For a major league pitcher to give up a homer to a guy wielding a pink bat? I’m really thankful that there were no pink bats in Bob Gibson’s day. Hank Aaron may never have reached 715 if there had been.
Today started “National Women’s Health Week”, which probably explains the pink bat.
MLB teams have been using that pink bat on Mother’s Day for probably close to 15 seasons. I think they have the mothers’ names on them.
Since all pitchers batted back then, Gibson would have been swinging pink wood at the plate on Mother’s Day too.
Not everyone is using a pink bat. I don’t think Bob would have brought out the pink wood.
Mr. GIBSON would not have cared what color bat the batter had. He considered them all the enemy and did not want to like any of them. My all time favorite pitcher. He would not even talk to the other guys in All Star Games because he knew he would have to face them later and did not want to like them. He just wanted to get them out. I don’t think he really wanted to hurt anybody, but he did not want the batters to know that.
Mr. GIBSON would not have cared what color bat the batter had. He considered them all the enemy and did not want to like any of them. My all time favorite pitcher. He would not even talk to the other guys in All Star Games because he knew he would have to face them later and did not want to like them. He just wanted to get them out. I don’t think he really wanted to hurt anybody, but he did not want the batters to know that.
Definitely one of my boyhood idols. Wouldn’t mess with him today, even if he is 81.
How humiliating is it that someone is joking/griping about a special item that is used in conjunction with the Komen Foundation to raise money for breast cancer research?
How pathetic is that some self righteous %$#@@ can’t take a joke? I donate to the Komen Foundation. Doesn’t mean I can’t laugh a little when a big strong guy approaches the plate with something that looks like it came from a little girl’s tee ball rack. I’m not complaining about anything. I do however, find it amusing.You really need to either lighten up or publish a list of your own special sacred cows that no one is allowed to touch.
They named the AAA ball field in Omaha Bob Gibson stadium. We have a business relationship with that team and I visited the stadium last summer. The Marketing Director said that Gibson refused to come to the ball park dedication at first but Joe Torre and others talked him into coming. He said he still has the stare you down personality he displayed in his playing years. He said Bob is not one for small talk and can be difficult.
He was one of the best ever. I loved to see him pitch. Batters feared him.
Gibby is my all-time favorite player. I have a ball signed by him that was given to me by a member of this board. It is one of my prized possessions.
One of my few claims to fame is that I was at the game when Roberto Clemente broke Gibby’s leg. It sounded like a bat broke. Gibson always fell off the mound after each pitch, yet he was such an athlete that he was an excellent defensive player.
I studied and mimicked his delivery when I was a Little League pitcher. I also had no problem throwing inside. Or outside or 2 feet in front of the plate. I found I could replicate Bob Gibson’s delivery but God did not give me a Bob Gibson arm. 45 wasn’t just my jersey number, it was also the speed of my alleged fastball. 
Thought it was way cool. We did catch a glimpse of that at the restaurant we took my wife for Mother’s Day. She liked it. Good enough for me.
As a Cardinal fan I relish any extra bit of humiliation the red birds can put on the Cubs. That’s why I posted this right after watching Yadi take Arietta deep with the pink stick.
Maybe just a bad choice of words. Maybe humbled rather than humiliated. JMO.
I love good hearted joking.
My boss in Tulsa, Bill Connors, became decent friends with Bob Gibson, but it took quite some doing. Bob played basketball at Creighton and was always upset when he came to the town in later years. He was not allowed to stay with the basketball team at the downtown hotel when Crieghton played there. He was told to stay with a black family in north Tulsa. So, forever more, he didn’t like Tulsa. The Cardinals had their Triple A team in Tulsa for many years. The big league team would play a game in Tulsa just before the start of the season. Bob Gibson wasn’t happy to be a part of the trip. Of course, he wasn’t going to pitch because he was the opening day pitcher in 2-3 days. Bill Connors wanted to interview him, but Bob declined. Eventually, Bill got to know him at spring training and after many intense discussions about Tulsa’s history and development as a progressive community, Bob Gibson did become “OK” with interviews from Connors. I was told about the discussions. It was highly interesting.
July 15 1967, Roberto Clemente hit a line drive, hitting Bob Gibson and breaking his leg. Gibby pitched to two more batters. Both of course were elected to the Hall of Fame.
I will never forget the opening of the Series against the Tigers in '68. I was in the 6th grade and reported to Mom that I was sick to my stomach that morning and excused from school. Amazinly, I started to feel better around noon when Game 1 of the Series started. I watched from the couch as Gibson shut out the Tigers and struck out 17. Gibson and the Cards went on to lose the Series after taking a 3-1 lead when the great Curt Flood misjudged a long fly ball in Game 7.
Classic Arkansas 60’s schoolboy experience. I think I might have done you one better though as a 4th grader that year. Furious that we lost game 6 to Denny The Grifter McClain to force game 7, I stormed out of my house and jumped on my bike. It had been raining and the streets were slick. I wiped out going down a hill and busted open my chin. Trip to the ER for stitches and of course, a reprieve from school the next day! If not for Curt Flood misplaying that ball, it would have been worth it.
When I was in high school, we were allowed to go to the auditorium to watch the Orioles in the World Series. Three big TVs were positioned at the front of the stage. That was the hey day of Brooks Robinson. He was from Little Rock Central and it was considered important to watch one of our alumnus in those day World Series games. You had to have good grades to get to go. I qualified, so I saw all of those games. I was playing baseball at the time. I played catcher and second base. I ached to play “the hot corner” and dreamed about making a bare-hand throw after charging a bunt. My brother was our Pony League coach at Lamar Porter Field, where Brooks grew up playing. Some days at practice, we all lined up at third base (except for our lefty first baseman) and practiced charging bunts and making bare-hand scoops and snap throws to first. It wasn’t so much that we were having tryouts for third base. We just all wanted to emulate Brooks Robinson and it was a fun game. After you had your turn, you stayed at home plate and became a runner, then worked your way back to third base in running drills. Fun game.