Bob Gibson's pitch variety

[okcardfan]

How many pitches did Gibson typically use and rely on? I seem to recall two, fastball and slider. Is that right?

[Hazelwood72]

How many pitches did Gibson typically use and rely on? I seem to recall two, fastball and slider. Is that right?

Those two were his money pitches. His slider was hard and broke late — and with a lot of lateral movement. Almost as much as many pitchers curve balls, but sharper.

In addition to the fastball and slider, Gibby occasionally threw a straight change-up, but not very often that I can recall.

[ramfandan]

Gibson's most intimidating pitch wasn't mentioned .. the 'brushback ' If somehow you managed to get a bloop Texas leaguer popup hit , you better be ready the next at bat to get a high fastball under the chin area and bail out quick. In those days, there were no warnings about pitches like that .
Thus players facing Gibby never got too dug in with their feet in the batters box. You had to be ready for anything. He was one of most menacing pitchers of his era.
I was 20 years old when Gibby had that all-time record 1.12 ERA for the 1968 season . Never has been broken to this day and it's bee 57 years now.
It was truly mind blowing plus remember that he wasn't pitching for 6 or 7 innings or even 8 like guys today He had that 1.12 going thru the lineup 3 times in games and doing that in hot St. Louis summer weather too. He had 28 complete games in 34 starts that year.
You will never see that again . People ooh and ahhh today when a couple complete games get pitched in the majors in an entire season. Gibson did it 28 times in one season !

[1983cougar]

Gibson's most intimidating pitch wasn't mentioned .. the 'brushback ' If somehow you managed to get a bloop Texas leaguer popup hit , you better be ready the next at bat to get a high fastball under the chin area and bail out quick. In those days, there were no warnings about pitches like that .
Thus players facing Gibby never got too dug in with their feet in the batters box. You had to be ready for anything. He was one of most menacing pitchers of his era.
I was 20 years old when Gibby had that all-time record 1.12 ERA for the 1968 season . Never has been broken to this day and it's bee 57 years now.
It was truly mind blowing plus remember that he wasn't pitching for 6 or 7 innings or even 8 like guys today He had that 1.12 going thru the lineup 3 times in games and doing that in hot St. Louis summer weather too. He had 28 complete games in 34 starts that year.
You will never see that again . People ooh and ahhh today when a couple complete games get pitched in the majors in an entire season. Gibson did it 28 times in one season !

I was a 10 year old little league pitcher and I remember this season very well. To this day I am still amazed that he somehow lost 9 games!

[ScotchMIrish]

Looking at the internet fastball, slider curve. Not sure if the fastball was 4 seam or 2 seam.

[OldRed]

How many pitches did Gibson typically use and rely on? I seem to recall two, fastball and slider. Is that right?

He also worked at a very quick paise between pitches. He used both sides of the plate and was not afraid (lol) to work inside once in a while. He was the boss when he was at his best.

[walkingeagle]

Gibson's most intimidating pitch wasn't mentioned .. the 'brushback ' If somehow you managed to get a bloop Texas leaguer popup hit , you better be ready the next at bat to get a high fastball under the chin area and bail out quick. In those days, there were no warnings about pitches like that .
Thus players facing Gibby never got too dug in with their feet in the batters box. You had to be ready for anything. He was one of most menacing pitchers of his era.
I was 20 years old when Gibby had that all-time record 1.12 ERA for the 1968 season . Never has been broken to this day and it's bee 57 years now.
It was truly mind blowing plus remember that he wasn't pitching for 6 or 7 innings or even 8 like guys today He had that 1.12 going thru the lineup 3 times in games and doing that in hot St. Louis summer weather too. He had 28 complete games in 34 starts that year.
You will never see that again . People ooh and ahhh today when a couple complete games get pitched in the majors in an entire season. Gibson did it 28 times in one season !

And he had 13 shut outs that year.

[sikeston bulldog2]

If I’m not mistaken he pitched more complete games than wins. In 68, he had nine losses, five by the score of 1-0; in fact, in 68, in games the cardinals scored two runs or less, he was 9-8.

His WS history is 9 games, 81 innings. 7-2. Against Yankees Redsox and Tigers.

[11WSChamps]

Don't recall him ever throwing a change up.

[ScotchMIrish]

If I’m not mistaken he pitched more complete games than wins. In 68, he had nine losses, five by the score of 1-0; in fact, in 68, in games the cardinals scored two runs or less, he was 9-8.

His WS history is 9 games, 81 innings. 7-2. Against Yankees Redsox and Tigers.

We can only dream of what might have been if Gussie hadn't traded away 500 wins named Carlton and Reuss.

[sikeston bulldog2]

If I’m not mistaken he pitched more complete games than wins. In 68, he had nine losses, five by the score of 1-0; in fact, in 68, in games the cardinals scored two runs or less, he was 9-8.

His WS history is 9 games, 81 innings. 7-2. Against Yankees Redsox and Tigers.

We can only dream of what might have been if Gussie hadn't traded away 500 wins named Carlton and Reuss.

70’s would have had a different look.

[swatski]

If I’m not mistaken he pitched more complete games than wins. In 68, he had nine losses, five by the score of 1-0; in fact, in 68, in games the cardinals scored two runs or less, he was 9-8.

His WS history is 9 games, 81 innings. 7-2. Against Yankees Redsox and Tigers.

We can only dream of what might have been if Gussie hadn't traded away 500 wins named Carlton and Reuss.

70’s would have had a different look.

And Mike Torrez

[MrPostman01]

If I’m not mistaken he pitched more complete games than wins. In 68, he had nine losses, five by the score of 1-0; in fact, in 68, in games the cardinals scored two runs or less, he was 9-8.

His WS history is 9 games, 81 innings. 7-2. Against Yankees Redsox and Tigers.

We can only dream of what might have been if Gussie hadn't traded away 500 wins named Carlton and Reuss.

70’s would have had a different look.

And Mike Torrez

AND Miguel Cuellar!

[ScotchMIrish]

If I’m not mistaken he pitched more complete games than wins. In 68, he had nine losses, five by the score of 1-0; in fact, in 68, in games the cardinals scored two runs or less, he was 9-8.

His WS history is 9 games, 81 innings. 7-2. Against Yankees Redsox and Tigers.

We can only dream of what might have been if Gussie hadn't traded away 500 wins named Carlton and Reuss.

70’s would have had a different look.

Absolutely. Whitey rescued Gussie.

[OldRed]

If I’m not mistaken he pitched more complete games than wins. In 68, he had nine losses, five by the score of 1-0; in fact, in 68, in games the cardinals scored two runs or less, he was 9-8.

His WS history is 9 games, 81 innings. 7-2. Against Yankees Redsox and Tigers.

We can only dream of what might have been if Gussie hadn't traded away 500 wins named Carlton and Reuss.

70’s would have had a different look.

And Mike Torrez

AND Miguel Cuellar!

The guy that got away was Bob Uecker.

[Slip Kid]

Looking at the internet fastball, slider curve. Not sure if the fastball was 4 seam or 2 seam.

I remember reading somewhere that Gibson used both a 2 seamer and a 4 seamer.