Hall of Fame pitcher and former US Senator Jim Bunning has passed away, the Phillies have announced. He was 85 and had suffered a stroke last fall.
Bunning was born in Southgate, Kentucky, outside Cincinnati, and attended a Cincinnati high school and Xavier University. He spent several years in the Tigers’ minor-league system before debuting in the big leagues with Detroit in 1955. He received five All-Star berths as a member of the Tigers before heading to Philadelphia in 1964. There, he continued to rate as one of the game’s best starting pitchers, finishing second in NL Cy Young balloting in 1967 while leading the league in both innings pitched (302 1/3) and strikeouts (253).
Bunning made brief stops with the Pirates and Dodgers before finishing his career with two seasons in Philadelphia. He ended up with 224 wins, 2,855 strikeouts (second to Walter Johnson on the all-time list at the time of his retirement), a no-hitter, and a perfect game. As a pitcher, Bunning was known for his sidearm delivery and his reliability (he threw 200 or more innings in 11 straight seasons). He was selected to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 1996.
Bunning then embarked on a career in politics, serving in local and state roles in Kentucky before being elected to the US House of Representatives as a Republican in 1986. He won a Senate seat in 1998 and served two terms, leaving the body after announcing he would not run for reelection in 2010. He lived in his native Southgate at the time of his passing.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
awwwww, RIP JIM
very nice man…will be missed
He also pitched a perfect game against the nets on Father’s Day 1964. I was there.
Meant to say mets
Who couldn’t pitch a perfect game against a basketball team. The strike zone was huge!
Anyone on the Braves
300 innings pitched, You will most likely never see a player pitch 300 innings in a season during our life time.
Steve Carlton was the last pitcher to toss 300 innings (304) in 1980 with the Phillies. Up until that point and back to 1961, when MLB expanded its regular season schedule form 154 to 162 games, 300+ innings pitched was an annual occurrence in the game.
Normally SP’s get approximately 32-34 starts so to average 300 IP in a season, they would have to pitch almost 8.82 IP (34 starts) every time out. It won’t ever be done again Bc of the money teams are dishing out to these pitchers and how anything above 7 IP is considered working deep now. Bullpen phase has ultimately made this stat ancient now. It would be cool to see it happen though.
Since teams switched from a 4 man to a 5 man rotation, this will not happen again. Pitchers used to get 40 starts a year and even then it was rare after the expansion era (1961) started.
Yes. If it did occur, it would probably be with a pitcher who threw a knuckleball ala Phil Niekro and Wilbur Wood. They not only exceeded the annual 300 inning mark regularly but were also able to start extra games each season.
As an example, in a four season stretch from 1971-1974, Wood averaged 45.5 starts and 348 innings pitched annually, including 49 starts and 376.2 IP in 1972 when he posted a 24-17 record and 2.51 ERA. Despite completing 85 contests in that span, Wood never led the AL in any of those seasons.
In a three year span from 1977-1979, HOF pitcher Niekro averaged 43 starts and 336 innings pitched. He also completed 65 games in that time frame, leading the NL each season.
Wilbur Wood. One of faves. Won AND lost 20 games IN THE SAME SEASON. 24-20 record in 1973. Gotta love it
Phil Niekro did the same in 1979 (21-20). Definitely a rare thing, even back in those days.
The ChiSox’ Chuck Tanner used a 3-man rotation 1971-1975.
Wilbur Wood
Tom Bradley – Jim Kaat
Tommy John – Stan Bahnsen – Claude Osteen
RIP
RIP, Mr. Bunning. I always thought it was lousy that he had to wait 20 years to get in the HOF. He spent a good deal of his career with lousy teams.
I am a Kentuckian, so it is difficult for me to separate the player from the politician I spent a lot of time in college campaigning against. But this is not a time for politics. He was a fantastic pitcher and a great American in spite of our political differences. RIP
Extremely nice man. Met him multiple times. Rip Senator Jim.
Did you know that Jim Bunning, a father of seven children at the time, pitched the best game of his career on the best day he could imagine —A perfect game for the Phillies against the Mets on Father’s Day, June 21, 1964 at Shea Stadium. He struck out 10 of the 27 Mets he faced.
Btw-Bunning’s no-hitter as a Tiger on July 20, 1958 might have been a more impressive outing. It was in Fenway Park against the Red Sox. He fanned 12 and allowed 2 walks in the game. The final out was recorded when he got Ted Williams to fly out to RF to end the game. The 39-year old Williams went 0-4 in the contest and was in the midst of his final full time season with the Red Sox but he was still a formidable hitter who posted a .328/.458/.583 triple slash. Williams retired following the 1960 season at age 42 but could still hit, putting up a .316/.451/.645 slash in his final 113 games and 390 PA’s.
RIP to Mr. Bunning, a great MLB pitcher.
Man, tough day today with the passing of two icons from my youth…Jim Bunning and Gregg Allman. The two men had a couple of things in common and likely little else. Both hailed from the South and were Hall of Famers in their respective careers as entertainers. One was a MLB pitcher/GOP Congressman and the other a soulful singing front man/keyboardist/guitar player with the Allman Brothers Band. Enjoyed them both growing up and their passing just made me feel a whole lot older.
RIP
Exactly my thoughts. Well except I’m a lifelong Phillies Phan but only 26. I’ve followed their history into the way back eras and have always looked back to Bunning through old highlights reels and anecdotes.
Greg on the other hand I’ve had the pleasure of seeing on stage more than ten times or so. Also had a lot of shows I was supposed to see him play canceled because of his declining health.
Rest easy heroes.
RIP….Great career in baseball and politics.
When the Tigers traded Jim Bunning at the end of the 1963 season, will have to go down as one of their worst trades in their history. They traded a number one starter and got nothing in return. RIP Mr. Bunning.
It was one of the Detroit Tigers worst trades. You can argue for any one of these seven :
13 DEC 1927: Lu Blue and Heinie Manush for Elam Vanguilder, Chick Galloway and Harry Rice. New Manager George Moriarty hated Ty Cobb and immediately began to move all Ty’s players out of Detroit. Heinie Manush had a HOF career and lead off hitter 1B Lu Blu played five more seasons in the AL scoring 100+ runs and 100+ BBs in three of them. Harry Rice played two average seasons in Detroit and was packaged and traded away for two over-the-hill Yankees. Former stars, Galloway and Vanguilder each were at the end of their careers.
02 NOV 1999: Francisco Cordero, Frank Catalanotto, Gabe Kapler, Bill Hasselman Alan Webb and Justin Thompson for Juan Gonzalez, Danny Patterson and Gregg Zahn. Beginning 1995, every off-season, the Tigers changed their plan for the type of team they were building. This trade not only continued that trend, they completely gutted the team for one player in hope to draw fans to their new stadium. Juan Gonzalez brought his bad attitude to Detroit and gave his worst season performance of his career. Meanwhile, Cordero became a star CL and the Tigers could’ve used Kapler and Cat for years to come.
05 DEC 1963: Jim Bunning and Gus Triandos for Don Demeter and Jack Hamilton. The Tigers mistakenly assumed Bunning was past is prime but, he had 4 more great seasons on his way to the HOF. Don Demeter was used as a super sub for two seasons and eventually traded in a package for Earl Wilson.
10 NOV 1948: Billy Pierce and $10k for Aaron Robinson. The Tigers built an outstanding team for 1949 and 1950 seasons but desperately needed a catcher. Robinson was the best available option. Unfortunately, the Tigers fell to the injury bug in 1949 and couldn’t beat the Yankees head to head in 1950 and lost out by 3 games. Billy Pierce was one of the best SPs in the 1950s, His Managers were known to scheduled him to pitch against other teams aces..
30 OCT 1922: Howard Ehmke, Babe Herman, Danny Clark and Carl Holling and $25K for Rip Collins and Del Pratt. Del Pratt competed with Eddie Collins as the best 2B of the 1910s. However, in Detroit, Pratt was near the end of his career and a shell of his glory years. Rip Collins always beat the Tigers and Ty Cobb absolutely coveted him. Cobb would give up almost anything to get him, including his best pitcher, Howard Ehmke. Unfortunately, Rip brought his poor after hours lifestyle with him and made Cobb regret the trade. Ehmke’s career was only half started, As a starter, he pitched for poor teams but was one of the better SPs in the AL . His most famous victory was his last as the A’s game 1 starter in the 1929 WS where he held the then record 13 Ks.
18 AUG 1915: Baby Doll Jacobson for Bill James. Along with 1950 and 1961 teams, the 1915 Tigers are among the greatest teams that didn’t win the pennant. The Tigers needed a veteran SP but, the Federal League war had taken most of the useful pitchers from the pool. The Tigers swung a deal with Branch Rickey for Bill James. James had a good season in 1914 but, he was just average thereafter. The 1915 Tigers won 100 games but lost out to the Red Sox (Whom I believe had the greatest overall pitching staff of all-time). What makes this bad is that 1915 was Sam Crawford’s last season as a regular. Baby Doll Jacobson would’ve filled that void perfectly. He soon after became one of the best CFs the 1st half of the 1920s.
12 AUG 1987: John Smoltz for Doyle Alexander. Doyle carried Detroit into the 1987 playoffs but it was Detroit’s last hurrah. After that, the Tigers were so bad, Smoltz wouldn’t have ever made a difference to the Tigers’ fortune. However, with the Braves for the next 10+ years, he becomes a member of one of the greatest SP rotations in MLB history.
Wow, I am impressed, you know your Tiger History. That was a great top seven list.
All Time Greatest Pitching Staff for two different teams:
Philadelphia Phillies
Pete Alexander
Robin Roberts
Steve Carlton
Jim Bunning
Curt Schilling
Charlie Ferguson
Tully Sparks
Detroit Tigers
Hal Newhouser
Mickey Lolich
Jim Bunning
Hooks Dauss
George Mullin
Justin Verlander
Jack Morris