Celebrate '68: Gibson Shuts'em Down In Pittsburgh

                On August 28, 1968, Bob Gibson went to Forbes Field in Pittsburgh and led the way to victory over the Pirates who had just beaten him four days earlier. The victory was a blowout for the Cardinals, as they took down the Pirates 8-0 in front of 11,000 plus. The win was Gibson’s 11^th shutout of the season, surpassing a franchise record of 10 shutouts, set by Mort Cooper in 1942. It was also Gibson's 19th win of the campaign, Gibson had lowered his ERA to 1.03 while striking out 14 men.

                Gibson had taken to the mound one day early because his book, Ghetto To Glory, was set to be released in New York City the following day. The short rest had no effect on Gibby. He went straight to work. Bob Veale got the start for the Bucs that day and was able to work through the first three innings unscathed. He was not so lucky in the fourth.

                Julian Javier and Curt Flood opened that inning with back-to-back singles. Moments later, Orlando Cepeda hit his 14^th home run of the season and the Birds were up 3-0. The inning was far from over. Veale retired one man before allowing a single to Tim McCarver, unleashing a wild pitch that moved McCarver over, then walked Dal Maxvill. Bob Gibson stepped to the plate and helped his own cause by knocking a single into left that brought both McCarver and Maxvill around to score. Veale found himself in a 5-0 hole before striking out Lou Brock and retiring Javier on a ground out. The Cardinals had batted around.

                Cepeda walked in the fifth, moved to third on a single by Mike Shannon, then scored when McCarver hit into a fielder’s choice. That ended Veale’s day, and with the 5-0 cushion, one would imagine Gibson was feeling pretty damn good. Cepeda added to his RBI totals with a single that plated Javier in the fifth. Later, Javier added to his RBI totals with a home run in the eighth. It was 8-zip. The offense had come alive, and Bob Gibson did what Bob Gibson did; He shut his opponent down.

                Not one Pirates player reached second base that day. They could hardly get a ball in play. Gibson allowed just four hits, and half of those four were credited to Manny Mota. Matty Alou and Gary Kolb were lucky enough to scratch hits off of the nearly untouchable Bob Gibson. As mentioned before, he had struck out 14, future hall-of-famer Willie Stargell falling victim to Gibby twice.  Two hours and twenty minutes after the first pitch was thrown, Gibson was right where he belonged… back in the win column.

Check out the box score here: https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PIT/PIT196808280.shtml

Sources included: Baseballreference.com, The Pittsburgh Press, The Southeast Missourian, The St. Joseph Gazette, and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette