LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Jim Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher who parlayed his sports fame into a political career as an uncompromising advocate for conservative causes, has died. He was 85.
Bunning’s family said the ex-senator and baseball great died late Friday of complications from a stroke suffered last October.
The right-hander won 224 games in a 17-year career spent mostly with the Tigers and Phillies. He was the first pitcher in modern baseball history to throw a perfect game in the National League and toss no-hitters in each league, completing both feats against the New York Mets on Father’s Day 1964.
Bunning served 12 years in the U.S. House, followed by two terms in the Senate. A staunch conservative, he was a fierce protector of state interests such as tobacco, coal and its military bases.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press.
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