Jim Bunning: Perfect Game Pitcher, Union Pioneer and Senate Holdout

Got something to say to this podcast? Send a voicemail, and you might hear yourself on the next episode!

Jim Bunning, born in Southgate, Kentucky, in 1931, earned an economics degree from Xavier University in 1953, married his wife Mary in 1952 and raised nine children. He reached the Detroit Tigers in 1955, led the American League with 20 wins in 1957, threw a no-hitter against the Boston Red Sox in 1958 and struck out the side on nine pitches in 1959. With the Philadelphia Phillies he pitched a perfect game against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on Father's Day 1964, the first regular season perfect game since 1922, and retired in 1971 with 2,855 strikeouts, second only to Walter Johnson. As a pension representative for the players' association, he and Robin Roberts brought in Marvin Miller of the United Steelworkers, paving the way for the first collective bargaining agreement in 1968.

Bunning won a seat on the Fort Thomas city council in 1977, became Republican minority leader as a freshman state senator, lost the 1983 governor's race and entered the U.S. House in 1986. In 1998 he narrowly beat Scotty Baesler for Wendell Ford's Senate seat. He voted against Robert Gates for defense secretary and was the only Banking Committee member to oppose Ben Bernanke. In 2010 he blocked a 30 day extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits by objecting to unanimous consent, demanding it be paid for from unspent stimulus money. After a public feud with Mitch McConnell over fundraising, he dropped his 2010 reelection bid and endorsed Rand Paul. He died in 2017.

• He is the only person elected to both the Baseball Hall of Fame and the U.S. Senate.
• In his perfect game only two Mets batters reached a three ball count.
• In 2004 he debated Daniel Mongiardo by satellite using a teleprompter.
• He apologized after saying Mongiardo looked like one of Saddam Hussein's sons.
• He called McConnell a control freak and said party leaders dried up his fundraising.