LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) Jim Bunning was an intimidating figure as a major-league pitcher and was just as hard-nosed and uncompromising as a U.S. senator.
”The main qualities it takes for professional athletes and politicians is to have a very thick hide, a thick skin, and to be able to meet and greet people,” he said in July 2000.
Bunning, a Hall of Fame pitcher who parlayed his sports fame into a political career as a staunch advocate for conservative causes, has died. He was 85.
Bunning’s family said the ex-senator and baseball great died late Friday of complications from a stroke suffered last October.