Monday, May 26, 2014

Did Bob Gibson hit friend Bill White in the first opportunity? No, but some think so.

On Memorial Day the Yankees started a three game series against the Cardinals in St. Louis.

​During the game Yankee announcer Micheal Kay was rhapsodizing about the good old days when Bob Gibson would hit batters.  Occasionally shown in the Cardinal TV booth was Gibson talking to his former catcher Tim McCarver who has escaped from Fox retirement to terrorize listeners in St. Louis.

Bob Gibson 1962
Kay said that after Gibson's friend Bill White was traded from the Cardinals to Philadelphia Gibson hit him in his first plate appearance (PA) against Gibson.  I wondered if that was one of those old stories that get repeated but not checked.  I checked.


It took about two minutes.  The only HBP was PA 30 of 36 in the second from last game that White faced Gibson.  Gibson and White were opponents for three seasons (1966-1968) before White returned to St. Louis for his final season in 1969.  It took three seasons before Gibson hit White that one time.  The previous PA was a 10th inning game ending single that drove in the winning run.  Maybe that's where the story originated.  More than two months later Gibson hit White in his first PA. But that was long after White had left St. Louis.

In the first game he faced Gibson in 1966 White had single, SO, HR.

It's easy enough to check and not simply repeat this old junk.

1 comment:

George Anders said...

Nice research. Thanks for the post.