Mark Vincent Bomback (born April 14, 1953) is a former

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 ...

. Bomback played four

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), ...

seasons with the

Milwaukee Brewers The Milwaukee Brewers are an American professional baseball team based in Milwaukee. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division. The Brewers are named for t ...

New York Mets The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...

and

Toronto Blue Jays The Toronto Blue Jays are a Canadian professional baseball team based in Toronto. The Blue Jays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since 1989, the team has played its home games ...

Minor leagues

Bomback was drafted in the 25th round of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft by the

Boston Red Sox The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eight ...

. Over six seasons as a

starting pitcher In baseball (hardball or softball), a starting pitcher or starter is the first pitcher in the game for each team. A pitcher is credited with a game started if they throw the first pitch to the opponent's first batter of a game. Starting pit ...

in the Bosox

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 ...

, Bomback went 59–48 with a 4.21

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 ...

and 681

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 was released at the end of

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 ...

, and signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

shortly afterwards. After going 12–6 with a 4.53 ERA for the

Holyoke Millers The Holyoke Millers were a minor league baseball team located in Holyoke, Massachusetts. The team played in the Eastern League. Their home stadium was Mackenzie Stadium. The Millers played from 1977 to 1982 and was a farm team of the Milwa ...

in 1977, he was able to bring his ERA down to 3.16 in , splitting his time between Holyoke and the triple A

Spokane Indians The Spokane Indians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Spokane Valley, the city immediately east of Spokane, Washington, in the Pacific Northwest. The Indians are members of the High-A Northwest League (NWL) as an affiliate of the Color ...

Milwaukee Brewers

He earned a call up to

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

that September, and was hit hard in his major league debut against the

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West division. The team joined the American League ...

. After striking out the first batter he faced, Bomback allowed a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

, another single and a

double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * Th ...

before he was able to retire another batter. When he walked the next batter,

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

George Bamberger George Irvin Bamberger (August 1, 1923 – April 4, 2004) was an American professional baseball player, pitching coach and manager. In Major League Baseball, the right-handed pitcher appeared in ten games, nine in relief, for the 1951–52 New ...

pulled him before he could complete an

inning In baseball, softball, and similar games, an inning is the basic unit of play, consisting of two halves or frames, the "top" (first half) and the "bottom" (second half). In each half, one team bats until three outs are made, with the other team ...

. He fared far better in his next appearance. Pitching a single inning of "mop up duty" against the

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central Division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area w ...

, Bomback allowed one

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

(to

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a first baseman, second baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minnesota Twins ...

), and retired the other three batters he faced. Despite putting together an impressive season with the triple A

Vancouver Canadians The Vancouver Canadians are a Minor League Baseball team located in Vancouver, British Columbia. They are members of the Northwest League and are affiliated with the Toronto Blue Jays. The Canadians play their home games at Nat Bailey Stadium. ...

(22-7, 2.56 ERA, 151 SO), Bomback never returned to the majors with the Brewers. After the season, he was traded to the

for fellow pitcher

Dwight Bernard Dwight Vern Bernard (born May 31, 1952) is a former Major League Baseball pitcher who is and currently a coach in the San Francisco Giants organization. Belmont University After attending Mt. Vernon Township High School (Illinois), Mount Vernon T ...

New York Mets

Bomback was an early invite to

, and earned a job in the Mets'

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 ...

to start the season. With Mets ace

Pat Zachry Patrick Paul Zachry (born April 24, 1952) is a former professional baseball pitcher. He pitched in Major League Baseball from to , and is likely best remembered as one of the players the Cincinnati Reds sent to the New York Mets in the infamous ...

beginning the season on the

disabled list In Major League Baseball (MLB), the injured list (IL) is a method for teams to remove their injured players from the roster in order to summon healthy players. Before the 2019 season, it was known as the disabled list (DL). General guidelines ...

Tom Hausman Thomas Matthew Hausman (March 31, 1953 – January 16, 2019) was a Major League Baseball pitcher. He was the first free agent signing of the New York Mets. Early career Hausman was born in Mobridge, South Dakota, but moved to California as a chi ...

replaced Zachry in the

starting rotation R rabbit ears :Indicates a participant in the game who hears things perhaps too well for their own good. A player who becomes nervous or chokes when opposing players or fans yell at or razz them is said to have rabbit ears. Also, an umpire ...

. Following a poor performance by Hausman against the

Philadelphia Phillies The Philadelphia Phillies are an American professional baseball team based in Philadelphia. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. Since 2004, the team's home sta ...

on April 22, Bomback was given the opportunity to start despite three unimpressive

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 (5

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 erro ...

s in 5.2

innings pitched In baseball, innings pitched (IP) are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of batters and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher is on the pitching mound in a game. Three outs made is equal to one innin ...

). He responded by holding the Phillies to one run over seven innings the very next day to record his first major league victory. In his next start, he pitched a two hit

shutout In team sports, a shutout ( US) or clean sheet ( UK) is a game in which one team prevents the other from scoring any points. While possible in most major sports, they are highly improbable in some sports, such as basketball. Shutouts are usuall ...

against the Phillies. Upon Zachry's return, Bomback split time between starts and relief appearances. A July 29 victory over the

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League East, East division. The Braves ...

, in which he held them scoreless through seven plus innings, marked his return to the starting rotation for the remainder of the season. A 4–1 victory over the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

on August 10 improved Bomback's record to 9–3 with a 3.83 ERA. From there, however, he faltered. He managed just one more win over the remainder of the season while losing five. For the season, he led the Mets staff with ten victories, and his eight losses were also the least among Mets starters. His 4.09 ERA was third behind Craig Swan and

Ray Burris Bertram Ray Burris (born August 22, 1950) is an American former pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB), and the current rehabilitation pitching coordinator in the Philadelphia Phillies organization. He played in MLB from 1973 through 1987 for seve ...

. During the off season, the Mets acquired former

Cy Young Award The Cy Young Award is given annually to the best pitchers in Major League Baseball (MLB), one each for the American League (AL) and National League (NL). The award was first introduced in 1956 by Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick in honor of Hall ...

winner Randy Jones. Coupled with the expected healthy return of Craig Swan, Bomback was squeezed out of the starting rotation. He was traded to the

at the end of Spring training for a

player to be named later In Major League Baseball, a player to be named later (PTBNL) is an unnamed player involved in exchange or "trade" of players between teams. The terms of a trade are not finalized until a later date, most often following the conclusion of the seaso ...

(

Charlie Puleo Charles Michael Puleo (born February 7, 1955) is a retired Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1981 to 1989 with the New York Mets, Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves. Puleo played baseball at Bloomfield High School.Tuite, James"Mets ...

) as something of a favor to Bomback.

Toronto Blue Jays

Bomback's career in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

got off to a good start. He was 3–1 with a 2.17 ERA following a May 3 victory over the

Baltimore Orioles The Baltimore Orioles are an American professional baseball team based in Baltimore. The Orioles compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League East, East division. As one of the American L ...

. From there, things went south for Bomback, as he went 0–4 with a 5.53 ERA over his next seven starts to close out the first half of the

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

shortened season at 3–5 with a 4.11 ERA. When play resumed following the strike, Bomback was used in relief. He went 2–0 with a 3.10 ERA. A strong Spring earned Bomback the opening day nod for the season. He would get tagged for six earned runs in just a third of an inning to log the worst opening day start in franchise history. A May 12 loss to the

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 ...

put his season record at 1–5 with a 6.86 ERA. He would make eight appearances in relief before being sent down to triple A Syracuse. He would pitch through with Syracuse, going 19–19 with a 3.75 ERA.

Career stats

{, class=wikitable style="text-align:center" , W , L , Pct ,

ERA An era is a span of time defined for the purposes of chronology or historiography, as in the regnal eras in the history of a given monarchy, a calendar era used for a given calendar, or the geological eras defined for the history of Earth. Comp ...

, G , GS , GF ,

SHO Sho, Shō or SHO may refer to: Music * ''Shō'' (instrument) (笙), a Japanese wind instrument * ''Kane'' (instrument) (鉦), a Japanese percussion instrument * Sho?, a Dubai rock band People * Shō (given name), including ''Sho'' * Shō (su ...

, IP , H , ER , R , HR , BB , K , WP , HBP , BAA , Fld% , Avg. , - , 16 , 18 , , 4.47 , 74 , 45 , 8 , 1 , 314.1 , 367 , 156 , 169 , 34 , 110 , 124 , 13 , 8 , .295 , .989 , .233

Bomback proved to be an exceptional hitting pitcher his one season in the

National League The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

. His first major league hit was an RBI double off former Met

Tom Seaver George Thomas Seaver (November 17, 1944 – August 31, 2020), nicknamed "Tom Terrific" and "the Franchise", was an American professional baseball pitcher who played 20 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). He played for the New York Mets, Cinc ...

of the

Cincinnati Reds The Cincinnati Reds are an American professional baseball team based in Cincinnati. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) National League Central, Central division and were a charter member of ...

. On May 2, his fourth inning

bunt Bunt may refer to: * Bunt (community), an elite social group from Karnataka, India * Bunt (baseball), a batting technique in baseball * Bunt (sail), a part of a ship's sail * Bunt Island, island in Antarctica * The Bunt, nickname of the Bunting ...

off

Silvio Martinez Silvio () is an Italian male name, the male equivalent of Silvia. Sílvio is a variant of the name in Portuguese. It is derived from the Latin "Silvius", meaning "spirit of the wood," and may refer to: People * Silvio Berlusconi (born 1936), Itali ...

helped increased the Mets' lead over the Cardinals to 5–1. He then drove Martinez out of the game in the fifth with a double that drove in two. On July 19, he went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs in the Mets' 10–4 victory over the Cards. In , he pitched for the

Winter Haven Super Sox The Winter Haven Super Sox were one of the eight original franchises that began play in the Senior Professional Baseball Association in 1989. The club, playing in the spring training site of the Boston Red Sox, featured numerous former Red Sox pla ...

of the

Senior Professional Baseball Association The Senior Professional Baseball Association, referred to commonly as the ''Senior League'', was a winter baseball league based in Florida for players age 35 and over, with a minimum age of 32 for catchers. The league began play in 1989 and had ei ...

Sources

, o
The Ultimate Mets DatabaseMark Bomback
at Pura Pelota (Venezuelan Professional Baseball League)

: {{DEFAULTSORT:Bomback, Mark 1953 births Living people American expatriate baseball players in Canada Baseball players from Virginia Cardenales de Lara players American expatriate baseball players in Venezuela Holyoke Millers players Major League Baseball pitchers Milwaukee Brewers players New York Mets players Pawtucket Red Sox players Sportspeople from Portsmouth, Virginia Rhode Island Red Sox players Spokane Indians players Syracuse Chiefs players Tiburones de La Guaira players Toronto Blue Jays players Vancouver Canadians players Williamsport Red Sox players Winter Haven Red Sox players Winter Haven Super Sox players