Hoyt Wilhelm

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 0 in · 190 lb

BornJuly 26, 1922 · Huntersville, NC, USA

MLB debutApril 18, 1952

Final gameJuly 10, 1972

Seasons21 (1952–1972)

New York Giants 1952–1956; Cleveland Indians 1957; St. Louis Cardinals 1957; Baltimore Orioles 1958; Cleveland Indians 1958; Baltimore Orioles 1959–1962; Chicago White Sox 1963–1968; Atlanta Braves 1969; California Angels 1969; Atlanta Braves 1970; Chicago Cubs 1970; Atlanta Braves 1971; Los Angeles Dodgers 1971–1972

Percentile snapshot

1959 season — qualified pitchers

21.4

32.1

62.5

46.4

73.2

SHO

66.1

178

73.2

98.2

23.2

139

78.6

89.3

226.0

64.3

ERA

2.19

100

WHIP

1.128

91.1

K/9

5.54

80.4

FIP

3.14

94.6

FIP-

84.0

85.7

ERA+

170.5

100

sWAR

5.6

96.4

of 57 qualified 1959 pitchers (min 155 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

145.5

99.1

sWAR

50.9

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	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1952	71	42	38	4	6	0	0	1	2	1	11	1	.158	.179	.237	.416	-0.5	14.5	.190	4.1
1953	68	42	33	5	5	2	1	0	1	4	8	0	.152	.243	.273	.516	31.2	34.0	.241	3.5
1954	57	22	21	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	8	0	.048	.048	.048	.095	-106.3	-74.9	.043	3.3
1955	59	21	19	2	3	0	0	0	0	1	4	0	.158	.200	.158	.358	-7.8	-2.5	.173	1.0
1956	64	9	9	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.222	.222	.222	.444	11.2	20.8	.201	0.8
1957	42	6	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-129.8	-100.0	.000	0.3
1958	39	37	32	2	3	0	0	0	2	1	10	0	.094	.121	.094	.215	-53.5	-38.8	.106	3.1
1959	32	85	76	2	4	0	0	0	2	5	23	0	.053	.111	.053	.164	-58.7	-52.5	.091	5.6
1960	41	48	42	1	3	0	0	0	4	2	14	0	.071	.111	.071	.183	-61.9	-48.7	.095	1.9
1961	51	24	20	1	1	0	0	0	2	2	10	0	.050	.136	.050	.186	-48.4	-46.3	.109	2.9
1962	52	17	16	1	2	0	0	0	0	1	10	0	.125	.176	.125	.301	-18.5	-14.1	.151	2.8
1963	55	36	29	3	2	0	0	0	2	4	11	0	.069	.182	.069	.251	-23.1	-24.7	.144	2.7
1964	73	24	21	2	3	0	0	0	3	1	7	0	.143	.182	.143	.325	-14.9	-5.8	.158	3.6
1965	66	28	22	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	12	0	.000	.083	.000	.083	-77.9	-73.1	.062	3.8
1966	46	8	8	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	4	0	.125	.125	.250	.375	-3.1	9.1	.163	2.4
1967	49	13	13	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	11	0	.077	.077	.077	.154	-73.8	-53.2	.071	2.8
1968	72	4	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-140.6	-100.0	.000	2.5
1969	52	9	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-126.3	-100.0	.000	1.9
1970	53	13	11	0	1	0	0	0	1	2	6	0	.091	.231	.091	.322	-4.9	-11.9	.187	1.6
1971	12	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-127.0	-100.0	.000	0.3
1972	16	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-130.0	-100.0	.000	-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
1952	71	0	15	3	11	0	0	127	43	57	108	12	159.3	2.43	1.155	6.10	3.21	85.9	153.8	4.1
1953	68	0	7	8	15	0	0	127	49	77	71	13	145.0	3.04	1.407	4.41	4.48	104.1	141.4	3.5
1954	57	0	12	4	7	0	0	77	26	52	64	5	111.3	2.10	1.159	5.17	3.39	83.8	192.4	3.3
1955	59	0	4	1	0	0	0	104	45	40	71	10	103.0	3.93	1.398	6.20	3.41	85.4	101.6	1.0
1956	64	0	4	9	8	0	0	97	38	43	71	7	89.3	3.83	1.567	7.15	3.17	84.7	97.9	0.8
1957	42	0	2	4	12	0	0	54	27	22	29	8	58.7	4.14	1.295	4.45	4.62	117.8	94.9	0.3
1958	39	10	3	10	5	4	1	95	34	45	92	6	131.0	2.34	1.069	6.32	2.71	74.1	156.4	3.1
1959	32	27	15	11	0	13	3	178	55	77	139	13	226.0	2.19	1.128	5.54	3.14	84.0	170.5	5.6
1960	41	11	11	8	7	3	1	125	54	39	107	13	147.0	3.31	1.116	6.55	2.91	77.2	114.2	1.9
1961	51	1	9	7	18	0	0	89	28	41	87	5	109.7	2.30	1.185	7.14	2.74	71.4	167.0	2.9
1962	52	0	7	10	15	0	0	64	20	34	90	5	93.0	1.94	1.054	8.71	2.47	66.5	192.0	2.8
1963	55	3	5	8	21	0	0	106	40	30	111	8	136.3	2.64	.998	7.33	2.34	66.8	132.8	2.7
1964	73	0	12	9	27	0	0	94	29	30	95	7	131.3	1.99	.944	6.51	2.44	70.3	174.5	3.6
1965	66	0	7	7	20	0	0	88	29	32	106	11	144.0	1.81	.833	6.63	2.63	81.6	177.6	3.8
1966	46	0	5	2	6	0	0	50	15	17	61	6	81.3	1.66	.824	6.75	2.56	80.3	192.0	2.4
1967	49	0	8	3	12	0	0	58	13	34	76	2	89.0	1.31	1.034	7.69	2.28	74.2	234.3	2.8
1968	72	0	4	4	12	0	0	69	18	24	72	4	93.7	1.73	.993	6.92	2.07	69.1	173.6	2.5
1969	52	0	7	7	14	0	0	50	19	22	67	4	78.0	2.19	.923	7.73	2.36	67.5	159.6	1.9
1970	53	0	6	5	13	0	0	73	31	42	68	8	82.0	3.40	1.402	7.46	4.03	94.5	125.2	1.6
1971	12	0	0	1	3	0	0	12	6	5	16	3	20.0	2.70	.850	7.20	3.64	105.9	122.7	0.3
1972	16	0	0	1	1	0	0	20	13	15	9	0	25.3	4.62	1.382	3.20	3.59	107.2	72.5	-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

1,070

493

432

RBI

166

.0880

OBP

.1394

SLG

.1065

OPS

.2459

Pitching

G (P)

1,070

6th-most career G (P)

143

292nd-most career W

122

324th-most career L

227

45th-most career SV

SHO

2,254

328th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,610

196th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

778

278th-most career BB allowed

ERA

2.523

45th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1245

42nd-lowest career WHIP

K/9

6.43

294th-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	3B	HR	RBI	TB
1952-04-23	ATL @ SF Gameday	2	1	1	0	0	1	2	4
1953-06-04	CIN @ SF Gameday	2	0	1	0	1	0	1	3
1964-07-12	CWS @ ATH Gameday	2	1	2	0	0	0	1	2
1953-05-04	CIN @ SF Gameday	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	2
1953-07-18	CHC @ SF Gameday	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1958-09-26	BAL @ NYY Gameday	9.0	6	1	1	6	10
1958-05-04	CLE @ BOS Gameday	11.0	10	1	1	5	9
1959-09-10	CLE @ BAL Gameday	9.0	3	1	0	3	9
1958-09-20	NYY @ BAL Gameday	9.0	0	0	0	2	8
1959-04-21	BAL @ BOS Gameday	9.0	8	2	1	5	8

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, 1985 (BBWAA)

5× 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.