(Updated Sept. 12, 2021)
Bob Gibson of the Cardinals and Tom Seaver of the Mets opposed one another 11 times in regular-season games and the results paralleled the paths of their careers.
Seaver was the winning pitcher in six of the matchups, Gibson was the winning pitcher three times, and twice their duels ended in no decisions.
The first win for Seaver vs. Gibson came in 1969, a year when he paced the Mets to an improbable World Series title, and the other five occurred in the 1970s, when Seaver was in his prime.
Gibson’s wins versus Seaver came in a three-year stretch, 1968-70, when he twice won the National League Cy Young Award.
From 1971, the year Gibson turned 36, to 1975, Seaver won five consecutive decisions against Gibson.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Seaver is the only pitcher to beat Gibson three times in one season. Seaver did it in 1971.
In Gibson’s three wins versus Seaver, the Mets scored a total of four runs.
In Seaver’s six wins versus Gibson, the Cardinals scored a total of seven runs.
Gibson told the Post-Dispatch in 1975, “I could beat him, but that was when I was giving up only one or two runs a game. Later, when I started giving up more runs, he was a tough guy to beat because he wasn’t giving up that many.”
In 2021, catcher Ted Simmons said to the Baseball Hall of Fame yearbook, “Gibson was the best pitcher I ever caught. Seaver was the best pitcher I ever faced, and that’s because I never had to face Gibson.”
The first matchup of Gibson versus Seaver may have been the best.
Pair of aces
In 1967, Seaver’s rookie season, he faced the Cardinals once, a start versus Al Jackson.
Seaver’s second career start against the Cardinals came on May 6, 1968, a Monday night in St. Louis, versus Gibson.
Seaver, 23, was making his sixth start of the season and was 1-1 with a 1.71 ERA. He went eight innings in his previous start May 1, a no-decision versus the Phillies.
Gibson, 32, was making his sixth start of the season and was 2-1 with a 1.43 ERA. He went 12 innings in his previous start May 1, a win versus the Astros. “I made 179 pitches in that game, and after 179 pitches, your arm doesn’t feel too good for a while,” Gibson told the Post-Dispatch.
Before his start against Seaver and the Mets, Gibson said, “I had my arm under a heat lamp for 20 minutes, trying to get it loosened up.”
Costly mistake
The Cardinals went ahead, 1-0, with an unearned run against Seaver in the second inning. After Tim McCarver led off with a single, Mike Shannon grounded to first baseman Ed Kranepool, who fielded the ball and turned to throw to second base for what seemed like a certain forceout.
Kranepool cocked his arm but stopped, unsure whether shortstop Bud Harrelson would get to the bag in time to take the throw. When he finally made the throw, Kranepool was off balance. The ball skipped along the ground and bounced off Harrelson’s chest for an error. Julian Javier followed with a single to right, scoring McCarver from second.
The Mets got three hits in the game against Gibson and all came in the fourth inning.
Harrelson led off with a single and advanced to third on Ken Boswell’s single. Art Shamsky lined a hit to left, driving in Harrelson and tying the score at 1-1. With Ron Swoboda at the plate, an inside pitch got away from McCarver, the catcher, for a passed ball, allowing Boswell to move to third and Shamsky to second with none out.
Wrong route
Swoboda hit a fly ball to center. Curt Flood ran forward and made the catch, but as Boswell tagged at third, Flood hesitated before making a throw. “Boswell looked like a cinch to score,” the Post-Dispatch reported.
“I didn’t think we had a chance to get Boswell,” McCarver said.
Flood’s throw tailed toward the third-base line, and McCarver went up the line to retrieve the ball. Boswell beat the throw “by plenty,” the New York Daily News reported, but McCarver was “blocking the line without the ball.”
Instead of barreling into McCarver in a straight path to the plate, Boswell slid wide around the catcher and reached for the plate with his hand.
Boswell touched nothing but dirt. As the ball reached McCarver, he wheeled around and tagged out Boswell to complete a double play. Instead of a 2-1 lead for the Mets, the score remained tied.
Dick Young of the New York Daily News described Boswell’s play at the plate as a “chicken slide.”
“He should have scored easily with the lead run,” Young wrote. “He should have bowled over McCarver.”
Mets manager Gil Hodges told the Post-Dispatch, “In that situation, you can’t go around the catcher. You have to hit him.”
In control
From then on, Gibson and Seaver settled into a groove.
Gibson allowed one base runner after the fourth inning. After Swoboda walked with one out in the seventh, Gibson retired 14 batters in a row.
Seaver held the Cardinals hitless from the third through ninth innings. After Shannon walked in the fourth, Seaver retired 17 in a row until Shannon got an infield hit in the 10th.
As the game entered the 11th, Gibson and Seaver were approaching their limits.
Joe Hoerner was ready in the Cardinals’ bullpen and would have come into the game if it went to a 12th inning. “I can’t let (Gibson) throw his arm out,” manager Red Schoendienst said.
Seaver told the Post-Dispatch the 11th inning would have been his last, too.
Cream of the crop
It took a couple of future Hall of Famers, Lou Brock and Orlando Cepeda, to settle the duel between future Hall of Famers Gibson and Seaver.
Brock led off the bottom of the 11th with a drive to the wall in left-center for a triple. Seaver gave intentional walks to Flood and Roger Maris, loading the bases in hope of a forceout or double play.
Cepeda foiled the strategy, lining Seaver’s first pitch to right for a single to drive in Brock and give the Cardinals and Gibson a 2-1 victory. Boxscore
The win improved Gibson’s career mark against the Mets to 18-3.
“My arm doesn’t hurt half as much as it will tomorrow,” Gibson said, “but that’s the price you have to pay if you want to be a pitcher.”
The 11-inning game was played in a snappy 2:10.
“They don’t fritter around,” Dick Young wrote of Gibson and Seaver. “They get the ball and fire.”
Since the tragic departure of Tom Seaver I’ve been doing some reading. All I can say is that Mr. Tom Seaver fulfilled his life’s calling. He was born to be an MLB pitcher. Just by chance I came across an interview with Bob Gibson where he says that due to stress, anxiety and stomach ailments, it’s quite possible he suffered a heart attack during the 1968 season. That year the Cardinals had 62 games decided by one run. 23 games that went into extra innings and 16 games decided by a walk off run.
Thanks, Phillip. In 1968, Bob Gibson pitched 304.2 innings and Tom Seaver pitched 278 innings and neither was in the top 2 in the National League. Juan Marichal pitched 325.2 innings and Ferguson Jenkins pitched 308. The qualifications for what rates as an ace were quite high then compared with now.