Celebrate '68: Bill White Beats His Old Friend In Philly

                On May 17, 1968, Bob Gibson turned in a complete game, going nine and two-thirds, only to fall 1-0 to the Phillies in Philadelphia in the bottom of the tenth. Gibson’s former roommate and ex-Cardinal, Bill White, pushed in the winning run with a single in the tenth.

Gibson and the Redbirds faced Woodie Fryman that day in mid May, and the 28-year-old righty allowed just five hits in the contest. Mike Shannon picked up the first hit off Fryman with a double in the second. The only other man that could get to Fryman was Julian Javier who singled in four out of his five trips to the plate.

A duel until the end, both pitchers had only allowed five hits as the game went into the bottom of the tenth. Fryman was the first man up in that inning and singled to open the frame. He moved over to second on a sacrifice bunt, watched Cookie Rojas fly out, and then saw Gibson intentionally walk Johnny Callison to get to his old friend Bill White.

Gibby had walked Callison in the eighth with two outs to get to White and got him to pop out. In a story that was published in The Bakersfield Californian, White said, “It was embarrassing. It was like getting knocked down twice, and then you have to get up and keep on fighting.” When Gibson gave Callison the free pass to set the table for White in the tenth, he would forget being embarrassed in an instant as he singled in his pitcher, who was rewarded for his valiant effort against one of the best in the game: Bob Gibson.

Gibson’s ERA dropped from 1.43 to 1.36 after the outing in which he added five strikeouts to his resume. His counterpart, Woodie Fryman struck out nine in the contest, helping his team snap a four-game losing streak. During that 1968 season Gibson received very little run support. In a recent interview with Dan McLaughlin from Fox Sports Midwest, Gibson mentioned the frustration he felt when it came to the lack of run support he received during that ’68 season. It was a little more than three runs per game, and on many days, he was lucky to see three runs on the Cardinals side of the scoreboard. He had to pitch his ass off just to have a chance to win and that is what he did. Bob Gibson turned in stellar performance one after the other, as he mapped a road to a number that will not be forgotten… 1.12.

Check out the box score here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI196805170.shtml

Sources included: The Republican Courier, The Bakersfield Californian, The Daily Capital News, The Alton Evening Telegraph, Baseballreference.com, and Dan McLaughlin’s Game 3 Preview Against the Padres on May 12, 2018. You can listen to that here: https://soundcloud.com/dan-mclaughlin-428947011/cardinals-padres-game-3-preview-mixdown

Since I mentioned Danny Mac during this blog, I would like to take a moment to thank him for his ongoing support. I also sincerely appreciate his interactions with the fans, whether it be a lifelong fan here in St. Louis, or a young one in another city that he made sure got a baseball. I cannot overstate how much this fan of the game appreciates Dan McLaughlin. From what I understand, he will be starting full podcasts here soon, and I cannot wait to listen.