Two-time All-Star Bob Veale passed away, the Pirates announced on Tuesday. He was 89.
Veale, a Birmingham native, signed with the Pirates out of college in 1958. He spent parts of five seasons in the minors before cracking the big league roster in ’62. Veale worked mostly out of the bullpen during his first full major league season the following year. He turned in a 1.04 ERA across 77 2/3 innings to get a full-time rotation role heading into 1964.
The 6’6″ southpaw had a dominant first season as a starter. He started 38 of 40 games and worked to a 2.74 ERA over 279 2/3 innings. Veale won 18 games and led the majors with 250 strikeouts. He maintained a similar pace for the next few seasons. Veale made consecutive All-Star teams in 1965 and ’66. He struck out a career-best 276 hitters while turning in a 2.84 ERA with a 17-12 record in 1965. He won another 16 games while recording 229 strikeouts across 268 1/3 innings the following year.
Veale was among the top handful of pitchers over that three-season stretch. He ranked sixth in the majors — trailing only Hall of Famers Don Drysdale, Jim Bunning, Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal and Bob Gibson — in innings between 1964-66. Koufax was the only pitcher to strike out more hitters. Veale ranked in the top 15 in earned run average among pitchers with at least 400 innings.
While he didn’t quite maintain that pace into his early 30s, Veale remained a productive pitcher throughout the decade. He topped 200 innings with a sub-4.00 ERA in each season between 1967-70. Veale turned in a 2.05 earned run average — his best mark as a starter — across 245 1/3 frames in 1968. That was the 10th-best mark in MLB (minimum 150 innings) even in the so-called Year of the Pitcher. Veale never had great command — he led the National League in walks in four of the five seasons between ’64 and ’68 — but he had some of the game’s best swing-and-miss stuff during his heyday.
Veale’s production dropped sharply in 1971. He was moved to the bullpen and allowed nearly seven earned runs per nine. While it wasn’t a good season individually, the Bucs knocked off the Orioles in a seven-game World Series. Veale made one playoff appearance, giving up a run in two-thirds of an inning. Pittsburgh released him the following year. Veale signed with the Red Sox and worked out of the Boston ’pen through 1974 before retiring. He’d work as a pitching coach in the Braves and Yankees farm systems after his playing days.
Over an MLB run that spanned parts of 13 seasons, Veale threw 1926 innings. He finished with a 3.07 earned run average while striking out more than 1700 hitters. His 1652 punchouts in a Pittsburgh uniform rank him second in franchise history, trailing only his former teammate Bob Friend. Veale won 120 games and picked up 21 saves during his late-career run as a reliever. MLBTR sends our condolences to his family, friends and loved ones.
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