Phillies Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Bunning has died at age 85. The Phillies on Saturday announced Bunning died overnight.
Bunning arrived in Philadelphia in 1964, after spending the first nine seasons of his career in Detroit. As ace of the ’64 Phils, Bunning went 19-8 with a 2.63 ERA, throwing the franchise’s first perfect game on Father’s Day.
As a Phillie Bunning went 89-73 with a 2.93 ERA, 1,197 strikeouts and 329 walks. Lifetime he finished 224-184 with a 3.27 ERA and 2,855 strikeouts, 17th all time; he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.
Bunning’s No. 14 is one of the six uniform numbers retired by the Phillies.
After his baseball career ended, Bunning went into politics, serving 12 years in the U.S. Senate and 12 years in the House as a Kentucky Republican.
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Tim MalcolmTim first found the Phillies as a little infant at Veteran’s Stadium, cheering on a Juan Samuel game-winning home run in his very first game. With the pinstripes in his blood, he witnessed Terry Mulholland’s 1990 no-hitter, “Steve Carlton Night” at the Vet, game three of the 1993 World Series, countless games during the charmed 2008 championship season and various road excursions. Since November 2007 Tim’s been writing about them daily at Phillies Nation, becoming one of the world’s most popular Phillies scribes. You can catch him on Twitter and Facebook, as well. When he’s not talking about the Phils he’s relaxing with a St. Bernardus ABT 12 or one of his many favored brews.
