Bob Bolin obit

Bobby Bolin, former Giants pitcher, dead at 84

 

He was not on the list.

Bobby Bolin, a former Giants pitcher who was one of the original inductees to the team’s Wall of Fame, died June 2 at 84, according to an online obituary.

A cause of death was not given.

Bolin was a right-handed starter and reliever in the majors for 13 seasons with the Giants, Brewers and Red Sox.

A reliable pitcher, Bolin finished in the top 10 in the National League three times for ERA and twice for shutouts and winning percentage.

“I was never classified as a starter or as a reliever, so I mostly sat on a tarp between the bullpen and the dugout because I didn’t know which one I’d be doing,” he once said.

In 1968, a season known as The Year of the Pitcher, Bolin went 10-5 with a 1.99 ERA in 34 appearances, including 19 starts, with six complete games and three shutouts.

Cardinals ace Bob Gibson famously pitched to a microscopic 1.12 ERA that season but on September 6, Bolin outdueled the St. Louis star in a 3-2 win.

Bolin grew up in South Carolina and pitched four no-hitters in one season at Hickory Grove High School.

He grew up as a Dodgers fan but when Giants scout Tim Murchison explained he would have a better chance of making the big leagues with the Giants, Bolin signed.

Bolin made his MLB debut in 1961 and was on the 1962 pennant-winning Giants, appearing in two games in the World Series against the Yankees, a series San Francisco would lose in seven games.

The sidearmer went a career-best 14-6 in 1965.

The following season he set career-highs with 10 complete games and four shutouts despite a pedestrian 11-10 record.

Bolin pitched for the Giants through the 1969 season and finished his career in the American League with the Brewers and Red Sox.

He is survived by his wife of 64 years, Irene White Bolin, as well as two children, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

He appeared in 495 games in Major League Baseball over 13 seasons (1961–1973) for the San Francisco Giants (1961–1969), Milwaukee Brewers (1970) and Boston Red Sox (1970–1973). A right-hander, Bolin was born in Hickory Grove, South Carolina, and was listed as 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and 185 pounds (84 kg).

He entered pro ball after signing with the New York Giants on November 10, 1956, at the age of 17 out of Rock Hill High School. He spent four seasons moving up through the Giants' farm system until making the San Francisco roster in the spring of 1961. H played for the Michigan City White Caps, St. Cloud Rox, Eugene Emeralds, Tacoma Giants, Rio Grande Valley Giants and the Louisville Colonels.

Bolin began and ended his 13-year career as a relief pitcher, but from 1964 to 1970 he started for the majority of his appearances. He reached double figures in victories four times, and in strikeouts six times, as a Giant. In 1968, Bolin had the second-best earned run average (ERA) in the National League, 1.99, behind only Bob Gibson's record-setting mark of 1.12. Bolin finished in the NL's top ten three times for ERA, WHIP, and hit batsmen, and twice for shutouts, strikeouts per nine innings pitched, winning percentage and bases on balls allowed.

As a relief pitcher, he set a career-high with a club-leading 15 saves for the 1973 Red Sox, but Boston released him at the conclusion of spring training in 1974, ending Bolin's career.

In all, he pitched in 495 MLB games (164 starts), with 32 complete games, ten shutouts and 161 games finished. He posted a career won–lost mark of 88–75, with 50 saves and an ERA of 3.40, permitting 1,387 hits and 597 bases on balls (along with 1,175 strikeouts) in 1,576 innings pitched. As a member of the 1962 National League champion Giants (for whom Bolin went 7–3 with six saves), he appeared in two games of the 1962 World Series against the New York Yankees, allowing four hits and two earned runs in 22⁄3 innings pitched.