Bob Veale, a towering left-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates who intimidated Nationwide League hitters along with his fastball — and his wildness — within the Nineteen Sixties and early ’70s, died on Jan. 3 in Birmingham, Ala. He was 89.
His loss of life, in a long-term care facility, was confirmed by his sister Valencia Veale Johnson. She didn’t cite a trigger.
For a number of seasons, Veale was one in all baseball’s most dominating pitchers. He led the league in strikeouts with 250 in 1964, his first full season as a starter, after which struck out 276 in 1965 (a complete second solely to Sandy Koufax’s 382) and 229 the following season. His earned run common in these seasons by no means rose above 3.02.
Veale, who stood 6-foot-6 and wore glasses, performed on good Pirate groups; his teammates included the outfielders Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente and the second baseman Invoice Mazeroski, who would all be inducted into the Baseball Corridor of Fame.
In June 1966, after Veale struck out 9 Atlanta Braves in an 11-inning complete-game victory, Stargell, who had hit the game-winning house run, stated, “Anyone who might pitch the best way he did, for so long as he did, simply couldn’t lose.”
He added, “Why, I might even see the blue flame rising from his fastball 360 toes away in left subject.”
The Pirate announcer Bob Prince known as Veale’s heater a “radio ball” — one which might be heard however not seen.
Veale’s largest flaw as a pitcher was his management; he led the N.L. in walks 4 occasions. That would additionally encourage worry in batters.
“He didn’t have the most effective management, however he had nice stuff, and he would pitch himself out of hassle,” Artwork Shamsky, a former Cincinnati Pink and New York Met, stated in an interview. Veale, he added, was a part of an period by which the Nationwide League had an abundance of aces, amongst them Koufax and Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Bob Gibson and Steve Carlton of the St. Louis Cardinals, and Juan Marichal of the San Francisco Giants.
“They had been overpowering and acquired stronger as the sport went on,” Shamsky stated.
In 1968, the so-called Yr of the Pitcher, Veale’s 13-14 file wasn’t stellar, however his 2.05 E.R.A ranked third within the N.L., after Gibson’s 1.12 and the Large Bobby Bolin’s 1.99.
Veale pitched by means of again and elbow accidents in his later seasons and was shifted to the Pirates’ bullpen in 1971, once they received the World Collection in opposition to the Baltimore Orioles in seven video games. He pitched in reduction as soon as within the collection, giving up a run in two-thirds of an inning.
Robert Andrew Veale Jr. was born on Oct. 28, 1935, in Birmingham, one in all 14 youngsters of Robert Veale Sr. and Ollie Belle (Ushry) Veale. His father performed briefly for the Homestead Grays, a Negro Nationwide League group in Pittsburgh, and labored as a wire drawer for the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Firm. His mom taken care of the house.
Younger Bob performed on sandlots in Birmingham with white buddies through the Jim Crow period.
“We didn’t know we had been breaking segregation legal guidelines,” Veale informed Allen Barra, the writer of “Rickwood Discipline: A Century in America’s Oldest Ballpark” (2014), a historical past of Birmingham’s minor-league stadium. “We weren’t enthusiastic about integrating something.”
As a young person, Veale pitched batting apply for Rickwood’s tenants, the minor league Barons and the Negro league Black Barons; labored on the stadium’s concession stand; and dropped numbers into the scoreboard’s inning slots.
He additionally performed for native industrial groups and attended St. Benedict’s Faculty (now Benedictine Faculty) in Atchison, Kan., the place he performed basketball and baseball. Earlier than he might graduate, as deliberate, in 1958, the Pirate group signed him.
Veale largely excelled in Pittsburgh’s minor league system. In 1959, he pitched a no-hitter for the Wilson Tobs of the low-level Carolina League. Three years later, he struck out 22 batters in a sport for the Triple A Columbus Jets.
He pitched in 11 video games for the Pirates in 1962, then spent all the 1963 season within the majors as each a starter and a reliever. He completed with a 5-2 file and a 1.04 E.R.A.
In 11 years with Pittsburgh, Veale compiled a file of 116-91 and a 3.06 E.R.A. and was chosen for 2 All-Star video games. Pittsburgh bought Veale’s contract to the Boston Pink Sox late within the 1972 season, and the Pink Sox launched him in 1974 after utilizing him sparingly.
In retirement, Veale was a minor-league pitching teacher for the Atlanta Braves and the Yankees. He additionally retained his ties to Rickwood Discipline, the place for a time he labored as a groundskeeper twice per week and helped Mates of Rickwood, the nonprofit group that manages the ballpark, by “chit-chatting” about its historical past to anybody who would pay attention, stated Gerald Watkins, the group’s govt director.
Veale was inducted into the Alabama Sports activities Corridor of Fame in 2006.
Along with Ms. Veale Johnson, he’s survived by his spouse, Eredean (Sanders) Veale; his stepdaughter, Felicia Sanders; 4 different sisters, Lillie Veale Wilson, Emily Veale Ford, Ouida Veale Belcher and Angela Veale Joubert; and two brothers, Russell W. Veale II and Jerry B. Veale.
If batters had been cautious of Veale’s management, or lack of it, they could have been comforted by the truth that he wore eyeglasses. However one evening in Could 1967, when the Pirates had been enjoying the Cardinals at Forbes Discipline in Pittsburgh, a brand new pair was giving him hassle — the suitable lens saved coming out.
Within the third inning, he eliminated the glasses and was getting ready to proceed with out them. However Lou Brock, the Cardinals’ left fielder, refused to step into the batter’s field, even after being ordered to by the umpire Doug Harvey. Brock relented after the Pirates’ pitching coach, Clyde King, introduced out an previous pair of Veale’s glasses.
“I can’t blame him,” Veale stated about Brock afterward. “As a rule, I see six folks after I’m not carrying them.”