August 28, 1968: Bob Gibson fans 14 in shutout vs. Pirates for 19th win of season

It was an explosive night in Pittsburgh: St. Louis Cardinals hitters finally broke out of a grueling slump and Bob Gibson avenged a loss in one of his most commanding performances in a dominant season. Pirates rookie Freddie Patek called Gibson “the hardest throwing pitcher I’ve seen,” while All-Star Gene Alley could only shake his head in disbelief and uttered “[Gibson] can pump the ball.”1

Skipper Red Schoendienst’s reigning World Series champion Redbirds were cruising toward another pennant with the best record in the majors (83-50) and a seemingly insurmountable 11-game lead over the second-place San Francisco Giants. Nonetheless, they were scuffling, having lost 10 of their last 17 games as they arrived in Pittsburgh to kick off a two-game set on the front end of an eight-game road swing.

The Pirates (64-68), mired in mediocrity for the second straight season, were tied with the Atlanta Braves for fourth place as they began a 13-game homestand, their longest of the season. Injuries were partly to blame for the Pirates’ woes. Roberto Clemente, who had captured his fourth batting title in seven years in 1967, had battled shoulder problems all season, and had recently received a cortisone injection to relieve the pain.2 He missed the entire series with the Cardinals.

Slugger Willie Stargell had violently run into the outfield wall at Forbes Field on June 23. He was also recently diagnosed with astigmatism in both eyes and began to wear glasses for day and night games.3 Given these challenges, Bucs GM Joe L. Brown announced that first-year manager Larry Shepard would return as Pirates skipper in 1969, quelling rumors that Danny Murtaugh would take their reins for the third time.4

Toeing the rubber for the Pirates was 32-year-old bespectacled southpaw Bob Veale, one of the hardest throwers in baseball. The staff ace since he emerged in 1964 to lead the NL with 250 strikeouts, Veale was a tough-luck loser in 1968. He was only 10-12 record but had a 2.01 ERA and had been shut out seven times.

Gibson, starting on three days’ rest instead of four, switched starts with Ray Washburn because he needed to be at a press conference in New York to promote his autobiography, From Ghetto to Glory.5 He was looking to take revenge against the Pirates, who had defeated him in his previous start, 6-4, on August 24 in St. Louis, snapping a 15-game winning streak, during which he spun 10 shutouts and fashioned a scoreless streak of 48⅔ innings.

In the loss to the Pirates, Gibson fanned what turned out to be a season-best 15, but the normally secure Cardinals infield committed two costly errors leading to three earned runs. Gibson’s 1.07 ERA easily led the majors, while he ranked second in wins (18), strikeouts (201), innings pitched (243⅓), and complete games (22) in what would forever be known as the “Year of the Pitcher.”

On an unseasonably cool Wednesday evening with temperatures in the 60s and dropping, a modest crowd of 11,197 spectators was on hand at Forbes Field, the Pirates’ aging ballpark, built in 1909 in the Oakland neighborhood of the city, adjacent to the campus of the University of Pittsburgh.6 Some fans might have wanted to get their minds off national politics, a tense presidential election cycle, and the Democratic National Convention taking place in Chicago. While the teams were playing, police and National Guardsmen violently attacked a throng of 15,000 protesters in the Windy City.7

The Cardinals were in a collective batting funk and had not scored in their previous 20⅔ innings. They had been blanked by Jim McAndrew and Dick Selma of the Mets in their previous two games and had only 14 hits in their last three games.

Their scoreless streak ended after 23⅔ innings in the fourth. Veale had limited St. Louis to just Dal Maxvill’s single in the first three innings, but Julián Javier and Curt Flood began the fourth with consecutive singles. Reigning NL MVP Orlando Cepeda, suffering from a cold and laryngitis, blasted a home run, his 14th, to deep left field for the first runs of the game.

Two batters later, Tim McCarver singled, moved to second on a wild pitch, and reached third when first baseman Donn Clendenon muffed Patek’s throw from shortstop on a grounder by Ron Davis. According to Pirates beat reporter Les Biederman, Pirates fans let out a loud boo and rode Clendenon for the rest of the game.8

Veale, en route to leading the NL in free passes for the fourth time in five seasons, walked Maxvill to load the bases. Gibson lined a single to left, driving in McCarver and Davis for a 5-0 lead. “I’ve got a hot bat,” said Gibson tongue-in-cheek after the game. “I borrowed [it] from Mike Shannon.”9 He extended his hitting streak to a career-best six games.

The Cardinals cooked Veale in the fifth. Cepeda drew a one-out walk, moved to third on Shannon’s single, and came home on McCarver’s groundout. Al McBean relieved Veale and gave way to Luke Walker in the sixth. With Javier and Flood on via two-out walks, Cepeda followed with a single to increase the Cardinals’ lead to 7-0.

Roy Face, the Pirates 40-year-old forkballer, took over in the eighth. It was his 800th appearance for the Pirates, just three fewer than Walter Johnson’s record for most games pitched with one team. With two outs he tossed a high and tight one, making Javier “hit the dirt,” reported Neal Russo in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.10 Javier sent Face’s next pitch over the left-field wall for his second home run of the year and the Cardinals’ eighth run of the game. It was the first time since June 28 that the Cardinals had hit two or more home runs in a game.

Gibson completely overpowered the Pirates. There was only one remotely “difficult play,” opined Neal Russo, when Flood made a running catch in short center on Maury Wills’ liner.11  The infielders recorded only two assists, one each by second baseman Javier and shortstop Maxvill. “It’s like having a night off when Gibson is pitching,” quipped Maxvill.12 Remarkably, that duo had combined for only three assists in Gibson’s previous start.

Gibson allowed seven baserunners, though none moved past second base. In the second inning Manny Mota singled with two outs and Clendenon walked, but Chris Cannizzaro flied out. After working around a fourth-inning leadoff single by Matty Alou, who had entered the game second in the NL (.337) in batting average to Pete Rose, Gibson worked around consecutive leadoff walks to Alley and Cannizzaro in the fifth. He reared back and fanned pinch-hitter Manny Jiménez, Patek, and Wills in succession. “Gibson threw harder … than anyone I’ve ever seen,” gushed Pirates coach and former player Bill Virdon.13

The final two baserunners came in the seventh when Mota led off with a single. Three batters latter, McCarver misplayed what appeared to be a routine popup behind home plate by Gary Kolb, squandering out number three. Gibson must have been steaming when Kolb subsequently singled, but Patek grounded out weakly to short.

In retiring the last seven batters he faced, Gibby breezed through the ninth. He fanned Clendenon looking, induced Mota to fly out to center, and concluded the game in 2 hours and 20 minutes by striking out Alley swinging.

In a masterful performance in season full of them, Gibson improved his record to 19-6. He yielded four hits and walked three to record his 11th shutout of the season, breaking the Cardinals’ all-time record he had shared with Mort Cooper (1942), and lowering his ERA to 1.03. Gibby’s 14 punchouts, to go along with 15 and 11 in his previous two starts respectively, gave him 40 in three games, one off Sandy Koufax’s 1959 record of 41.14

Gibson was quick to dismiss praise from reporters. “I was pitching well but just didn’t feel as energetic as I usually do on four days’ rest,” he said.15 He fanned every position player except Cannizzaro, including Patek, Wills, Stargell, Clendenon, and Alley twice each.16

Acknowledgments

This article was fact-checked by Bruce Slutsky and copy-edited by Len Levin.

Sources

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author accessed Retrosheet.org, Baseball-Reference.com, SABR.org, and the following:

Broeg, Bob. “Matty Alou: The Talking Mouse Who Soared the Plate,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 29, 1969: 1C.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT196808280.shtml

https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1968/B08280PIT1968.htm

Photo credit: Bob Gibson, National Baseball Hall of Fame Library.

Notes

1 Les Biederman. “Shepard Rehired as Buc Manager,” Pittsburgh Press, August 29, 1968: 38.

2 Biederman.

3 Biederman.

4 Biederman.

5 Neal Russo, “Redbirds Get Well at Bat for Gibson,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 29, 1969: 1C.

6 “The Weather,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 29, 1968: 14.

7 Marquis W. Childs, “Humphrey Wins by 449-Vote Margin,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 29, 1969: 1A.

8 Charley Feeney, “Pirates Crumble Before Gibson & Co.,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, August 29, 1968: 34.

9 Russo, “Redbirds Get Well at Bat for Gibson.”

10 Neal Russo, “Virdon Got Gibson’s Smoke Signal,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 29, 1968: 1C.

11 Russo, “Virdon Got Gibson’s Smoke Signal.”

12 Russo, “Redbirds Get Well at Bat for Gibson.”

13 Russo, “Virdon Got Gibson’s Smoke Signal.”

14 Koufax set the record in games on August 24, August 31, and September 6, 1959.

15 Russo, “Redbirds Get Well at Bat for Gibson.”

16 Five days later, on September 2, Gibson threw 10 shutout innings in the Cardinals’ 1-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds, earning his 20th win and lowering his ERA to 0.99.