July 30, 1959: Bob Gibson Makes His First Start

     On July 30, 1959, Bob Gibson made his ever first major league start at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. The 23-year-old beat the Reds 1-0 with an eight-hit complete game effort. Ken Boyer scored the lone run of the contest after picking up a double in the second inning, before being knocked in by Joe Cunningham. From there it was all Bob Gibson. The youngster was dominant, however, he did run into bases loaded jam in the ninth, after allowing a lead off single, then two consecutive two out walks, before he got Johnny Temple to fly out to Curt Flood in center. It was win number 1 of 251, and little did anybody know that it was just a glimpse of things to come for the hurler who was destined to be among the immortals in Cooperstown, New York. The kid was going to be a legend.

If you would like to read about Bob Gibson's life and Hall of Fame career you can check out his SABR bio here: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/34500d95

Check out the box score here: http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CIN/CIN195907300.shtml

On a side note: one of my favorite Gibby stats is he had 255 complete games. Four more complete games than he had wins. You had to pry the ball from his hands. When he took the mound the men in the pen knew they would be getting rest that day, and it was likely they would witness a gem.