Professional baseball career Jim Bunning

after pitching xavier musketeers freshman, bunning signed professional contract detroit tigers, though continued attend classes @ xavier. bunning played in minor league baseball 1950 through 1954 , part of 1955 season, when tigers club described him having excellent curve ball, confusing delivery , sneaky fast ball . first game in major leagues on july 20, 1955, detroit tigers. bunning pitched first no-hitter on july 20, 1958, detroit tigers against boston red sox. on august 2, 1959, bunning struck out 3 batters on 9 pitches in ninth inning of 5–4 loss boston red sox. bunning became fifth american league pitcher , 10th pitcher in major league history accomplish nine-pitch/three-strikeout half-inning.

bunning pitched detroit tigers through 1963. during 1963 winter meetings, tigers traded bunning , gus triandos philadelphia phillies don demeter , jack hamilton. in first season phillies, bunning entered play on june 21 6–2 record on season. opposed on mound tracy stallard in first game of doubleheader. through first 4 innings, bunning totaled 4 strikeouts through twelve batters. in fifth inning, phillies second baseman tony taylor preserved perfect game strong defensive play. diving catch , throw knees kept mets catcher jesse gonder off bases. bunning had day @ plate, hitting double , driving in 2 runs in sixth inning. end of game, mets fans cheering bunning s effort; had reached three-ball count on 2 batters, , retired shortstop charley smith on pop-out, , pinch-hitters george altman , john stephenson on strikeouts, complete perfect game.

bunning, @ time had 7 children, said game, pitched on father s day (although father s day did not officially become holiday until 1972), not have come @ more appropriate time. remarked slider best pitch, no-hitter pitched detroit 6 years ago . bunning posted first regular-season perfect game since charlie robertson in 1922 (don larsen s perfect game in 1956 world series). phillies won second game of doubleheader, 8–2, behind rick wise, earned first major league victory in first start.

bunning s perfect game first thrown national league pitcher in 84 years. first no-hitter phillies pitcher since johnny lush no-hit brooklyn superbas on may 1, 1906. 1 of 7 pitchers have thrown both perfect game , additional no-hitter, others being randy johnson, sandy koufax, addie joss, cy young, mark buehrle, , fellow phillie roy halladay, additional no-hitter came in game 1 of 2010 national league division series. 1 of 5 players have thrown no-hitter in both leagues, others being young, johnson, nolan ryan, , hideo nomo. bunning first pitcher pitch no-hitter in both leagues, win 100 games in both leagues, , record 1,000 strikeouts in both leagues.

bunning remembered role in pennant race of 1964, in phillies held commanding lead in national league of season, losing title st. louis cardinals. manager gene mauch used bunning , fellow hurler chris short heavily down stretch, , 2 became visibly fatigued september wore on. 6 , half game lead late september 21, lost 10 games in row finish tied second place.

bunning pitched philadelphia through 1967, when phillies began rebuild. phillies traded him pittsburgh pirates before 1968 season 4 players, including woodie fryman. pitched pittsburgh 1969 season, , finished 1969 season los angeles dodgers. bunning returned phillies in 1970 , retired in 1971.

bunning s 2,855 career strikeouts put him in second place on all-time list @ time of retirement, behind walter johnson. mark later surpassed other pitchers, , 17th all-time. despite year in , year out putting excellent numbers, bunning led league in pitching categories. never led league in era; year led league in wins (20, in 1957, detroit tigers) year ever won 20 or more games; did, however, lead league in strikeouts 3 times (with 201 in 1959 , 1960, , 253 in 1967). never won cy young award; closest come in 1967, best year, when @ age 35, came in second behind mike mccormick. finished middling 17–15 record, posted career-best era (2.29), , led league in shutouts (6), games started , innings pitched (40/302.1), , strikeouts (253). year in career earned cy young award votes. did, however, win nl player of month award june 1964, month of perfect game (3–0, 2.20 era, 42 so).

in 1984, bunning elected philadelphia baseball wall of fame. in 1996 elected baseball hall of fame via veterans committee. in 2001, uniform number, #14, retired phillies.

after retiring player, bunning began managing in minor leagues phillies organization. managed reading phillies, eugene emeralds, toledo mud hens, , oklahoma city 89ers 1972 through 1976.