Bob Gibson 80 today. Any memories???

[Delray Vintage]

I grew up watching Gibson pitch games going all the way in less than two hours. Those were the great days of watching baseball. Gibson was not a nice guy and he showed it on the mound in his demeanor towards batters. I had the pleasure of working closely with several greats of that era after they retired, and they were not particularly nice people to fans. I think there is some bitterness of missing out on the financial free agent bonanza. These guys were not treated too well by the owners and struggled to negotiate every dollar. They were blue collar guys trying to make a decent living.

To me Gibson, Koufax, Mays, Mantle, Aaron, etc. were of an era that rewarded fans with stability of rosters, where baseball cards were just for fun, and we could watch world series games played in the daytime. Baseball is still a fun sport but it will never be the same for me as the Gibson era.