Tommy Bond

Thomas Henry Bond

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 7½",Weight 160 lb.

• Debut May 5, 1874
• Final Game August 11, 1884
• Born April 2, 1856 in Granard, Ireland
• Died January 24, 1941 in Boston, MA USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Tommy Bond was a tremendously effective pitcher in the 1870s, enjoying a ten-year major league career. From 1875 to 1879, his ERA was always in the top five in the league (he led the league twice), and he was also among the leaders in wins, reaching the 40-win plateau three times (in a row) in the period. He was the inaugural winner of a pitching triple crown, pacing the 1877 NL in wins (40), strikeouts (170) and ERA (2.11) as well as shutouts (6). Bond would also win the 1879 ERA crown, 1878 strikeouts crown and two more shutout titles in 1878 AND 1879. Based on similarity scores, five of the ten most similar players to Bond are in the Hall of Fame.

He was the career leader in K/BB ratio from 1881 to 2016. Chris Sale passed his career mark the following year.

Bond is one of forty major-leaguers who were born in Ireland; all are now dead. The deaths of Mike Muldoon and Patrick Horan are unknown, but the other 38 all died in the USA. When he started in 1874 with the Brooklyn Atlantics of the National Association, he was only 18 on a team whose average age was 26.8. In 1877-78, when he was 21 and 22, his team won the pennant. Even in 1884, his last year, he was but 28 (although by then the teams he pitched for had average ages under 24).

Bond coached Harvard in 1879. After his playing days, he was briefly a National League umpire in 1883 and 1885; he also worked a couple of games in the American Association and one in the NA. He later worked in the Boston assessor's office for 35 years.

Records

Bond is the only player since the 1876 founding of the National League to have three straight seasons with 40+ wins (1877-79). No-one else has had three straight with 37+ wins.

Bond was the last survivor of the inaugural season in the National League (1876).

Notable Achievements

• NL Pitching Triple Crown (1877)
• 2-time NL ERA Leader (1877 & 1879)
• 2-time NL Wins Leader (1877 & 1878)
• NL Winning Percentage Leader (1877)
• NL Games Pitched Leader (1878)
• NL Innings Pitched Leader (1878)
• 2-time NL Strikeouts Leader (1877 & 1878)
• NL Complete Games Leader (1878)
• 3-time NL Shutouts Leader (1877-1879)
• 20 Wins Seasons: 6 (1874 & 1876-1880)
• 30 Wins Seasons: 4 (1876-1879)
• 40 Wins Seasons: 3 (1877-1879)
• 200 Innings Pitched Seasons: 8 (1874-1880 & 1884)
• 300 Innings Pitched Seasons: 7 (1874-1880)
• 400 Innings Pitched Seasons: 6 (1874 & 1876-1880)
• 500 Innings Pitched Seasons: 3 (1877-1879)

Related Sites

• Tommy Bond at the SABR Bio Project

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