University of Virginia Library

Gibson Murders Sox
As Cards Win, 7-2

MAGNIFICENT BOB GIBSON fireballed the St. Louis
Cardinals to the 1967 baseball world championship yesterday
as the lanky right-hander allowed the courageous
Boston Red Sox only three hits in the seventh game of
the World Series before a hushed, standing-room throng
in Fenway Park.

In going the route to win his third complete game of
the Series, the Redbird ace struck out 10 and walked
only two. The first four innings passed without a single
Red Sox hit; when Reggie Smith opened the fifth with
a triple off the wall in the furthest reaches of center
field, it was the first ball that the home team managed
to hit out of the infield.

WHILE GIBSON WAS MOWING DOWN the Bosox
in the bottom half of the innings, the Cardinal batsmen
were being heard from in the top half of the innings.
Sox hopes riding on the right arm of 22-game winner
Jim Lonborg were first dashed in the third inning when
Dal Maxvill tripled off the center field wall, Curt Flood
singled to center, Roger Maris singled to right, and Flood
scored on a wild pitch to give the Cardinals an early
two-run advantage. As happened in every game of this
year's Series, the team which drew first blood went on
to take the game.

The fifth and sixth innings saw the National League
Champions put the nails in the coffins for the Cinderella
Kids. Gibson aided his own cause with a homer off
Lonborg in the fifth. And in that same inning, Lou Brock,
who batted .414 for the seven games, blooped a single
to left, then stole second and third, and went home on a
Roger Maris sacrifice fly. Defensive artist Julian Javier,
Cardinal second baseman, put his team ahead 7-1 in the
sixth with a round-tripper over the Green Monster with
McCarver and Shannon aboard.

THE MUCH ANTICIPATED PITCHING duel between
Gibson and Lonborg failed to develop. The Red Sox
hurler, who went to the mound with only two days
rest compared to three days for his opponent, was unable
to throw either as hard or as sharp as he had when
he clinched the pennant for the underdog Sox against
the Twins and when he won his two games of the Series.
A tip-off to what was going to happen came in the first
inning when the first two Cardinals at the plate flied out;
a sinker-ball pitcher like Lonborg, when on, usually gets
the majority of his outs on ground balls. When the
winningest pitcher in the American League left the hill
in the sixth, he won a well-deserved standing ovation from
the admiring partisans.

Carl Yastrzemski, who had been tabbed the Prince
Valiant of New England earlier this year, turned in another
brilliant performance. At the plate, number eight went
one-for-three to finish the Series hitting an even .400.
A Yastrzemski defensive gem in the first inning robbed
Brock of an extra-baser.

BUT BROCK PROVED TO BE the outstanding offensive
player of the Series. In addition to batting .414,
he stole seven bases—three in the final—to set a new all-time
mark and come within one hit of tying the most
hits mark. The Red Sox, to little avail, tried everything
to keep the speedster off the sacks.—John Marshall.