James Paul David Bunning was an American professional baseball pitcher and politician who represented Kentucky in both chambers of the United States Congress.
60 Facts About Jim Bunning
2.
Jim Bunning was the sole Major League Baseball athlete to have been elected to both the United States Senate and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
3.
Jim Bunning pitched from 1955 to 1971 for the Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Los Angeles Dodgers.
4.
When Jim Bunning retired, he had the second-highest total career strikeouts in Major League history; he currently ranks 22nd.
5.
Jim Bunning was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1996 after election by the Hall's Veterans Committee.
6.
In 1986, Jim Bunning was elected to the United States House of Representatives from Kentucky's 4th congressional district, and served in the House from 1987 to 1999.
7.
Jim Bunning was elected to the United States Senate from Kentucky in 1998 and served two terms as the Republican junior US Senator.
8.
Jim Bunning gave his farewell speech to the Senate on December 9,2010, and was succeeded by fellow Republican Rand Paul on January 3,2011.
9.
Jim Bunning was born in Southgate, Kentucky, the son of Gladys and Louis Aloysius Jim Bunning.
10.
Jim Bunning graduated from St Xavier High School in Cincinnati in 1949 and received a bachelor's degree in economics from Xavier University in 1953.
11.
Jim Bunning played in Minor League Baseball from 1950 through 1954 and part of the 1955 season, when the Tigers club described him as having "an excellent curve ball, a confusing delivery and a sneaky fast ball".
12.
Jim Bunning pitched his first no-hitter on July 20,1958, for the Tigers against the Boston Red Sox.
13.
Jim Bunning became the fifth American League pitcher and the 10th pitcher in Major League history to accomplish an immaculate inning.
14.
Jim Bunning was opposed on the mound by Tracy Stallard in the first game of a doubleheader.
15.
Jim Bunning had a good day at the plate, hitting a double and driving in two runs in the sixth inning.
16.
Jim Bunning posted the first regular-season perfect game since Charlie Robertson in 1922.
17.
Jim Bunning is one of only seven pitchers to have thrown both a perfect game and an additional no-hitter, the others being Randy Johnson, Sandy Koufax, Addie Joss, Cy Young, Mark Buehrle, and fellow Phillie Roy Halladay, whose additional no-hitter came in Game 1 of the 2010 National League Division Series.
18.
Jim Bunning is one of five players to have thrown a no-hitter in both leagues, the others being Young, Johnson, Nolan Ryan, and Hideo Nomo.
19.
Jim Bunning was the first pitcher to pitch a no-hitter, win 100 games, and record 1,000 strikeouts in both leagues.
20.
Jim Bunning is remembered for his role in the pennant race of 1964, in which the Phillies held a commanding lead in the National League for most of the season, eventually losing the title to the St Louis Cardinals.
21.
Jim Bunning pitched for Philadelphia through 1967, when the Phillies began to rebuild.
22.
Jim Bunning pitched for Pittsburgh into the 1969 season, and finished the 1969 season with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
23.
Jim Bunning then returned to the Phillies in 1970 and retired in 1971.
24.
Jim Bunning's mark was later surpassed by other pitchers, and he is currently 21st all-time.
25.
Jim Bunning never led the league in ERA; the only year he led the league in wins was the only year he ever won 20 or more games; he did lead the league in strikeouts three times.
26.
Jim Bunning never won a Cy Young Award; the closest he would come was in 1967, his best year, when at age 35, he came in second behind Mike McCormick.
27.
Jim Bunning did win the NL Player of the Month Award in June 1964, the month of his perfect game.
28.
In 1984, Jim Bunning was elected to the Philadelphia Baseball Wall of Fame.
29.
Jim Bunning managed the Reading Phillies, Eugene Emeralds, Toledo Mud Hens, and Oklahoma City 89ers from 1972 through 1976.
30.
Jim Bunning became active with the MLBPA early in his career, including serving as the pension representative for the American League players and a member of the union's executive board.
31.
In 1965, Jim Bunning joined with Robin Roberts, a founder of the MLBPA, to hire a full-time executive director.
32.
Jim Bunning eventually represented as many as 30 players at one time.
33.
Jim Bunning was elected minority leader by his Republican colleagues, a rare feat for a freshman legislator.
34.
Jim Bunning was the Republican candidate for Governor of Kentucky in 1983.
35.
In 1986, Jim Bunning won the Republican nomination in Kentucky's 4th congressional district, based in Kentucky's share of the Cincinnati metro area, after 10-term incumbent Republican Gene Snyder retired.
36.
Jim Bunning won the Republican nomination for the seat, and faced fellow Congressman Scotty Baesler, a Democrat from the Lexington-based 6th District, in the general election.
37.
Jim Bunning defeated Baesler by just over half a percentage point.
38.
The race was very close; Jim Bunning only won by swamping Baesler in the 4th by a margin that Baesler couldn't make up in the rest of the state.
39.
Jim Bunning was one of the Senate's most conservative members, gaining high marks from several conservative interest groups.
40.
Jim Bunning was heavily favored for a second term in 2004 after his expected Democratic opponent, Governor Paul Patton, saw his career implode in a scandal over an extramarital affair.
41.
Jim Bunning had an estimated $4 million campaign war chest, while Mongiardo had only $600,000.
42.
Jim Bunning was criticized for his use of a teleprompter during a televised debate with Mongiardo where Jim Bunning participated via satellite link, refusing to appear in person.
43.
Jim Bunning was further criticized for making an unsubstantiated claim that his wife had been attacked by Mongiardo's supporters, and for calling Mongiardo "limp wristed".
44.
Jim Bunning won by just over one percentage point after the western portion of the state broke heavily for him.
45.
Jim Bunning was outspoken on the issue of illegal immigration, taking the position that all illegal immigrants should be deported.
46.
Jim Bunning was the only member of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to have opposed Ben Bernanke for Chief of the Federal Reserve.
47.
Jim Bunning said it was because he had doubts that Bernanke would be any different from Alan Greenspan.
48.
Jim Bunning reportedly blocked the move to restore public access to the records of past United States Presidents which had been removed under Executive Order 13233.
49.
In January 2009, Jim Bunning missed more than a week of the start of Congress.
50.
In February 2009, at the Hardin County Republican Party's Lincoln Day Dinner, while discussing conservative judges, Jim Bunning predicted that Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would likely be dead from pancreatic cancer within nine months.
51.
Jim Bunning later apologized if he had offended Ginsburg with his remarks and offered his thoughts and prayers to Ginsburg.
52.
Jim Bunning was the only senator to miss the Senate's historic Christmas Eve 2009 vote on the health care reform bill; he cited family commitments as his reason for missing the vote.
53.
On February 25,2010, Jim Bunning objected to a proposal of unanimous consent for an extension of unemployment insurance, COBRA, and other federal programs, citing that this extension was not pay-as-you-go.
54.
Jim Bunning proposed an amendment which sought to find the funds to pay for the bill from the Stimulus Bill of 2009, and declared that he supported the unemployed, but that a bill such as this only adds to the growing deficit and that it should be paid for immediately.
55.
Jim Bunning responded by threatening to sue the National Republican Senatorial Committee if they recruited a candidate to run against him in the primary.
56.
Bunning's non-profit foundation, the Jim Bunning Foundation, has given less than 25 percent of its proceeds to charity.
57.
The charity has taken in $504,000 since 1996, according to Senate and tax records; during that period, Senator Jim Bunning was paid $180,000 in salary by the foundation while working a reported one hour per week.
58.
In 2008, records indicate that Jim Bunning attended 10 baseball shows around the country and signed autographs, generating $61,631 in income for the charity.
59.
Jim Bunning died at a hospice facility in Edgewood, Kentucky on May 26,2017, aged 85, following a stroke he suffered in October 2016.
60.
In 2005, Jim Bunning received the United States Sports Academy's highest honor, the Eagle Award, which is given in recognition of an individual's significant contributions to international sport.