Tommy Bond was born on April 2, 1856, in Granard, Ireland, to an English father and Irish mother.[1] The family migrated to Brooklyn, New York, in 1862, and Tommy played amateur and semiprofessional baseball there in the early 1870s.[1]
On October 20 of his rookie year, he fell one out short of what would have been major league baseball's first no-hitter. Two years later, he was the losing pitcher in the first successful no-hitter, hurled by George Bradley on July 15, 1876.[1]
During his 10-season career, he was a three-time 40-game winner, played for two National League pennant-winning clubs, and regularly finished in the top ten in many pitching categories. In 1877, he was the first winner of baseball's pitching Triple Crown, leading the NL in wins (40), earned run average (2.11), and strikeouts (170). His career statistics include a record of 234–163, 386 complete games in 408 starts, 42 shutouts, and an ERA of 2.31. Bond also played 92 games in the outfield, a few more in the infield, and batted .238 with 174 RBI and 213 runs scored. Bond currently holds the third-best strikeouts per walks rate in baseball history, at a 5.0363 ratio, for pitchers who threw a minimum 1,000 innings. Bond previously held the record for over 130 years, and as of 2018 still holds the record for retired pitchers.[3]
Bond married his wife, Louise, in 1879, and they had three children.[1]
After retirement from pro baseball, Bond worked stints as an umpire in the National League, minor leagues, and college games.[1] He also worked in his wife's family leather business and then for the city of Boston for decades.[1]
Bond received a single Hall of Fame vote from the Veterans Committee's 1936 ballot.[3]
