ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - The legend of Bob Gibson will be remembered by baseball fans forever thanks to the numerous and sometimes unbelievable stories about him.
We've heard a lot of them since his death on Friday night and we wanted to make note of a few of them here. On Sunday, we were joined by other St. Louis Cardinals legends Ozzie Smith, Joe Torre, Bill White, Chris Carpenter and Willie McGee who all had some incredible stories of their friend, teammate and mentor.
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We pulled out just five of the best, but you can also listen to the full show, here:
Willie McGee amazed every time he sees video of Gibson's slider:
The current Cardinals outfielders coach says everyday when he's at Busch Stadium before games he sees the same highlight of Gibson throwing a knee-buckling slider that makes a right-handed batter flinch in the box.
"I'd see that video everyday and it just pumps you up," McGee says.
Also, our Sports Director Tom Ackerman tells a story about the Hall of Fame induction for pitcher Steve Carlton. It was catcher Tim McCarver who gave the introduction for Carlton, saying the lefty had the best slider he ever saw. Well Gibson didn't like that too much.
Joe Torre and Bill White on Gibson keeping his promise to "hit you in the ribs"
This was a great moment with White on KMOX, as we played him the audio of Torre telling a story about Gibson's promise to bean his former Cardinals teammate in the rib if he went out and pulled an outside pitch off Gibson. He did just that...
Ozzie Smith says Gibson would have been a better shortstop than him
Smith says Gibson would tell him that if he would have played shortstop, nobody would have known the name Osborne Earl Smith. And the Hall of Fame shortstop says he might be right.
Gibson never made friends at All-Star Games
The Cardinals pitcher went to nine All-Star Games in his career and Torre summed up what it was like being an All-Star teammate of Gibson.
Gibson helped lead the way for integration of Cardinals hotel during spring training
He wasn't just a great pitcher, he was a person who fought for the rights of Black players as well. White, Gibson and a number of other Black players roomed together during spring training, but they didn't stay in the same hotel as their white teammates. White explained that Gibson was part of the process as St. Louis became the first team in Florida to integrate the team hotel.
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