Bob Gibson's Amazing Season and a Slow Start

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The players who were on the 1964 San Diego minor league club who pitched for the Minnesota Twins were Al Worthington and the multi positional player, Cesar Tovar who pitched one game in 1968.  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Who holds the major league baseball record for the lowest ERA in a single season in history?

It may surprise you that during one of the greatest pitching seasons a pitcher ever had, Bob Gibson didn't win his first game in the 1968 season until the Cardinals 14th start. In fact, he opened the season with a marvelous pitching performance which St. Louis won, but Gibby gave way to Ray Washburn. This after Gibson went seven innings, allowing an unearned run on three hits. Washburn got the win 2-1.

Gibson pitched well enough to win in his next starts but didn't get any support until Game 14, April 26. He gave up seven hits and one run in beating the Pirates and Bob Veale. Veale, who would also have a decent season was 0-3 with the loss to the Cardinals, 2-1. The Bucs hurler gave up two runs in seven innings on four hits, but the Pirates couldn't figure out Gibby. 

Gibson would go on to a 22-9 record with an amazing ERA of 1.12, leading the league with 13 shutouts, he pitched 304 innings and had 268 strikeouts on his way to both the Cy Young Award and the MVP. His WHIP was an amazing 0.83. His ERA was among the best in baseball history. 

It was a National League Championship season for the Cardinals even though they lost the World Series to Detroit, 4-3. Gibson won two games before losing Game Seven 4-1. 

For Bob Veale, in case you were wondering, he finished with a 2.05 ERA but was only 13-14 with Pittsburgh. 

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

From the Field to the Canvas

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The players who were related in the story about last week's game were the Conigliaro's (Tony and Billy) and the Tartabull's (Danny and dad Jose).  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  Name two players who were on that 1964 San Diego team who pitched for the Minnesota Twins.

When Terry Banderas slid awkwardly into third base in a game in 1966 while playing in the minor leagues, he required surgery. It did not correct the problem and the centerfielder/third baseman tells us he couldn't throw any more. 

"I knew it was over at that point," he told me recently. "The Reds wanted me to come back and they kept sending me a contract, but my wife and I had decided if I was going to go back down to a lower league, which they wanted, I was going to call it quits."

The former Angels farmhand hit 26 homers in five minor league seasons with a .254 lifetime average. He played with a lot of future big leaguers including Art Shamsky, Don Rudolph, Chico Ruize and more.

"I roomed with Tommy Helms for quite a while," he said. "He was a great roommate. I was sorry to hear he passed."

Helms died in April of this year (2025) at 83. They spent the 1964 season together in San Diego of the PCL.

                        (Terry Banderas painting of the Golden Gate Bridge)

Banderas career over and with an Art Degree in his pocket (he graduated from Fresno State), he found a job with an aerospace firm in San Diego. It was back home for him and he signed on as a Graphic Artist. He worked there until he retired. 

All along the way he painted.

"I loved to paint," he said. "Anything, sports, landscapes, trees, houses, cars, I just loved to paint."

He would do trade shows and sell online but didn't like the online system at all and just recently, at 85, he decided he no longer will sell any of his paintings. His repertoire reached hundreds of frameable paintings, and he still has many. He says he'll just give them away to friends and family now.

He looks back fondly on his baseball career and says the best thing to come from it was he met a young girl selling snow cones while he was playing. It wasn't long before they were married and now have been together for more than 60 years. Starting out with the Angels, he found his Angel, and Elaine remains at his side today.

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

The Toughest Debut - Culver vs Red Sox 1966

 

TRIVIA WINNER: There were two sets of triple brothers in the big leagues in the 1970's. The Allens; Richie, Hank and Ron, and the Cruz brothers who played for St. Louis; Jose, Hector and Tommy.  Son, Jose Cruz Junior would later play in the Bigs.  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION:  There were two players who played in the game cited below which had either a father or a sibling who also played in the big leagues. Who were they?

You couldn't blame anyone for asking George Culver how he drew the team which would win the pennant in just one year later, and the team's best pitcher. It was Culver's debut with Cleveland on September 7, 1966, facing future Cy Young winner, Jim Lonborg and future Triple Crown winning MVP Carl Yastryzemski. For Culver's sake there were only 4300 fans in Boston that day and likely many were his relatives.

Culver drew the start against Lonborg. George walked the first big league batter he faced; Jose Tartabull. He got Joe Foy to pop out and he got Yaz. But Tony Conigliaro would not be denied and he drove a Culver pitch for a double and Tartabull raced around to score. George Scott was a victim and at the end of his first inning, Culver was down 1-0. It got much better and the it didn't.

The Indians tied it in the first and it remained 1-1 until the sixth. Up until then he'd been effective. He did give up a single and a walk to the Yaz the 1967 MVP but he also struck him out. In his first big league at bat, Lonborg K'd Culver. In the sixth however, the roof caved in.

A lead off walk followed by a single, and a sacrifice attempt loaded the bases. Then a single by Tartabull (his nemesis on the day, 2/4 2 runs and an RBI) drove home three and Culver was gone, relieved by Tom Kelley. Another run scored and was charged to Culver. Before the dust had settled the Sox won it 5-4. Culver took the loss giving up five earned runs in five innings plus, eight hits, three walks and four K's. 

While this was a miserable debut, it was his first. His next two outings weren't much better but he was learning. He would finish the 1966 season 0-2 in nine innings. He won his first game in 1967 when he went 7-3. He became a solid starter in 1968 and was 11-16. 

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment. 

Ken vs. Clete - The Boyers

 

TRIVIA WINNER: The first player in modern major league history to go thru arbitration was Dick Woodson of the Twins. He was 34-32 in five years in the bigs, mainly with Minnesota.  

We will still provide a trivia question each week and we hope you participate even though there is no prize at the end. 

NOTE: First of all thank you to those who "follow" the column and if you would hit the "follow" button if you not done that, it would be appreciated. I do this column for free and I am NOT asking for money. We had a sponsor years ago and if you know of a company who would like to sponsor the column, please have them reach out to me at my email which is brillpro@prodigy.net, or provide theirs to me and I'll follow up. Thanx.

NEW TRIVIA QUESTION: Aside from the Alou brothers, who were three brothers who played in  big leagues in the 1970s ?

There were lots of brother teams in the big leagues and the 1960s were no exception. While the Alou's may have been the most successful, no one can deny the prowess of Ken and Clete Boyer. They both played mainly for legacy franchises. Clete mostly with the Yankees and Ken with St. Louis. They both played 3rd base with Ken moving to first in later years.

In 15 seasons as a major leaguer Ken Boyer hit 282 homers, batted .287 and drove in more than 1100 runs. Clete, less the hitter and more of a defender, lasted 16 seasons with 162 homers, a .242 average and less than 700 RBI. 

While Clete may have been overshadowed by his brother, even as a defender. Clete won a Gold Glove and had a .953 fielding average. Twice he was involved in more than 40 double plays. Ken's FA was .957, once he went over 40 Double plays but he also won five Gold Gloves.

When it came to the post season, Clete was better. He made six appearances including five World Series with the Yankees, winning two. One of those he lost was to Ken's Cardinals in 1964. It was Ken's only post season effort and he was named MVP of the National League that season. He was also an 11 time All-Star. Clete never made the All-Star team. 

In that 1964 World Series Clete hit .208 with a home run and three RBI. Ken hit .222, with a pair of homers and six RBI.  Neither is in the Hall of Fame. Ken was six years older than Clete. Ken also went on to manage the Cardinals and has his best season in 1979 with 86 wins and a third place finish. He managed parts of the following and previous seasons. 

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I've written more than a dozen books including at least two sports books. You can find these at my own website www.bobbrillbooks.com. Please take a look at the sports books, the western novel series or the "Tattoo Murder," which is a crime book set in Ventura, CA. The newest book is an international thriller called ":05 Seconds to Die."

Use PayPal to brillpro@prodigy.net or contact us at the same email for other payment.