Don Kessinger

HandednessBats Switch · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 170 lb

BornJuly 17, 1942 · Forrest City, AR, USA

MLB debutSeptember 7, 1964

Final gameJuly 31, 1979

Seasons16 (1964–1979)

Chicago Cubs 1964–1975; St. Louis Cardinals 1976; Chicago White Sox 1977; St. Louis Cardinals 1977; Chicago White Sox 1978–1979

Percentile snapshot

1976 season — qualified batters

145

35.6

577

33.9

502

27.1

20.3

120

11.9

44.9

71.2

5.9

RBI

12.7

70.3

19.5

94.1

.239

OBP

.320

32.2

SLG

.313

16.1

OPS

.633

18.6

wRC+

82.1

19.5

OPS+

80.5

14.4

wOBA

.304

23.7

sWAR

1.4

24.6

of 119 qualified 1976 batters (min 502 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

71.6

4.2

OPS+

72.2

3.6

sWAR

10.2

87.2

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
1964	4	12	12	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	.167	.167	.167	.333	-21.9	-7.2	.153	-0.1
1965	106	336	309	19	62	4	3	0	14	20	44	1	2	.201	.252	.233	.485	31.9	35.8	.230	-1.1
1966	150	578	533	50	146	8	2	1	43	26	46	13	7	.274	.306	.302	.608	65.3	68.5	.277	0.3
1967	145	628	580	61	134	10	7	0	42	33	80	6	13	.231	.275	.272	.548	52.6	54.4	.260	-0.7
1968	160	707	655	63	157	14	7	1	32	38	86	9	9	.240	.283	.287	.570	66.2	67.5	.273	0.6
1969	158	737	664	109	181	38	6	4	53	61	70	11	8	.273	.332	.366	.698	87.1	86.6	.326	2.2
1970	154	711	631	100	168	21	14	1	39	66	59	12	6	.266	.337	.349	.685	77.1	76.4	.319	1.1
1971	155	687	617	77	159	18	6	2	38	52	54	15	8	.258	.318	.316	.634	69.3	71.1	.299	0.6
1972	149	660	577	77	158	20	6	1	39	67	44	8	7	.274	.351	.334	.685	91.2	88.6	.324	2.3
1973	160	643	577	52	151	22	3	0	43	57	44	6	6	.262	.327	.310	.637	67.7	73.0	.293	0.5
1974	153	673	599	83	155	20	7	1	42	62	54	7	7	.259	.332	.321	.652	81.1	79.8	.313	1.5
1975	154	693	601	77	146	26	10	0	46	68	47	4	7	.243	.317	.319	.636	74.2	73.2	.306	0.9
1976	145	577	502	55	120	22	6	1	40	61	51	3	0	.239	.320	.313	.633	82.1	80.5	.304	1.4
1977	98	283	253	26	60	7	2	0	18	27	33	2	1	.237	.309	.281	.589	61.5	61.8	.276	-0.1
1978	131	480	431	35	110	18	1	1	31	36	34	2	4	.255	.312	.309	.621	75.5	75.0	.293	1.0
1979	56	124	110	14	22	6	0	1	7	10	12	1	0	.200	.264	.282	.546	45.4	47.9	.252	-0.1

Career totals

2,078

209th-most career G

8,529

206th-most career PA

7,651

194th-most career AB

899

483rd-most career R

1,931

332nd-most career H

254

284th-most career 3B

RBI

527

684

401st-most career BB

759

100

.2524

OBP

.3140

SLG

.3120

OPS

.6260

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
1971-06-17	STL @ CHC Gameday	6	3	6	1	0	0	1	0	7
1975-09-21	CHC @ WSH Gameday	3	0	3	0	2	0	1	1	7
1968-08-11	CHC @ CIN Gameday	7	1	5	1	0	0	2	0	6
1967-07-18	ATL @ CHC Gameday	5	2	4	2	0	0	5	0	6
1970-04-22	STL @ CHC Gameday	4	3	3	0	0	1	3	1	6

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1965-10-01	CHC @ PIT Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1965-10-02	CHC @ PIT Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1966-04-28	PIT @ CHC Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1966-05-22	CHC @ ATL Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1966-05-22	CHC @ ATL 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

2× Gold Glove6× 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.