Let’s get this out of the way so we don’t waste any words or time. Bob Gibson is the end-all-be-all of Cardinals pitchers. No starter, right-handed or (especially) southpawed, can even insert their name into the conversation.

His all-time mark of 251 Cardinals wins is 88 wins higher than the next closest live-ball competitor. His 3,117 career strikeouts top runner-up Dizzy Dean by more than 2,000 strike-threes. This wasn’t merely a means of quantitative success; his 7.22 K/9 rate is also the highest in team history.

Gibson’s career is a rare beast. For almost it’s entirety, he was one of the game’s best pitchers, failing to post an ERA over 3.40 until his final full season. But at certain points over an illustrious 17-year career spent entirely in St. Louis, Gibson elevated his game to, well, Gibsonian levels.

That seems to be the correct term because no pitcher in the history of the sport accomplished what Gibson did at his peak. That otherworldly success may have been short-lived, but that doesn’t make his eye-popping statistics any easier on the corneas.

In 1968, Gibson was the best pitcher who ever set foot on a pitcher’s mound. The Cardinals hurler had showed he was a true ace over the previous two seasons, posting ERAs of 2.98 and 2.44 and leading the Cardinals to a world title in 1967. But as the title-defending 1968 campaign began, Gibson embarked on a journey to make history.

Over 304.2 history and physics-defying innings, Gibson posted a 1.12 ERA—the lowest in the live ball era and perhaps baseball’s most unbreakable record. He posted a 0.85 WHIP and allowed just 5.8 hits per nine innings. Gibson would whiff 268 batters and walk just 62, commensurate with a 4.32 SO/BB ratio that’s only more impressive when broken down.

For two summer months, Bob Gibson was especially untouchable. From early June to the end of July, he allowed just two earned runs in 92 IP. That’s good for a 0.20 ERA, a number that would have made John Kruk and Bobby Valentine’s heads simultaneously explode on live TV.

Opposing batters batted .230—on balls in play—and .184 overall. Opponents rounded out their anemic line with a .233 OBP and .236 SLG, as Gibson allowed just 11 home runs and 33 XBH over the entire season.

The prodigious righty would post 13 shutouts, falling short of Grover Cleveland Alexander’s 1916 all-time shutout record by three remarkable starts. Alexander appeared in 14 more games in ’16 than Gibson did in ’68.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they were unable to defend their title as they fell to the Tigers in the World Series. But Gibson did his part, striking out 17 Tigers in Game 1 of the series.

No one—not Koufax at his short-lived peak or Pedro in his best Fenway-electrifying years—can match such dominance. As a result of his supremacy, the league decided to lower the pitching mound in 1969, but that did little to deter Gibson.

It would have been unreasonable to expect him to continue his pace. But a 2.18 ERA and 20 wins isn’t too shabby for an encore performance. Neither is 23 wins, 274 Ks and a Cy Young Award in 1970—or a 2.46 ERA and 19 wins in 1972.

For whatever reason, Gibson doesn’t get his proper due. His name may tend to appear in most “Greatest Pitcher of All-Time” discussions, but it doesn’t carry the same god-like reverence and household worship that other—perhaps less impressive—greats seem to experience.

Gibson, like Ruth, Ryan, Mays and Seaver, is the type of player whose name deserves to be part of the universal baseball lexicon. But the only time you seem to hear about him is when Tim McCarver brags about catching him.

Memo to Mr. McCarver: a rookie leaguer could have caught Gibson in 1968 and he would have had as much success. And by the way, most of us could also perform just as well as you in the broadcast booth.

Jesse Golomb writes for Baseball Digest and is its All-Time Teams Guru. He is the creator and writer of The Fan Manifesto, a Web site for the educated sports fan. He can be followed on Twitter @TheFanManifesto or contacted by e-mail at JesseGolomb@TheFanManifesto.com.