Bob Gibson vs. The Pirates

 Bob Gibson pitching 

at Forbes Field

Just as the death of Tom Seaver last month prompted me to see how he pitched in his Hall of Fame career against the Pirates, so, too, did the death of Bob Gibson. Thanks to the terrific baseball-almanac.com website, it took about thirty minutes of research to find out.

My memories tells me that Gibson pitched against the Pirates about ten to twelve times every year, and completely dominated them every time.  However, in fact, Gibson made 54 appearances against the Pirates over a 17 year career, an average of 3.2 games per year.  Only twice, 1969 and 1972, did he appear  as many as five times against the Bucs.

Here is a side-by-side comparison of Gibson vs. the Pirates as compared to his overall career figures.  I also threw in the figures for his landmark 1968 season and his World Series stats, just for the "Wow Factor."

Bob Gibson	vs. Pirates	Career	1968	World Series
W-L	25-16	251-174	22-9	7-2
%	0.610	0.591	0.710	0.778
ERA	3.20	2.91	1.12	1.89
WHIP	1.233	1.190	0.85	0.889
IP	410.1	3,884.1	304.2	81
R	146	1,420	49	19
ER	125	1,258	38	17
CG	22	255	28	8
ShO	5	56	134	2
K/9IP	7.70	7.22	7.92	10.2

As you can see, Gibson's career winning percentage against the Pirates was slightly above his career percentage, as was his "K's / 9 IP".  Both his ERA and his WHIP were higher against the Pirates than his overall career numbers.  I will leave it up to the Analytics gurus to decipher exactly what, if anything, that might mean.

Two games jumped out at me when I was doing the research.  In an appearance on July 26, 1960, and gave up 2 hits and 2 runs in one inning, and on May 6, 1964, Gibson gave up 1 hit, 0 runs, and 1 walk and had 0.0 innings pitched.  Both appearances were No Decisions for him.  What was up with that, I wondered.

In the 1960 game, Gibson came on in relief of Curt Simmons in a game that the Pirates won 5-4.  In the 1964 game, Ray Sadecki pitched 8.0 innings, and Gibson came on in relief of him in the ninth.  The Pirates scored in the bottom of the ninth and won the game 1-0.  The run and the loss went to Sadecki, but no Pirate was credited with an RBI in that game, so I don't know precisely what happened there.  More research for another day.  For you Bucco fans out there, Bob Friend gave up six hits and got the Win in a complete game performance.

Gibson also had three No Decisions against the Pirates in his career wherein he pitched nine innings but left after that when those games went into extra innings.

In that remarkable 1968 season, Gibson was every bit as dominant against Pittsburgh as he was against the rest of the National League:  4 games, 3 wins, 1 loss, 1.00 ERA, four complete games, two shut outs, 41 strike outs, 6 BB in 36 IP. 

Finally, no mention of Gibson vs. The Pirates would be complete without mentioning the game of August 14, 1971, when Gibson pitched a no-hitter against the Pirates.  I can vividly remember listening to that game on the radio on our Saline Street front porch that long ago Saturday night.  The Cardinals scored 5 runs in the first inning, and it was 8-0 after five innings.  The Pirates winning that game was unlikely from the start against a pitcher like Gibson, so the only thing exciting was the possibility of a no-hitter, which Gibson, of course, recorded.  Gibson walked three batters and struck out ten that night.  It was the first time that a no-hitter had ever been pitched in Pittsburgh.  And it wasn't like Gibson was going up against a line-up of lightweights that night.  Willie Stargell, Al Oliver, Dave Cash, and Bob Robertson were in the line-up that night, although for reasons that are lost to history Roberto Clemente, Manny Sanguillen, and Richie Hebner were not.  It was also the team that would go on to win the World Series two months later.  Five Hall of Famers played in that game that night: Joe Torre, Ted Simmons, and Gibson for St. Louis, and Bill Mazersoki and Stargell for the Pirates.  The dugouts that night also featured manager Red Schoendienst and Lou Brock for St. Louis and Clemente for Pittsburgh.  Eight future Hall of Famers present and accounted for that hot August night.  Not bad.