20. Bob Gibson’s MVP arm strikes again
MLB Postseason Moment:1967 World Series. St. Louis Cardinals vs. Boston Red Sox. October and November of 1967.
Why It’s Memorable: For the second time in four years, Bob Gibson’s arm led the St. Louis Cardinals to another World Series title, which accounts for two of the 11 in team history. Bob Gibson did miss nearly one-third of the regular season after breaking his leg, but the Cardinals toughed it out in his absence, winning 101 games during the regular season.
During the seven-game series, Gibson gave up only fourteen hits in his three complete games, tying the record for fewest hits given up while personally winning three World Series games as a starting pitcher.
The seventh game had Bob Gibson on the bump facing off with Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg, who was pitching on two-days rest, which showed, with the hurler laboring, while Gibson had enough in the tank to gut out his third victory in the series, leading to winning World Series Most Valuable Player honors in the process.
That momentum carried into next season, when Gibson had a season for the ages, winning the Cy Young and NL MVP awards in the process — take a look at this insane stat line: 21-9 record, 258 strikeouts, and a microscopic 1.11 ERA, which ranks within the top five MLB record, which is crazy that it doesn’t rank as the all-time record.
What makes 1967 (and 1968) even more memorable is the fact that the Cardinals, who were primed to keep making the Fall Classic, had a 15 season absence from it, not appearing again until well after Gibson’s retirement.