Celebrate '68: Gibson and Seaver Duel At Busch

On May 6, 1968, a duel to remember took place in St. Louis as Bob Gibson and Tom Seaver went head-to-head in front of 12,741 fans. Gibson would get the best of “Tom Terrific” on that day in early May, winning 2-1 in 11 innings. Tom was terrific nonetheless. As was Gibson.

            The Cardinals took an early 1-0 lead in the second after Tim McCarver singled, reached second on an error by first baseman Ed Kranepool, then came around to score on a single by Julian Javier. From there, Seaver was lights out. In fact, he no-hit the Cardinals until the tenth when he surrendered a single to Mike Shannon in.

            After McCarver scored in the second, The Mets came back with a run in the fourth to tie it up, by picking up three singles in a row by Bud Harrelson, Ken Boswell, and Art Shamsky who earned the RBI. The single by Shamsky was followed by a flyball to center, that looked like it was going to bring in the rookie Boswell to score on the sac fly. However, Boswell slid wide and missed the dish. McCarver did not realize he missed the plate, but Orlando Cepeda shouted at him to tag the runner. In a haste, McCarver applied the tag to keep the game knotted at one.

            Those three hits that the Mets bunched together to start off the fourth would be the only hits that Gibson gave up that day. He struck out 11 through 11, then was rewarded for his efforts in the bottom of that inning when Lou Brock tripled off Seaver to begin the inning. The Mets’ skipper Gil Hodges then chose to intentionally walk Curt Flood and Roger Maris to load the bases for Orlando Cepeda. Hodges had to be hoping for a force at the plate, however, Cepeda made him pay by singling to right for the game winning RBI. Two hours and ten minutes after the game begun the Cardinals were victorious. It was a game for the ages indeed.

Check out the box score here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196805060.shtml

Some side notes: Gibson threw 109 pitches, while his counterpart Tom Seaver threw 120. The two pitchers would combine for 562 wins in their careers. It had to be something special to see those two go at it. Just think, so far, we have looked at a game where Gibson faced Fergie Jenkins, and now we have looked at one that had him going against Tom Seaver. The matchups were fierce. The competition was great. What a year it was. #Celebrate68.