MLB / Players

Lefty Leifield

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 165 lb

BornSeptember 5, 1883 · Trenton, IL, USA

MLB debutSeptember 3, 1905

Final gameSeptember 24, 1920

Seasons12 (1905–1920)

Pittsburgh Pirates 1905–1911; Chicago Cubs 1912; Pittsburgh Pirates 1912; Chicago Cubs 1913; St. Louis Browns 1918–1920

Percentile snapshot

1911 season — qualified pitchers

85.7

92.3

54.9

92.3

SHO

60.4

301

3.3

13.2

111

73.6

17.6

318.0

94.5

ERA

2.63

72.5

WHIP

1.204

68.1

K/9

3.14

18.7

FIP

3.14

58.2

FIP-

92.0

65.9

ERA+

129.5

73.6

sWAR

6.6

92.3

of 92 qualified 1911 pitchers (min 155 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

115.6

sWAR

27.6

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	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1905	8	22	20	2	7	1	1	5	2	5	0	.350	.409	.500	.909	166.3	170.5	.430	1.0
1906	37	98	88	6	11	0	0	3	6	16	1	.125	.181	.125	.306	-10.2	-5.6	.163	4.9
1907	40	108	102	5	15	2	3	4	4	15	0	.147	.179	.225	.405	15.2	26.8	.199	3.3
1908	34	82	75	6	17	1	1	2	4	14	2	.227	.266	.267	.532	66.4	70.5	.262	3.2
1909	32	78	73	2	14	1	3	8	3	25	1	.192	.224	.288	.511	50.6	58.5	.248	2.8
1910	40	76	60	6	11	2	0	4	7	15	0	.183	.269	.217	.485	41.6	40.4	.251	3.4
1911	43	124	102	12	24	2	0	2	17	17	1	.235	.355	.255	.610	81.4	71.6	.316	6.6
1912	19	39	33	5	4	1	1	1	3	16	0	.121	.194	.212	.407	11.3	11.4	.202	1.4
1913	7	7	7	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-119.5	-100.0	.000	-0.5
1918	15	20	19	0	1	1	0	1	1	5	0	.053	.100	.105	.205	-55.6	-37.6	.109	0.6
1919	19	31	30	1	3	0	0	0	1	5	0	.100	.129	.100	.229	-54.4	-36.5	.116	1.1
1920	4	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-122.4	-100.0	.000	-0.2

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1905	8	7	5	2	0	6	1	52	18	14	10	0	56.0	2.89	1.179	1.61	3.19	106.8	103.3	1.0
1906	37	31	18	13	1	24	8	214	53	68	111	3	255.7	1.87	1.103	3.91	2.51	93.4	143.8	4.9
1907	40	33	20	16	1	24	6	270	74	100	112	1	286.0	2.33	1.294	3.52	2.45	99.6	105.7	3.3
1908	34	26	15	14	2	18	5	168	51	86	87	1	218.7	2.10	1.162	3.58	2.56	109.7	111.3	3.2
1909	32	26	19	8	0	13	3	172	53	54	43	4	201.7	2.37	1.121	1.92	2.87	111.0	109.4	2.8
1910	40	30	15	13	2	13	3	197	64	67	64	6	218.3	2.64	1.209	2.64	3.21	103.9	117.1	3.4
1911	42	37	16	16	1	26	2	301	93	82	111	7	318.0	2.63	1.204	3.14	3.14	92.0	129.5	6.6
1912	19	10	8	4	0	5	2	97	30	31	31	0	94.3	2.86	1.357	2.96	3.23	97.1	116.5	1.4
1913	6	1	0	1	0	0	0	28	13	5	4	0	21.3	5.48	1.547	1.69	2.95	92.2	58.3	-0.5
1918	15	6	2	6	0	3	1	61	19	19	22	1	67.0	2.55	1.194	2.96	2.64	96.8	106.7	0.6
1919	19	9	6	4	0	6	2	96	30	25	18	4	92.0	2.93	1.315	1.76	3.65	109.6	113.5	1.1
1920	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	17	7	3	3	0	9.0	7.00	2.222	3.00	3.23	82.6	55.9	-0.2

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

298

687

611

107

RBI

138

.1751

OBP

.2375

SLG

.2226

OPS

.4601

Pitching

G (P)

296

216

124

412th-most career W

138

265th-most career CG

SHO

88th-most career SHO

1,838

SO (P)

616

BB allowed

554

ERA

2.473

39th-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2116

195th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

3.02

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
1908-09-25	PIT @ ATL Gameday	5	1	3	1	0	0	4
1909-05-17	PIT @ LAD Gameday	5	1	2	0	1	3	4
1909-05-29	CHC @ PIT Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	1	4
1905-09-07	CIN @ PIT Gameday	4	1	2	0	1	0	4
1907-05-30	CHC @ PIT Gameday	3	1	2	0	1	0	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	BB	SO
1906-08-15	ATL @ PIT Gameday	6.0	4	1	1	9
1906-06-06	PIT @ ATL Gameday	9.0	2	0	4	8
1906-09-24	PIT @ ATL Gameday	9.0	6	5	5	8
1906-09-06	PIT @ CHC Gameday	8.0	8	2	2	8
1911-06-01	CHC @ PIT Gameday	6.0	5	2	2	8

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.