Former St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson dies at 84 | FOX 2

Gibson’s first contract out of college was with the Harlem Globetrotters, not the St. Louis Cardinals. His roommate during the 1957-58 season, the late Meadowlark Lemon, told the Omaha World-Herald “I thought Bob was a better basketball player than a baseball player,” Lemon said. “I think Bob could have played with any NBA team. He was that good.” Gibson told the paper that basketball had been his number 1 sport, and that if the Minneapolis Lakers had signed him, he never would have played pro baseball.