MLB / Players

John Denny

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 185 lb

BornNovember 8, 1952 · Prescott, AZ, USA

MLB debutSeptember 12, 1974

Final gameAugust 18, 1986

Seasons13 (1974–1986)

St. Louis Cardinals 1974–1979; Cleveland Indians 1980–1982; Philadelphia Phillies 1982–1985; Cincinnati Reds 1986

Percentile snapshot

1986 season — qualified pitchers

1.2

7.3

62.2

9.8

SHO

31.7

179

75.6

73.2

76.8

115

171.3

6.1

ERA

4.20

34.1

WHIP

1.372

30.5

K/9

6.04

FIP

3.59

68.3

FIP-

93.3

59.8

ERA+

91.6

20.7

sWAR

1.2

of 83 qualified 1986 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

105.1

sWAR

26.6

95.8

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	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1974	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.1
1975	26	50	44	4	10	0	0	3	0	17	0	0	.227	.227	.227	.455	13.5	25.1	.214	1.0
1976	30	75	67	3	15	2	0	4	1	27	1	0	.224	.235	.254	.489	31.0	38.9	.231	4.8
1977	26	58	51	4	5	0	0	2	1	15	1	0	.098	.132	.098	.230	-47.2	-36.4	.115	0.0
1978	33	85	73	10	13	3	1	3	4	21	0	0	.178	.218	.247	.465	12.5	23.5	.220	5.4
1979	31	80	70	5	9	2	1	3	1	21	1	2	.129	.139	.186	.325	-27.9	-12.4	.148	-0.7
1980	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.7
1981	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.3
1982	25	8	6	0	1	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	.167	.375	.167	.542	83.2	56.9	.305	0.1
1983	36	96	77	7	13	1	0	2	2	16	2	0	.169	.190	.182	.372	-4.6	4.5	.177	6.0
1984	22	54	47	3	9	0	0	4	1	11	0	0	.191	.204	.191	.396	1.1	11.5	.187	3.8
1985	33	88	81	2	10	1	0	4	4	19	2	0	.123	.165	.136	.301	-26.6	-15.8	.149	1.7
1986	27	62	54	6	12	0	0	4	3	15	2	3	.222	.263	.222	.485	30.2	33.6	.235	1.2

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1974	2	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	0	1	0	2.0	0.00	1.500	4.50	1.59	44.3	—	0.1
1975	25	24	10	7	3	2	149	60	51	72	5	136.0	3.97	1.471	4.76	3.23	86.3	94.1	1.0
1976	30	30	11	9	8	3	189	58	74	74	11	207.0	2.52	1.271	3.22	3.81	108.1	139.8	4.8
1977	26	26	8	8	3	1	165	75	62	60	9	149.7	4.51	1.517	3.61	4.06	105.3	85.4	0.0
1978	33	33	14	11	11	2	200	77	74	103	13	234.0	2.96	1.171	3.96	3.49	87.8	134.2	5.4
1979	31	31	8	11	5	2	206	111	100	99	24	206.0	4.85	1.485	4.33	4.75	125.5	77.9	-0.7
1980	16	16	8	6	4	1	116	53	47	59	4	108.7	4.39	1.500	4.89	3.59	87.5	93.4	0.7
1981	19	19	10	6	6	3	139	51	66	94	9	145.7	3.15	1.407	5.81	3.47	95.1	115.9	2.3
1982	25	25	6	13	5	0	144	87	83	113	12	160.7	4.87	1.413	6.33	3.92	97.0	82.8	0.1
1983	36	36	19	6	7	1	229	64	53	139	9	242.7	2.37	1.162	5.16	2.71	75.6	151.3	6.0
1984	22	22	7	7	2	0	122	42	29	94	11	154.3	2.45	.978	5.48	3.14	86.4	148.5	3.8
1985	33	33	11	14	6	2	252	98	83	123	15	230.7	3.82	1.452	4.80	3.52	95.3	96.5	1.7
1986	27	27	11	10	2	1	179	80	56	115	15	171.3	4.20	1.372	6.04	3.59	93.3	91.6	1.2

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

326

656

570

RBI

164

.1702

OBP

.1973

SLG

.1930

OPS

.3903

Pitching

G (P)

325

322

288th-most career GS

123

424th-most career W

108

463rd-most career L

SHO

292nd-most career SHO

2,149

375th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,146

438th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

778

278th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.585

WHIP

1.3362

K/9

4.80

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
1978-04-26	STL @ WSH Gameday	5	2	2	0	1	1	4
1979-08-09	STL @ NYM Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	0	4
1976-09-15	STL @ NYM Gameday	4	2	3	0	0	0	3
1978-09-30	WSH @ STL Gameday	3	0	2	1	0	1	3
1976-06-11	STL @ CIN Gameday	3	0	2	1	0	0	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1985-06-15	PHI @ PIT Gameday	9.0	10	3	3	2	13	1
1984-08-10	STL @ PHI Gameday	8.0	4	0	0	1	10	0
1981-09-10	CLE @ BAL Gameday	7.2	5	1	1	4	10	0
1983-08-09	PIT @ PHI Gameday	7.0	6	1	0	1	10	0
1986-05-12	CIN @ WSH Gameday	7.0	9	3	3	3	10	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.

Honors

1× Cy Young Award

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