ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - After being honored with a street in St. Louis being named after him, Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson was asked about how his relationship with St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Jack Flaherty originated.
He said it was the 23-year-old who reached out to him. Which was something Gibson, who was not known for being the most approachable man in baseball, says he "appreciated."
"I used to go to spring training every year and the reason you go down there was not to boast," Gibson says. "You go down there so you can kind of put yourself out there and if somebody thought that they can get something out of talking to you, you made yourself available. And that's what I did and Flaherty just took a liking to me.
"I think he looked at my record and said, 'Damn.'"
Last year, Flaherty credited one of his wins to a conversation he had with Gibson.
"I got the chance to talk to him," Flaherty said. "I asked him what his mentality was every time he went out. I haven't talked to him since then but it's more on me to reach out to him and than the other way around."
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