Born in Omaha, Nebraska, Gibson overcame childhood illness to excel in youth sports, particularly basketball and baseball.

After briefly playing with the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team, he chose to pursue baseball and signed with the St. Louis Cardinals organization.

[3] Although afflicted by rickets and respiratory disease as a child, Gibson was active in sports, particularly baseball and basketball, in both informal and organized settings.

[4] Gibson's brother Josh, 15 years his senior, had a profound effect on his early life, serving as his mentor and a father figure.

[5] Gibson played on a number of youth basketball and baseball teams his brother coached, many of which were organized through the local YMCA.

The Cardinals reassigned him to Omaha where his performance slightly worsened, with an ERA of 3.31 in eleven starts, though he did record his first professional shutout.

[18] Cardinals manager Solly Hemus shuffled Gibson between the bullpen and the starting pitching rotation for the first half of the 1961 season.

[21] Off the field, Gibson, along with teammates Bill White and Curt Flood, started a movement to make all players live in the same clubhouse and hotel rooms.

Their campaign led the St. Louis Cardinals to become the first sports team to end segregation, three years before President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

[27] Gibson then turned to rely on his slider and two different fastball pitches to reel off six straight wins prior to late July.

[30] Even with Gibson's 18 wins and the extra motivation of teammate Stan Musial's impending retirement, however, the Cardinals finished six games out of first place.

[31] Building on their late-season pennant run in 1963, the 1964 Cardinals developed a strong camaraderie that was noted for being free of the racial tension that predominated in the United States at that time.

Aware that the Phillies were ahead of the Cincinnati Reds 4–0 at the time he entered the game, Gibson proceeded to pitch four innings of two-hit relief, while his teammates scored 11 runs of support to earn the victory.

[36] In Game 7, Gibson, who only had 2 days rest, pitched into the ninth inning, where he allowed home runs to Phil Linz and Clete Boyer, making the score 7–5 Cardinals.

[39] Gibson was still looking for win number 20 on the last day of the season, a game where new Cardinals manager Red Schoendienst rested many of the regular players.

[40] The 1966 season marked the opening of Busch Memorial Stadium for the Cardinals and Gibson was selected to play in the All-Star Game in front of the hometown crowd, though he did not as he was hurt at the time.

[51] Gibson lost nine games against 22 wins, despite his record-setting low 1.12 ERA, as the feeble batting throughout baseball included his own team.

After allowing a leadoff single to Mickey Stanley in the ninth inning, Gibson finished the game by striking out Tiger sluggers Al Kaline, Norm Cash, and Willie Horton in succession.

[57] In this game Gibson was matched against Tigers pitcher Mickey Lolich and the two proceeded to hold their opponents scoreless for the first six innings.

[59] The overall pitching statistics in the 1968 season, led by Gibson and McLain's record-setting performances, are often cited as one of the reasons for Major League Baseball's decision to alter pitching-related rules.

[60] Aside from the rule changes set to take effect in 1969, cultural and monetary influences increasingly began impacting baseball, as evidenced by nine players from the Cardinals' 1968 roster who had not reported by the first week of spring training due to the status of their contracts.

[21] Gibson experienced an up-and-down 1970 season, marked at the low point by a July slump where he resorted to experimenting with a knuckleball for the first time in his career.

Ten days later, he threw a no-hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates, beating the eventual World Champions by a score of 11–0 at Three Rivers Stadium.

The no-hitter was the first in Pittsburgh since Nick Maddox at Exposition Park in 1907; none had been pitched in the 62-year history of Three Rivers Stadium's predecessor, Forbes Field.

[72] In January 1975, Gibson announced he would retire at the end of the 1975 season, admitting later on that he only continued to play baseball in order to cope with his recent divorce from his ex-wife, Charline.

[2] He was a fierce competitor who was known to throw brushback pitches to establish dominance over the strike-zone and intimidate the batter, similar to his contemporary and fellow Hall of Famer Don Drysdale.

"[86] Before Gibson returned to his home in Omaha at the end of the 1975 season, Cardinals general manager Bing Devine offered him an undefined job that was contingent on approval from higher-ranking club officials.

[93] He also served as color commentator for baseball games on ESPN in 1990 but declined an option to continue the position over concerns he would have to spend too much time away from his family.

[106] The street on the north side of Rosenblatt Stadium, former home of the College World Series in his hometown of Omaha, is named Bob Gibson Boulevard.

However, he never wore glasses when in uniform or while pitching; catcher Tim McCarver would paint his finger nails to enable Gibson to be able to see signs.