When the Phillies retire a number it has to be for a special player. Few players meant as much to the Phillies in the 1960s as Jim Bunning, who went on to be inducted into the Hall of Fame by the Veteran’s Committee in 1996.
Many great players have worn number 14 in Phillies history: Bunning, Pete Rose, and Del Ennis. Philadelphia retired the number 14 in honor of Bunning in 2001 after inducting him onto the Wall of Fame in 1984.
The first nine years of Bunning’s Hall of Fame career were in Detroit where he won 118 games with 78 being complete games, an unbelievable feat.
Philadelphia acquired Bunning along with Gus Triandos for Don Demeter and Jack Hamilton in December 1963. It was one of the great trades in Phillies history as Bunning went on to continue his great career in perfect fashion.
Bunning threw the first Perfect Game in Phillies history on Father’s Day and won 19 games in each of his first three seasons in Philadelphia.
He finished second in the 1967 Cy Young race to Mike McCormick, who had more than 100 fewer strikeouts than Bunning.
After two years with the Pirates and Dodgers Bunning returned to Philadelphia to finish his baseball career before starting a three-decade career in politics, eventually serving in the US Senate.
Bunning posted three seasons that are on the franchise’s all-time strikeout list, and he’s seventh in team history with 1,197 punch outs.