Revered Essays on the Game Lead to a Hall of Fame Honor.
In 1980, Roger Angell wrote a revealing portrait of Bob Gibson that is one of his most admired baseball articles for The New Yorker. Gibson was in his fifth season of retirement, and Angell thought that people might have begun to forget what a fierce and marvelous pitcher, and competitor, he was. Angell believes Gibson opened up to him to help his chances at being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, which happened in his first year of eligibility.
When Angell encountered Gibson on Friday at the Otesaga Hotel, he acknowledged that he had felt intimidated in asking Gibson to be interviewed for what turned out to be three illuminating days in Omaha.
“Good,” said Gibson, who likes to perpetuate his old mound persona.
Angell told the story on the hotel’s veranda, where he was being recognized for receiving the J. G. Taylor Spink Award, the Baseball Hall of Fame’s writing honor. The sweeping porch and the nearby lobby are like an expansive green room where Hall of Famers gather before each year’s induction ceremony. Ernie Banks discussed the Cubs and philosophy. Tom Seaver chatted with the announcer Gary Thorne. George Brett talked animatedly to Angell. Tim McCarver, Gibson’s friend and catcher, recalled that Gibson had once sent him back from the mound with this tart admonition: “The only thing you know about pitching is how hard it is to hit.”
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