Baseball History: Jim Bunning

A Hall of Fame career and a Cy Young Award may not always be on the same resume.

Case in point, Jim Bunning. Bunning was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1996.

Although Bunning has an extensive list of accomplishments from his 17-year career, being a Cy Young Award winner isn’t among them.

The closest Bunning would come to earning the honor was in 1967, which was the first year that there were winners from both the American and National leagues.

The right hander was 17-15 for the Philadelphia Phillies with a career-best ERA of 2.29. He also led the NL with 253 strikeouts and in shutouts with six.

Bunning and Fergie Jenkins of the Chicago Cubs both received one vote in the balloting, while San Francisco’s Mike McCormick won the award with 18 of the 20 votes from the writers after posting a 22-10 record.

Unfortunately for Bunning, many of his best seasons were during the era of only one winner.

Had there been twice pitchers honored in those early years from 1956-1966, Bunning might have won the award in 1957 with the Detroit Tigers.

That season, Bunning topped the AL with a 20-8 record with an ERA of 2.69 as the led the way with 267.1 innings pitched.

Bunning made his first of nine all-star appearences as he started and won the 1957 mid-summer classic.

Milwaukee Braves lefty Warren Spahn was selected as the winner of the Cy Young Award that season as he garned 15 of the 16 votes. Dick Donovan of the Chicago White Sox picked up the other tally.

However, the difference for Bunning deserving the AL honor comes from his votes in the Most Valuable Player race. Bunning was ninth, but White Sox teammates Billy Pierce and Donovan were 11th and 13th.

Bunning finished his career with a 224-184 record. He won over 100 games in each league and also tossed a pair of no-hitters. The first was for the Tigers in 1958 and the second was a perfect game in 1964 for the Phillies.

Beginning his career with the Tigers in 1955, Bunning played in Detroit until he joined the Phillies from 1964-1967. Bunning had won 19 games in 1962 with the Tigers before reaching the same number for three straight seasons in Philadelphia from 1964-1966.

He would pitch for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1968-1969), Los Angeles Dodgers (1969) and for the Phillies (1970-1971) again before retiring.

Despite not getting enough votes as a pitcher, Bunning did eventually win at the ballot box when he became a state legislator in Kentucky in 1980. He later was a member of the United States House of Representatives for 12 years and a Senator for two terms. He passed away in 2017.

1957 VOTING FOR CY YOUNG AWARD

Warren Spahn (Milwaukee Braves) 15
Dick Donovan (Chicago White Sox) 1

PRESS ROOM PASS CY YOUNG AWARD WINNERS (1956-1966)

1956 – Billy Pierce Chicago White Sox (20– 9)
1957 – Jim Bunning Detroit Tigers (20–8)

CY YOUNG AWARD WINNERS (1956-1966)

1956 – Don Newcombe Brooklyn Dodgers (27–7)
1957 – Warren Spahn Milwaukee Braves (21–11)
1958 –
Bob Turley New York Yankees (21–7)
1959 –
Early Wynn Chicago White Sox (22–10)
1960 –
Vern Law Pittsburgh Pirates (20–9)
1961 –
Whitey Ford New York Yankees (25–4)
1962 –
Don Drysdale Los Angeles Dodgers (25–9)
1963 –
Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers (25–5)
1964 –
Dean Chance Los Angeles Angels (20–9)
1965 – Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers (26–8)
1966 – Sandy Koufax Los Angeles Dodgers (27–9)

Since 1967, the Cy Young Award has been handed out to the best pitcher in the American and National leagues. However, during the first 11 years of the award there was only one winner.

This series will take a look at who might have won the award, if there had been winners in both leagues in the early years.