Kirk Gibson

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 215 lb

BornMay 28, 1957 · Pontiac, MI, USA

MLB debutSeptember 8, 1979

Final gameAugust 10, 1995

Seasons17 (1979–1995)

Detroit Tigers 1979–1987; Los Angeles Dodgers 1988–1990; Kansas City Royals 1991; Pittsburgh Pirates 1992; Detroit Tigers 1993–1995

Percentile snapshot

1994 season — qualified batters

22.4

382

20.5

330

14.1

75.6

19.9

37.8

85.3

RBI

76.3

55.1

34.6

39.7

30.1

.276

42.9

OBP

.358

54.5

SLG

.548

87.2

OPS

.906

82.1

wRC+

126.2

75.6

OPS+

129.0

80.1

wOBA

.388

78.8

sWAR

1.9

55.8

of 157 qualified 1994 batters (min 356 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

123.5

OPS+

123.8

84.5

sWAR

33.6

97.1

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 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
1979	12	39	38	3	9	3	0	1	4	1	3	3	3	.237	.256	.395	.651	67.6	71.5	.288	-0.1
1980	51	189	175	23	46	2	1	9	16	10	45	4	7	.263	.303	.440	.743	99.4	100.7	.332	0.7
1981	83	313	290	41	95	11	3	9	40	18	64	17	5	.328	.369	.479	.848	144.1	140.9	.386	2.4
1982	69	294	266	34	74	16	2	8	35	25	41	9	7	.278	.341	.444	.785	116.1	115.6	.350	1.6
1983	128	467	401	60	91	12	9	15	51	53	96	14	3	.227	.320	.414	.734	104.9	104.3	.330	1.0
1984	149	611	531	92	150	23	10	27	91	63	103	29	9	.282	.363	.516	.879	143.0	143.2	.386	4.4
1985	154	670	581	96	167	37	5	29	97	71	137	30	4	.287	.364	.518	.882	136.0	141.1	.378	4.5
1986	119	521	441	84	118	11	2	28	86	68	107	34	6	.268	.371	.492	.863	135.7	134.8	.381	3.4
1987	128	568	487	95	135	25	3	24	79	71	117	26	7	.277	.372	.489	.861	129.8	131.3	.373	3.4
1988	150	632	542	106	157	28	1	25	76	73	120	31	4	.290	.377	.483	.860	151.1	151.3	.386	5.1
1989	71	292	253	35	54	8	2	9	28	35	55	12	3	.213	.312	.368	.679	96.5	96.7	.313	0.5
1990	89	359	315	59	82	20	0	8	38	39	65	26	2	.260	.345	.400	.745	113.8	108.6	.346	1.9
1991	132	540	462	81	109	17	6	16	55	69	103	18	4	.236	.341	.403	.744	108.7	105.5	.342	1.6
1992	16	60	56	6	11	0	0	2	5	3	12	3	1	.196	.237	.304	.541	47.6	53.1	.252	-0.3
1993	116	454	403	62	105	18	6	13	62	44	87	15	6	.261	.337	.432	.769	105.5	105.7	.346	1.0
1994	98	382	330	71	91	17	2	23	72	42	69	4	5	.276	.358	.548	.906	126.2	129.0	.388	1.9
1995	70	265	227	37	59	12	2	9	35	33	61	9	2	.260	.358	.449	.808	108.5	108.6	.359	0.5

Career totals

1,635

6,656

5,798

985

376th-most career R

1,553

260

255

243rd-most career HR

RBI

870

439th-most career RBI

718

355th-most career BB

1,285

179th-most career SO

284

193rd-most career SB

.2679

OBP

.3516

SLG

.4633

357th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8149

387th-highest career OPS

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	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1985-09-03	LAA @ DET Gameday	4	2	4	2	2	5	1	12
1995-05-28	CWS @ DET Gameday	6	2	4	1	2	2	0	11
1986-04-07	BOS @ DET Gameday	4	2	4	0	2	5	0	10
1986-10-03	DET @ BAL Gameday	5	3	4	0	2	4	0	10
1988-08-11	LAD @ CIN Gameday	5	4	4	3	1	3	0	10

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× ALCS MVP1× Most Valuable Player1× Silver Slugger

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