Bobby Shantz

HandednessBats Right · Throws Left

Listed at5 ft 6 in · 139 lb

BornSeptember 26, 1925 · Pottstown, PA, USA

MLB debutMay 1, 1949

Final gameSeptember 29, 1964

Seasons16 (1949–1964)

Philadelphia Athletics 1949–1954; Kansas City Athletics 1955–1956; New York Yankees 1957–1960; Pittsburgh Pirates 1961; Houston Colt .45's 1962; St. Louis Cardinals 1962–1963; Chicago Cubs 1964; Philadelphia Phillies 1964; St. Louis Cardinals 1964

Percentile snapshot

1957 season — qualified pitchers

12.7

7.3

30.9

98.2

96.4

43.6

SHO

7.3

157

92.7

100

90.9

9.1

74.5

173.0

14.5

ERA

2.45

100

WHIP

1.139

92.7

K/9

3.75

18.2

FIP

3.49

65.5

FIP-

95.3

54.5

ERA+

149.9

96.4

sWAR

4.4

87.3

of 56 qualified 1957 pitchers (min 154 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

118.4

87.7

sWAR

34.4

97.2

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	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1949	33	46	37	2	7	0	0	0	2	5	6	0	0	.189	.302	.189	.492	37.6	33.0	.262	2.3
1950	37	78	66	4	11	1	0	1	4	6	10	1	0	.167	.236	.227	.463	14.7	19.7	.227	1.9
1951	36	86	72	11	18	4	0	0	9	6	7	1	0	.250	.308	.306	.613	61.7	64.4	.293	2.9
1952	34	116	96	13	19	4	1	0	12	5	9	0	2	.198	.252	.260	.513	28.6	38.5	.246	7.7
1953	21	41	38	6	9	1	1	0	4	2	3	1	0	.237	.275	.316	.591	46.9	55.0	.275	1.3
1954	7	3	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	74.7	80.3	.310	-0.3
1955	26	44	41	5	6	0	0	0	0	1	5	0	0	.146	.167	.146	.313	-32.3	-16.4	.152	0.5
1956	51	26	22	2	2	1	0	0	1	2	4	0	0	.091	.167	.136	.303	-28.5	-19.9	.156	0.8
1957	33	65	56	6	10	3	0	0	6	8	16	0	0	.179	.281	.232	.513	48.4	44.7	.256	4.4
1958	33	39	35	1	8	3	0	0	1	2	12	0	0	.229	.289	.314	.604	70.8	70.7	.282	1.8
1959	40	29	23	4	5	2	0	0	1	3	6	0	0	.217	.308	.304	.612	77.1	72.9	.292	2.6
1960	43	13	10	1	1	0	0	0	0	1	2	0	0	.100	.182	.100	.282	-20.1	-18.9	.152	1.3
1961	44	20	16	3	7	1	0	0	3	2	1	0	0	.438	.526	.500	1.026	189.5	176.7	.471	1.9
1962	35	22	21	0	2	0	0	0	2	0	11	0	0	.095	.091	.095	.186	-70.2	-50.9	.083	2.6
1963	55	10	7	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	1	0	0	.143	.333	.143	.476	56.5	38.2	.266	1.8
1964	50	7	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	.000	.286	.000	.286	23.3	-47.7	.211	1.0

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1949	33	7	6	8	2	4	1	100	48	74	58	9	127.0	3.40	1.370	4.11	4.32	105.2	120.6	2.3
1950	36	23	8	14	0	6	1	251	110	85	93	18	214.7	4.61	1.565	3.90	4.22	93.2	98.3	1.9
1951	32	25	18	10	0	13	3	213	90	70	77	15	205.3	3.94	1.378	3.38	3.87	91.9	106.8	2.9
1952	33	33	24	7	0	27	5	230	77	63	152	21	279.7	2.48	1.048	4.89	2.97	76.0	157.8	7.7
1953	16	16	5	9	0	6	0	107	48	26	58	10	105.7	4.09	1.259	4.94	3.44	81.6	103.1	1.3
1954	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	12	7	3	3	2	8.0	7.88	1.875	3.38	6.38	165.0	49.1	-0.3
1955	23	17	5	10	0	4	1	124	63	66	58	8	125.0	4.54	1.520	4.18	3.94	95.9	90.6	0.5
1956	45	2	2	7	9	1	0	95	49	37	67	12	101.3	4.35	1.303	5.95	3.91	91.4	98.2	0.8
1957	30	21	11	5	5	9	1	157	47	40	72	15	173.0	2.45	1.139	3.75	3.49	95.3	149.9	4.4
1958	33	13	7	6	0	3	0	127	47	35	80	8	126.0	3.36	1.286	5.71	2.88	80.1	107.1	1.8
1959	33	4	7	3	3	2	2	64	25	33	66	4	94.7	2.38	1.025	6.27	2.66	71.9	155.9	2.6
1960	42	0	5	4	11	0	0	57	21	24	54	5	67.7	2.79	1.197	7.18	2.92	79.9	130.8	1.3
1961	43	6	6	3	2	2	1	91	33	26	61	5	89.3	3.32	1.310	6.15	3.04	76.1	120.0	1.9
1962	31	3	6	4	4	1	0	60	17	25	61	8	78.3	1.95	1.085	7.01	3.49	84.6	210.0	2.6
1963	55	0	6	4	11	0	0	55	23	17	70	6	79.3	2.61	.908	7.94	2.43	69.0	135.2	1.8
1964	50	0	2	5	1	0	0	52	21	19	42	5	60.7	3.12	1.170	6.23	3.38	93.0	115.7	1.0

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

578

645

548

107

RBI

.1953

OBP

.2646

SLG

.2445

OPS

.5091

Pitching

G (P)

537

363rd-most career G (P)

171

119

455th-most career W

389th-most career SV

SHO

396th-most career SHO

1,936

487th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,072

BB allowed

643

474th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.376

358th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2595

382nd-lowest career WHIP

K/9

4.98

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	TB
1952-05-13	ATH @ BAL Gameday	4	2	2	1	1	0	1	5
1953-07-26	ATH @ CWS Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	0	0	4
1950-08-12	ATH @ NYY Gameday	3	1	1	0	0	1	1	4
1952-06-28	ATH @ NYY Gameday	4	0	2	1	0	0	2	3
1952-08-15	MIN @ ATH Gameday	5	1	2	1	0	0	2	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1952-05-30	ATH @ NYY Gameday	14.0	9	1	1	7	11	1
1950-07-14	BAL @ ATH Gameday	8.0	7	5	5	2	10	3
1949-05-11	ATH @ BAL Gameday	8.0	10	5	5	3	9	0
1953-07-22	ATH @ BAL Gameday	9.0	5	1	1	2	8	0
1952-06-24	ATH @ CLE Gameday	8.0	5	2	2	0	8	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

8× Gold Glove1× Most Valuable Player3× 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.