:Mark Bomback (baseball)

{{Infobox baseball biography

|name = Mark Bomback

|image =

|alt =

|caption =

|team =

|number =

|position = Pitcher

|birth_date = {{birth date and age|1953|04|14}}

|birth_place= Portsmouth, Virginia, U.S.

|death_date =

|death_place=

|bats = Right

|throws = Right

|debutleague= MLB

|debutdate = September 12

|debutyear = 1978

|debutteam = Milwaukee Brewers

|finalleague= MLB

|finaldate = July 21

|finalyear = 1982

|finalteam = Toronto Blue Jays

|stat2label = Earned run average

|stat2value = 4.47

|stat3label = Strikeouts

|stat3value = 124

|statleague = MLB

|stat1label = Win–loss record

|stat1value = 16–18

|teams =

Milwaukee Brewers ({{mlby|1978}})
New York Mets ({{mlby|1980}})
Toronto Blue Jays ({{mlby|1981}}–{{mlby|1982}})

}}

Mark Vincent Bomback (born April 14, 1953) is a former professional baseball pitcher. Bomback played four Major League Baseball seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers, New York Mets and Toronto Blue Jays.

Minor leagues

Bomback was drafted in the 25th round of the 1971 Major League Baseball draft by the Boston Red Sox. Over six seasons as a starting pitcher in the Bosox farm system, Bomback went 59–48 with a 4.21 earned run average and 681 strikeouts. He was released at the end of Spring training {{baseball year|1977}}, and signed as a free agent with the Milwaukee Brewers shortly afterwards. After going 12–6 with a 4.53 ERA for the Holyoke Millers in 1977, he was able to bring his ERA down to 3.16 in {{baseball year|1978}}, splitting his time between Holyoke and the triple A Spokane Indians.

Milwaukee Brewers

He earned a call up to Milwaukee that September, and was hit hard in his major league debut against the Seattle Mariners. After striking out the first batter he faced, Bomback allowed a single, home run, another single and a double before he was able to retire another batter. When he walked the next batter, manager George Bamberger pulled him before he could complete an inning.{{Cite web |date=September 12, 1978 |title=Seattle Mariners 6, Milwaukee Brewers 5 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA197809120.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} He fared far better in his next appearance. Pitching a single inning of "mop up duty" against the Minnesota Twins, Bomback allowed one hit (to Hall of Famer Rod Carew), and retired the other three batters he faced.{{Cite web |date=September 15, 1978 |title=Minnesota Twins 10, Milwaukee Brewers 3 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SEA/SEA197809120.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }}

Despite putting together an impressive {{baseball year|1979}} season with the triple A Vancouver Canadians (22–7, 2.56 ERA, 151 SO), Bomback never returned to the majors with the Brewers. After the season, he was traded to the New York Mets for fellow pitcher Dwight Bernard.

New York Mets

Bomback was an early invite to Spring training,{{Cite web |date=February 2, 1980 |title=Mets Early Birds Will Start Feb. 22 |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=950&dat=19800202&id=TGdQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=qFgDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1637,600182 |newspaper=Evening Independent}} and earned a job in the Mets' bullpen to start the {{baseball year|1980}} season. With Mets ace Pat Zachry beginning the season on the disabled list, Tom Hausman replaced Zachry in the starting rotation. Following a poor performance by Hausman against the Philadelphia Phillies on April 22,{{Cite web |date=April 22, 1980 |title=Philadelphia Phillies 14, New York Mets 8 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI198004220.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} Bomback was given the opportunity to start despite three unimpressive relief appearances (5 earned runs in 5.2 innings pitched). He responded by holding the Phillies to one run over seven innings the very next day to record his first major league victory.{{Cite web |date=April 23, 1980 |title=New York Mets 3, Philadelphia Phillies 2 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/PHI/PHI198004230.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} In his next start, he pitched a two hit shutout against the Phillies.{{Cite web |date=April 30, 1980 |title=New York Mets 2, Philadelphia Phillies 0 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198004300.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }}

Upon Zachry's return, Bomback split time between starts and relief appearances. A July 29 victory over the Atlanta Braves, in which he held them scoreless through seven plus innings,{{Cite web |date=July 29, 1980 |title=New York Mets 2, Atlanta Braves 1 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198007290.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} marked his return to the starting rotation for the remainder of the season. A 4–1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on August 10{{Cite web |date=August 10, 1980 |title=New York Mets 4, St. Louis Cardinals 1 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198008100.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} improved Bomback's record to 9–3 with a 3.83 ERA.

From there, however, he faltered. He managed just one more win over the remainder of the season{{Cite web |date=October 4, 1980 |title=New York Mets 5, St. Louis Cardinals 2 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198010040.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} while losing five. For the season, he led the Mets staff with ten victories, and his eight losses were also the least among Mets starters. His 4.09 ERA was third behind Craig Swan and Ray Burris.

During the off season, the Mets acquired former Cy Young Award winner Randy Jones. Coupled with the expected healthy return of Craig Swan, Bomback was squeezed out of the starting rotation. He was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays at the end of Spring training for a player to be named later (Charlie Puleo) as something of a favor to Bomback.{{Cite web |last=Durso |first=Joseph |date=April 7, 1981 |title=Mets Deal Bomback, Glynn and Benton |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1981/04/07/sports/mets-deal-bomback-glynn-and-benton.html |newspaper=The New York Times}}

Toronto Blue Jays

Bomback's career in Toronto got off to a good start. He was 3–1 with a 2.17 ERA following a May 3 victory over the Baltimore Orioles.{{Cite web |date=May 3, 1981 |title=Toronto Blue Jays 4, Baltimore Orioles 2 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/BAL/BAL198105030.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} From there, things went south for Bomback, as he went 0–4 with a 5.53 ERA over his next seven starts to close out the first half of the strike shortened {{baseball year|1981}} season at 3–5 with a 4.11 ERA. When play resumed following the strike, Bomback was used in relief. He went 2–0 with a 3.10 ERA.

A strong Spring earned Bomback the opening day nod for the {{baseball year|1982}} season.{{Cite web |date=April 9, 1982 |title=Milwaukee Brewers 15, Toronto Blue Jays 4 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR198204090.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} He would get tagged for six earned runs in just a third of an inning to log the worst opening day start in franchise history.{{Cite web |last=Zuber |first=Andrew |date=March 27, 2020 |title=The best and worst Blue Jays Opening Day performances |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/the-best-and-worst-blue-jays-opening-day-performances-193815582.html |publisher=Yahoo! Sports}} A May 12 loss to the Chicago White Sox{{Cite web |date=May 12, 1982 |title=Chicago White Sox 9, Toronto Blue Jays 2 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR198205120.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} put his season record at 1–5 with a 6.86 ERA. He would make eight appearances in relief before being sent down to triple A Syracuse.{{Cite web |date=July 24, 1982 |title=Transactions; BASEBALL |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/24/sports/transactions-baseball.html |newspaper=New York Times}} He would pitch through {{baseball year|1984}} with Syracuse, going 19–19 with a 3.75 ERA.

Career stats

class=wikitable style="text-align:center"

|Pct

|ERA

|GS

|GF

|SHO

|IP

|ER

|HR

|BB

|WP

|HBP

|BAA

|Fld%

|Avg.

|18

|{{winning percentage|16|18}}

|4.47

|74

|45

|314.1

|367

|156

|169

|34

|110

|124

|13

|.295

|.989

|.233

Bomback proved to be an exceptional hitting pitcher his one season in the National League. His first major league hit was an RBI double off former Met Tom Seaver of the Cincinnati Reds.{{Cite web |date=May 5, 1980 |title=New York Mets 3, Cincinnati Reds 2 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198005050.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} On May 2, his fourth inning bunt off Silvio Martinez helped increased the Mets' lead over the Cardinals to 5–1. He then drove Martinez out of the game in the fifth with a double that drove in two.{{Cite web |date=May 2, 1980 |title=New York Mets 9, St. Louis Cardinals 5 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SLN/SLN198005270.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }} On July 19, he went 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs in the Mets' 10–4 victory over the Cards.{{Cite web |date=July 19, 1980 |title=New York Mets 10, St. Louis Cardinals 4 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/NYN/NYN198007132.shtml |website=Baseball-Reference.com }}

In {{baseball year|1989}}, he pitched for the Winter Haven Super Sox of the Senior Professional Baseball Association.