All these guys dying lately.. Another great one passes, Rest in Peace.

Last inning of his perfect game the year after he went to Philly.. Those good Philly years must have bummed some Tigers fans at the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZNEG_gw1HYI

I was so bullshit when the Tigers traded Bunning to the Phillies for another right fielder Don Demeter and iirc Gus Triandos.
We already had the best Right Fielder in the American League.
First F Bomb in front of my dad. Pop was old school and you didn't swear in the house, but he knew how much I loved the Tigers and Kaline and Bunning. Instead of yelling at me he said in so many words, "There are things in life that you will have no control over. It stinks but life goes on, try to make the best of it".

kalinecountry said:

I was so bullshit when the Tigers traded Bunning to the Phillies for another right fielder Don Demeter and iirc Gus Triandos.
We already had the best Right Fielder in the American League.
First F Bomb in front of my dad. Pop was old school and you didn't swear in the house, but he knew how much I loved the Tigers and Kaline and Bunning. Instead of yelling at me he said in so many words, "There are things in life that you will have no control over. It stinks but life goes on, try to make the best of it".

Click to expand...

Now that's a good Dad.

Bunning was one of the real ironmen of the game ? and as an older player too.

In 1966, for the Phillies, at age 34, he pitched 314 innings, started 41 games, threw 16 completes games.
And (per baseball-reference.com, in a 17-day span of May and June, had five consecutive starts of 9, 10, 9, 9 and 9 innings. He allowed four earned runs in those 46 innings.

How about this great game from July 27, 1966: Bunning (with Bob Uecker catching him) versus Sandy Koufax, Phils at Dodgers.
Bunning throws 11 innings of one-run ball, striking out 12.
Koufax goes 11 innings of one-run ball, striking out 16. Dodgers won 2-1 in 12.
And one aside: In the last game Koufax ever won, later in 1966, L.A. won in Philadelphia, and Koufax (winning his 27th game of the year) outdueled Bunning.

http://www.highheatstats.com/2017/05/jim-bunning-1931-2017/
Jim Bunning 1931-2017.
HighHeatStats

Hall of Famer Jim Bunning has died at the age of 85. Author of the first NL perfect game of the modern era, Bunning recorded over 3500 IP and 200 wins in a 17 year career, mostly for the Tigers and Phillies. While often overlooked among the pioneers of the modern, high strikeout pitcher, Bunning established standards for consistency and longevity that few pitchers since have been able to match.

More on Bunning after the jump.


Bunning pitched over 1000 innings in the Tiger farm system before finally making the big club to stay at age 25 in 1957. He made the most of that opportunity, leading the AL in IP and Wins as he posted what would be the only 20 win season of his career (he would win 19 four times, and 17 three times).
Thus began a streak of 11 seasons of 200 IP and 175 strikeouts, still the longest in majors history and matched only by Tom Seaver (1968-78).
For some perspective, the longest live ball era streak of such seasons before Bunning was only 5 by Dizzy Dean (1932-36), or 6 by Bob Feller (1938-47), excepting seasons that Feller lost, or mostly lost, to military service.

Bunning’s eleven year run featured 10 seasons with WHIP below 1.3,
ten with BB/9 under 3.0, ten with 3 WAR or better, nine with 110 ERA+, eight with 17 or more wins.
You get the idea; his teams knew what to expect from him each year, and
he rarely disappointed.
Among all live ball era pitchers aged 25-35, Bunning ranks fourth in IP, third in starts, seventh in shutouts and eighth in strikeouts.

If Bunning had a bad year in his big run, it came in 1963 with a 12-13 record and 3.88 ERA. At age 31 and with more than 1750 IP in just 7 seasons (plus those 1000+ minor league innings), the Tigers probably figured they were being shrewd in parting with Bunning before he really started to break down.
How wrong they were; instead, Bunning would turn in the best four year run of his career for the Phillies, topping 30 WAR with 141 ERA+ and averaging almost 300 IP for those seasons.
Among live ball era pitchers aged 32-35, Bunning stands first in starts, second in WAR, IP, shutouts and ERA, and third in strikeouts.

For his 1957 to 1967 seasons, Bunning started 399 games, 230 of them won by his team, a .576 winning percentage (93-69).
When he didn’t start, that winning percentage dropped to only .509 (82-80). So, with Bunning on the mound, his teams morphed from also-rans to pennant contenders.
Included in these 11 seasons were his perfect game against the Mets in 1964, another no-hitter against Boston in 1958,
and a one-hitter against Houston, four weeks before his perfecto. To these, Bunning added 7 two-hitters and 15 three-hitters.
Bunning struck out a career high 14 Yankees on Jun 20, 1958, then tied for the Yankee franchise record for most strikeouts in a game.

For the years he was active (1955-71), Bunning ranked 1st in IP, starts, wins and strikeouts, 4th in shutouts and 5th in complete games.
Bunning was the first pitcher to record 1800 IP in each league, a feat matched since only by Fergie Jenkins, Gaylord Perry, Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.
Bunning is also the oldest (at age 34-35) of seven live ball era pitchers (Bob Feller, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Fergie Jenkins, Mickey Lolich and Nolan Ryan are the others) to record 300 IP and 250 strikeouts in consecutive seasons (Jenkins did it four seasons in a row; nobody else more than two).

kalinecountry said:

Bunning was one of the real ironmen of the game … and as an older player too.

In 1966, for the Phillies, at age 34, he pitched 314 innings, started 41 games, threw 16 completes games.
And (per baseball-reference.com, in a 17-day span of May and June, had five consecutive starts of 9, 10, 9, 9 and 9 innings. He allowed four earned runs in those 46 innings.

How about this great game from July 27, 1966: Bunning (with Bob Uecker catching him) versus Sandy Koufax, Phils at Dodgers.
Bunning throws 11 innings of one-run ball, striking out 12.
Koufax goes 11 innings of one-run ball, striking out 16. Dodgers won 2-1 in 12.
And one aside: In the last game Koufax ever won, later in 1966, L.A. won in Philadelphia, and Koufax (winning his 27th game of the year) outdueled Bunning.

Click to expand...

Those were the days. I say today's pitchers count on their BP way too much .. Can't imagine anyone going 300 innings anymore. And CG have almost vanished..

Mitchrapp said:

Those were the days. I say today's pitchers count on their BP way too much .. Can't imagine anyone going 300 innings anymore. And CG have almost vanished..

Click to expand...

I think pitchers pitch differently now. I think the old timers would conserve energy and not go all out on every pitch. Today, I think when a guy throws his fast ball he is going 100% every time. Also, with the money invested in these guys, management is being too careful with them.

tomdalton22 said:

I think pitchers pitch differently now. I think the old timers would conserve energy and not go all out on every pitch. Today, I think when a guy throws his fast ball he is going 100% every time. Also, with the money invested in these guys, management is being too careful with them.

Click to expand...

With the money invested in them they are being too careful.

If you watched Bunning throw his windup, delivery and follow through, he is literally falling off towards first base on every pitch. So he did go all out on every pitch.
They also trained different than today. Back then, every pitcher threw long toss. Best Tigers pitching coach ever Johnny Sain had his pitcher throwing every day like that to build up the arm strength.

kalinecountry said:

With the money invested in them they are being too careful.

If you watched Bunning throw his windup, delivery and follow through, he is literally falling off towards first base on every pitch. So he did go all out on every pitch.
They also trained different than today. Back then, every pitcher threw long toss. Best Tigers pitching coach ever Johnny Sain had his pitcher throwing every day like that to build up the arm strength.

Click to expand...

all of those guys were before my time so I never saw any of them pitch. I was just basing my guess on what I have heard and read about the differences in pitchers today and back in the day. I'm sure there are a bunch of reasons why

tomdalton22 said:

all of those guys were before my time so I never saw any of them pitch. I was just basing my guess on what I have heard and read about the differences in pitchers today and back in the day. I'm sure there are a bunch of reasons why

Click to expand...

They went all out. The difference is they got used to throwing 175 pitches and so forth. BP weren't all that prevalent.. It certainly wasn't because they were taking it easy. How many times do you see a SP go 8 innings 2-hit ball but they're at 115 pitches and he gets taken out? An example, you run 2 miles a day for a year. You're not going to suddenly run 5. Why does a manager trust a closer in that situation than his stud SP who just went 2-hit the other team?

Kershaw, Mr. stud - 3-4 CG a year? His most is 6. He had a sub 2 ERA and only 6?

You are probably too young to see Mark "The Bird" but his rookie year 19-9 2.34 250 innings and a whopping 24 CG. He only started 29 times. That wasn't that long ago.. Man if only he didn't get hurt..

Mitchrapp said:

You are probably too young to see Mark "The Bird" but his rookie year 19-9 2.34 250 innings and a whopping 24 CG. He only started 29 times. That wasn't that long ago.. Man if only he didn't get hurt..

Click to expand...

maybe if they didn't use him that way he would have had a longer career??

tomdalton22 said:

maybe if they didn't use him that way he would have had a longer career??

Click to expand...

I think he hurt his knee shagging fly balls, and after that altered his pitching mechanics and messed up his arm.

tomdalton22 said:

maybe if they didn't use him that way he would have had a longer career??

Click to expand...

So it was the innings but before when guys were throwing 300 on the regular and staying healthy? Anyway, that's a fallacy. Guys get injured today the first game of the season, RP get hurt throwing only ten pitches. That's not it.

kalinecountry said:

I think he hurt his knee shagging fly balls, and after that altered his pitching mechanics and messed up his arm.

Click to expand...

I think that's it, shagging fly balls. I always remember the first few games I'm like "Who is this guy.." He was so awesome. I remember he had his own catcher, Bruce Kimm I believe.

Mitchrapp said:

I think that's it, shagging fly balls. I always remember the first few games I'm like "Who is this guy.." He was so awesome. I remember he had his own catcher, Bruce Kimm I believe.

Click to expand...

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bruce_Kimm

kalinecountry said:

http://www.baseball-reference.com/bullpen/Bruce_Kimm

Click to expand...

Thanks. I didn't realize he was a coach so often. Good for him. That home run was awesome.

https://www.detroitathletic.com/blog/2017/05/30/nine-things-didnt-know-jim-bunning/
Nine things you didn’t know about Jim Bunning.
Detroit Athletic

I almost forgot how Kaline saved Bunning's No-hitter vs. the Red Sox.

Overall, Bunning didn't have much success facing Ted Williams, who did?
But I remember one game he did, papers had Ted Cussing at Bunning and his curve or slider,
after striking out 3 times in the game.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1957/B05160BOS1957.htm

kalinecountry said:

https://www.detroitathletic.com/blog/2017/05/30/nine-things-didnt-know-jim-bunning/
Nine things you didn?t know about Jim Bunning.
Detroit Athletic

I almost forgot how Kaline saved Bunning's No-hitter vs. the Red Sox.

Overall, Bunning didn't have much success facing Ted Williams, who did?
But I remember one game he did, papers had Ted Cussing at Bunning and his curve or slider.
http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1957/B05160BOS1957.htm

Click to expand...

Now I know why the Tigers traded him.. Sad in a way.