Story highlights Bunning played in major leagues for 15 years before joining Congress

Baseball Hall of Fame member served in Congress from 1987 to 2011

Washington (CNN) Former US Sen. Jim Bunning, the only National Baseball Hall of Fame member ever to serve in Congress, has died at the age of 85.

Bunning, a staunch conservative from northern Kentucky, was elected six times to the US House starting in 1986 before winning the first of two terms for the US Senate in 1998.

The six-foot, three-inch Bunning was a strong, right-handed pitcher who scored more than 100 wins and a no-hitter in each of the two major leagues where he played over the course of 15 years in Major League Baseball beginning in 1955.

Later moving into politics, Bunning went after his opponents with a similar velocity in his second career in Congress.

Bunning decided to leave the Senate in 2010 after tension with his own party

Read More