Win–loss record 97–100 Role Baseball player Name Frank Sullivan | Strikeouts 959 Earned run average 3.60 | |
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Franklin Leal Sullivan (January 23, 1930 – January 19, 2016) was an American right-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and Minnesota Twins over parts of eleven seasons spanning 1953–1963. Sullivan was named to the American League All-Star team in 1955 and 1956, and was elected to the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sullivan was one of the tallest pitchers of his time, at 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 m). After the 1960 season, the Red Sox traded him to the Phillies for another towering right-hander, 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) Gene Conley. Coincidentally, Conley had been the winning pitcher and Sullivan the loser of the 1955 All-Star Game. A walk-off home run by Stan Musial on the first pitch from Sullivan brought the 1955 All-Star Game to an abrupt end in the bottom of the 12th inning. Sullivan had entered the game in the eighth and held the National League scoreless during three consecutive innings.
In 1955, Sullivan topped the American League with 260 innings pitched and tied with Whitey Ford for the most wins (18). For his career, he posted a 97-100 record with a 3.60 earned run average in 351 pitching appearances.
In September 2008, Sullivan published a memoir entitled Life Is More Than 9 Innings.
He was one of the subjects of the 1957 Norman Rockwell painting The Rookie.
Sullivan died in Lihue, Hawaii from pneumonia on January 19, 2016 at the age of 85.