Hall of Fame pitcher and two-time World Series champion for the St. Louis Cardinals Bob Gibson died on Friday at the age of 84 from pancreatic cancer, Major League Baseball (MLB) said.
A nine-time Golden Glove Award winner, two-time World Series MVP and nine-time All-Star, Gibson spent his entire 17-year career in St. Louis before retiring in 1975 and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
That same year, he served as the New York Mets “attitude coach” under manager and former Cardinal teammate Joe Torre. After the Mets fired Torre following the 1981 season, Gibson went with him to the Atlanta Braves, where he served as pitching coach — and helped the 1982 Braves with the National League Western Division title.
In his Hall of Fame induction ceremony speech, Gibson said he would want to be remembered as “a competitor that gave 100%” every time he took the field.
“Sometimes I wasn’t too good, but nobody could accuse me of cheating them out of what they paid to see,” said Gibson.
He famously threw 17 strikeouts in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series – the most ever for a World Series game – the same year he had a 1.12 ERA, the lowest in the modern era, becoming a legend of the storied St. Louis franchise.
His death prompted an outpouring of grief among fans including former Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, who said on Twitter that Gibson inspired her “love affair” with the Cardinals.
Robert Pozarycki contributed to this report.
