Bibby attended Fayetteville State University on a basketball scholarship, and also pitched for its varsity baseball team. His professional career began when he was signed by the New York Mets as an undrafted free agent after his junior year on July 19, 1965. With Fayetteville State having discontinued its baseball program in the late-1970s, he was the only player from the university to reach the major leagues.\n', '

After appearing in thirteen games and posting a 2–3 record with an 11.25 earned run average (ERA) with the Marion Mets in 1965, he spent the next two years on active duty with the United States Army as a truck driver in Vietnam. On his return to baseball, he moved up the organization\'s minor league system, first with the Raleigh-Durham Mets in 1968 before splitting time with the Memphis Blues and Tidewater Tides in 1969. His progress was interrupted again in 1970 when a back injury which required a spinal fusion of the first and second vertebrae sidelined him for the entire season and put his career in doubt. He rebounded in 1971 by having his best campaign in the minors as he led all Tides pitchers with a 15–6 mark.\n', '

He never got to play for New York because he was part of an eight-player transaction on October 18, 1971, when he, along with Art Shamsky, Rich Folkers and Charlie Hudson, were sent to St. Louis for Chip Coulter, Chuck Taylor and two players who would later help the Mets capture the National League pennant in 1973, Jim Beauchamp and Harry Parker. Bibby earned a promotion to the Cardinals late in 1972 as the Tulsa Oilers\' top hurler at 13–9, with a 3.09 ERA, 13 complete games and 208 strikeouts. He made his major-league debut at age 27 as the starter in the second game of a Labor Day doubleheader at Busch Memorial Stadium on September 4. Despite surrendering four runs in ​6 1⁄3 innings, he picked up the win in the 8–7 triumph over the Montreal Expos. He made five more starts to finish the season, but lost three of them.\n', '

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