James Paul David Bunning (October 23, 1931 – May 26, 2017) was an American professional baseball pitcher and politician from Kentucky who served in both chambers of the United States Congress, a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1987 to 1999 and a member of the United States Senate from 1999 to 2011. He is the only Major League Baseball athlete to have been elected to both the United States Senate and the National Baseball Hall of Fame to date.
Bunning pitched from 1955 to 1971 for the Detroit Tigers, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Los Angeles Dodgers. When Bunning retired, he had the second-highest total career strikeouts in Major League history; he currently ranks 22nd. As a member of the Phillies, Bunning pitched the seventh perfect game in Major League Baseball history on June 21, 1964, the first game of a Father's Day doubleheader at Shea Stadium, against the New York Mets. It was the first perfect game in the National League since 1880.