Johnny Vander Meer
Cincinnati Reds 1937–1943; Cincinnati Reds 1946–1949; Chicago Cubs 1950; Cleveland Indians 1951
Percentile snapshot
1949 season — qualified pitchers
of 62 qualified 1949 pitchers (min 156 IP)
Career, era-adjusted
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 | CS | BA | OBP | SLG | OPS | wRC+ | OPS+ | wOBA | sWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | 21 | 26 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | .217 | .280 | .304 | .584 | 60.9 | 62.0 | .275 | 0.9 |
| 1938 | 33 | 88 | 83 | 6 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 0 | 0 | .181 | .181 | .181 | .361 | -11.9 | 1.3 | .167 | 3.4 |
| 1939 | 30 | 46 | 36 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 0 | 0 | .111 | .179 | .139 | .318 | -20.2 | -12.7 | .163 | -0.1 |
| 1940 | 12 | 21 | 20 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .300 | .333 | .400 | .733 | 101.1 | 103.1 | .336 | 0.7 |
| 1941 | 35 | 87 | 76 | 6 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 0 | .132 | .154 | .145 | .299 | -28.0 | -14.8 | .144 | 3.9 |
| 1942 | 37 | 89 | 75 | 7 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 26 | 0 | 0 | .147 | .210 | .160 | .370 | 2.5 | 9.9 | .189 | 4.8 |
| 1943 | 40 | 112 | 95 | 9 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 9 | 28 | 1 | 0 | .137 | .212 | .147 | .359 | -0.3 | 5.9 | .188 | 4.1 |
| 1946 | 33 | 75 | 73 | 6 | 18 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 0 | .247 | .257 | .274 | .531 | 41.1 | 53.3 | .251 | 2.6 |
| 1947 | 31 | 69 | 57 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 0 | 0 | .088 | .133 | .123 | .256 | -44.9 | -31.4 | .127 | 0.8 |
| 1948 | 41 | 89 | 78 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 21 | 0 | 0 | .141 | .212 | .205 | .417 | 8.8 | 14.4 | .204 | 3.6 |
| 1949 | 33 | 66 | 52 | 5 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 17 | 0 | 0 | .077 | .172 | .077 | .249 | -36.3 | -31.3 | .141 | -0.2 |
| 1950 | 35 | 17 | 16 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 0 | .125 | .176 | .250 | .426 | -0.9 | 10.7 | .194 | 1.0 |
| 1951 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | -121.1 | -100.0 | .000 | -0.5 |
Pitching
| Season | G | GS | W | L | SV | CG | SHO | H | ER | BB | SO | HR | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | FIP | FIP- | ERA+ | sWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | 19 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 63 | 36 | 69 | 52 | 0 | 84.3 | 3.84 | 1.565 | 5.55 | 4.24 | 113.1 | 97.7 | 0.9 |
| 1938 | 32 | 29 | 15 | 10 | 0 | 16 | 3 | 177 | 78 | 103 | 125 | 12 | 225.3 | 3.12 | 1.243 | 4.99 | 3.73 | 101.7 | 117.7 | 3.4 |
| 1939 | 30 | 21 | 5 | 9 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 128 | 67 | 95 | 102 | 7 | 129.0 | 4.67 | 1.729 | 7.12 | 4.19 | 108.7 | 82.4 | -0.1 |
| 1940 | 10 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 38 | 20 | 41 | 41 | 3 | 48.0 | 3.75 | 1.646 | 7.69 | 4.48 | 118.3 | 100.9 | 0.7 |
| 1941 | 33 | 32 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 18 | 6 | 172 | 71 | 126 | 202 | 8 | 226.3 | 2.82 | 1.317 | 8.03 | 2.92 | 81.9 | 126.4 | 3.9 |
| 1942 | 33 | 33 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 21 | 4 | 188 | 66 | 102 | 186 | 6 | 244.0 | 2.43 | 1.189 | 6.86 | 2.35 | 72.0 | 133.9 | 4.8 |
| 1943 | 36 | 36 | 15 | 16 | 0 | 21 | 3 | 228 | 92 | 162 | 174 | 5 | 289.0 | 2.87 | 1.349 | 5.42 | 3.21 | 97.8 | 114.4 | 4.1 |
| 1946 | 29 | 25 | 10 | 12 | 0 | 11 | 4 | 175 | 72 | 78 | 94 | 11 | 204.3 | 3.17 | 1.238 | 4.14 | 3.25 | 98.5 | 103.9 | 2.6 |
| 1947 | 30 | 29 | 9 | 14 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 186 | 91 | 87 | 79 | 11 | 186.0 | 4.40 | 1.468 | 3.82 | 3.94 | 97.5 | 91.8 | 0.8 |
| 1948 | 33 | 33 | 17 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 3 | 204 | 88 | 124 | 120 | 15 | 232.0 | 3.41 | 1.414 | 4.66 | 3.99 | 102.9 | 113.5 | 3.6 |
| 1949 | 28 | 24 | 5 | 10 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 172 | 87 | 85 | 76 | 12 | 159.7 | 4.90 | 1.610 | 4.28 | 4.19 | 102.3 | 83.5 | -0.2 |
| 1950 | 32 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 31 | 59 | 41 | 10 | 73.7 | 3.79 | 1.615 | 5.01 | 5.59 | 134.9 | 109.4 | 1.0 |
| 1951 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3.0 | 18.00 | 3.000 | 6.00 | 2.24 | 58.3 | 21.4 | -0.5 |
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
Pitching
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 | HR | RBI | BB | TB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1948-06-12 | ATL @ CIN Gameday | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| 1940-09-26 | CIN @ STL Gameday | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 1941-08-20 | CIN @ PHI Gameday | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| 1947-09-01 | CIN @ CHC Gameday | 4 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| 1937-06-02 | CIN @ PHI Gameday | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Pitching
| Date | Game | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1946-09-11 | CIN @ LAD Gameday | 15.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 0 |
| 1941-09-06 | CIN @ STL Gameday | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 14 | 0 |
| 1943-07-29 | ATL @ CIN Gameday | 9.0 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 14 | 0 |
| 1942-07-12 | PHI @ CIN Gameday | 9.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 0 |
| 1941-04-22 | CIN @ CHC Gameday | 9.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 12 | 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
Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.