Mark Bomback: Early 1980's Mets Pitcher (1980)

Mark Vincent Bomback was born on April 14, 1953, in Portsmouth, Virginia. The five eleven right hander was known as “Bomber”. 

Bomback attended Durfee High leading his team to a state championship as ace of the staff. In 1971, he was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 25th round.

By 1973 he was pitching at the AAA level at Pawtucket. But although Bomback would win in double figures six times he remained in the minors through the 1979 season.

In 1977 he was released by the Red Sox & got signed by the Milwaukee Brewers organization. 

MLB Debut: On September 12th Bomback made his debut, getting a start against the Mariners in Seattle. He didn't get out of the 1st inning giving up three runs including a two run HR from Ruppert Jones.

He made two brief appearances with the Brewers pitching just two innings.

In 1979 Bomback had his best pro season, coming at AAA Vancouver, where he was the Pacific Coast League’s MVP, going 22-7 with a 2.56 ERA, allowing just three HRs in 246 innings pitched. 

But the Brewers still weren’t interested in him & traded him to the New York Mets for Dwight Bernard.

Mets Career: On April 12th, 1980, Bomback debuted as a Met finishing up a 6-3 Mets loss to the Chicago Cubs. The Mets were in need of starters & put Bomback right into their starting rotation by the end of April. 

On April 23rd, Bomback earned his first win, it came against the eventual Champion Phillies at Veterans Stadium in a 3-2 Mets victory.

Two Hit Shut Out: On April 30th in his second start, he pitched a two hit 2-0 shutout against the Phillies, beating Randy Lerch at Shea Stadium. In the game he allowed six walks & struck out two. In the 2nd inning Mike Schmidt led off with a single & the only other hit was a 7th inning single to Gary Maddox.

After three no decisions he made a relief appearance that was his worst outing of the year. On May 13th, he gave up six runs, with HRs to the Reds Ray Knight & Ken Griffey raising his ERA to 4.75.

By the end of May he was 3-0 being used in both relief & as a spot starter. In late June, Mark earned wins in back-to-back relief appearances on a road trip to Chicago & Los Angeles, getting him to 5-1. 

On July 4th, he gave up another six runs in a start against the Expos taking the loss. On July 13th he pitched a complete game victory over the Cardinals at Shea Stadium getting him to 6-2. 

On July 29th, Bomback pitched into the 8th inning shutting out the Braves on four hits in a 2-1 win at Shea. He won three straight starts & was one of the most reliable starters at that point in the season.

After getting to 9-3 in mid- August he lost five straight decisions before finally winning his tenth game in the next to last game of the season.

Bomback led the weak pitching staff in wins going 10-8. His eight losses were the least amount amongst the main starting pitchers. He made 38 appearances (25 starts) posting the staff's third best ERA (4.09) & third most innings pitched (162). He allowed 17 HRs & only struck out 68 batters while walking 49. At bat he batted .233 & drove in five runs.

1981: At the start of the 1981 season the Mets traded Bomback to the Toronto Blue Jays for a player to be named later, who turned out to be Charlie Puleo.

Post Mets Career: In Toronto he was 3-5 with a 4.46 ERA in June when he was back down to the minor leagues. 

He returned for a September call up later that year. The next season he was 1-5 with a 6.02 ERA & was sent down to the minors in late July.

Bomback never returned to the majors but continued pitching for many years to come. He would pitch in the minors, senior professional league & semi pro ball until 2000 when he was 47 years old.

Career Stats: In his four-season career he was 16-18 with a 4.47 ERA. He had 124 strike outs with 110 walks in 314 innings pitched over 74 appearances (45 starts).

Family: Mark & his wife had two children.