Phillies Royalty
Jim Bunning was born 90 years ago today in Southgate, KY. The Phillies were a huge part of his 17 seasons in the major leagues.
Bunning was acquired by the Phillies from the Detroit Tigers with catcher Gus Triandos for outfielder Don Demeter and pitcher Jack Hamilton following the winter meetings in 1963. He immediately became the Phillies ace, nearly pitching the 1964 club to a pennant.
A 20-game winner in Detroit (1957), the slender righthander almost duplicated that in his first four Phillies seasons, 19, 19, 19 and 17. That 17-win season (1967) could have easily been 20 as he was shut out five times (three in September) by a 1–0 score, a major league record. That same season he led the N.L. in shutouts (6), innings pitched (301.1) and strikeouts (253). Hefty nuggets.
In his second season, he struck out a career-high 268, easily smashing Grover Cleveland Alexander’s franchise record 241 set way back in 1915.
A fierce competitor, he was all business, not afraid to back a hitter off the plate. In those first four Phillies seasons he led the league in hit batters. He was basically a three-pitch pitcher, fast ball, slider and curve.
A nine-time All-Star, Bunning was the first to pitch in the Midsummer Classic for both leagues, the first modern-era pitcher to win 100 games in each league, the first 20th century pitcher to throw a no-hitter in each league and the second to record 1,000 strikeouts in each league. Each milestone came in a Phillies uniform.
It was only fitting that Bunning, then a father of seven, would do something special when he took the mound at Shea Stadium on Father’s Day in 1964. He pitched the first perfect game in the National League since Providence’s John Ward blanked Buffalo, 5–0, on June 7, 1890.
Bunning struck out 10, including pinch-hitter John Stephenson to end the masterpiece in the first game of a doubleheader. Temperature that day was 90 degrees. He threw 90 pitches, only 21 were out of the strike zone. He had a three-ball count twice.
“My slider was my best pitch and I had a pretty good curve. I had just as good stuff in my other no-hitter, but I think I’m a better pitcher now,” he said after his gem.
With two outs away from immortality, Bunning motioned catcher Gus Triandos to the mound. “He calls me out and says I should tell him a joke or something, just to give him a breather. I couldn’t think of any, I just laughed at him,” recalled Triantos.
While pitching for the Detroit Tigers, he authored a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox on July 20, 1958, at Fenway Park. The last hitter he retired was Ted Williams.
Jim wound up in the Phillies uniform twice (1964–67 and 1970–71). At age 38, he won the first game at Veterans Stadium (1971).
He came back to throw out the first ball on the Vet’s 10th anniversary (1981), the day his number (14) was retired (2001), the final season opener in Veterans Stadium history (2003), World Series game #5 at Citizens Bank Park (2009) and the 50th anniversary of his perfect game (2014). That has to be a record….most ceremonial first pitches.
When inducted into the Hall of Fame, players have some say as to the cap to be displayed on their plaque. He didn’t hesitate when he was inducted in 1996, the Phillies. He said many times that the Phillies pay attention to their Alumni better than any club. He was a regular during the Toyota Alumni Weekends.
Bunning pitched 17 seasons (1955–71) in the majors for the Tigers, Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates and Los Angeles Dodgers. In 591 games, he compiled a record of 224–184 and a 3.27 ERA. When he retired, his 2,855 strikeouts were second in baseball history to Walter Johnson (3,509).
Following his Hall of Fame career, he managed five seasons in the Phillies minor league system, became a player agent and a stockbroker. He began a very successful political career when he was elected to city council in Fort Thomas (KY) in 1977. His Kentucky political path took him to a State Senator, member of the United States House of Representatives (1986) and the U.S. Senate (1998). He retired from the Senate in 2010.
James Paul David Bunning passed away on May 26, 2017 in Edgewood, KY.
