The St. Louis Cardinals’ All-Time 28-Man Roster

Apr 13, 2015; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinal former player Bob Gibson in attendance for the game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the Milwaukee Brewers at Busch Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Starting Pitcher #1 – Bob Gibson

Like Musial, there is no chance any all-time roster or all-time list does not include Bob Gibson. If not for Musial, you could definitely make the argument for Gibson being the greatest Cardinal of all time. Gibson pitched from 1959-1975 amassing a 251-174 record totaling an ERA of 2.91. Arguments can be made that Gibson is on the short list for the best pitcher all time. No, he doesn’t have 300 wins like some, and he did pitch in a pitching rich era, but he absolutely dominated his opponents.

Gibson’s best season is quite possibly the best season by a starting pitcher ever, he went 22-9 with a ridiculous 1.12 ERA (a number no starting pitcher has reached since). There are quite a few things that stand out from that season, including the .184 average hitters had against Gibson that year. David Schoenfield of ESPN.com points out that Gibson pretty much didn’t have a bad game all year that year, as the only times he didn’t pitch beyond the seventh inning were his first two starts of the year, where he only allowed a total of three earned runs in those two outings.

Schoenfeld puts Gibson’s ’68 season as second best to Pedro Martinez‘ effort in 2000, but doesn’t account for Gibson winning both the Cy-Young and MVP that year and had a FIP that was just 3 points higher than Pedro’s overall ERA. Pedro may have had a better WAR, but great pitchers were much more valuable in an era where hitters were launching balls out of the ballpark at alarming rates.

Not to be left out are Gibson’s postseason numbers, as Gibson made nine world series starts and was 7-2 with 1.89 ERA in those starts, with 1968 obviously being the most disappointing of those series’, despite his 1.67 ERA in that series. Gibson will be a great addition to this team.

Next: Starting Pitcher #2 - Chris Carpenter