Bob Veale

Robert Andrew Veale (born October 28, 1935 in Birmingham) is a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1962-1972) the Boston Red Sox (1972-1974). He attended Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

Veale was a top strikeout pitcher for the Pirates for about 7 years. He led the league in the category once, with 250 in 1964, although his career-high came the year after in 1965 (276). He also was in the Top 3 in the League, two more times. He was considered one of the hardest throwers in the game at the time. His lifetime ratio of 7.96 strikeouts per nine innings is still a Pirates career record and ranks 24th on the MLB All-Time List.

With the strikeouts came walks as well. He led the league in walks four times, tying a modern record.

Veale won 1 World Series with the Pirates in 1971, when they beat the Baltimore Orioles in 7 games. That year, in 37 games being used as a reliever, Veale was 6-0 with a 6.99 ERA, 40 strikeouts and 2 saves. To go along with that trend, one of Veale's best years, 1968, he had a 2.05 ERA and a losing record, 13-14. That was the lowest ERA since 1914 by a pitcher with more than 20 starts and a losing record.

In a 13-year career, he was 120-95 with a 3.07 ERA in 397 games, 255 starts. Out of the 255 starts, he pitched 78 complete games, 20 of them for shutouts. He completed almost one third of his starts. As a reliever, he accumulated 21 saves. He allowed 658 earned runs and struck out 1703 in 1926 innings pitched.

In 2006, Veale was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.

References

• Bob Veale. (October 11, 2007). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 15:39, January 31, 2008.

External links

• Audio Clip of Bob Veale discussing Jackie Robinson