Bob Gibson was one of the dominant pitchers of his generation. Enshrined into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981, he was one of the reasons the “lords of baseball” decided to make the sport more hitter-friendly by lowering the mound and shrinking the strike zone. He explains the thought process behind selecting each pitch according to the Detroit Tigers’ lineup and the situation at any given moment, trying to take advantage of their weaknesses and limiting their strengths.

The “one unforgettable game” was the opener of the 1968 World Series against the Tigers in which Gibson struck out 17, breaking the record of 15 set by Sandy Koufax in 1963 against the New York Yankees. Gibson had already had a season for the history books: he won 22 games and led the National League with 280 strikeouts and an earned run average of 1.12, the lowest since 1908. In fact, 1968 was nicknamed “The Year of the Pitcher.”

"Gibson...writes like he pitched: straightforward and honest, aggressively but without a sense of braggadocio. He respected the opposition but did not fear them."

Gibson, who turns 80 next month, writes like he pitched: straightforward and honest, aggressively but without a sense of braggadocio. He respected the opposition but did not fear them.

In preparation for the book, he and co-author Lonnie Wheeler studied old videos of that historic contest to help refresh nearly 50-year-old memories. Simply deconstructing a game in such minute detail would be kind of boring. They alleviate that by dropping in anecdotes and recollections about teammates and opponents, as well as the tenor of the times, including the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, the Vietnam War and racial issues. Fans don’t think athletes have opinions on such maters, but Gibson, who attended Creighton University, was never shy about sharing his thoughts on such topics.

The St. Louis Cardinals would go on to lose the Series in seven games, but that doesn’t dull the excitement of the memories for Gibson and fans of a certain age.

“Inside baseball” is the term used not just for the sport, but for life in general when discussing the intricacies of a profession or event that go unnoticed by the general public but are fascinating once they are disclosed. There have been a handful of books that analyze a single baseball game by laypeople and former ballplayers. Some of the better examples include Daniel Okrent’s NINE INNINGS: The Anatomy of a Baseball Game, and Keith Hernandez’s IF AT FIRST: A Season With the Mets, written with Mike Bryan. Gibson and Wheeler’s latest contribution makes a wonderful addition to this specialized subgenre.