RetroSimba

(Updated Nov. 23, 2024)

Like the rest of the Cardinals’ rotation in May 1968, Bob Gibson nearly was untouchable. Unfortunately for Gibson and the Cardinals, he wasn’t unbeatable.

Led by Gibson, Cardinals starters had an ERA of 2.03 in May 1968.

In six starts, Gibson’s ERA in May 1968 was 1.27, but his record that month was 2-4. Both wins required him to pitch extra innings.

Gibson yielded only 10 runs (eight earned) in 56.2 innings in May 1968, but the Cardinals never scored more than three runs in any of his six starts that month. In Gibson’s four May losses, the Cardinals scored three runs total.

Asked about that lack of run support in a 2018 interview with Stan McNeal of Cardinals Yearbook, Gibson said, “I was frustrated. Whenever I pitched, I would be pissed off even before I started because I knew we weren’t going to score.”

May was the only month Gibson had a losing record in 1968. He was a combined 12-0 in June and July.

Gibson finished the 1968 regular season with a 22-9 record, 1.12 ERA, 268 strikeouts, 28 complete games and 13 shutouts. He earned both the National League Most Valuable Player Award and Cy Young Award.

With better run support, he could have been a 25-game winner that season.

Here’s a game-by-game look at Gibson’s six May starts in 1968:

_ Cardinals 3, Astros 1, 12 innings, at Houston, May 1, 1968: Gibson limited the Astros to an unearned run in 12 innings. After the Cardinals scored twice in the 12th, Julio Gotay, a former Cardinal, led off the Astros’ half of the inning with a double. Gibson retired the next three batters on a pair of infield pop-ups and a fly out. Boxscore

_ Cardinals 2, Mets 1, 11 innings, at St. Louis, May 6, 1968: Gibson improved his career record against the Mets to 18-3 in winning a duel with Tom Seaver. Both aces went the distance. They worked so efficiently that the 11-inning game was completed in 2 hours, 10 minutes. In the 11th, Lou Brock tripled and scored on Orlando Cepeda’s single. Boxscore

_ Astros 3, Cardinals 2, at St. Louis, May 12, 1968: Gibson struck out 10 in eight innings, but Denis Menke lifted the Astros with a two-run single in the seventh. Boxscore

_ Phillies 1, Cardinals 0, 10 innings, at Philadelphia, May 17, 1968: In the 10th, Phillies pitcher Woodie Fryman singled. Two outs later, he scored on a single by Bill White, the former Cardinal and Gibson’s friend. Boxscore

_ Dodgers 2, Cardinals 0, at St. Louis, May 22, 1968: Gibson yielded one hit in eight innings. It was a RBI-double by Wes Parker in the third. The Dodgers added a run off reliever Joe Hoerner in the ninth. Boxscore

Frustrated that the Cardinals had failed to score in his last two starts, Gibson was in a foul mood when approached by his catcher after the loss to the Dodgers. In his book “Stranger to the Game,” Gibson said, “(Tim) McCarver followed me into the trainer’s room and said, ‘Hoot, I’m really sorry. I know our crappy hitting has gone on for too long.’ I stopped him in the middle of the apology and snapped, ‘I’m tired of listening to these … excuses.’ Then I turned and disappeared into the shower. I don’t why I took out my frustrations on McCarver _ I guess he was good for that _ but I wouldn’t talk to him for hours afterwards.”

_ Giants 3, Cardinals 1, at St. Louis, May 28, 1968: Gibson yielded a solo home run to Dick Dietz in the sixth and a two-run home run to Willie Mays in the seventh. The homer by Mays, 37, was the last of three in his career against Gibson. Boxscore