Gibby

Another one of the baseball icons of my youth has passed.  Bob Gibson died at the age of 84 after a lengthy struggle with pancreatic cancer.  In the mid-60s, the National League featured three dominating hurlers, Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, and Bob Gibson (the recently deceased Tom Seaver entered the elite at the end of that decade).  I wrote of the three of them in Gibson Koufax Marichal Mashup.

Each had their trademark - Koufax's beautiful pitching motion, Marichal's leg perched higher than his head during his motion, and for Gibson it was the ferocity with which he seemed to throw himself, as well as the ball, towards hitters.  Gibson was the most feared of this group.  He wanted to dominate "his" part of the plate and did not hesitate to throw inside.  Willie Mays admitted he was scared facing Gibby and Dusty Baker recounted the advice Hank Aaron gave him as a rookie:

"Don't dig in against Bob Gibson, he'll knock you down.  He'd knock down his own grandmother if she dared to challenge him.  Don't stare at him, don't smile at him, don't talk to him.  He doesn't like it.  If you happen to hit a home run, don't run too slow, don't run too fast.  If you happen to want to celebrate, get in the tunnel first.  And if he hits you, don't charge the mound because he's a Gold Glove boxer."

I still remember watching Game 1 of the 1968 World Series in which Gibson and the St Louis Cardinals faced the Detroit Tigers.  Gibson whiffed a World Series record 17 Tigers that afternoon, a record that still stands.  Look at how loose his motion was, how he flings himself towards the hitter and then off to the first base line.  I knew at the time I was witnessing something extraordinary.