MLB / Players

Don Drysdale

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 5 in · 190 lb

BornJuly 23, 1936 · Van Nuys, CA, USA

MLB debutApril 17, 1956

Final gameAugust 5, 1969

Seasons14 (1956–1969)

Brooklyn Dodgers 1956–1957; Los Angeles Dodgers 1958–1969

Percentile snapshot

1968 season — qualified pitchers

6.7

61.3

46.7

69.3

SHO

97.3

201

38.7

62.7

155

57.3

70.7

239.0

ERA

2.15

85.3

WHIP

1.075

73.3

K/9

5.84

FIP

2.70

FIP-

97.1

ERA+

129.5

sWAR

4.5

81.3

of 76 qualified 1968 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

120.8

90.5

sWAR

65.2

99.5

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	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1956	26	29	26	4	5	1	0	1	1	1	8	0	.192	.222	.346	.568	40.1	46.8	.251	2.6
1957	37	83	73	7	9	0	0	2	6	7	29	0	.123	.200	.205	.405	-0.2	6.7	.195	5.8
1958	47	72	66	9	15	1	1	7	12	3	25	0	.227	.261	.591	.852	109.8	111.7	.360	3.0
1959	46	104	91	9	15	1	1	4	12	4	31	1	.165	.198	.330	.528	24.4	34.2	.232	5.3
1960	41	99	83	3	13	6	2	0	4	6	32	0	.157	.211	.277	.488	23.7	30.3	.224	6.3
1961	40	95	83	9	16	1	0	5	12	6	24	0	.193	.244	.386	.630	60.4	63.7	.278	4.0
1962	43	126	111	9	22	4	1	0	14	5	29	1	.198	.246	.252	.498	36.0	37.1	.234	7.0
1963	42	114	96	5	16	1	1	0	5	9	35	0	.167	.241	.198	.439	33.4	32.9	.215	5.3
1964	40	128	110	10	19	2	0	1	8	4	29	0	.173	.202	.218	.420	19.6	23.4	.196	7.8
1965	58	138	130	18	39	4	1	7	19	5	34	0	.300	.331	.508	.839	143.6	142.3	.373	7.1
1966	46	111	106	6	20	2	0	2	8	3	28	0	.189	.211	.264	.475	33.1	37.4	.216	2.7
1967	38	101	93	2	12	1	0	0	6	5	26	0	.129	.172	.140	.312	-9.9	-5.6	.155	4.0
1968	31	84	79	4	14	1	0	0	3	0	29	0	.177	.188	.190	.377	6.5	18.0	.179	4.5
1969	12	25	22	1	3	1	0	0	3	2	11	0	.136	.208	.182	.390	14.1	14.4	.196	-0.2

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1956	25	12	5	5	0	2	0	95	29	31	55	9	99.0	2.64	1.273	5.00	3.33	84.5	149.7	2.6
1957	34	29	17	9	0	9	4	197	66	61	148	17	221.0	2.69	1.167	6.03	3.10	75.5	152.6	5.8
1958	44	29	12	13	0	6	1	214	98	72	131	21	211.7	4.17	1.351	5.57	3.78	90.5	100.2	3.0
1959	44	36	17	13	2	15	4	237	104	93	242	26	270.7	3.46	1.219	8.05	3.31	79.6	120.3	5.3
1960	41	36	15	14	2	15	5	214	85	72	246	27	269.0	2.84	1.063	8.23	3.04	77.8	137.5	6.3
1961	40	37	13	10	0	10	3	236	100	83	182	29	244.0	3.69	1.307	6.71	3.99	98.1	110.1	4.0
1962	43	41	25	9	1	19	2	272	99	78	232	21	314.3	2.83	1.113	6.64	2.96	78.1	133.8	7.0
1963	42	42	19	17	0	17	3	287	92	57	251	25	315.3	2.63	1.091	7.16	2.57	83.9	116.8	5.3
1964	40	40	18	16	0	21	5	242	78	68	237	15	321.3	2.18	.965	6.64	2.61	79.8	149.7	7.8
1965	44	42	23	12	1	20	7	270	95	66	210	30	308.3	2.77	1.090	6.13	3.30	100.7	118.1	7.1
1966	40	40	13	16	0	11	3	279	104	45	177	21	273.7	3.42	1.184	5.82	3.06	92.4	96.7	2.7
1967	38	38	13	16	0	9	3	269	86	60	196	19	282.0	2.74	1.167	6.26	2.87	92.3	113.1	4.0
1968	31	31	14	12	0	12	8	201	57	56	155	11	239.0	2.15	1.075	5.84	2.70	97.1	129.5	4.5
1969	12	12	5	4	0	1	1	71	31	13	24	9	62.7	4.45	1.340	3.45	4.48	133.4	75.4	-0.2

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

547

1,309

1,169

218

RBI

113

370

.1865

OBP

.2282

SLG

.2951

OPS

.5233

Pitching

G (P)

518

402nd-most career G (P)

465

77th-most career GS

209

103rd-most career W

166

101st-most career L

167

190th-most career CG

SHO

21st-most career SHO

3,432

82nd-most career IP

SO (P)

2,486

42nd-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

855

199th-most career BB allowed

ERA

2.948

162nd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1477

74th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

6.52

281st-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	3B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1958-08-23	ATL @ LAD Gameday	3	2	2	0	2	4	1	8
1959-06-20	CIN @ LAD Gameday	3	2	2	1	1	3	0	7
1959-07-26	STL @ LAD Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	3	0	5
1958-08-14	CHC @ LAD Gameday	3	1	2	0	1	2	0	5
1964-06-07	LAD @ NYM Gameday	3	1	2	0	1	2	0	5

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1960-04-12	CHC @ LAD Gameday	11.0	7	2	2	4	14	1
1959-07-31	PHI @ LAD Gameday	9.0	8	4	3	2	14	0
1960-07-22	PHI @ LAD Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	1	14	0
1960-09-01	PHI @ LAD Gameday	11.0	7	2	1	3	13	1
1959-06-15	ATL @ LAD Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	2	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

Hall of Fame, 1984 (BBWAA)

1× Cy Young Award8× 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.