RIP: A salute to some baseball greats

Baseball has, over the last several weeks, lost several Hall-of-Famers, including some who were fierce competitors against the Red Sox:

Lou Brock: The speedster was a force in the 1967 Impossible Dream World Series loss in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bob Gibson: One of the greatest pitchers in baseball history, Gibson won three games in the 1967 World Series, including the Game 7 clincher, when he outdueled Red Sox ace Jim Lonborg, who was pitching on two days’ rest. Gibson also followed that up with an overpowering 1968 season, after which the pitching mound was lowered because the hitters were being so dominated by power pitchers.
Trivia question: Which Red Sox player hit a home run off Gibson in Game 1 of the ’67 World Series to account for the only Red Sox run in the team’s 2-1 loss to the Cardinals? (Answer below).
Joe Morgan: The Hall of Fame second baseman was one of the main contributors to the Big Red Machine Cincinnati Reds, and his tie-breaking single with two outs in the top of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1975 World Series proved the difference in the Reds’ victory over the Red Sox in what many still regard as the best World Series ever.
Tom Seaver: “Tom Terrific,” as he was known during his New York Mets days, pitched the Mets to their miracle 1969 World Series title over the powerhouse Baltimore Orioles. He went on to have an incredible career and finished up with the Red Sox in 1986 after being traded to the Red Sox from the Chicago White Sox in mid-season for Steve Lyons. Sox diehards always speculate that if he hadn’t gotten hurt in September, which forced him to miss the postseason, the Sox would have had another top-notch starter to face the Mets and might have broken the curse then; the 1986 World Series defeat instead would go down as the most bitter Red Sox loss ever.
Al Kaline: The great Detroit Tiger loved Fenway Park and was always admired by Red Sox fans for the way he played the game.
Whitey Ford: The great New York Yankee pitcher played with several Hall-of-Famers – Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra – and was one of the reasons the Yankees were a big draw at Fenway Park in the 1950s and 1960s, when the Sox, before 1967, ranged from mediocre to awful.
True baseball fans who appreciate talent among their team’s foes mourn all of these baseball greats.
QUIZ ANSWER: Jose Santiago, the starting pitcher in Game 1 of the 1967 World Series, homered off Bob Gibson to give the Red Sox their only run of the opener. The Sox then won Game 2, before losing the next two, setting up a Lonborg win in Game 5 in St. Louis to send the Series back to Boston, where the Sox put on an offensive show to force a Game 7 on Thursday, Oct. 12 --- Columbus Day (before it was changed to a Monday holiday). Kids across the state were glued to the TV set, but Gibson made it a sad day, as he easily defeated an overmatched Sox team as Lonborg didn’t have his best stuff, pitching with only two days’ rest.