Whose most successful single was a cover of a song written by a retired baseball pitcher?
Bob Gibson Robert Gibson (born November 9, 1935) is a retired American baseball pitcher who played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the St. Louis Cardinals (1959–75). Nicknamed "Gibby" and "Hoot", Gibson tallied 251 wins, 3,117 strikeouts, and a 2.91 earned run average (ERA) during his career. A nine-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion, he won two Cy Young Awards and the 1968 National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. In 1981, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. The Cardinals retired his uniform number 45 in September 1975 and inducted him into the team Hall of Fame in 2014.
Rich Hand Richard Allen Hand (born July 10, 1948) is a retired professional baseball player who played four seasons for the Cleveland Indians, Texas Rangers, and California Angels of Major League Baseball. His most productive seasons were 1970 and 1972 where he recorded over 100 strikeouts and logged over 150 innings pitched in each year.