Bill Virdon

HandednessBats Left · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 0 in · 175 lb

BornJune 9, 1931 · Hazel Park, MI, USA

MLB debutApril 12, 1955

Final gameJuly 31, 1968

Seasons12 (1955–1968)

St. Louis Cardinals 1955; Pittsburgh Pirates 1956; St. Louis Cardinals 1956; Pittsburgh Pirates 1957–1965; Pittsburgh Pirates 1968

Percentile snapshot

1965 season — qualified batters

135

7.4

519

3.2

481

11.6

25.3

134

31.6

42.1

61.1

8.4

RBI

12.6

89.5

35.8

51.6

.279

67.4

OBP

.322

34.7

SLG

.370

29.5

OPS

.692

27.4

wRC+

97.9

28.4

OPS+

95.4

27.4

wOBA

.318

30.5

sWAR

1.8

31.6

of 96 qualified 1965 batters (min 505 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

88.9

22.1

OPS+

89.5

22.1

sWAR

15.4

91.2

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 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	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1955	144	586	534	58	150	18	6	17	68	36	64	2	4	.281	.322	.433	.755	95.9	97.6	.332	1.7
1956	157	627	580	77	185	23	10	10	46	38	71	6	7	.319	.361	.445	.806	117.9	117.5	.355	3.8
1957	144	605	561	59	141	28	11	8	50	33	69	3	3	.251	.291	.383	.675	79.6	83.0	.298	0.7
1958	144	662	604	75	161	24	11	9	46	52	70	5	3	.267	.324	.387	.712	90.3	90.8	.319	1.7
1959	144	583	519	67	132	24	2	8	41	55	65	7	4	.254	.327	.355	.682	82.1	84.0	.307	0.9
1960	120	454	409	60	108	16	9	8	40	40	44	8	2	.264	.326	.406	.732	101.1	100.1	.330	1.8
1961	146	660	599	81	156	22	8	9	58	49	45	5	8	.260	.313	.369	.682	82.4	81.7	.308	1.0
1962	156	705	663	82	164	27	10	6	47	36	65	5	13	.247	.286	.345	.631	68.4	69.8	.288	-0.2
1963	142	607	554	58	149	22	6	8	53	43	55	1	2	.269	.321	.374	.695	101.2	100.2	.317	2.4
1964	145	511	473	59	115	11	3	3	27	30	48	1	5	.243	.287	.298	.585	65.7	66.2	.271	-0.2
1965	135	519	481	58	134	22	5	4	24	30	49	4	3	.279	.322	.370	.692	97.9	95.4	.318	1.8
1968	6	3	3	1	1	0	0	1	2	0	2	0	0	.333	.333	1.333	1.667	420.7	385.5	.728	0.1

Career totals

1,583

6,522

5,980

735

1,596

237

275th-most career 3B

RBI

502

442

647

.2669

OBP

.3163

SLG

.3793

OPS

.6956

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	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1961-04-15	PIT @ LAD Gameday	4	3	3	0	0	2	2	0	9
1959-08-23	LAD @ PIT Gameday	5	2	4	1	0	1	1	0	8
1960-07-19	PIT @ LAD Gameday	5	2	3	2	0	1	3	0	8
1963-09-02	PIT @ STL Gameday	5	1	3	0	1	1	2	0	8
1961-05-13	CIN @ PIT Gameday	3	3	3	0	1	1	1	2	8

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1955-04-16	CHC @ STL Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1955-04-17	CHC @ STL Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1955-04-17	CHC @ STL Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1955-05-01	STL @ PIT Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1955-05-01	STL @ PIT Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0

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

1× Rookie of the Year1× Gold Glove

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