--- title: Jim Bunning: Hall of Fame Pitcher Dies at 85 description: Jim Bunning has died. His death was confirmed by Jon Deuser, who served as chief of staff when Bunning was in the Senate canonical: https://time.com/4796683/jim-bunning-dead-baseball/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-05-27T18:26:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T05:08:55.221Z article:section: Sports og:title: Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Bunning Dies at 85 og:description: Bunning went on to serve in Congress og:url: https://time.com/4796683/jim-bunning-dead-baseball/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a410a64f0d325cb/6988cf3bab6d774c796ae4aa/jim-bunning.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: New York Mets v Philadelphia Phillies og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Bunning Dies at 85 twitter:description: Bunning went on to serve in Congress twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a410a64f0d325cb/6988cf3bab6d774c796ae4aa/jim-bunning.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Bunning Dies at 85 by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 27, 2017 6:26 PM UTC  Jim Bunning is introduced during a ceremony at Citizens Bank Park on Aug. 9, 2014 in Philadelphia, PA. Jim Bunning is introduced during a ceremony at Citizens Bank Park on Aug. 9, 2014 in Philadelphia, PA.Rich Schultz—Getty Images by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff May 27, 2017 6:26 PM UTC (LOUISVILLE, Ky.) — Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Bunning, who went on to serve in Congress, has died. He was 85. Bunning’s death was confirmed by Jon Deuser, who served as chief of staff when Bunning was in the Senate. Deuser said he was notified about the death by Bunning’s family. Bunning won 224 games in a 17-year major-league career and pitched the first perfect game in modern National League history. He became the first pitcher after 1900 to throw no-hitters in both the American and National Leagues. He belonged to a rare group of major league pitchers to throw a perfect game in the modern era. A Kentucky Republican, he was the only member of the Baseball Hall of Fame to serve in Congress. He served in both the House and Senate. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4796683/jim-bunning-dead-baseball/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4796683/jim-bunning-dead-baseball/"},"headline":"Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Bunning Dies at 85","datePublished":"2017-05-27T18:26:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T05:08:55.221Z","description":"Jim Bunning has died. His death was confirmed by Jon Deuser, who served as chief of staff when Bunning was in the Senate","url":"https://time.com/4796683/jim-bunning-dead-baseball/","keywords":["Sports topic","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a410a64f0d325cb/6988cf3bab6d774c796ae4aa/jim-bunning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5a410a64f0d325cb/6988cf3bab6d774c796ae4aa/jim-bunning.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"New York Mets v Philadelphia Phillies","caption":"New York Mets v Philadelphia Phillies","creditText":"Rich Schultz—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4796683/jim-bunning-dead-baseball/","name":"Hall of Fame Pitcher Jim Bunning Dies at 85"}}]}] ```