MLB / Players

Joe Benz

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 196 lb

BornJanuary 21, 1886 · New Alsace, IN, USA

MLB debutAugust 16, 1911

Final gameMay 2, 1919

Seasons9 (1911–1919)

Chicago White Sox 1911–1919

Percentile snapshot

1918 season — qualified pitchers

50.5

40.9

36.6

51.6

35.5

SHO

33.3

156

48.4

63.4

78.5

21.5

55.9

154.0

ERA

2.63

64.5

WHIP

1.195

68.8

K/9

1.75

5.4

FIP

2.44

83.9

FIP-

88.7

82.8

ERA+

104.6

sWAR

1.7

51.6

of 94 qualified 1918 pitchers (min 124 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

118.2

87.5

sWAR

18.4

92.9

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	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1911	12	17	17	1	1	0	0	0	0	7	0	0	.059	.059	.059	.118	-70.8	-66.5	.056	0.9
1912	42	85	76	3	10	0	1	4	1	29	0	1	.132	.143	.158	.301	-14.3	-12.2	.145	2.6
1913	33	52	50	3	9	2	0	4	0	14	0	0	.180	.180	.220	.400	5.5	18.3	.190	1.6
1914	48	97	92	5	12	3	0	1	1	29	1	0	.130	.140	.163	.303	-24.8	-7.6	.147	3.8
1915	39	85	79	7	10	0	1	1	1	25	0	0	.127	.148	.152	.300	-20.8	-10.5	.149	4.2
1916	28	50	46	3	3	1	0	2	2	19	0	0	.065	.104	.087	.191	-58.9	-42.0	.102	2.3
1917	19	33	30	4	5	1	0	0	0	11	0	0	.167	.167	.200	.367	-5.1	11.5	.175	1.0
1918	29	55	51	3	11	1	0	5	0	14	0	0	.216	.216	.235	.451	20.5	36.3	.218	1.7
1919	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.1

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1911	12	6	3	2	0	1	0	52	14	13	28	0	55.7	2.26	1.168	4.53	2.72	84.8	141.5	0.9
1912	42	31	13	17	0	12	3	231	77	70	97	5	238.7	2.90	1.261	3.66	3.39	106.0	110.1	2.6
1913	33	17	7	10	1	6	1	146	46	59	79	1	151.0	2.74	1.358	4.71	2.74	95.7	104.4	1.6
1914	48	35	14	19	2	16	4	245	71	66	142	4	283.3	2.26	1.098	4.51	2.24	84.6	117.6	3.8
1915	39	28	15	11	0	17	2	209	56	43	81	4	238.3	2.11	1.057	3.06	2.49	84.6	139.4	4.2
1916	28	16	9	5	0	6	4	108	32	32	57	0	142.0	2.03	.986	3.61	2.26	81.4	137.0	2.3
1917	19	13	7	3	0	7	2	76	26	23	25	1	94.7	2.47	1.046	2.38	2.54	95.0	108.3	1.0
1918	29	17	8	8	0	10	1	156	45	28	30	1	154.0	2.63	1.195	1.75	2.44	88.7	104.6	1.7
1919	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	2.0	0.00	1.000	0.00	2.53	79.3	—	0.1

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

251

474

441

RBI

148

.1383

OBP

.1499

SLG

.1655

OPS

.3154

Pitching

G (P)

251

163

SHO

317th-most career SHO

1,360

SO (P)

539

BB allowed

334

ERA

2.429

33rd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1466

72nd-lowest career WHIP

K/9

3.57

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	RBI	TB
1918-07-09	CWS @ NYY Gameday	4	0	3	1	0	1	4
1914-06-22	BOS @ CWS Gameday	2	2	2	1	0	0	3
1912-06-26	BAL @ CWS Gameday	2	1	1	0	1	0	3
1915-07-10	MIN @ CWS Gameday	1	1	1	0	1	0	3
1912-09-06	CLE @ CWS Gameday	3	0	2	0	0	0	2

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1916-09-04	CWS @ BAL Gameday	9.0	3	1	1	2	10	0
1914-07-25	NYY @ CWS Gameday	13.0	6	0	0	3	9	0
1914-09-30	CWS @ CLE Gameday	11.1	13	6	5	4	9	0
1912-06-22	BAL @ CWS Gameday	9.0	6	1	1	1	8	1
1915-06-12	CWS @ MIN Gameday	8.0	9	2	2	1	8	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.