Joe Gibbon

Joe Gibbon fulfilled his dream when he made the Opening Day roster of the 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates, the World Series champion that season. Joe pitched 12 full big-league seasons plus part of a 13th before retiring in 1972. He was talented enough in basketball to be drafted by the NBA champion Boston Celtics in 1957, after finishing second in NCAA scoring his senior season for the 1956-57 University of Mississippi (Ole Miss) Rebels. The 6-foot-4 forward made several collegiate All-America hoop teams. He helped Ole Miss finish third in the 1956 College Baseball World Series in Omaha, their first-ever appearance. Gibbon propelled little Hickory High School to Mississippi’s 1953 state high-school basketball tournament title, over bigger schools.

Joseph Charles Gibbon was a 12-pound bundle of joy when he was born at his family’s Hickory, Mississippi, home on April 10, 1935.1 Joe’s parents were Eugene Opie Gibbon of Newton County and Elsie Gibbon, from Chunky, Mississippi. Eugene Opie’s grandparents had moved to East Central Mississippi from Turberville, South Carolina, near Sumter. Joe’s two siblings were Jean, an older sister, and Billy, a brother.

The St. Louis Cardinals were Joe’s favorite big-league team, and Stan Musial his favorite player. Joe vividly recalled listening to Game Seven of the 1946 World Series between Boston and St. Louis, when Harry Walker’s hit drove in Enos “Country” Slaughter from first base with the winning run. “I played for (Harry Walker) in Pittsburgh (1965) and Houston (1972),” said Joe. “He had a brother named Dixie who was also a good big-league outfielder.” (Walker played for five major-league teams, most notably the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1939 through 1947.)

Hickory didn’t have a high-school baseball team, so Joe played American Legion baseball in Newton, about three miles away. Joe rode a bicycle (or hitchhiked) to and from the baseball field. Hickory was a basketball hotbed back then and Joe did the rebounding with another tall guard. “Our two forwards were 5-foot-8 when I went to Ole Miss. I told them my scoring average was 5 points per game my senior year. … They couldn’t believe that!”

Mississippi basketball fans were aware that Hickory, a Class B school, had won the 1953 state title over larger schools, somewhat reminiscent of the movie Hoosiers. Gibbon: “I didn’t play but two years of high-school basketball—the small schools had eight-month schedules back then—and we did have a football team my senior year, where I played fullback in the old single wing, and defensive back, under coach Billy Coleman.”

Joe’s baseball career formally began when he was a college freshman at Ole Miss in 1954, but he had worked out with the Meridian Millers, in the old Cotton States League, and played semipro ball in Lauderdale County, Mississippi. Joe, a lefty, and Archie White, a right-handed pitcher from Meridian, recalled that the Millers’ general manager was Dough Rawlings, a big supporter of Ole Miss athletics, and that he, along with Martin Van Buren Miller, a local lawyer, secured baseball scholarships for Gibbon and White. Gibbon recalled, “Mr. Miller called Ole Miss and said: ‘Take this guy (Gibbon). If he doesn’t play for you in basketball and baseball his first year, then I’ll pay his way.’ ”

Joe lettered in basketball his freshman year, but not in baseball, since he was winless for the 1954 Rebels. He pitched well, said teammate Robert “Cob” Jarvis, a senior on the team, which won the Southeastern Conference Western Division title and faced Georgia for the 1954 SEC title. “Joe was an outstanding pitcher as well as a great hitter.” Against Mississippi State, Jarvis recalled, “In the ninth, State had the bases loaded and no outs. The first batter hit into a force play at home. Joe then struck out the next two hitters.”

Tom Swayze, Gibbon’s baseball coach at Ole Miss, recalled that he pitched six superb relief innings against the Meridian Millers in a 1954 exhibition game, giving up no runs and one hit. Swayze said Gibbon’s control was excellent, but he developed slight arm trouble and was used sparingly the rest of that season. But he started the second game of the best-of-three SEC title series, in Athens, Georgia, a series won by the Georgia Bulldogs.2 Gibbon pitched semipro ball in Silver City, Mississippi, the summer of 1954, earning $25 a game but paying his driver $12, since Joe did not own a car.

By the spring of 1956, Ole Miss was a collegiate baseball powerhouse, with pitchers including Archie White, Cecil Burford, Don Goad, and Buddy Wittichen; Gibbon, who could pitch, play first base, or play the outfield; Bernie Schreiber, an All-American second baseman; shortstop Buddy Garrison; Bill Scott, first base; Eagle Day, third base; plus a talented outfield with Eddie Crawford and Billy Kinard (who also caught). Mississippi finished 24-10, including four games in the 1956 College World Series, part of a postseason in which pitchers Goad and White and position players Crawford, Garrison, Schreiber, and Scott could not play.3

But Gibbon was able to play, and he stood out. Florida defeated Ole Miss, 8-3 and 5-1, at Gainesville, Florida, in the battle for the SEC championship, but Ole Miss went on to the district playoffs because NCAA sanctions prevented the Gators from qualifying. In the district tourney, in Gastonia, North Carolina, Mississippi swept Tennessee Tech in the first round, then defeated Duke, two games to one, in the finals, and qualified for the College World Series in Omaha, Nebraska. In Omaha Ole Miss was called the Cinderella team because, as Gibbon put it, “we had so many adversities to overcome.” Ole Miss defeated New Hampshire, 13-12, with Gibbon getting the win in relief, then Bradley, 4-0, before losing to Minnesota and Arizona to finish third in baseball’s showcase tournament. In nine postseason games—five in Gastonia plus four in Omaha—Gibbon hit .396 (13 hits in 33 at-bats), with three doubles, one triple, four home runs and 11 runs batted in, and had a .909 slugging percentage. Swayze, Gibbon’s coach, later said, “In my 35 years of playing and coaching in all sports, I have never seen Joe Gibbon’s peer so far as sheer physical ability is concerned.”

This ability became evident on the hardwood in 1956-57, when Gibbon averaged 30 points and 14.1 rebounds per game to earn All-American designation by the Helms Foundation. His 30-point average was second nationally to Grady Wallace of South Carolina and just ahead of Elgin Baylor (29.7) and Wilt Chamberlain (29.6). Gibbon was named the SEC MVP in the Atlanta Constitution Players’ Poll.4

The Boston Celtics notified Gibbon during the 1957 college baseball season that they intended to draft him. Gibbon made it clear to the Celtics that his heart was in pro baseball, not basketball. The Celtics drafted him anyway and true to his word, he didn’t report to Boston’s training camp.

In 1957, after hitting .425, the third highest single-season average in school history, and being named to the All-SEC team, Gibbon signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates after being scouted by the Pirates’ regional scout, Sammy Moses, of Yazoo City, Mississippi.

“The Braves and Phillies—from my high school days—were interested in me,” said Gibbon, “but Milwaukee had a (1957) rotation of Spahn, Burdette, and Buhl. … I was not interested in the Phils; the Pirates were a weaker team5, in need of left-handed pitching, so I signed with them for a $1,000 bonus, plus $3,000 for my first pro season … bought my first car: 1957 Chevrolet Sports Coupe for $2,700; got it financed for one year. Atley Donald of the Yankees scouted me in high school. Cecil Burford, Pepper Thomas, and Archie White signed with the Braves.”

The Pirates sent Gibbon to their farm team at Lincoln of the Class A Western League, managed by Larry Shepard, who Gibbon said was someone who could “motivate me better than the rest of them; had a different personality; he said, you can do it.” Gibbon started out as a pitcher and outfielder for the Chiefs, hurling in 17 games and appearing in 39 games overall. On the mound he impressed Shepard with his poise and three-quarters delivery, and after impressing Shepard with two solid relief appearances, he became a pitcher full time. He finished the season 9-4 with a 1.83 earned-run average in 15 starts and two relief appearances for the league champs. His hitting was less impressive: .220 in 91 at-bats. Shortly after the season, at the request of Pirates general manager Joe L. Brown, Gibbon traveled to Chester, Pennsylvania, the hometown of the Pirates’ new manager, Danny Murtaugh. There he was sworn in to the US Army Reserve.

For 1958 Pittsburgh promoted Gibbon to the Triple-A Columbus Red Birds, managed by Clyde King. “I got off to a bad start in Columbus,” Gibbon said. “That was a bigger jump, from A ball to Triple-A than Triple-A to the big leagues. My 6-13 record didn’t help; at that time, you had to win to be promoted to the majors.”

The Pirates sent Joe to Santiago, in the Dominican Republic, for the 1958-59 winter season. “Kenny Hamlin and I were the only Americans without wives or family, and we were going crazy. They checked your mail—if you wrote a letter saying something ‘bad’ about the country, your family would never get it. … I lost three or four in a row. They wanted to run me out of the country; then I started winning, …”

Gibbon returned to the US so he could fulfill his two-week Reserve commitment. He returned to Columbus for 1959 and posted a 16-9 record with a league-leading 152 strikeouts. Columbus made it to the postseason, but was swept in the semifinals by the Havana Sugar Kings. In a game in Havana, Gibbon said, while he was on third base, Columbus manager Cal Ermer’s wife, in the stands, overheard Cuban soldiers saying: “If he scores, I’m going to shoot him.” Joe said, “I’m glad I didn’t know about this.”

Gibbon turned 25 and made the Pirates during 1960 spring training. He made his major-league debut – and got his first victory – in the second game of a doubleheader against Cincinnati at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field on April 17. Gibbon entered the game in the eighth with the Pirates down 5-0. He held the Reds scoreless for two innings and was the winner when the Pirates rallied for six runs in the ninth and won, 6-5, on Bob Skinner’s two-run walk-off homer.

The 1960 Pirates finished 95-59 despite having only one superstar, Roberto Clemente. Gibbon called the team “a special club” that won about half its games after the sixth inning (including 21 in the ninth). General manager Joe L. Brown, who had maintained that “power does not win pennants, balance does,” had engineered a major deal with Cincinnati in 1959, acquiring Don Hoak, Smoky Burgess, and Harvey Haddix, for Frank Thomas, Jim Pendleton, Whammy Douglas, and Johnny Powers. Dick Hall and Ken Hamlin were traded to the Kansas City A’s for catcher Hal Smith. Vinegar Bend Mizell was acquired from St. Louis for Julian Javier. Brown picked up Rocky Nelson and catcher Bob Oldis via the minor-league draft.

Oldis recalled of catching Gibbon, “He threw easy and hard; had great movement on his fastball— 92-plus miles per hour.” Bill Virdon said that Gibbon “had a good arm and threw fairly hard and it takes 25 players doing their job to win it all.” Gibbon made nine starts for the 1960 Pirates, winning four games and losing two. Virdon said that Gibbon and outfielder Joe Christopher, “who won several games for us with his legs,” were “the types of players it took to help win championships.”

Gibbon, a quiet, low-key individual (manager Murtaugh gave him the ironic nickname Gabby), and a team player, just wanted to get the opposing hitter out. Gibbon told the author that Murtaugh did not adhere to a strict curfew in 1960, when the Pirates won it the pennant and the World Series on Bill Mazeroski’s seventh-game home run, but that this changed when the Pirates started losing more often, between 1961 and 1964.

Gibbon pitched in two games in the 1960 World Series. In Game Two, a 16-3 blowout loss to the Yankees, he gave up three runs in two relief innings, the three runs coming on a home run by Mickey Mantle. Gibbons had given up back-to-back singles to Tony Kubek and Joe DeMaestri and struck out Roger Maris before giving up the home run to Mantle, which may have been the longest home run ever hit in a World Series game at Forbes Field.6 Gibbon pitched again in Game Three, another blowout, a 10-0 complete-game shutout by Whitey Ford. Gibbon pitched one scoreless inning, the eighth, walking Elston Howard, before retiring Bobby Richardson on a pop fly to Bill Mazeroski to end the inning.

Virgil Trucks, at 43, pitched batting practice for the Pirates in the Series. He was on the staff as a special “batting practice pitcher, coach/scout,” and recalled of Gibbon: “He had good coordination and poise; and control, for a lefty. … I gave him ‘ideas’ on how to pitch in certain situations.” Trucks, who had been with the Yankees in the 1958 World Series, passed on information to Murtaugh on “how to pitch to certain Yankee hitters.”

Gibbon’s World Series pay check was $8,400 – more than his $7,500 salary that season. After the Series the Pirates sent him to Ponce, Puerto Rico, along with Tom Cheney, Al McBean, Bob Veale, and Donn Clendenon, to get more seasoning under Cal Ermer in the Puerto Rico Winter League. Gibbon left Ponce with a 2-0 record and a minuscule 0.56 ERA.7

Gibbon had his best big-league season in 1961, starting in 29 games and going 13-10, with three shutouts and a 3.32 ERA. He might have won a few more if reliever Roy Face’s forkball was as effective in 1961 as in 1959 and 1960. Gibbon experienced some arm problems in 1962, and was briefly sent down to Kinston in the Class B Carolina League. For the Pirates he was 3-4 in 19 games. On September 28, just as the season was winding up, he married the former Donna Jean Price, of Parkersburg, West Virginia—a marriage that produced five children. Gibbon was only 5-12 in 1963, rebounded to a 10-7 record in 1964, but 4-9 in 1965. Harry Walker replaced Danny Murtaugh as the Pittsburgh skipper in 1965. Walker was the opposite of the low-key Murtaugh; he was, Gibbon said, “the best baseball man I ever played for; the kind of guy if you asked what time it was, would tell you how the watch was made.”

On December 1, 1965, the Pirates traded Gibbon and infielder Ozzie Virgil to the San Francisco Giants for outfielder Matty Alou. Joe was mainly used in relief by manager Herman Franks from 1966 through 1968. He and Donna adjusted to life in a new city, and their third child was born in California. Gibbon maintained that Willie Mays was the “real manager” of those San Francisco teams—and that Mays, not Herman Franks, called the shots. During spring training with Giants, Joe got to meet actor John Wayne in Casa Grande, Arizona.

On June 10, 1969, Gibbon was traded back to Pittsburgh, for pitcher Ron Kline. There he was reunited with Larry Shepard, his first skipper in pro ball, now managing the Pirates. He finished 5-1 with a 1.93 ERA plus nine saves for the Pirates, after his 1-3, 3.60 ERA and two saves with the Giants. Alex Grammas, the ex-baseball star at Mississippi State, replaced Shepard the last week of the season.

Danny Murtaugh was the manager in 1970, and led the Pirates to the National East title. Gibbon contributed five saves. Gibbon pitched twice against Cincinnati, winner of the West Division, as the Reds swept the Pirates in three games. In Game Three, Gibbon surrendered the hit by Bobby Tolan that drove in the game-winning run. Gibbon was released by Pittsburgh on October 26. The Reds signed him as a free agent on April 1, 1971. Joe enjoyed playing with Pete Rose (“one of the most dedicated players I’ve been around”); pitching to Johnny Bench (“a real good catcher; had more to him than anybody I ever pitched to”); having Hall of Famer Tony Perez as a teammate; pitching for Sparky Anderson, the future Hall of Fame manager, whom he had pitched against in the International League in 1958.

In that 1971 season, Gibbon was the losing pitcher in the only major-league game documented to have ended on catcher’s interference. Manny Mota tried to steal home with two outs in the 11th inning, the bases loaded, and the score tied, 4-4. Johnny Bench came in front of home plate, to wait for a throw and tag Mota. Umpire Harry Wendelstedt called catcher’s interference on Bench and a balk on Gibbon, citing Rule 7.07: “If with a runner on third base and trying to score by means of a squeeze play or a steal, the catcher or any other fielder steps on, or in front of home base without possession of the ball, or touches the batter or his bat, the pitcher shall be charged with a balk, the batter shall be awarded first base on the interference and the ball is dead.”

The next season, 1972, was Gibbon’s last. He began the season with the Reds but was released on May 11. On the 25th he signed with the Houston Astros, managed by Harry Walker8, but was released on June 21. He was 37 years old. He had pitched a total of 7 2/3 innings for the two teams. Joe, Donna, and their children moved back to East Central Mississippi. He coached the Clarke College baseball team in Newton, Mississippi, for eight seasons, and afterward continued coaching Babe Ruth and other youth baseball teams. He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1979, and the Ole Miss Athletic Hall of Fame in 1988. On February 21, 2009, he was honored as a member of the Ole Miss Men’s All-Century Basketball Team.

Gibbon participated in fantasy baseball camps along with ex-teammate Steve Blass and others. In October 2010 he, Bill Virdon, Joe Christopher, and Bob Oldis took part in ceremonies in Pittsburgh marking the 50th anniversary of the 1960 World Series.

In retirement Joe, a widower, lived on his Jasper County farm, just south of Hickory. His five children—Joseph C. Jr., David Opie, Jennifer Diane, Luke Andrew, and Robert Daniel, and three grandchildren are spread among Mississippi, Minnesota, Texas, and Utah. Joe summarized his Ole Miss athletic career and his pro baseball career as “very special, (especially) playing in a Golden Era of National League baseball between 1960 and 1972.”

Joe Gibbon passed away February 20, 2019, at 83, from natural causes, in his Newton, Mississippi home.

This biography is included in the book “Sweet ’60: The 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates” (SABR, 2013), edited by Clifton Blue Parker and Bill Nowlin. For more information or to purchase the book in e-book or paperback form, click here.

Sources

Phone conversations with Joe Gibbon between June and October 2010.

Personal interview with Gibbon in Newton, Mississippi, September 25, 2010.

Phone conversations with three of Gibbon’s 1960 Pirates teammates: Bob Oldis (September 27, 2010); Joe Christopher (September 28, 2010); Bill Virdon (September 28, 2010). Oldis also furnished written responses.

Phone conversations with 1960 Yankees Jim Coates and Ralph Terry (May 3, 2010); and Bobby Richardson (May 4, 2010)

Phone conversations with Tony Bartirome; Forrest “Spook” Jacobs; Virgil Trucks (October 25, 2010); Cal Ermer (early 1990s); Langston Rogers, Ole Miss senior associate athletic director emeritus; Bailey Howell, ex-Mississippi State and pro hoop star (October 11, 2010).

Mail correspondence with Robert “Cob” Jarvis, an Ole Miss basketball and baseball teammate of Joe Gibbon.

Interviews with three Ole Miss baseball teammates of Gibbon, Cecil W. Burford, Jr. (September 27, 2010); and Pepper Thomas and Archie White (September 28, 2010).

Pat Kelly, Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Cooperstown, New York, furnished a Joe Gibbon photo.

Mark Brown, a native of Somerset County, Pennsylvania, furnished insights on Western Pennsylvania. Bill Webb, a native of Newton, Mississippi, shared insights on Game Two of the 1960 World Series.

Baseball-Reference.com.

Big League Stew Sports Blog by Duk. Bing Crosby’s wine cellar produces vintage 1960 World Series film, September 24, 2010. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/blog/big_league_stew/post/Bing-Crosby-s-wine-cellar-produc…

www.Hickory.Mississippi.com.

www.olemisssports.com.

Chris Blake. Bill Mazeroski homers to win World Series. Inside Pitch, October 13, 2010.

Bobo Champion. Letter outlining Joe Gibbon’s sports accomplishments, March 3, 1978.

Jim Coates with Douglas Williams. Always a Yankee. Infinity Publishing.com, December 2009.

Rafael Costas. Enciclopedia Beisbol Ponce Leones, 1938-1987. Editora Corripio, 1989.

Robert W. Creamer. Stengel: His Life and Times. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1984)

Billy Gates. Ole Miss Athletic Department Press Releases on Joe Gibbon, 1955-1957.

Gary Gillette and Pete Palmer, eds. The ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. (New York: Sterling Publishing Co., 2008)

John B. Holway. Josh and Satch. (Westport, Connecticut: Meckler Publishing, 1991)

Lloyd Johnson and Miles Wolff, eds. Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, Third Edition. (Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 2007)

Ed Lucas and Paul Post. “Former Yankee Ralph Terry: Right-Hander Revives World Series Memories From 1960 Loss Against the Pirates and 1962 Victory Over the Giants.” Baseball Digest, October 2005.

David M. Maraniss. Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006)

Ole Miss Announces Men’s Basketball All-Century Team. Ole Miss Athletics Media Relations, February 12, 2009.

Ole Miss Baseball Media Guide 2009, Athletics Media Relations Office.

Ole Miss Rebel Basketball Media Guide 2009-2010, Athletics Media Relations Office.

Richard Peterson, ed. The Pirates Reader. (Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press, 2003)

Bobby Richardson. The Bobby Richardson Story. (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1965)

Tom Swayze. Letter to Dick Smith, sports editor, Meridian Star, March 1957.

“Dodgers Arrange Pact with Venezuelan Club,” The Sporting News, March 7, 1951.

Bob Timmerman. The World of Catcher’s Interference. Baseball Analysts, August 21, 2008.

Notes