David Cone

HandednessBats Left · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 180 lb

BornJanuary 2, 1963 · Kansas City, MO, USA

MLB debutJune 8, 1986

Final gameMay 28, 2003

Seasons17 (1986–2003)

Kansas City Royals 1986; New York Mets 1987–1992; Toronto Blue Jays 1992; Kansas City Royals 1993–1994; New York Yankees 1995; Toronto Blue Jays 1995; New York Yankees 1996–2000; Boston Red Sox 2001; New York Mets 2003

Percentile snapshot

1999 season — qualified pitchers

11.4

27.3

40.9

18.2

SHO

59.1

164

97.7

94.3

12.5

177

86.4

64.8

193.3

ERA

3.44

93.2

WHIP

1.314

K/9

8.24

95.5

FIP

4.35

64.8

FIP-

92.5

61.4

ERA+

136.6

93.2

sWAR

4.5

86.4

of 89 qualified 1999 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

120.2

89.6

sWAR

51.5

98.9

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	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1986	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.1
1987	21	35	31	0	2	1	0	0	14	0	.065	.094	.097	.191	-57.7	-47.8	.092	1.0
1988	35	88	80	2	12	3	2	3	14	1	.150	.181	.188	.368	2.1	9.0	.176	5.5
1989	34	85	77	9	18	2	4	2	13	0	.234	.253	.260	.513	48.3	51.3	.241	2.0
1990	32	84	70	7	14	1	5	5	12	0	.200	.253	.214	.468	30.5	31.2	.228	3.7
1991	34	84	72	3	9	0	5	3	14	0	.125	.179	.125	.304	-17.2	-12.0	.154	3.2
1992	35	75	65	5	6	1	4	3	19	0	.092	.132	.108	.240	-47.4	-30.9	.121	4.7
1993	34	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.8
1994	23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	5.2
1995	30	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	4.9
1996	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.2
1997	29	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-120.8	-100.0	.000	5.3
1998	31	4	3	1	0	0	1	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-116.1	-100.0	.000	4.0
1999	31	3	3	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	.333	.333	.667	1.000	150.2	151.7	.421	4.5
2000	30	3	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	.333	.333	.333	.667	71.8	72.9	.300	-1.8
2001	25	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-121.1	-100.0	.000	1.6
2003	5	4	4	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	.250	.250	.250	.500	25.4	33.0	.226	-0.3

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1986	11	0	0	0	0	0	0	29	14	13	21	2	22.7	5.56	1.853	8.34	3.94	93.5	75.8	-0.1
1987	21	13	5	6	1	1	0	87	41	44	68	11	99.3	3.71	1.319	6.16	4.42	114.2	104.1	1.0
1988	35	28	20	3	0	8	4	178	57	80	213	10	231.3	2.22	1.115	8.29	2.52	76.6	148.3	5.5
1989	34	33	14	8	0	7	2	183	86	74	190	20	219.7	3.52	1.170	7.78	3.18	95.5	94.5	2.0
1990	31	30	14	10	0	6	2	177	76	65	233	21	211.7	3.23	1.143	9.91	2.83	75.3	116.4	3.7
1991	34	34	14	14	0	5	2	204	85	73	241	13	232.7	3.29	1.191	9.32	2.45	67.2	111.0	3.2
1992	35	34	17	10	0	7	5	201	78	111	261	15	249.7	2.81	1.250	9.41	2.95	81.3	128.6	4.7
1993	34	34	11	14	0	6	1	205	94	114	191	20	254.0	3.33	1.256	6.77	3.99	88.6	135.1	5.8
1994	23	23	16	5	0	4	3	130	56	54	132	15	171.7	2.94	1.072	6.92	3.86	78.7	167.1	5.2
1995	30	30	18	8	0	6	2	195	91	88	191	24	229.3	3.57	1.234	7.50	4.06	86.9	131.1	4.9
1996	11	11	7	2	0	1	0	50	23	34	71	3	72.0	2.88	1.167	8.88	3.32	67.2	171.8	2.2
1997	29	29	12	6	0	1	0	155	61	86	222	17	195.0	2.82	1.236	10.25	3.39	75.8	158.7	5.3
1998	31	31	20	7	0	3	0	186	82	59	209	20	207.7	3.55	1.180	9.06	3.53	79.7	124.6	4.0
1999	31	31	12	9	0	1	1	164	74	90	177	21	193.3	3.44	1.314	8.24	4.35	92.5	136.6	4.5
2000	30	29	4	14	0	0	0	192	119	82	120	25	155.0	6.91	1.768	6.97	5.53	115.7	69.2	-1.8
2001	25	25	9	7	0	0	0	148	65	57	115	17	135.7	4.31	1.511	7.63	4.51	100.4	104.2	1.6
2003	5	4	1	3	0	0	0	20	13	13	13	4	18.0	6.50	1.833	6.50	6.59	157.3	64.4	-0.3

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

451

470

412

RBI

.1553

OBP

.1921

SLG

.1772

OPS

.3693

Pitching

G (P)

450

419

116th-most career GS

194

135th-most career W

126

298th-most career L

SHO

218th-most career SHO

2,899

155th-most career IP

SO (P)

2,668

27th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,137

66th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.462

417th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2561

362nd-lowest career WHIP

K/9

8.28

80th-highest career K/9

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	RBI	TB
1989-08-12	STL @ NYM Gameday	3	1	3	0	1	3
1991-06-27	WSH @ NYM Gameday	3	1	3	0	0	3
1992-06-16	WSH @ NYM Gameday	4	1	2	1	0	3
1989-07-15	NYM @ ATL Gameday	2	0	2	0	2	2
1990-10-01	NYM @ PIT Gameday	4	1	2	0	2	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1991-10-06	NYM @ PHI Gameday	9.0	3	0	0	1	19	0
1997-06-23	NYY @ DET Gameday	8.0	4	2	2	2	16	2
1998-06-07	MIA @ NYY Gameday	9.0	2	1	1	2	14	0
1990-08-18	NYM @ SF Gameday	9.0	7	2	1	1	13	1
1992-07-17	SF @ NYM Gameday	9.0	6	0	0	4	13	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× Cy Young Award5× 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.