MLB / Players

Joe Decker

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 0 in · 180 lb

BornJune 16, 1947 · Storm Lake, IA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 18, 1969

Final gameJuly 7, 1979

Seasons9 (1969–1979)

Chicago Cubs 1969–1972; Minnesota Twins 1973–1976; Seattle Mariners 1979

Percentile snapshot

1974 season — qualified pitchers

66.7

63.1

27.4

59.5

SHO

13.1

234

42.9

47.6

158

71.4

14.3

248.7

59.5

ERA

3.29

54.8

WHIP

1.331

41.7

K/9

5.72

70.2

FIP

3.75

28.6

FIP-

100.6

36.9

ERA+

113.2

67.9

sWAR

3.8

66.7

of 85 qualified 1974 pitchers (min 163 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

sWAR

5.0

79.4

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	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1969	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-138.7	-100.0	.000	0.3
1970	24	38	34	3	6	1	1	3	2	16	.176	.222	.294	.516	24.4	31.5	.239	0.9
1971	22	10	8	1	2	1	0	0	1	5	.250	.333	.375	.708	95.0	90.3	.335	0.0
1972	5	5	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-141.4	-100.0	.000	0.4
1973	29	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.2
1974	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.8
1975	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-1.2
1976	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.6
1979	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.3

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1969	4	1	1	0	0	0	10	4	6	13	0	12.3	2.92	1.297	9.49	2.01	50.5	136.1	0.3
1970	24	17	2	7	1	0	108	56	56	79	12	108.7	4.64	1.509	6.54	4.49	101.2	95.6	0.9
1971	21	4	3	2	0	0	62	24	25	37	2	45.7	4.73	1.905	7.29	3.13	81.0	81.8	0.0
1972	5	1	1	0	0	0	9	3	4	7	1	12.7	2.13	1.026	4.97	3.40	90.7	175.7	0.4
1973	29	24	10	10	6	3	167	79	88	109	12	170.3	4.17	1.497	5.76	3.84	97.4	94.3	1.2
1974	37	37	16	14	11	1	234	91	97	158	24	248.7	3.29	1.331	5.72	3.75	100.6	113.2	3.8
1975	10	7	1	3	1	0	25	25	36	8	2	26.3	8.54	2.316	2.73	7.04	183.0	45.0	-1.2
1976	13	12	2	7	0	0	60	34	51	35	3	58.0	5.28	1.914	5.43	4.77	132.6	68.2	-0.6
1979	9	2	0	1	0	0	27	13	14	12	2	27.3	4.28	1.500	3.95	4.38	100.8	101.4	0.3

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

153

RBI

.1739

OBP

.2245

SLG

.2826

OPS

.5071

Pitching

G (P)

152

105

SHO

710

SO (P)

458

BB allowed

377

ERA

4.170

WHIP

1.5197

K/9

5.81

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
1970-05-01	CHC @ ATL Gameday	2	1	1	0	1	1	0	4
1970-05-30	SD @ CHC Gameday	3	1	1	1	0	1	0	2
1971-07-21	NYM @ CHC Gameday	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	2
1970-07-06	WSH @ CHC Gameday	4	0	1	0	0	1	1	1
1970-04-27	CHC @ PIT Gameday	3	0	1	0	0	0	0	1

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1973-06-26	MIN @ CWS Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	3	15
1974-04-16	MIN @ LAA Gameday	6.1	4	0	0	2	11
1973-08-24	MIL @ MIN Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	2	10
1971-09-17	CHC @ PHI Gameday	8.0	6	0	0	7	9
1974-09-15	KC @ MIN Gameday	9.0	6	2	2	2	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.