Bob Veale (born October 28, 1935 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a former left-handed starting pitcher mostly, although he was used in relief as well, in Major League Baseball. Veale was one of the few switch-hitting pitchers all-time. He pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1962-1972) and briefly, the Boston Red Sox (1972-1974). He attended Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas. Veale was a top strikeout pitcher for the Pirates for about 7 years. He led the league in the category once, with 250 in 1964, although his career-high came the year after in 1965 (276). He also was in the Top 3 in the League, two more times. He was considered one of the hardest throwers in the game at the time. His lifetime ratio of 7.96 strikeouts per nine innings ranks fifth all-time.
With the strikeouts came walks as well. He led the league in walks four times, tying a modern record.
Veale won 1 World Series with the Pirates in 1971, when they beat Baltimore in 7 games. That year, in 37 games being used as a reliever, Veale was a remarkable 6-0 with 6.99 ERA. To go along with that trend, one of Veale's best years, 1968, he had a great 2.05 ERA and a losing record, 13-14.
In his lone good year in Boston, he served as a reliever/closer.
In a 13-year career, he was 120-95 with a 3.07 ERA in 397 games, 255 starts. Out of the 255 starts, he pitched 78 complete games, 20 of them for shutouts. He completed almost one third of his starts. As a reliever, he accumulated 21 saves. He allowed only 658 earned runs and struck out 1703 in 1926 innings pitched.
In 2006, Veale was inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame.
