Story of Cardinals Legend Bob Gibson Shrugging Off a Likely Heart Attack is Amazing

Heart attacks are never something you want to mess around with, and if you're experiencing symptoms, it's best not to ignore them. Usually, they're too painful to simply shrug off and go about the rest of your day.

But it seems like legendary St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Bob Gibson may have experienced a heart attack at 32 years old. Unaware of what was actually going on, Gibson stuck it out and didn't miss any time, staying on the mound for the entire season (which no doctor would advise).

According to this story from Gibson, when he went to the doctor's office for a check up years later, an EKG was performed on him and showed signs of a prior heart attack. Gibson was obviously shocked by the news. To his knowledge, he had never actually experienced one.

But, after he remembered about the terrible chest pain he felt at 32, he came to the conclusion that it had to have been because of a heart attack.

The Hall of Fame ace is actually glad he didn't think anything of the pain at the time, as he states, "If I had gone to the doctor and if I were having a heart attack, I probably never would have pitched after that." He continued by saying, "Good thing I didn't go check it out."

Gibson finished out his career with four more All-Star nods following his likely heart attack in 1968, so it doesn't look like it had that big of an effect on his pitching ability.

With Gibson's recent diagnosis of pancreatic cancer, he'll likely try to summon the pain resistance he displayed back in '68. If he could finish out a season after battling a heart attack, we're sure he'll be able to give cancer one hell of a fight as well.

Cheers to baseball's supreme statesman and badass.