Gibson, 83, revealed this to his fellow Hall of Famers informing them he would not be in Cooperstown for Hall of Fame ceremonies next weekend. The contents of Gibson's letter was made public on Saturday night by fellow Hall of Famer Jack Morris while broadcasting a Minnesota Twins game.
The two time World Series winner has been hospitalized in his hometown of Omaha, Nebraska for the past two weeks and is soon expected to begin chemotherapy. Few men come tougher than Gibson who once pitched after breaking his leg.
Gibson pitched his entire 17-year big league career with the Cardinals winning 251 games, striking out 3,117 batters, won 9 Gold Gloves, was selected to 9 NL All-Star Teams and won both the NL Cy Young Award and NL MVP in 1968. That year Gibson went 22-9 and set an MLB record with an ERA of 1.12. How Gibson lost those nine games God only knows. Oh, did I mention he tossed 13 shutouts. And for good measure he struck out a World Series record 17 Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the 1968 World Series. Although the Tigers would win that Series in seven games, Gibson's Game 1 performance almost overshadowed the Tigers' triumph.
Hopefully, Gibson's next triumph will be to strikeout cancer.
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