Kirby Higbe
Chicago Cubs 1937–1939; Philadelphia Phillies 1939–1940; Brooklyn Dodgers 1941–1943; Brooklyn Dodgers 1946–1947; Pittsburgh Pirates 1947–1948; New York Giants 1949; Pittsburgh Pirates 1949; New York Giants 1950
Percentile snapshot
1948 season — qualified pitchers
of 73 qualified 1948 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 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | -124.5 | -100.0 | .000 | -0.1 |
| 1938 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | -128.7 | -100.0 | .000 | -0.1 |
| 1939 | 43 | 80 | 73 | 5 | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 18 | 0 | 0 | .178 | .178 | .205 | .384 | -13.7 | 2.6 | .175 | 0.1 |
| 1940 | 41 | 109 | 103 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 26 | 0 | 0 | .165 | .189 | .194 | .383 | -4.8 | 6.2 | .180 | 2.9 |
| 1941 | 48 | 122 | 112 | 6 | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 4 | 23 | 0 | 0 | .188 | .216 | .232 | .448 | 14.7 | 25.1 | .213 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 38 | 84 | 77 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 16 | 0 | 0 | .104 | .104 | .130 | .234 | -57.2 | -31.9 | .109 | 1.9 |
| 1943 | 35 | 72 | 65 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .138 | .176 | .185 | .361 | -12.5 | 3.7 | .177 | 1.0 |
| 1946 | 42 | 83 | 77 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | .130 | .130 | .156 | .286 | -46.6 | -19.2 | .133 | 2.7 |
| 1947 | 50 | 85 | 77 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 0 | 0 | .143 | .165 | .221 | .385 | -16.7 | -0.3 | .176 | 3.3 |
| 1948 | 56 | 48 | 48 | 4 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | .208 | .208 | .292 | .500 | 17.7 | 32.2 | .224 | 2.9 |
| 1949 | 44 | 21 | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | .056 | .190 | .056 | .246 | -28.4 | -30.3 | .150 | -0.3 |
| 1950 | 18 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .250 | .250 | .500 | 21.7 | 32.4 | .227 | 0.0 |
Pitching
| Season | G | GS | W | L | SV | CG | SHO | H | ER | BB | SO | HR | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | FIP | FIP- | ERA+ | sWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1937 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5.0 | 5.40 | 1.000 | 3.60 | 5.35 | 134.4 | 73.7 | -0.1 |
| 1938 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 10.0 | 5.40 | 1.600 | 3.60 | 5.04 | 131.1 | 71.1 | -0.1 |
| 1939 | 43 | 28 | 12 | 15 | 2 | 14 | 1 | 220 | 109 | 123 | 95 | 10 | 210.0 | 4.67 | 1.633 | 4.07 | 4.42 | 112.6 | 84.1 | 0.1 |
| 1940 | 41 | 36 | 14 | 19 | 1 | 20 | 1 | 242 | 117 | 121 | 137 | 12 | 283.0 | 3.72 | 1.283 | 4.36 | 3.65 | 95.5 | 102.6 | 2.9 |
| 1941 | 48 | 39 | 22 | 9 | 3 | 19 | 2 | 244 | 104 | 132 | 121 | 17 | 298.0 | 3.14 | 1.262 | 3.65 | 3.88 | 105.2 | 117.5 | 4.9 |
| 1942 | 38 | 32 | 16 | 11 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 180 | 80 | 106 | 115 | 17 | 221.7 | 3.25 | 1.290 | 4.67 | 3.71 | 111.4 | 102.4 | 1.9 |
| 1943 | 35 | 27 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 189 | 76 | 95 | 108 | 4 | 185.0 | 3.70 | 1.535 | 5.25 | 3.21 | 94.0 | 92.3 | 1.0 |
| 1946 | 42 | 29 | 17 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 3 | 178 | 71 | 107 | 134 | 6 | 210.7 | 3.03 | 1.353 | 5.72 | 2.96 | 86.5 | 112.6 | 2.7 |
| 1947 | 50 | 33 | 13 | 17 | 5 | 10 | 1 | 222 | 102 | 122 | 109 | 22 | 240.7 | 3.81 | 1.429 | 4.08 | 4.42 | 105.1 | 110.3 | 3.3 |
| 1948 | 56 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 140 | 59 | 83 | 86 | 11 | 158.0 | 3.36 | 1.411 | 4.90 | 4.02 | 98.8 | 121.0 | 2.9 |
| 1949 | 44 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 97 | 54 | 53 | 43 | 14 | 95.7 | 5.08 | 1.568 | 4.05 | 5.23 | 129.2 | 79.6 | -0.3 |
| 1950 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 19 | 30 | 17 | 2 | 34.7 | 4.93 | 1.933 | 4.41 | 4.82 | 117.1 | 83.4 | 0.0 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1941-08-11 | SF @ LAD Gameday | 5 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 1941-08-17 | LAD @ ATL Gameday | 4 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 1947-09-11 | ATL @ PIT Gameday | 6 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 1941-05-16 | LAD @ PIT Gameday | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| 1943-06-26 | LAD @ PHI Gameday | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Pitching
| Date | Game | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1943-08-15 | STL @ LAD Gameday | 10.0 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 11 | 0 |
| 1942-09-21 | PHI @ LAD Gameday | 9.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 11 | 0 |
| 1947-08-07 | PIT @ CHC Gameday | 9.0 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 0 |
| 1946-09-07 | SF @ LAD Gameday | 9.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 1 |
| 1940-07-19 | PHI @ STL Gameday | 8.0 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 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.