MLB / Players

John Sowders

HandednessBats Right · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 0 in · 150 lb

BornDecember 10, 1866 · Louisville, KY, USA

MLB debutJune 28, 1887

Final gameOctober 4, 1890

Seasons3 (1887–1890)

Indianapolis Hoosiers 1887; Kansas City Cowboys 1889; Brooklyn Ward's Wonders 1890

Percentile snapshot

1890 season — qualified pitchers

57.3

58.5

35.4

46.3

SHO

32.9

358

26.8

131

30.5

161

20.7

42.7

84.1

309.0

58.5

ERA

3.82

45.1

WHIP

1.680

12.2

K/9

2.65

29.3

FIP

4.15

34.1

FIP-

98.1

58.5

ERA+

110.8

56.1

sWAR

3.9

52.4

of 83 qualified 1890 pitchers (min 133 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

sWAR

3.6

75.6

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	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1887	1	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-63.6	-100.0	.000	-0.5
1889	28	93	87	11	19	3	0	6	4	20	1	.218	.269	.253	.522	60.3	48.6	.257	0.1
1890	40	142	132	14	25	3	1	20	10	12	0	.189	.246	.235	.481	44.1	28.6	.238	3.9

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1887	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	11	7	5	0	0	3.0	21.00	5.333	0.00	8.09	200.0	19.3	-0.5
1889	25	23	6	16	1	20	0	204	99	105	104	9	185.0	4.82	1.670	5.06	4.34	113.0	79.8	0.1
1890	39	37	19	16	0	28	1	358	131	161	91	3	309.0	3.82	1.680	2.65	4.15	98.1	110.8	3.9

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

237

221

RBI

.1991

OBP

.2532

SLG

.2398

OPS

.4930

Pitching

G (P)

SHO

497

SO (P)

195

BB allowed

271

ERA

4.292

WHIP

1.6982

K/9

3.53

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.