MLB / Players

John Clarkson

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at5 ft 10 in · 155 lb

BornJuly 1, 1861 · Cambridge, MA, USA

MLB debutMay 2, 1882

Final gameJuly 12, 1894

Seasons12 (1882–1894)

Worcester Ruby Legs 1882; Chicago White Stockings 1884–1887; Boston Beaneaters 1888–1892; Cleveland Spiders 1892–1894

Percentile snapshot

1894 season — qualified pitchers

2.3

6.8

15.9

11.4

SHO

59.1

173

95.5

97.7

6.8

84.1

150.7

6.8

ERA

4.42

81.8

WHIP

1.454

93.2

K/9

1.67

13.6

FIP

4.88

84.1

FIP-

91.5

86.4

ERA+

120.5

84.1

sWAR

2.4

of 45 qualified 1894 pitchers (min 130 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

125.8

94.7

sWAR

79.3

99.8

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	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1882	3	11	11	0	4	2	0	0	2	0	3	0	.364	.364	.545	.909	162.7	187.0	.400	0.0
1884	21	86	84	16	22	6	2	3	17	2	16	0	.262	.279	.488	.767	124.4	136.6	.339	2.6
1885	72	286	283	34	61	11	5	4	32	3	44	0	.216	.224	.332	.556	80.0	77.7	.253	13.0
1886	55	210	210	21	49	9	1	3	23	0	38	2	.233	.233	.329	.562	72.3	69.0	.254	9.0
1887	63	226	215	40	52	5	5	6	25	11	25	6	.242	.279	.395	.674	85.7	84.9	.304	10.2
1888	55	212	205	20	40	9	1	1	17	7	48	5	.195	.222	.263	.485	60.1	53.8	.225	5.5
1889	73	273	262	36	54	9	3	2	23	11	59	8	.206	.238	.286	.524	51.3	45.4	.249	13.7
1890	45	182	173	18	43	6	3	2	26	8	31	2	.249	.286	.353	.638	84.0	85.5	.305	5.4
1891	55	205	187	28	42	7	4	0	26	18	50	2	.225	.293	.305	.597	78.5	73.9	.292	7.6
1892	45	169	158	15	27	3	0	1	17	11	39	3	.171	.225	.209	.434	42.2	30.8	.218	6.7
1893	37	135	131	18	27	6	2	1	17	4	20	2	.206	.230	.305	.535	46.3	41.5	.252	3.2
1894	22	65	55	8	11	0	0	1	7	6	9	1	.200	.279	.255	.533	43.5	29.1	.263	2.4

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1882	3	3	1	2	0	2	0	49	12	2	3	0	24.0	4.50	2.125	1.13	2.85	98.9	64.1	0.0
1884	14	13	10	3	0	12	0	94	28	25	102	10	118.0	2.14	1.008	7.78	2.87	96.3	139.4	2.6
1885	70	70	53	16	0	68	10	497	128	97	308	21	623.0	1.85	.953	4.45	2.59	91.9	152.3	13.0
1886	55	55	36	17	0	50	3	419	125	86	313	19	466.7	2.41	1.082	6.04	2.82	85.8	136.4	9.0
1887	60	59	38	21	0	56	2	513	179	92	237	19	523.0	3.08	1.157	4.08	3.23	79.9	131.4	10.2
1888	54	54	33	20	0	53	3	448	148	119	223	17	483.3	2.76	1.173	4.15	2.80	98.7	102.7	5.5
1889	73	72	49	19	1	68	8	589	188	203	284	16	620.0	2.73	1.277	4.12	3.47	86.3	147.5	13.7
1890	44	44	26	18	0	43	2	370	139	140	138	14	383.0	3.27	1.332	3.24	3.64	102.2	109.0	5.4
1891	55	51	33	19	3	47	3	435	143	154	141	18	460.7	2.79	1.279	2.75	3.40	101.7	119.7	7.6
1892	45	44	25	16	1	42	5	350	107	132	139	8	389.0	2.48	1.239	3.22	3.08	93.6	132.7	6.7
1893	36	35	16	17	0	31	0	358	146	95	62	11	295.0	4.45	1.536	1.89	4.33	92.8	104.6	3.2
1894	22	18	8	10	0	13	1	173	74	46	28	6	150.7	4.42	1.454	1.67	4.88	91.5	120.5	2.4

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

546

2,060

1,974

254

432

RBI

232

382

.2188

OBP

.2500

SLG

.3186

OPS

.5686

Pitching

G (P)

531

377th-most career G (P)

518

45th-most career GS

328

12th-most career W

178

78th-most career L

485

9th-most career CG

SHO

57th-most career SHO

4,536

23rd-most career IP

SO (P)

1,978

95th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,191

55th-most career BB allowed

ERA

2.811

111th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2093

187th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

3.92

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.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1963 (Veterans)

1× Pitching Triple Crown

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.