Joe Carter

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 215 lb

BornMarch 7, 1960 · Oklahoma City, OK, USA

MLB debutJuly 30, 1983

Final gameSeptember 28, 1998

Seasons16 (1983–1998)

Chicago Cubs 1983; Cleveland Indians 1984–1989; San Diego Padres 1990; Toronto Blue Jays 1991–1997; Baltimore Orioles 1998; San Francisco Giants 1998

Percentile snapshot

1997 season — qualified batters

157

85.3

668

79.7

612

88.1

33.6

143

35.7

53.1

64.3

55.9

RBI

102

19.6

105

36.4

41.3

81.8

.234

2.1

OBP

.284

3.5

SLG

.399

26.6

OPS

.683

7.7

wRC+

72.1

4.2

OPS+

76.7

4.9

wOBA

.298

4.9

sWAR

-1.3

of 144 qualified 1997 batters (min 502 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

100.2

OPS+

104.7

51.7

sWAR

20.9

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
1983	23	52	51	6	9	1	1	0	1	0	21	1	0	.176	.176	.235	.412	-3.0	11.2	.188	-0.6
1984	66	257	244	32	67	6	1	13	41	11	48	2	4	.275	.307	.467	.775	109.3	109.6	.343	0.9
1985	143	523	489	64	128	27	0	15	59	25	74	24	6	.262	.298	.409	.707	89.8	92.0	.312	0.2
1986	162	709	663	108	200	36	9	29	121	32	95	29	7	.302	.335	.514	.849	126.1	128.0	.368	3.5
1987	149	629	588	83	155	27	2	32	106	27	105	31	6	.264	.304	.480	.784	98.8	102.6	.334	1.1
1988	157	670	621	85	168	36	6	27	98	35	82	27	5	.271	.314	.478	.792	113.5	116.3	.348	3.7
1989	162	705	651	84	158	32	4	35	105	39	112	13	5	.243	.292	.465	.757	104.5	109.5	.334	2.5
1990	162	697	634	79	147	27	1	24	115	48	93	22	6	.232	.290	.391	.681	77.7	85.8	.299	0.2
1991	162	706	638	89	174	42	3	33	108	49	112	20	9	.273	.330	.503	.833	120.7	125.6	.362	3.2
1992	158	683	622	97	164	30	7	34	119	36	109	12	5	.264	.309	.498	.808	116.7	120.9	.356	2.7
1993	155	669	603	92	153	33	5	33	121	47	113	8	3	.254	.312	.489	.802	108.7	112.6	.351	2.2
1994	111	483	435	70	118	25	2	27	103	33	64	11	0	.271	.317	.524	.841	105.0	112.2	.353	1.4
1995	139	603	558	70	141	23	0	25	76	37	87	12	1	.253	.300	.428	.728	83.8	87.9	.318	0.2
1996	157	682	625	84	158	35	7	30	107	44	106	7	6	.253	.306	.475	.782	92.3	94.8	.337	0.6
1997	157	668	612	76	143	30	4	21	102	40	105	8	2	.234	.284	.399	.683	72.1	76.7	.298	-1.3
1998	126	418	388	51	101	22	1	18	63	24	61	4	1	.260	.304	.461	.765	94.8	100.0	.328	0.3

Career totals

2,189

152nd-most career G

9,154

146th-most career PA

8,422

113th-most career AB

1,170

215th-most career R

2,184

197th-most career H

432

142nd-most career 2B

396

63rd-most career HR

RBI

1,445

64th-most career RBI

527

1,387

126th-most career SO

231

284th-most career SB

.2593

OBP

.3063

SLG

.4643

339th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.7706

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	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1986-08-29	CLE @ BOS Gameday	5	3	5	0	3	4	0	14
1986-09-06	CLE @ MIL Gameday	6	5	5	2	2	4	0	13
1987-05-28	CLE @ BOS Gameday	5	3	4	0	3	5	0	13
1989-07-19	CLE @ MIN Gameday	3	3	3	0	3	6	1	12
1993-08-23	CLE @ TOR Gameday	4	3	3	0	3	4	0	12

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× Silver Slugger5× 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.