RetroSimba

(Updated July 13, 2020)

In a display of strength and versatility, Bob Gibson in 1965 pitched 13 innings in a start vs. the Giants on July 7, pitched four innings of relief against the Cubs on July 11 and earned a save with two innings of relief in the July 13 All-Star Game.

Well aware of Gibson’s workload, the Phillies’ Gene Mauch, National League manager, left it up to the Cardinals’ ace to choose whether to pitch in the All-Star Game at Minnesota.

“He told me before the game that his arm didn’t feel good,” Mauch told the Minneapolis Star-Tribune. “I made it clear that it was his decision whether to pitch or not. During the game, Gibson sent word that he was OK.”

Mauch called on Gibson to protect a 6-5 lead over the final two innings.

“Gibson thinks he can get anybody in the world _ and I do, too,” Mauch told the Associated Press.

Grateful for Gibson’s save, the Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, who got the All-Star Game win, good-naturedly said to Gibson, “Why don’t you quit starting? There’s a heck of a future in relieving for you.”

NL fireballers

The National League unleashed an array of hard throwers on the American League. Juan Marichal of the Giants started and was followed by the Reds’ Jim Maloney, Dodgers teammates Don Drysdale and Koufax and the Astros’ Turk Farrell before Gibson entered in the eighth. The American League scored all of its runs off Maloney.

Gibson, the Cardinals’ lone all-star representative, retired the first two batters he faced, striking out the Tigers’ Willie Horton and getting the Yankees’ Bobby Richardson on a groundout. After he walked the Twins’ Zoilo Versalles, Bill Freehan of the Tigers followed with a single to center. When the throw from Willie Mays went to third, Freehan took second, putting two runners in scoring position for the next batter, the Twins’ Jimmie Hall.

A left-handed batter, Hall hit a shot to center. Mays started for the ball, slipped and barely recovered in time to make a leaping, backhanded catch, ending the inning.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Twins’ Tony Oliva led off with a double. Attempting a bunt, the Indians’ Max Alvis offered at Gibson’s first pitch and popped out for the first out.

Gibby vs. Killer

Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew was up next. The crowd at Metropolitan Stadium was abuzz at the prospect of their prodigious home run hitter driving in his Twins teammate Oliva from second with the tying run.

Instead, Killebrew struck out.

“He threw me sliders until the last pitch,” Killebrew told the Star-Tribune. “That was a good, hard fastball.”

To the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Killebrew said, “For a guy who was supposed to be tired, Gibson threw pretty darn good. The ball just seemed to drop under my bat.”

American League manager Al Lopez sent a left-handed pinch-hitter, the Yankees’ Joe Pepitone, to bat next.

Gibson struck him out, sealing the win. Boxscore and video of Gibson at 13:40 mark

Throwing heat

In describing how he pitched Pepitone, Gibson said, “The first two sliders were up and in. They aren’t going to do a darn thing with it if it goes in there. If it doesn’t get in there, that’s a different story. The last pitch was a fastball. That was in there.”

Asked to describe the strikeout pitch, Pepitone said, “Whoosh. I saw it good, too. He was just a little too quick.”

Nine months earlier, Pepitone went 0-for-4 versus Gibson in Game 7 of the 1964 World Series. After fanning Pepitone in the All-Star Game, Gibson said to the Star-Tribune, “The World Series is a lot more thrilling to pitch in than the All-Star Game because there’s money involved.”

In the clubhouse, National League catcher Joe Torre of the Braves soaked his left hand in warm water to ease the soreness from having so many fastballs slam into his mitt.

“I had some real hummers coming out of the bullpen,” Torre told The Sporting News. “The hand really hurts.”

Said Gibson: “I got to admit he was catching some sizzlers.”

Previously: As all-stars, only two hit Bob Gibson more than once