You can make a case that this guy is the best right handed pitcher of all time without any trouble at all.

Mean, hard-throwing, competitive as hell. If I had to pick a guy to start one must win game, it would be Gibson.

I have an idle fantasy that in an alternate universe, Ty Cobb digs in at the plate facing Gibson with a full head of steam.

Cobb taunts Gibson with racial epithets, who responds with some 90 mph chin music. Cobb gets up, refuses to dust himself off, and hurls more abuse at the mound.

I don't know what comes next, but it isn't pretty.

Your right marpike, any player who is so good they need to change the rules is truly one of the baseball gods. True, during the time of his peak, pitching was dominating the game but he punctuated the need for the rule change. I never saw him play but I understand, like Ryan, he learned to harness his power and develop into a true pitcher, using guile as well as power to defeat batters. Also, my dad says he could field well and hit a ton, for anyone not just a pitcher, so good that he would have been amongst the best in the majors at any position.

Why do you think they lowered the pitchers mound?

Bob's 1.12 ERA in 1968 is third lowest of all time. He won MVP honors that season, and went on to strike out a record 35 batters in the World Series. In three Fall Classics, he posted a 7-2 record, 1.89 ERA and 92 strikeouts in 81 innings.

I'm not sure he was a whole lot better than Juan Marichal. Ok I guess he was.. revised my rating upwards..

Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals (1959 - 1975) was a five time 20-game winner. His 3,117 strikeouts made him only the 2nd pitcher to reach 3,000 strikeouts at the time. First to fan 200 or more in a season 9 times. Set N.L. mark with a 1.12 ERA in 1968, hurling 13 shutouts. Twice World Series MVP, setting records for consecutive victories (7), consecutive complete games (8), and strikeouts in a game (17) and a series (35). Voted N.L. MVP in 1968 and Cy Young Award winner in 1968 and 1970. Won nine Gold Glove Awards.

From Ghetto to Glory! (which is the title of his autobiography - was one of the first books I read as a kid, and documented the racism he had to overcome to get where he was - had a large impact on me)

if babe ruth crowded the plate, gibson would drill him.

Only pitcher to win 2 game 7's.

Awesome pitcher. Imposing on the mound. I wouldn't want to dig in the the batters box and have hin throw at me!

This guy was the best clutch playoff pitcher ever and one of baseball's best competitors ever. If I had to have one pitcher pitch one game for my life, he would be the one I would want on the mound. He holds the World Series strike out record (17 in one game) and has some insane World Series record (8-1 with eight or nine complete games I believe).

Bob Gibson had the best year (1968) that a pitcher has ever had in modern times. He went only 22-7, but he had an ERA of 1.12. Today, anything below 4 is considered worthy of millions. So, think about it. 1.12!! When he lost 2 straight games that season by scores of 1-0, one of them on an unearned run, he didn't complain. He just said "I blew it - I let the other team score first". And, he wasn't just great on the mound - he was an excellent hitter with home run power and one of the best fielding pitchers of his time. After facing him in the 1964 World Series, Mickey Mantle said that one of the scariest things in sports was watching a Bob Gibson fastball go right under your chin, knowing that the next pitch would be right on the outside corner.