"CLASSIC BASEBALL" CUSTOM WTHBALLS SET: BOB GIBSON

Another week, another chance to add to my growing custom "Classic Baseball" set, this time adding "Hoot" Bob Gibson, perhaps the fiercest competitor the game has ever seen:

Bob Gibson has always been one of my favorite all-time players and competitors. Besides the obvious things to love about the guy as far as his stats go, it was the over-the-top drive and no-nonsense play that had me hooked.

The two-time Cy Young winner and 1968 MVP would top 250 wins with 251, finish with 3117 strikeouts along with a 2.91 earned run average and 56 shutouts over his 17-year career.
He’d also collect NINE Gold Gloves and be named to eight all-star teams, all while hurling for the Cardinals, leading them to two World Championships, 1964 and 1967.

Ever hear Tim McCarver tell the story of the first time he saw Gibson after Tim was traded to the Phillies in October of 1969? If not here goes:
Before a game between the Cardinals and the Phillies in 1970, both teams were on the field loosening up and getting ready. Tim, who was a teammate of Gibson for about ten years before being traded, figured he'd go say hello to him. Not only were they teammates for so long, but they came up in the Cardinals system together in the late-50's.
Well as Tim says it, he went up to Gibson near the batter's box, stuck out his hand and went to say "hi", and knew immediately he was done for. Gibson just stared him down and walked away.
First time McCarver was up at the plate, Gibson delivered his first pitch and brushed him back.
Message delivered: they weren't teammates anymore, and while ON the field, they were enemies.
How can you NOT love that!?
The man was a force on the mound, and of course his 1968 season is the stuff of legend. I STILL wonder how on earth he managed to have 9 losses with a season E.R.A. of 1.12!!! Just incredible.
Needless to say, the Hall of Fame was sure to call in 1981 and an obvious choice for induction was granted.

 

WTHBALLS "BASEBALL ICONS" SPECIAL SET: BOB GIBSON

Today's blog post is my Bob Gibson "Icons" card, part of what will be a fun unique custom set in special packaging later this year:

Just a project I set up for myself to get a little "artier", using home field backdrops with the p[layer prominently displayed in the foreground.

Bob Gibson has always been one of my favorite all-time players and competitors. Besides the obvious things to love about the guy as far as his stats go, it was the over-the-top drive and no-nonsense play that had me hooked.

The two-time Cy Young winner and 1968 MVP would top 250 wins with 251, finish with 3117 strikeouts along with a 2.91 earned run average and 56 shutouts over his 17-year career.
He’d also collect NINE Gold Gloves and be named to eight all-star teams, all while hurling for the Cardinals, leading them to two World Championships, 1964 and 1967.

Ever hear Tim McCarver tell the story of the first time he saw Gibson after Tim was traded to the Phillies in October of 1969? If not here goes:
Before a game between the Cardinals and the Phillies in 1970, both teams were on the field loosening up and getting ready. Tim, who was a teammate of Gibson for about ten years before being traded, figured he'd go say hello to him. Not only were they teammates for so long, but they came up in the Cardinals system together in the late-50's.
Well as Tim says it, he went up to Gibson near the batter's box, stuck out his hand and went to say "hi", and knew immediately he was done for. Gibson just stared him down and walked away.
First time McCarver was up at the plate, Gibson delivered his first pitch and brushed him back.
Message delivered: they weren't teammates anymore, and while ON the field, they were enemies.
How can you NOT love that!?
The man was a force on the mound, and of course his 1968 season is the stuff of legend. I STILL wonder how on earth he managed to have 9 losses with a season E.R.A. of 1.12!!! Just incredible.
Needless to say, the Hall of Fame was sure to call in 1981 and an obvious choice for induction was granted.

REVISIT: "HALL OF FAME LEADERS-1970 N.L. ERA" POST FROM 2013

Good day all.

Thought it'd be fun to revisit an old thread of mine here on the blog, "Hall of Fame League Leaders", spotlighting league leader cards from the 1970s that were entirely populated by future Hall of Famers, beginning with the 1970 National League E.R.A. card:

Now that is an elite threesome I'd build any team around!

Here's the write-up for that post as it was posted:

"I'm going to go ahead and start a new thread today called "Hall of Fame Leaders", which are league leader cards throughout the decade of the 1970's that featured ONLY Hall of Fame players.
When I got back into collecting vintage cards after a long absence in the mid-2000's, I really got into tracking down any of these cards for their "star power".
Luckily, the '70's were loaded with such cards.
Here we have Topps 1970 National league E.R.A. leader card (#67), which features no less that three top-notch Hall of Famers: Juan Marichal, Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton.
I like the fact that we have a sort of "passing the torch" with this card. Gibson and Marichal were at the latter half of their powerful careers, and Steve Carlton was just getting started.
We have two pitchers who dominated throughout the 1960's sandwiched around a guy who would star throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's.
Combined, we're looking at 823 wins and 9556 strikeouts in 57 years of Major League action.
Oddly enough, the three legends you see here each lead the N.L. in E.R.A. only once, and only a couple years apart: Gibson in his phenomenal 1968 season (how he lost nine games that year is STILL incredible!), Marichal in 1969, and Carlton in 1972.
Nevertheless, if there was ever a definition of "star power", this would be up there.
Bob Gibson would be the first to enter the Hall in 1981, with Marichal joining him just two years later in '83 and Carlton rounding out the party in 1994 after a 24 year career."

 

1960'S IN-ACTION SPECIAL: 1965 BOB GIBSON

Good day everyone!

Excited to introduce you all to a new thread, and new custom set today, that my "1960's In-Action" series, which will have special in-action cards throughout the Topps sets of the 1960's, imagining if Topps began using action shots before their 1971 set.

So today we will start it off with a 1965 In-Action card of the great Bob Gibson:

This will be a multi-release series of cards, with 10 cards per series (one for each year of the 1960's), along with a random "bonus" card of a non-Topps, or non-1960s card.

I have been wanting to do this for quite some time now, and finally had the chance to release the first series this month.

Today's card shows Gibson in classic form, coming off a wonderful 1964 season that saw him lead the St. Louis Cardinals to a championship, defeating the New York Yankees in the World Series, with "Gibby" going 2-1 in his three starts, with two complete games and 31 strikeouts over 27 innings.

Bob Gibson has always been one of my favorite all-time players and competitors. Besides the obvious things to love about the guy as far as his stats go, it was the over-the-top drive and no-nonsense play that had me hooked.
Ever hear Tim McCarver tell the story of the first time he saw Gibson after Tim was traded to the Phillies in October of 1969? If not here goes:
Before a game between the Cardinals and the Phillies in 1970, both teams were on the field loosening up and getting ready. Tim, who was a teammate of Gibson for about ten years before being traded, figured he'd go say hello to him. Not only were they teammates for so long, but they came up in the Cardinals system together in the late-50's.
Well as Tim says it, he went up to Gibson near the batter's box, stuck out his hand and went to say "hi", and knew immediately he was done for. Gibson just stared him down and walked away.
First time McCarver was up at the plate, Gibson delivered his first pitch and brushed him back.
Message delivered: they weren't teammates anymore, and while ON the field, they were enemies.
How can you NOT love that!?
The man was a force on the mound, and of course his 1968 season is the stuff of legend. I STILL wonder how on earth he managed to have 9 losses with a season E.R.A. of 1.12!!! Just incredible.

He'd play through the 1975 season, eventually settling for 251 wins as a Big League ace, along with 3117 strikeouts (only the second pitcher ever to reach that mark at the time), 56 shutouts and a brilliant 2.91 E.R.A. Needless to say, the Hall of Fame was sure to call in 1981 and an obvious choice for induction was granted.

1970 "20-WIN CIRCLE": BOB GIBSON

On the blog today, we go and add the great Bob Gibson to my fun new 1970 "20-Win Circle" sub-set, celebrating the 20-game winners of 1969:

Gibson had a "Gibsonesque" season in 1969, going 20-13 with a 2.18 ERA over 35 starts, completing an amazing 28 games while tossing four shutouts, striking out 269 batters.

"Gibby" was also on his way to his second Cy Young Award in 1970, finishing the season with a brilliant 23-7 record, along with a 3.12 ERA and a career-best 274 strikeouts over 34 starts and 294 innings.

He also brought home his sixth of what would end up being nine Gold Gloves, while making his seventh All-Star team.

The 23 wins in 1970 marked his fifth 20-win season in six years, eventually settling for 251 wins as a Big League ace, along with 3117 strikeouts (only the second pitcher ever to reach that mark at the time), 56 shutouts and a brilliant 2.91 E.R.A.

A legend of the game, he was a “gimmie” for the Hall of Fame once eligible in 1981, getting named on 337 of 401 ballots cast.
Stories of Gibson’s fierce competitive streak are legendary, and I love each and every one of them!

REVISITING A POST FROM 2013: 1976 CAREER-CAPPER: BOB GIBSON

Thought it'd be fun today to revisit the original "action" variation 1976 "Career-Capper" I created for Hall of Famer Bob Gibson here on the blog way back in July of 2013 before I re-created it with a close-up portrait image used for my custom set printed up some seven years later in Series 2:

I can't believe we are coming up on TEN YEARS with this blog in a few months!

I'll have to think up some special releases celebrating the milestone, and I think I already have a cool idea in mind!

Here's the original write-up I posted back then with this card:

"Bob Gibson has always been one of my favorite all-time players and competitors. Besides the obvious things to love about the guy as far as his stats go, it was the over-the-top drive and no-nonsense play that had me hooked.
Ever hear Tim McCarver tell the story of the first time he saw Gibson after Tim was traded to the Phillies in Octover of 1969? If not here goes:
Before a game between the Cardinals and the Phillies in 1970, both teams were on the field loosening up and getting ready. Tim, who was a teammate of Gibson for about ten years before being traded, figured he'd go say hello to him. Not only were they teammates for so long, but they came up in the Cardinals system together in the late-50's.
Well as Tim says it, he went up to Gibson near the batter's box, stuck out his hand and went to say "hi", and knew immediately he was done for. Gibson just stared him down and walked away.
First time McCarver was up at the plate, Gibson delivered his first pitch and brushed him back.
Message delivered: they weren't teammates anymore, and while ON the field, they were enemies.
How can you NOT love that!?
The man was a force on the mound, and of course his 1968 season is the stuff of legend. I STILL wonder how on earth he managed to have 9 losses with a season E.R.A. of 1.12!!! Just incredible.
Needless to say, the Hall of Fame was sure to call in 1981 and an obvious choice for induction was granted.
Well, here is my design for a 1976 card had Topps wanted to have one last card for the sure-fire Hall of Famer.
Nice and colorful. Just what you'd expect for a card in that fantastic 1976 set.

1976 "STARS RETIRE": BOB GIBSON & HARMON KILLEBREW

Today on the blog, we have a 1976 "Stars Retire" card celebrating two superstars of the game who called it a career after the 1975 season: Bob Gibson and Harmon Killebrew:

Two baseball heavyweights who made their marks over their careers, taking home awards and eventually both being selected for Hall of Fame glory.

For "Gibby", by the time this card would have come out you were looking at only the second pitcher in Major League history to collect 3000K’s in their career, joining Walter Johnson in the exclusive club.
The two-time Cy Young winner and 1968 MVP would top 250 wins with 251, finish with 3117 strikeouts along with a 2.91 earned run average and 56 shutouts over his 17-year career.
He’d also collect NINE Gold Gloves and be named to eight all-star teams, all while hurling for the Cardinals, leading them to two World Championships, 1964 and 1967.
His 1968 season is the stuff of legend, going 22-9 with 13 shutouts and a microscopic 1.12 E.R.A., completing 28 of 34 starts and striking out 268 batters.
How he lost nine games is incredible!
Of course, by the time he was eligible for selection for the Hall of Fame, he got in without a problem, claiming his rightful spot in Cooperstown in 1981.

For "Killer" Killebrew, he was an absolute BEAST at the plate, crushing 573 lifetime homers, MOST of them during the pitching-era of the 1960's into the '70's.

Eight 40+ home run seasons, nine 100+ runs batted in seasons, seven 100+ base-on-balls seasons, an M.V.P. in 1969 (with five top-5 finishes in M.V.P. voting as well), and a Hall of Fame induction in 1984.

A favorite player of mine "before my time" since I first discovered him when I flipped over his 1973 card, not believing the numbers I was seeing as a 10-year-old in 1979 at my cousin's house.

What a player!

Two super players closing the books on two super careers...

1970 IN-GAME ACTION: BOB GIBSON

The next player that gets a 1970 "In-Game Action" card in my ongoing series (and soon to be released custom set!), St. Louis Cardinals legend Bob Gibson:

 

"Gibby" was on his way to his second Cy Young Award in 1970, finishing the season with a brilliant 23-7 record, along with a 3.12 ERA and a career-best 274 strikeouts over 34 starts and 294 innings.

He also brought home his sixth of what would end up being nine Gold Gloves, while making his seventh All-Star team.

The 23 wins in 1970 marked his fifth 20-win season in six years, eventually settling for 251 wins as a Big League ace, along with 3117 strikeouts (only the second pitcher ever to reach that mark at the time), 56 shutouts and a brilliant 2.91 E.R.A.

A legend of the game, he was a “gimmie” for the Hall of Fame once eligible in 1981, getting named on 337 of 401 ballots cast.
Stories of Gibson’s fierce competitive streak are legendary, and I love each and every one of them!

EXPANDED YEARLY LEADER CARDS: 1973 N.L. STRIKEOUTS

Today on the blog we move on to strikeouts in my on-going 1973 "expanded league leaders" project, where I give each league a dedicated league-leader card, and this one is one doozy, featuring three of the best pitchers of the era:

 

We begin of course with Steve Carlton, "Lefty", who was coming off his epic "triple crown" season of 1972, dominating the league on his way to the first of his four Cy Young Awards.

Carlton struck out 310 batters over his 346.1 innings, winning 27 games for a last place team, along with eight shutouts.

The man COMPLETED 30 of his 41 starts, and pitched to a sparkling 1.97 earned run average, giving up only 76 runs. Incredible.

Behind Carlton in the strikeout race is another legend, Tom Seaver of the New York Mets, who was the N.L. strikeout king in both 1970 and 1971, this time runner-up with 249 K's.

Seaver was in his prime, winning 21 games, tossing three shutouts and finishing the season with a 2.92 ERA over 262 innings of work.

His 8.6 K's per nine innings actually led the league, something he would do six of seven seasons between 1970 and 1976!

In third place with 208 strikeouts in 1972 is yet another Hall of Fame hurler, Bob Gibson of the St. Louis Cardinals who finished with 208, the last of his nine 200-strikeouts seasons over his amazing career.

For Gibson, 1972 was the final "great" season of his 17-year career, posting a record of 19-11 with a 2.46 ERA over 34 starts, completing 23 of them with four shutouts.

In 1974 he would become (at that time) only the second pitcher to ever reach 3000 strikeouts, with only legend Walter Johnson ahead of him in the category.

Well, there you have it! The National League's top strikeout guys. Now onto the American League next week!

MINOR LEAGUE DAYS- BOB GIBSON

Next up in my new thread of 1971 “Minor League Days” is the great Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals legend and Hall of Famer, who was just about to kick-off an amazing MLB career that brought in every award possible over the next 17 years:

The 23-year-old appeared in 24 games for the Omaha Cardinals in 1959, going 9-9 with an earned run average of 3.07 over 135 innings, striking out 98 while walking 70.
That same season he’d get his first taste of the Big Leagues, appearing in 13 games and going 3-5 with a nice 3.33 ERA in 75.2 innings.
Over the rest of his brilliant career, he would settle for 251 wins as a Cardinals ace, along with 3117 strikeouts (only the second pitcher ever to reach that mark), 56 shutouts and a brilliant 2.91 E.R.A.
Let’s not forget that the man could field as well, as seen by his nine Gold Gloves, along with the fact that he could hit too, with 24 homers and 144 runs batted in over his 17-year career!
A legend of the game, he was a “gimmie” for the Hall of Fame once eligible in 1981, getting named on 337 of 401 ballots cast.
Stories of Gibson’s fierce competitive streak are legendary, and I love each and every one of them!

NO-HITTERS SPECIAL SUB-SET: BOB GIBSON, AUGUST 14TH, 1971

Super-fun card to create today, my 1972 card celebrating the great Bob Gibson and his no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 14th of 1971:

For Gibson, he came into the game at 10-10 for the season, just one year removed from picking up his second Cy Young Award.
But on this day he had everything working for him against the eventual World Champion Pirates, who had a line-up of heavy hitters.
Over the next 2 hours and 22 minutes, Gibson would set the Pirates down one by one, allowing only three walks while striking out 10, while also staked out to an early 5-0 lead in the first inning thanks in part to a three-run home run by Joe Hague.
Joe Torre and Ted Simmons both went 4-for-6 at the plate, while Gibson helped himself as well with a 1-for-4 game with three runs batted in.
He’d go on to finish the year at 16-13, with a 3.04 ERA while leading the league with five shutouts over 31 starts and 245.2 innings of work.
Of note, he also finished the season with 185 strikeouts, the first time he didn’t reach 200 in a non-injury season (1967) since 1961.
Nevertheless, he also collected his seventh Gold Glove that season, while also finishing fifth in the Cy Young Race.
What a career.

NICKNAMES OF THE 1970'S- "HOOT" BOB GIBSON

Why not go and give former Hall of Fame pitcher Bob “Hoot” Gibson a nickname card? After all, any chance to create another card for the fire-balling right-hander is more than welcomed!
So here’s my 1971 “Nickname” card:

Gibson just posted his second Cy Young winning season in 1970, posting a career-high 23 wins along with 274 strikeouts and a 3.12 earned run average.
It was his fifth 20-win season in six years, eventually settling for 251 wins as a Big League ace, along with 3117 strikeouts (only the second pitcher ever to reach that mark), 56 shutouts and a brilliant 2.91 E.R.A.
Let’s not forget that the man could field as well, as seen by his nine Gold Gloves, along with the fact that he could hit too, with 24 homers and 144 runs batted in over his 17-year career!
A legend of the game, he was a “gimmie” for the Hall of Fame once eligible in 1981, getting named on 337 of 401 ballots cast.
Stories of Gibson’s fierce competitive streak are legendary, and I love each and every one of them!

CY YOUNG- 1971 SUB-SET

Today we come to the 1971 sub-set celebrating the big award winners of the year before, in this case the Cy Young Award, given to Bob Gibson of the Cardinals and Jim Perry of the Twins:

Gibson took home his second such award, winning it for the first time in 1968 when he also was named the National League MVP for his season of a lifetime.
Though his 1970 wasn’t as incredible, it was still awesome, as he posted a 23-7 record along with a 3.12 earned run average, three shutouts and a career-high 274 strikeouts while also getting his sixth Gold Glove.
The 1970 season would be the last of his five 20-win seasons in his career, along with the eighth of nine career 200-K campaigns.
Over in the American League, Jim Perry would be named the top pitcher in the league with his 24-12 record, along with a 3.04 E.R.A., four shutouts and 168 strikeouts in a very tight race.
While Perry took the award with his 55 overall points in voting, he barely edged out the Baltimore Orioles Dave McNally, who received 47 points based on his 24-9 record, while teammate Mike Cuellar actually matched Perry’s six 1st Place votes, ending up with 44 points overall as he also posted 24 wins, against only eight losses.
Cleveland Indians fire-baller Sam McDowell was sandwiched in between Oriole hurlers with 45 points, receiving four first place votes based on his 20-12 record with a league-leading 304 strikeouts to go with a nice 2.92 E.R.A.
Ironically, Perry’s younger brother Gaylord would finish a distant second in the N.L. voting with his 23-13 record, along with a 3.20 E.R.A., five shutouts and 214 strikeouts.
How awesome is that?!

TURN BACK THE CLOCK: BOB GIBSON'S INCREDIBLE SEASON OF 1968

The next “Turn Back the Clock” card in the long-running series is a 10th Anniversary card for the season of the ages Bob Gibson had in 1968. A season that saw him bring home the hardware, dominate his league, and carve his name into the annals of baseball greatness:

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.

1975 IN-ACTION: BOB GIBSON

The next 1975 “In-Action” card in my thread is St. Louis Cardinal pitching great Bob Gibson, who was coming to the end of his Hall of Fame career:

By the time this card would have come out you were looking at only the second pitcher in Major League history to collect 3000K’s in their career, joining Walter Johnson in the exclusive club.
The two-time Cy Young winner and 1968 MVP would top 250 wins with 251, finish with 3117 strikeouts along with a 2.91 earned run average and 56 shutouts over his 17-year career.
He’d also collect NINE Gold Gloves and be named to eight all-star teams, all while hurling for the Cardinals, leading them to two World Championships, 1964 and 1967.
His 1968 season is the stuff of legend, going 22-9 with 13 shutouts and a microscopic 1.12 E.R.A., completing 28 of 34 starts and striking out 268 batters.
How he lost nine games is incredible!
Of course, by the time he was eligible for selection for the Hall of Fame, he got in without a problem, claiming his rightful spot in Cooperstown in 1981.

1960'S SEASONAL LEADERS- EARNED RUN AVERAGE

The next “Decade Leader” card for the 1960’s is Earned Run Average, sporting a couple of all-time low E.R.A.’s no matter what the decade:

Of course for the National League we have St Louis Cardinals great Bob Gibson, who posted one of the lowest E.R.A.’s in history at 1.13.
He achieved this with help from no one else but himself, as he posted 13 shutouts accounting for all but nine of his 22 wins, yet the guy STILL lost nine games that season!
He completed 28 of 34 starts, almost threw nothing but zeros in HALF of them, yet still came up with nine losses. Incredible!
Of course he would take home the Cy Young Award AND MVP for the N.L. For his troubles, along with his fourth Gold Glove and fifth all-star nod, on his way into the hallowed doors of Cooperstown.
Over in the American League, the decade’s lowest ERA was posted by “El Tiante” Luis Tiant, who was sadly overshadowed in the “Year of the Pitcher”, but would have EASILY taken home a Cy Young had he posted the numbers he did any other season.
All Tiant did that season for the Cleveland Indians was go 21-9 with nine shutouts over 32 starts, 19 of which he completed, and sport a sparkling 1.60 E.R.A. along with 264 strikeouts!
Forget Cy Young Award, those are MVP numbers!
However, there was a guy named Denny McLain winning 31 games for the eventual World Champion Detroit Tigers, so Tiant went home empty-handed.
He would actually go on to struggle over the next three seasons until making an awesome comeback with the Boston Red Sox in 1972, once again leading the A.L. In E.R.A. With a sub-2.00 figure, this time at 1.91.
He’d be in the Majors to stay after that, pitching through to 1982 and finishing with 229 wins along with 49 shutouts, a 3.30 E.R.A. and 2416 strikeouts over his 19-year career.

1960'S SEASONAL LEADERS- SHUTOUTS

Next up in my 1960’s “Seasonal Leaders” thread is shutouts, and we have a couple of doozies at the top of the decade, Bob Gibson and Dean Chance with their excellent seasons in 1968 and 1964 respectively:

Of course, Bob Gibson had a season for the ages in ‘68, throwing 13 shutouts on his way to a microscopic 1.13 earned run average and a 22-9 record. Though how on earth he had NINE losses is beyond me even though I read through all the box scores! It just seems impossible to do!
But in the “Year of the Pitcher” of 1968 all sorts of craziness happened, and Gibson’s loss total was one of them.
The 13 shutouts is good for second all-time in Major League history, tied with Jack Coombs of the Philadelphia Athletics in 1910, and only behind the 16 thrown by Grover Alexander in 1916 and George Bradley in MLB’s inaugural season of 1876.
For Dean Chance, his Cy Young winning 1964 season was also one for the ages, as he cruised to a 20-9 record with a minuscule 1.65 ERA and 11 shutouts over 46 games, with 35 of them starts.
The 11 shutouts are the fourth highest total by a pitcher in any MLB season, and was accomplished by eight hurlers, with only Chance and Sandy Koufax doing it in “modern” times.
As a matter of fact, since Gibson’s 13 shutouts in ‘68, only TWO pitchers have reached double-digits since then, Jim Palmer with 10 in 1975 and John Tudor with the same amount in 1985.
Tim Belcher is the last pitcher to throw as many as eight shutouts in a season, which he accomplished in 1989, a season in which he only posted 15 wins. More than half of his wins were shutouts. Amazing.

1976 PROJECT- BOB GIBSON REDEUX

A LONG while back I created a 1976 “career capper” for the great Bob Gibson, since I feel players of this caliber deserve one last card showing their entire set of stats (just me, I know).
However, once I started the “1976 Project” for “Reader Jim”, he asked for me to create another version with a Topps Vault shot, fitting in with the true look and feel of the 1976 set.
So here it is:

Again, I have always felt it would have been awesome to gawk at the COMPLETE stats of a great player once they retired, just to get the true numbers in an age before internet and “answers-at-out-fingertips”.
In this case here was a two-time Cy Young Winner, World Series dynamo and at the time only the second pitcher to record 3000+ career strikeouts in Major League history.
Luckily all these years later, where anyone can design whatever card they feel like creating, we can crank these creations out, fulfilling those holes in our mental collections!

MISSING IN ACTION-"IN ACTION" #3: 1972 BOB GIBSON

Let's give "Gibby" an "in action" card in the 1972 Topps set!

Check out my card:

So once again…guys like Jerry Johnson, John Ellis and Tom Haller get "in-action" cards in the set, but THIS GUY doesn't?

Does anyone out there even know what Topps criteria for those in-action cards were?! For the life of me I can't figure it out.

I managed to find a nice night-game shot of Gibson to use for the card.

You know, if I find myself feeling up to it, I swear I'm tempted to make an "in-action" 1972 card for every single player in the set!

We shall see…let's start with the stars first…

THEN AND NOW #1: BOB GIBSON 1975

Today I want to begin a new series which will be fun to work on: a "Then and Now" set of legendary players with long careers that ended during the 1970's.

What I will be doing is creating a unique card designed as part of whatever their last year in a Topps set was.

In the case of today's initial player in this series, Bob Gibson, I designed a card as part of the 1975 set commemorating his distinguished career.

Take a look:

The design shows him during his final season, paired with a reproduction of his rookie card, in this case his 1959 Topps card.

No need to get into Gibson's career here, as I've covered it from every angle possible at this point on the blog, and this will also apply to pretty much every one else who will be profiled in this "sub-set".

Next up will be Hank Aaron, and a "Then and Now" card designed for him following the same card concept for the 1976 Topps set.