Two Hall of Famers
Gregg Allman, right, helped launch Southern rock with the Allman Brothers. Ex-Sen. Jim Bunning, left, was a star pitcher for the Tigers and Phillies.
Jim Bunning, the Hall of Fame pitcher who threw a perfect game and later forged a second career as a fervently conservative and often cantankerous Republican congressman and senator from Kentucky, died Friday in the Fort Thomas, Ky., area. He was 85.
He had a stroke in October.
Pitching for 17 seasons, mostly with the Detroit Tigers and Philadelphia Phillies, Bunning dominated batters with his sidearm righthanded deliveries.
He was the second pitcher, after Cy Young, to win at least 100 games, record at least 1,000 strikeouts and throw no-hitters in both the American and National leagues. When he retired after the 1971 season, his 2,855 strikeouts were second only to Walter Johnson’s 3,509.
Bunning threw fastballs, curves and sliders, overpowering batters and seeking to intimidate them with a gruffness that would be a hallmark of his time in Congress.
Bunning pitched a nohitter against the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on July 20, 1958, retiring Ted Williams for the final out.
After serving as majority leader in the Kentucky Senate, Bunning was elected to the House of Representatives in 1986. He served six terms in the House, then was elected to the Senate in 1998 and reelected in 2004. He spoke out against spending and taxes while receiving national attention for some strange remarks.
While running for a second Senate term, Bunning said that his Democratic opponent, Daniel Mongiardo, resembled one of Saddam Hussein’s sons. And Bunning complained that he and his wife had been roughed up by supporters of Mongiardo at a political event, telling of “little green doctors pounding on my back.”
Although President George W. Bush easily carried Kentucky in the 2004 presidential election, Bunning barely survived the Democratic challenge to his seat.
His fellow Kentucky Republican Mitch McConnell, then the Senate minority leader, declined to endorse him for a third term amid concern by some fellow Republicans over his fundraising ability and his evidently declining popularity back home.
Asked in 2009 whether he felt betrayed by some Republican colleagues, Bunning replied: “When you’ve dealt with Ted Williams and Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra and Stan Musial, the people I’m dealing with are kind of down the scale.”