General
Bob Veale, Towering Fireballer for the ’60s Pirates, Dies at 89
A 6-foot-6 strikeout king, he was a star of the Pittsburgh rotation who left batters wary of both his fastball and his wildness.
Bob Veale, a towering left-handed pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates who intimidated National League hitters with his fastball — and his wildness — in the 1960s and early ’70s, died on Jan. 3 in Birmingham, Ala. He was 89.
His death, in a long-term care facility, was confirmed by his sister Valencia Veale Johnson. She did not cite a cause.
For a few seasons, Veale was one of baseball’s most dominating pitchers. He led the league in strikeouts with 250 in 1964, his first full season as a starter, and then struck out 276 in 1965 (a total second only to Sandy Koufax’s 382) and 229 the next season. His earned run average in those seasons never rose above 3.02.
Veale, who stood 6-foot-6 and wore glasses, played on good Pirate teams; his teammates included the outfielders Willie Stargell and Roberto Clemente and the second baseman Bill Mazeroski, who would all be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
In June 1966, after Veale struck out nine Atlanta Braves in an 11-inning complete-game victory, Stargell, who had hit the game-winning home run, said, “Anybody who could pitch the way he did, for as long as he did, just couldn’t lose.”
He added, “Why, I could even see the blue flame rising from his fastball 360 feet away in left field.”
