Carpenter and Gibson; 2011 and 1964

The comparisons between Chris Carpenter and Bob Gibson are not new. Ever since Carpenter joined the St. Louis Cardinals in 2003 and began his incredible run of clutch victories, Cy Young performances, all the while brandishing a bulldog, take-no-prisoners attitude, writers and fans began to nod and murmur. They had not seen pitching performances and guile like this in St. Louis since Gibson wore the Birds on the Bat from 1959 thru 1975.

Now, before we all hyperventilate, it must be noted that Carpenter’s great run in St. Louis truly pales in comparison to Bob Gibson’s hall of fame career here. Gibson is a classic. Gibby was one of a kind. The quotes and stories about him are legendary. Dusty Baker, the manager of the Cincinnati Reds who played against Gibson, once said “Only two people ever intimidated me, my daddy and Bob Gibson.” And Gibson once told his catcher Tim McCarver when he came out to the mound to converse, “What are you doing here? The only thing you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it.” And in 1967, after the great Roberto Clemente smashed a line drive off of Gibson’s leg and fractured it, Gibson pulled himself up and pitched to 3 more batters before finally succumbing to the injury. And finally, Bob Gibson’s 1.12 ERA in 1968, which is still the lowest in history by a starting pitcher for a season, was a big reason that Major League Baseball changed the rules after that season and lowered the pitching mound; to give the hitters more of an advantage. So, when Chris Carpenter or anyone else is compared to Gibson, it is a high complement, but must be taken with a grain of salt.


And the comparisons between this Cardinals team of 2011 with the team of 1964 have been stirred and shaken about during this current club’s amazing comeback run of September and now into October. In 1964, the Cardinals were left for dead, 7 1/2 games out of first place as September began, only to storm back and catch the Philadelphia Phillies on the last weekend of the season. A blockbuster mid-summer trade with the Chicago Cubs that many questioned at the time, brought Lou Brock to the Cardinals for one of their star pitchers, Ernie Broglio. Brock ignited the top of the lineup and led the Cardinals back from the brink. And young Bob Gibson became the late season horse who threw the rest of the team on his back, pitching on short 3 days rest and several times on only 2 days rest, including the regular season and World Series clinching victories.

And then there is this year’s version of the hometown heroes. On August 25th, they were 9 1/2 games behind the Milwaukee Brewers in the Central Division and 10 1/2 games behind the Atlanta Braves for the wild card. They traded young superstar-in-waiting Colby Rasmus to the Toronto Blue Jays back in July for pitching depth. That depth (starter Edwin Jackson, relievers Octavio Dotel and Mark Rzepczynski), along with spark plug addition Rafael Furcal, propelled the Cardinals to the playoffs. And when David Freese hit a monster home run to win game four against the Phillies in the NLDS series, it prompted St. Louis writer Bernie Miklasz to proclaim that it might have been the biggest post season home run by a locally grown Cardinal since Mike Shannon’s blast off of the Yankee’s Whitey Ford in the 1964 World Series. Cardinals’ manager Tony LaRussa enabled the Gibson-Carpenter comparisons when he decided to pitch Carpenter on only 3 days rest in game 2 of the series, so he could have a rested Carpenter available for game 5.

And that set up last Friday night’s game 5 matchup between Carpenter and the Phillies’ ace Roy Halladay. I spent the day at work on Friday channeling Bob Gibson and the 1964 comparisons. I brought in my Gibson memorabilia, along with baseball cards and a yearbook commemorating that season and the championship that ensued. Wearing a retro Gibson jersey, and carrying an autographed Chris Carpenter baseball card, I attempted to add some mojo to the upcoming game. Not that Carpenter needed my help. We all know the outcome, as Carpenter did his own version of channeling Bob Gibson, gutting through a complete game 1-0 victory over Halladay and the Phillies. It was a post season classic that will be talked about for years. 1964’s story ended in a World Series victory. This year’s final chapter has not been written. There is work to be done.

If you are hungry for more comparisons, Post Dispatch writer Miklasz wrote this recent story on Carpenter and Gibson. And in Dan O’Neill’s PD article today, he dug deeper into the 1964 to 2011 comparisons. And if you love baseball books, acclaimed author David Halberstam’s “October 1964” is an incredible read. It not only discusses the World Series clash that year between the Cardinals and the Yankees, it goes behind the scenes to portray the racial story of the early 60s and how the social climate played a large part in the construction of those two franchises at the time.


But alas, in 2011, we will have no repeat of the 1964 World Series. The Yankees have been vanquished by the Detroit Tigers. And World Series talk for these Cardinals is premature. The brash and bold Milwaukee Brewers stand in their way, and this must see NLCS matchup of Central Division rivals begins in a few hours. They do not like each other and it will be interesting to see if the scab comes off of the old wounds. There is more time to savor and explore this in the next week. This series is like a juicy steak sizzling on the grill. It smells so delicious, you can taste it already, you know how good it is going to be, and you absolutely cannot wait to bite into it. Game On!