Al Benton

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 4 in · 215 lb

BornMarch 18, 1911 · Noble, OK, USA

MLB debutApril 18, 1934

Final gameSeptember 21, 1952

Seasons14 (1934–1952)

Philadelphia Athletics 1934–1935; Detroit Tigers 1938–1942; Detroit Tigers 1945–1948; Cleveland Indians 1949–1950; Boston Red Sox 1952

Percentile snapshot

1945 season — qualified pitchers

54.8

66.7

54.8

89.3

53.6

SHO

96.4

175

71.4

40.5

61.9

40.5

191.7

60.7

ERA

2.02

96.4

WHIP

1.242

67.9

K/9

3.57

FIP

3.14

FIP-

89.7

ERA+

173.3

95.2

sWAR

4.7

86.9

of 85 qualified 1945 pitchers (min 155 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

113.9

80.1

sWAR

22.7

94.6

ERA+ measured against qualified careers (1,000+ IP), 1,334 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1934	32	57	55	1	6	0	2	0	22	.109	.109	.109	.218	-54.5	-43.0	.102	0.4
1935	27	28	25	1	1	0	0	2	11	.040	.111	.040	.151	-67.3	-59.7	.091	-2.1
1938	19	35	33	1	4	0	1	0	13	.121	.121	.121	.242	-56.9	-40.6	.112	2.4
1939	37	52	44	5	4	0	1	0	15	.091	.111	.091	.202	-61.7	-49.0	.099	1.5
1940	42	21	17	0	0	0	0	0	8	.000	.000	.000	.000	-128.5	-100.0	.000	0.7
1941	38	59	50	2	3	1	0	0	20	.060	.060	.080	.140	-92.7	-64.6	.063	3.6
1942	35	76	67	3	5	1	0	0	32	.075	.075	.090	.164	-83.0	-55.3	.076	4.3
1945	31	73	63	2	4	2	3	2	21	.063	.092	.095	.188	-74.1	-46.6	.095	4.7
1946	28	54	49	3	9	1	3	0	17	.184	.184	.204	.388	-16.9	6.0	.179	1.3
1947	36	42	39	1	6	1	2	0	10	.154	.154	.179	.333	-31.2	-8.2	.155	0.1
1948	30	13	11	1	2	1	1	0	6	.182	.182	.273	.455	1.5	19.2	.206	-0.2
1949	40	42	38	1	5	0	1	1	11	.132	.154	.132	.285	-37.9	-22.4	.141	4.0
1950	36	16	12	1	1	0	0	2	9	.083	.214	.083	.298	-12.7	-19.2	.176	1.1
1952	24	11	9	0	0	0	0	0	5	.000	.000	.000	.000	-142.3	-100.0	.000	0.9

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1934	32	21	7	9	1	7	0	145	84	88	58	7	155.0	4.88	1.503	3.37	4.74	107.4	90.4	0.4
1935	27	9	3	4	0	0	0	110	67	47	42	7	78.3	7.70	2.004	4.83	5.02	111.6	58.4	-2.1
1938	19	10	5	3	0	6	0	93	35	39	33	10	95.3	3.30	1.385	3.12	5.05	100.2	152.4	2.4
1939	37	16	6	8	5	3	0	182	76	58	67	11	150.0	4.56	1.600	4.02	4.38	90.6	106.0	1.5
1940	42	0	6	10	17	0	0	93	39	36	50	5	79.3	4.42	1.626	5.67	3.84	82.3	105.5	0.7
1941	38	14	15	6	7	7	1	130	52	65	63	11	157.7	2.97	1.237	3.60	4.16	93.2	150.5	3.6
1942	35	30	7	13	2	9	1	210	73	84	110	9	226.7	2.90	1.297	4.37	3.21	82.8	133.6	4.3
1945	31	27	13	8	3	12	5	175	43	63	76	7	191.7	2.02	1.242	3.57	3.14	89.7	173.3	4.7
1946	28	15	11	7	1	6	1	132	57	58	60	9	140.7	3.65	1.351	3.84	3.69	101.0	100.1	1.3
1947	36	14	6	7	7	4	0	147	65	61	33	11	133.0	4.40	1.564	2.23	4.40	117.1	85.5	0.1
1948	30	0	2	2	3	0	0	45	28	36	18	4	44.3	5.68	1.827	3.65	5.61	129.1	76.5	-0.2
1949	40	11	9	6	10	4	2	116	32	51	41	7	135.7	2.12	1.231	2.72	3.71	92.3	189.2	4.0
1950	36	0	4	2	4	0	0	57	25	30	26	7	63.0	3.57	1.381	3.71	4.81	110.9	121.3	1.1
1952	24	0	4	3	6	0	0	37	10	17	20	1	37.7	2.39	1.434	4.78	3.00	77.0	163.1	0.9

sWAR is the season TOTAL for a player who both hit and pitched: the record book carries one figure per season, not a split, so the same number appears on both lines rather than being counted twice.

Career totals

Batting

455

579

512

RBI

200

.0977

OBP

.1115

SLG

.1113

OPS

.2228

Pitching

G (P)

455

167

275th-most career SV

SHO

1,688

SO (P)

697

BB allowed

733

338th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.657

WHIP

1.4245

K/9

3.72

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	RBI	TB
1947-06-11	ATH @ DET Gameday	4	1	3	2	3
1934-08-21	CLE @ ATH Gameday	5	1	2	1	2
1938-09-04	DET @ CWS Gameday	4	0	2	1	2
1946-09-12	NYY @ DET Gameday	3	0	2	1	2
1946-08-17	BAL @ DET Gameday	3	1	2	0	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1942-06-26	ATH @ DET Gameday	9.0	6	1	1	1	9	0
1946-09-02	DET @ CWS Gameday	8.0	6	6	6	4	8	0
1942-06-10	DET @ NYY Gameday	11.0	10	1	1	2	7	0
1938-09-17	NYY @ DET Gameday	9.0	5	3	3	2	7	2
1939-06-09	ATH @ DET Gameday	9.0	8	4	2	0	7	1

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

2× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.