Former Pirates pitcher Bob Veale died earlier this week at the age of 89. When he was in his prime with the Buccos back in the 1960's, radar guns measuring a pitcher's velocity were rare and Next Gen Stats were the stuff of science fiction, but nobody threw harder than Bob Veale. Well, maybe Koufax and Gibson, but surely no one else had a faster fast ball than the 6'6" lefty of the Pirates. The speed with which he threw a pitch prompted on of the all-time great lines from broadcaster Bob Prince: "He can throw a strawberry through a locomotive."
In all, Veale pitched 14 years in the big leagues. eleven of them with the Pirates. He had career record of 120-95, 116-91 with the Pirates, and career ERA of 3.07. He led the NL in strikeouts once and had four seasons where he notched over 200 K's. He also led the league in walks four times, which might explain why batters were often fearful digging in against the big bespectacled Veale. He was twice an All-Star, and was a member of the Pirates 1971 World Series Championship team. In a stretch of four seasons, 1964-67, Veale posted records of 18-12, 17-12, 16-12, and 16-8 for the Pirates. In those years his ERA were 2.74, 2.84, 3.09, and 3.31. He started 143 games in those years with 46 complete games and 12 shut outs and averaged 254 innings pitched per season. Would you want a guy like that on your pitching staff today?
RIP Bob Veale
Veale's death means that only twelve members of that 1971 World Series Pirates' roster are still with us. The chart below lists that roster. The deceased members have a black box beside their names.
1971 | ||
Pitchers | Steve Blass | |
Nelson Briles | ||
Dock Ellis | ||
Dave Guisti | ||
Bob Johnson | ||
Bruce Kison | ||
Bob Miller | ||
Bob Moose | ||
Bob Veale | ||
Luke Walker | ||
Catchers | Manny Sanguillen | |
Milt May | ||
Charlie Sands | ||
Infielders | Gene Alley | |
Dave Cash | ||
Jackie Hernandez | ||
Bill Mazeroski | ||
Jose Pagan | ||
Richie Hebner | ||
Bob Robertson | ||
Outfielders | Roberto Clemente | |
Gene Clines | ||
Vic Davalillo | ||
Al Oliver | ||
Willie Stargell | ||
Manager | Danny Murtaugh | |
Deceased | 14 | |
Still With Us | 12 |
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