On
June 6, 1968, despite not being scheduled to pitch, Bob Gibson volunteered his
services when Dick Hughes came up with a sore arm. The four days of rest did
not appear to bother Gibson, as he turned in a three-hit complete game
performance to help the Cardinals earn a 4-0 victory over the Astros in
Houston. It was the ninth victory in a row for the soaring Redbirds.
The first two Redbird runs came from RBIs by Lou Brock
and Orlando Cepeda in the third. Both ribbies were given up by Houston’s starter
Don Wilson, who surrendered back-to-back home runs to lead off the sixth
inning. The first was off the bat of Cepeda, followed by that of Tim McCarver. The
Houston starter settled down enough to get the next three outs in that sixth
inning, but his day would end shortly thereafter, when he was lifted for a
pinch hitter in the seventh.
Meanwhile, Bob
Gibson was locked in. Only one man had earned the privilege of rounding first
base, which came when Ron Davis doubled in the fourth. The fierce Cardinals
hurler would carry a two-hitter into the ninth before Rusty Staub singled with
two outs. Gibson capped things off by inducing Lee Thomas into a ground out.
The victory was Gibby's fifth of the campaign, advancing his record to 5-5. It
was his eighth complete game of the season and his first shutout.
The performance by Gibson featured just two walks along
with five strikeouts. His ERA dropped to 1.52 and would continue to fall in the
weeks to come. He was on his way to the history books, and together we will
remember how he got there as we continue to celebrate that glorious year: 1968.
Check out the box score: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/HOU/HOU196806060.shtml
Earlier that day, in the wee hours of the morning, our
nation lost a presidential hopeful and then-sitting state senator in the
political assassination of Robert F. Kennedy in Los Angeles, California. He had
been shot and fatally wounded just 26 short hours before his passing that
morning of June 6th. In the days to come several teams cancelled
games as the nation mourned. Mark Tomasik at Retrosimba wrote about how the Cardinals
reluctantly played on the day of the funeral, which was June 8th,
and what was declared a day of national mourning on June 9th. 1968 was a
glorious year in baseball. Off the
field, it’s hard to say. It makes me
realize how important sports can be to our national landscape: When the world
seems to be falling apart around us, we as fans can tune in for a few hours of
joy. The players also take to the field in an effort to bring us that
joy, despite any circumstances outside the stadium, troubling them just as much
as they trouble you and me. Somehow the show must go on.
I
dedicate this entry to the memory of Bobby Kennedy. He once said, “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever
achieve greatly.” Long before Bob Gibson was great, he paid his dues. He
faced failure. In fact, the first batter he ever faced in the major leagues hit
a home a run off of him, so I do believe those words that Mr. Kennedy spoke ring
true.
Sources included: The
St. Joseph Gazette, The Columbia Missourian, Arkansas City Traveler, The
Sikeston Daily Standard, The Kansas City Traveler, Retrosimba.com and
Baseballreference.com
Side note: I had no intention of adding any political
commentary to my blog about Cardinals history. However, when I pull up these
newspaper articles, I tend to look through the whole newspaper. I just could
not ignore such a tragic event. I do not care which side of the aisle you lean
toward, because I believe that at the end of the day, we are all Americans.
I
hope when looking back at such a tragic event in our history, that we can all
have compassion, and as we look toward our collective future, that we can all
dare greatly enough to achieve a greatness we can all be proud of. God Bless.
If you would like to read the piece Mark wrote you can do so here: https://retrosimba.com/2013/06/03/while-nation-mourned-rfk-cardinals-reluctantly-played/
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