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Robert Gibson
St. Louis Cardinals
Pitcher
Born: November 9, 1935, Omaha, NE
Signed: Signed by the St. Louis Cardinals as an amateur free agent before 1957 season
Major League Teams: St. Louis Cardinals 1959-1975
Died: October 2, 2020, Omaha, NE (age 84)
Hall of Fame Induction: 1981
One of the best, most feared and most competitive pitchers of his generation, Bob Gibson was a nine-time All-Star, a two-time World Series winner (1964 and 1967), a two-time Cy Young Award winner (1968 and 1970) and the second pitcher in history to reach the 3,000 strikeout plateau. Along with his 1968 Cy Young Award, he also took home that season's MVP award as he went 22-9 with a 1.12 ERA, 28 complete games, 13 shutouts and 268 strikeouts in one of the most dominant seasons of pitching in baseball history. Gibson won 20 or more games five times. If that wasn't enough, he also won nine Gold Gloves for his fielding and was a lifetime .206 batter with 24 home runs. He retired after 17 seasons with 251 wins, 56 shutouts and 3,117 strikeouts and the Cardinals retired his #45 in September 1975.
Gibson was a first ballot inductee into the Hall of Fame in 1981, the same year he returned to baseball as a Mets coach on the staff of former teammate and Mets manager Joe Torre (#200). He moved with Torre to the Braves in 1982 where he stayed through 1984. He coached one last time for Torre with the Cardinals in 1995. Gibson passed away on October 2, 2020, 52 years after his dominant performance in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series in which he pitched a complete game shutout and struck out 17 Tigers batters.
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Building the Set
October 8, 2020 from San Diego, CA - Card #173
By all accounts, and caused by a multitude of different events, 2020 has been a rough year. The baseball world lost five iconic Hall of Famers in a span of about six weeks with the passing of Tom Seaver, Lou Brock (#540), Gibson, Whitey Ford (#330) and Joe Morgan (#16) between August 31st and October 11th. The next three cards we added to our 1965 Topps set were the cards of Brock, Gibson and Ford as I wanted to selfishly cross them off our list but also to spend some time learning more about each of their careers. (I've had a Morgan rookie card in my collection since around 1983, when he played with the Phillies as a member of the Wheeze Kids.)
We learned about the passing of Gibson early on the morning of my birthday as we were sitting in the parking lot of a baseball complex waiting for Doug's travel team to arrive. They had the first game of the day, and our family had stayed overnight at a nearby hotel to avoid having to drive two-plus hours before dawn. I asked my wife if she'd be willing to give me the Gibson card for our set for our birthday, she immediately agreed, and I was off to eBay on my phone. It's fitting I bought this card from Kit Young Cards as that was my Dad's preferred baseball card dealer for major purchases. The card arrived five days later and I snapped a quick photo to mark its arrival as Doug was heading out the door to another baseball practice.
The Card / Cardinals Team Set
Gibson first appeared in a Topps set in 1959, and after six years of getting nothing more than a head shot of the pitcher we get a great posed shot showing Gibson staring down an imaginary batter. The back of the card rightfully cuts to the chase in pointing out Gibson had defeated the Yankees twice in the 1964 World Series. He won Game 5 and the decisive Game 7, pitching complete games in both. His Game 7 win is commemorated in the World Series subset with card #138.
The Card / Cardinals Team Set
Gibson first appeared in a Topps set in 1959, and after six years of getting nothing more than a head shot of the pitcher we get a great posed shot showing Gibson staring down an imaginary batter. The back of the card rightfully cuts to the chase in pointing out Gibson had defeated the Yankees twice in the 1964 World Series. He won Game 5 and the decisive Game 7, pitching complete games in both. His Game 7 win is commemorated in the World Series subset with card #138.
As far as I can tell, this card has only been reprinted once as it appears on a 2010 Topps Million Card Giveaway insert. Gibson, at card #69, is one of 72 players featured within the 1965 Topps Embossed insert set and one of four Cardinals in the set. He's also in the harder to find 1965 Topps Transfers insert set.
1965 Season
Coming off his World Series heroics, Gibson won 20 games for the first time in 1965, going 20-12 with a 3.07 ERA in 36 starts. 20 of those 36 starts were complete games, with six shutouts. Gibson earned a save in the 1965 All-Star Game, pitching the final two shutout innings and striking out three. He also won the first of his nine Gold Gloves.
Other Notable Baseball Cards
First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #514
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (18): 1959-1975, 1988
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2020 Topps Living Set #354
1,946 - Gibson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/1/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database
1965 Season
Coming off his World Series heroics, Gibson won 20 games for the first time in 1965, going 20-12 with a 3.07 ERA in 36 starts. 20 of those 36 starts were complete games, with six shutouts. Gibson earned a save in the 1965 All-Star Game, pitching the final two shutout innings and striking out three. He also won the first of his nine Gold Gloves.
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First Mainstream Card: 1959 Topps #514
Topps Flagship Set Appearances (18): 1959-1975, 1988
Most Recent Mainstream Card: 2020 Topps Living Set #354
1,946 - Gibson non-parallel baseball cards in the Beckett online database as of 11/1/20.
Sources:
Baseball Reference
Beckett Database
National Baseball Hall of Fame
SABR
The Trading Card Database
Wikipedia
Previous Card: #319 Ken McMullen - Washington Senators
Previous Card: #319 Ken McMullen - Washington Senators
Next Card: #321 Rusty Staub - Houston Astros
In a 1967 game, a line drive off Roberto Clemente's bat broke Gibson's leg. He stayed in the game for a few more batters before reluctantly leaving the game.
ReplyDeleteAfter missing almost 2 months, he returned in September and led his team to a WS championship, going 3-0 against the Red Sox.