Coming off of a championship season in 1967 that saw him appear in only 24 games due to an injury, Gibson jumped right back into his 20-game winning form of 1965 & 1966, besting his career mark of 21 wins with 22, but it was the stinginess of his season that made him a legend.
All Gibson did was complete 28 of 34 starts for the Cardinals, while throwing THIRTEEN shutouts while leading the National League in earned run average with a little-league-like 1.12, as well as pacing the Senior Circuit with 268 strikeouts.
How on earth he LOST 9 games to finish at 22-9 is beyond me, and I’ve gone over the box scores. Just an amazing year!
Think about it, 13 of his 22 wins were shutouts! He attained the 1.12 E.R.A. while pitching 304.2 innings!
Needless to say, by the time Awards season came around he took home the league’s Cy Young, Most Valuable Player, Gold Glove and an All-Star nod.
He was all-WORLD that year!
He would also put together another two 20-win seasons after ‘68, on his way to 251 for his career while topping 3000-K’s, becoming only the second player to do so in Major League history at the time, joining the great Walter Johnson.
In 1981, to put the cherry on top of the cake, he was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame, closing the books on one of the great pitchers of his or any era.