Posted on 05/27/2017 11:08:10 AM PDT by Republican Wildcat
Former U.S. Senator and Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Jim Bunning has died at age 85.
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Jim Bunning served as a state senator, becoming minority leader of the Republican caucus in his first term, before winning northern Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District seat in 1986. He mounted an unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1983 against former Gov. Martha Layne Collins and went from the U.S. House of Representatives to the Senate in 1998, where he served for two terms.
Bunning, who suffered a stroke in October, pitched Major League Baseball’s seventh perfect game in 1964 as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies.
Bunning is survived by his wife, Mary, nine children, 35 grandchildren and great-grandchildren...
(Excerpt) Read more at mycn2.com ...
Ping
I was at that game,saw it in full color
And he threw threw no-hitters in both leagues. RIP to a REAL American.
All of these recent deaths, especially Sir Roger Moore’s, has me thinking: “Why now? And who’s the cause?”
Then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit me. The thought was so pure, so right:
Seamus = Mitchell Trubisky = (((them))).
Seamus, you evil mother****er, your comeuppance is going to be on a scale that hasn’t been seen since Hiroshima, Nagasaki or any (aptly named) Black Friday, where the malt liquor “door buster” special sells out in 1/10 of a second. You think you know rapture?
Go worship at the statue of Tupac in Atlanta; Americans will be remembering honorable Homo sapiens.
Philip Rivers is a better man than he is a QB. He donated $500,000 to help start Catholic radio in San Diego. He and his wife Tiffany are lovely, lovely people.
I once met Jim Bunning. Great man. Requiescat in pacem.
ESPN has been claiming, incorrectly, that Bunning was the only baseball Hall of Famer to have served in the U.S. Congress. While he’s the only person elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame *as a player* to have served in Congress, two other baseball HOFers also served in the U.S. Senate: Senator Morgan Bulkeley (R-CT), who was elected to the HOF because he was the owner of the Hartford NL team and the first (figurehead) President of the National League (and because the members of the Centennial Committee in charge with electing pioneers were stupid and ignorant), and Albert “Happy” Chandler (D-KY), who was elected to the HOF because he was the Commissioner of Baseball from like 1944-1953 (and thus was Commissioner when Jackie Robinson broke the color line).
Another HOF pitcher came close to getting elected to Congress (and would have preceded Jim Bunning by several decades): longtime Washington Senators icon Walter Johnson, arguably the greatest pitcher of all time, was the GOP nominee for Congress from a MD district close to DC but lost the election.
Yes, it was or could be. My hometown had a Broklyn Dodgers farm team in the Class D Piedmont League back then. Although I was too young to remember seeing them play, Charlie Neal and Bob Lillis comprised the double-play combo for that team and a year or two earlier Chuck (”The Rifleman”) Connors played first base.
Yes, Class D could be pretty good ball. my hometown had a Class D Brooklyn Dodgers farm team back then. Although I was too young to remember seeing them play, Charlie Neal and Bob Lillis comprised the double-play combo. A year or two earlier, Chuck (”The Rifleman”) Connors was the first baseman.
Apologies for the double post, above.
There was a surprisingly good made for TV movie about the Alabama-Florida League. I guess I should say thinly disguised as they did not call it that but the teams were much the same.
It named a lot of Florida Panhandle and South Alabama towns which actually did have teams in that league.
As I said, a really good movie which most people have never heard of. The title was “Long Gone” and featured a very pretty Virginia Madsen.
Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll try to find it.
Wow, I had no idea Walter Johnson ran for Congress, I guess I never looked at his Wikipedia article, which alleges he mixed up 2 speeches that Joe Martin had written for him, giving farmers the speech for businessmen and vice versa.
http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=27949
I’ve been trying for 18 years to acquire an autograph of Sen. Bulkeley from eBay, but because of his notoriety as a sports figure, the price for one is insane (often $200 or more, higher than some Presidential sigs). I just want one because he’s a Senator and I have most of CT’s Senators.
I see he lost to one of the Byrons. They were Conservative Democrats who frankly should’ve been Republicans (all the way up to Beverly Byron, who preceded Roscoe Bartlett).
I have a similar problem with my collection of autographs of persons named “Button.” : )
If it’s any consolation, Bulkeley has no business being in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Maybe someday people will stop paying such exhorbitant prices for the autograph of a mere footnote in baseball history.
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