On
April 20, 1968, Bob Gibson and Ferguson Jenkins went head-to-head in a
Cubs/Cards battle at Busch Stadium in St. Louis. Gibson stepped on the mound
that day in search of his first win of the campaign but walked away in defeat.
In the battle of future Hall of Famers, only one could prevail. On that day, it
would be Jenkins.
Despite that fact, Gibson went the distance in the
contest right alongside Jenkins. Gibby surrendered a two-run shot off the bat
of Billy Williams in the first and then saw two unearned runs cross the plate
in the fifth due to an error was committed by Julian Javier. The Cubs had a lead that grew to 5-0 in the
eighth after Ernie Banks picked up a two out single followed by a Lou Johnson
RBI double. The Cubs hurler was able to hold the Cardinals offense in check
throughout the contest and Jenkins rolled into the ninth having just allowed
two hits. He picked up two outs in the ninth before surrendering the third hit
that flew over the wall when Curt Flood got a hold of one. However, Jenkins set
down Bobby Tolan to end it and secure the 5-1 victory for the club that calls
Wrigley Field home.
The
final line for the two pitchers was as follows: Jenkins struck out seven,
allowed the lone Cardinals run, and allowed just three hits. Gibson struck out
eight, was charged with three earned runs, and was victimized with ten hits
against him. While the Redbirds did not walk away victorious, I would imagine
that seeing these two men on the mound would have been quite the sight.
In
1968, “the year of the pitcher” had a total of seven pitchers reach the 20 wins
or more. Ferguson won 20 for the Cubs while Gibson would finish with 22 wins
for the Cardinals. Only two men won more games than Gibson: Juan Marichal with
26 and Denny McLain who won 31 during the phenomenal year that would forever
change baseball.
The Cardinals went 9-9 against the Cubs that season.
The Baby Bears were a hardly a threat to the defending World Series champions.
Finishing with a 97-65 record, the Cardinals did not trail in the standing
after the last day of May. The Cubs, on the other hand, finished 84-78 and sat
at home while the Cardinals went on to represent the National League in The
Fall Classic.
Check out the box score here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN196804210.shtml
The "Gibson Says Good Legs Mean Complete Games" article was published the day after the game took place. I found it to be a great piece, as he talked about what he believed made him successful. His belief led to 13 complete game shutouts, so I would bet we can all agree that strong legs helped him out quite a bit
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