MLB / Players

Billy Pierce

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at5 ft 10 in · 160 lb

BornApril 2, 1927 · Detroit, MI, USA

MLB debutJune 1, 1945

Final gameOctober 3, 1964

Seasons18 (1945–1964)

Detroit Tigers 1945; Detroit Tigers 1948; Chicago White Sox 1949–1961; San Francisco Giants 1962–1964

Percentile snapshot

1961 season — qualified pitchers

69.7

36.4

18.2

74.2

93.9

6.1

SHO

15.2

190

65.2

74.2

77.3

106

37.9

71.2

180.0

19.7

ERA

3.80

WHIP

1.356

33.3

K/9

5.30

54.5

FIP

3.47

77.3

FIP-

88.2

68.2

ERA+

103.5

37.9

sWAR

1.9

27.3

of 67 qualified 1961 pitchers (min 163 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

119.0

88.3

sWAR

56.1

99.2

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	3B	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1945	5	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-141.4	-100.0	.000	0.3
1948	22	17	17	5	5	0	2	2	0	4	0	0	.294	.294	.529	.824	104.8	115.1	.368	-0.5
1949	39	62	51	7	9	0	0	2	5	15	0	0	.176	.250	.176	.426	11.3	15.1	.221	2.1
1950	40	88	77	10	20	3	0	6	6	13	0	0	.260	.321	.299	.620	61.2	61.8	.299	3.6
1951	39	93	79	10	16	1	0	3	9	17	0	1	.203	.284	.215	.499	39.8	38.6	.252	4.9
1952	35	102	91	11	17	1	0	3	6	20	0	1	.187	.237	.198	.435	14.2	22.8	.214	5.7
1953	42	102	87	4	11	0	0	4	4	16	0	0	.126	.174	.126	.300	-30.6	-17.9	.152	6.2
1954	38	68	57	4	11	0	0	5	4	12	0	0	.193	.242	.193	.435	10.9	20.7	.214	2.4
1955	34	81	70	5	12	2	0	7	3	10	1	0	.171	.205	.200	.405	0.5	9.9	.196	6.7
1956	39	113	102	6	16	0	0	3	3	22	0	0	.157	.189	.157	.346	-16.7	-7.1	.169	4.7
1957	41	104	99	7	17	1	0	6	2	25	0	0	.172	.188	.182	.370	-10.9	2.4	.174	3.8
1958	35	94	83	10	17	3	0	4	4	13	0	0	.205	.250	.241	.491	34.9	38.6	.232	5.4
1959	34	81	68	3	13	1	2	7	7	13	0	0	.191	.267	.265	.531	50.1	48.8	.254	2.9
1960	32	76	67	4	12	1	0	7	6	14	0	0	.179	.247	.194	.441	20.9	22.4	.218	2.4
1961	39	63	56	3	8	0	0	3	1	11	0	0	.143	.158	.143	.301	-29.4	-17.7	.141	1.9
1962	30	66	56	3	12	0	0	5	3	12	0	0	.214	.254	.214	.469	27.5	29.0	.224	2.5
1963	38	34	31	2	4	0	0	0	2	11	0	0	.129	.182	.129	.311	-15.0	-7.7	.156	-0.4
1964	34	9	9	0	3	0	0	2	0	3	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	88.1	88.4	.305	1.4

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1945	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	2	10	10	1	10.0	1.80	1.600	9.00	5.04	144.1	194.4	0.3
1948	22	5	3	0	0	0	0	47	39	51	36	5	55.3	6.34	1.771	5.86	5.44	125.1	68.5	-0.5
1949	32	26	7	15	0	8	0	145	74	112	95	11	171.7	3.88	1.497	4.98	4.17	101.6	105.9	2.1
1950	33	29	12	16	1	15	1	189	97	137	118	11	219.3	3.98	1.486	4.84	4.19	94.2	111.7	3.6
1951	37	28	15	14	2	18	1	237	81	73	113	14	240.3	3.03	1.290	4.23	3.32	83.1	131.6	4.9
1952	33	32	15	12	1	14	4	214	73	79	144	12	255.3	2.57	1.148	5.08	2.81	77.6	140.7	5.7
1953	40	33	18	12	3	19	7	216	82	102	186	20	271.3	2.72	1.172	6.17	3.31	82.8	147.1	6.2
1954	36	26	9	10	3	12	4	179	73	86	148	15	188.7	3.48	1.405	7.06	3.26	87.5	107.0	2.4
1955	33	26	15	10	1	16	6	162	45	64	157	16	205.7	1.97	1.099	6.87	2.89	73.0	201.1	6.7
1956	35	33	20	9	1	21	1	261	102	100	192	24	276.3	3.32	1.306	6.25	3.36	81.6	124.0	4.7
1957	37	34	20	12	2	16	4	228	93	71	171	18	257.0	3.26	1.163	5.99	2.82	75.1	115.2	3.8
1958	35	32	17	11	2	19	3	204	73	66	144	33	245.0	2.68	1.102	5.29	3.84	105.4	135.9	5.4
1959	34	33	14	15	0	12	2	217	90	62	114	26	224.0	3.62	1.246	4.58	3.83	101.6	104.1	2.9
1960	32	30	14	7	0	8	1	201	79	46	108	24	196.3	3.62	1.258	4.95	3.60	94.5	105.1	2.4
1961	39	28	10	9	3	5	1	190	76	54	106	17	180.0	3.80	1.356	5.30	3.47	88.2	103.5	1.9
1962	30	23	16	6	1	7	2	147	63	35	76	19	162.3	3.49	1.121	4.21	4.01	103.7	110.6	2.5
1963	38	13	3	11	8	3	1	106	47	20	52	12	99.0	4.27	1.273	4.73	3.66	113.1	75.8	-0.4
1964	34	1	3	0	4	0	0	40	12	10	29	6	49.0	2.20	1.020	5.33	3.77	105.9	161.6	1.4

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

616

1,255

1,102

203

RBI

232

.1842

OBP

.2321

SLG

.2033

OPS

.4354

Pitching

G (P)

585

266th-most career G (P)

432

100th-most career GS

211

98th-most career W

169

96th-most career L

193

148th-most career CG

SHO

54th-most career SHO

3,307

94th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,999

91st-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,178

58th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.269

296th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2602

388th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

5.44

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	RBI	TB
1959-04-26	CWS @ CLE Gameday	4	1	3	1	1	2	6
1952-07-25	ATH @ CWS Gameday	4	2	3	1	0	0	4
1955-05-30	CLE @ CWS Gameday	4	1	3	0	0	1	3
1956-09-23	ATH @ CWS Gameday	3	0	3	0	0	0	3
1958-06-08	CWS @ BOS Gameday	5	0	3	0	0	0	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1953-07-24	ATH @ CWS Gameday	12.0	12	4	4	1	12	1
1954-05-09	DET @ CWS Gameday	10.0	9	0	0	2	12	0
1955-09-25	ATH @ CWS Gameday	9.0	3	0	0	1	12	0
1961-05-23	CWS @ BAL Gameday	6.0	8	3	3	2	12	2
1952-06-27	CLE @ CWS Gameday	9.0	4	1	1	2	10	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

7× 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.