Here are some words you rarely heard about Bob Gibson:
“He was a great guy, a lot of fun.”
Gibson…fun…great guy??
Those words were uttered by Craig Anderson, a teammate of Gibson’s for half of the 1961 season and during that fall when they pitched for Santurce in Puerto Rico.
“Our wives became friends,” said Anderson, “and we played cards together.”
I wanted to ask Anderson, ‘We are talking about Bob Gibson, right?’ A pitcher considered one of the fiercest competitors to ever play the game, one of the meanest on the field (which he disputed), and who was not afraid to hurl fastballs at players to brush them off the inside part of the plate.
“Gibson became a different person when he crossed the foul lines,” said Anderson.
That’s when he changed into an intimidating presence, who seemed to wear a perpetual scowl on his face while on the mound. (His facial features were contorted because he wore glasses, but not while playing, and he was squinting to see the catcher’s signal.)
