Former U.S. senator and Hall of Famer died

Former United States Senator and Major League Baseball player Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) has died, the Associated Press reported on Saturday.

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Bunning, who was 85, served in the House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate. He served in the upper chamber of Congress from 1999 to 2011. 

Before entering politics, Bunning was known for his career as a pitcher in Major League Baseball. He is part of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Bunning was known for his pro-life views, Kentucky’s The Courier-Journal noted. The senator during his tenure in Congress repeatedly voted for measures to restrict abortion.

“My training, from the very first day that I was trained as a kid, was that anything like that was wrong,” the newspaper quoted Bunning from an old interview. “Not only legally wrong, but morally wrong.”

Bunning also launched a failed bid for governor of Kentucky in 1983.