James Warren Bronstad (June 22, 1936 – April 9, 2022) was an American

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

who appeared in 45

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Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

(

MLB Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...

) for the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Amer ...

(1959) and Washington Senators (1963–1964). Born in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

, he attended R. L. Paschal High School. Bronstad threw and batted right-handed, stood tall and weighed during his ten-season active career. After signing with the Yankees in 1955, he moved up through the

farm system In sports, a farm team, farm system, feeder team, feeder club, or nursery club is generally a team or club whose role is to provide experience and training for young players, with an agreement that any successful players can move on to a higher ...

of the Bronx Bombers until his recall in mid-1959, the least successful season of

Casey Stengel Charles Dillon "Casey" Stengel (; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975) was an American Major League Baseball right fielder and manager, best known as the manager of the championship New York Yankees of the 1950s and later, the expansion New York ...

's 12-year run as the club's

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. After three effective

relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

appearances in Bronstad's MLB debut, Stengel gave him his first big-league

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on June 12, 1959, against the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the American League (AL) Central division. One of the AL's eight charter franchises, the club was f ...

. He allowed six

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and three

earned run In baseball, an earned run is any run that was fully enabled by the offensive team's production in the face of competent play from the defensive team. Conversely, an unearned run is a run that would not have been scored without the aid of an err ...

s through seven full

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, but the Yankee hitters couldn't solve Detroit left-hander

Don Mossi Donald Louis Mossi (January 11, 1929 – July 19, 2019) was an American major league pitcher from 1954 to 1965. He was a left-handed control pitcher whose strikeout-to-walk ratio was regularly among the league leaders (he led the league in 1961) ...

, and Bronstad took the 3–1 defeat. In two other starts, Bronstad gained a

no-decision A no decision (sometimes written no-decision) is one of either of two sports statistics scenarios; one in baseball and softball, and the other in boxing and related combat sports. Baseball and softball A starting pitcher who leaves a game withou ...

June 18 against the eventual

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...

champion

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is owned by Jerry Reinsdorf, and p ...

, but absorbed his second loss six days later against the second-division

Kansas City Athletics The history of the Athletics Major League Baseball franchise spans the period from 1901 to the present day, having begun as a charter member franchise in the new American League in Philadelphia before moving to Kansas City in 1955 for 13 seas ...

, despite again allowing only three earned runs, this time over six innings. Returning to the

bullpen In baseball, the bullpen (or simply the pen) is the area where relief pitchers warm up before entering a game. A team's roster of relief pitchers is also metonymically referred to as "the bullpen". These pitchers usually wait in the bullpen if t ...

, Bronstad kept his

earned run average In baseball statistics, earned run average (ERA) is the average of earned runs allowed by a pitcher per nine innings pitched (i.e. the traditional length of a game). It is determined by dividing the number of earned runs allowed by the number ...

below 3.00 through July 4, but a series of rough outings later that month inflated his ERA to 5.22; his last appearance as a Yankee came on July 25, 1959. The three starts he made that season were his only starting pitcher assignments as a major leaguer. Bronstad remained in the New York organization through

spring training Spring training is the preseason in Major League Baseball (MLB), a series of practices and exhibition games preceding the start of the regular season. Spring training allows new players to try out for Schedule (workplace), roster and position spo ...

of 1963, when his contract was sold to the Senators. He pitched out of the Washington bullpen for the season's first three months, and although he struggled on the mound, he was able to post his only MLB victory on May 2, 1963, against the Tigers. Relieving

Claude Osteen Claude Wilson Osteen (born August 9, 1939), nicknamed "Gomer" because of his resemblance to television character Gomer Pyle, is an American former professional baseball left-handed pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cinci ...

in the fifth inning with the Senators leading 3–2, he held off a Tigers threat and remained on the mound for the final out of Washington's 9–4 victory. However, Bronstad again posted ERAs of over 5.00 during each of his partial seasons with the Senators. In his 45 big-league games, 16 with the Yankees and 29 with the Senators, he had a 1–7 won–lost record with a career 5.48 ERA, with three saves earned as a reliever. In 93 innings pitched, he allowed 110 hits and 37 bases on balls. He also had 45

strikeout In baseball or softball, a strikeout (or strike-out) occurs when a batter accumulates three strikes during a time at bat. It usually means that the batter is out. A strikeout is a statistic recorded for both pitchers and batters, and is deno ...

s. He retired after the 1964 season. Bronstad died April 9, 2022, in Fort Worth, Texas.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bronstad, Jim 1936 births 2022 deaths American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Baseball players from Fort Worth, Texas Binghamton Triplets players Leones del Caracas players Major League Baseball pitchers Monroe Sports players New York Yankees players Quincy Gems players Richmond Virginians (minor league) players Toronto Maple Leafs (International League) players Washington Senators (1961–1971) players Winston-Salem Twins players