of the last game of his career. Gibson was 40 and the shell of the pitcher he once was. He was pitching against the Cubs and journeyman Pete LaCock was coming to the plate with the bases loaded. Red left Gibson in.

LaCock hit a grand slam and Gibson walked into retirement.

Fast forward ten years. Gibson is pitching in an old-timers game. He is now 50 and who comes up in the exhibition? Pete LaCock. Gibson threw a pitch which hit LaCock.

Afterwards, Bob Costas asked Gibby about the knock down pitch.

Gibson looked Costas in the eye and said…”There is a balance in baseball.  Sometimes it just takes a long time to achieve the balance.”

Cancer was the official cause of death. Gibson fought. Heaven won.