MLB / Players

Monte Irvin

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at6 ft 1 in · 195 lb

BornFebruary 25, 1919 · Haleburg, AL, USA

MLB debutJuly 8, 1949

Final gameSeptember 30, 1956

Seasons18 (1938–1956)

Newark Eagles 1938–1943; Newark Eagles 1945–1948; New York Giants 1949–1955; Chicago Cubs 1956

Percentile snapshot

1954 season — qualified batters

135

23.5

512

9.9

432

4.9

24.7

113

7.4

2.5

17.3

64.2

RBI

45.7

66.7

91.4

71.6

32.1

.262

23.5

OBP

.363

59.3

SLG

.438

OPS

.801

61.7

wRC+

111.6

59.3

OPS+

109.3

wOBA

.361

61.7

sWAR

1.7

30.9

of 82 qualified 1954 batters (min 477 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

136.4

94.7

OPS+

136.7

94.4

sWAR

29.0

96.3

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
1938	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-81.3	-100.0	.000	0.0
1939	32	131	115	22	33	6	3	3	22	14	4	2	0	.287	.374	.470	.844	118.8	122.5	.388	0.9
1940	40	166	146	32	54	11	4	4	36	16	3	3	0	.370	.439	.582	1.021	152.4	164.1	.463	1.9
1941	53	228	200	47	77	15	2	11	54	22	2	7	0	.385	.448	.645	1.093	186.8	203.7	.491	3.5
1942	5	23	22	7	11	3	1	1	10	1	0	1	0	.500	.522	.864	1.385	258.4	291.9	.627	0.6
1943	1	4	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.250	.250	.500	38.9	33.7	.238	0.0
1945	2	9	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.111	.111	.111	.222	-33.2	-37.7	.105	-0.1
1946	57	248	217	52	80	17	2	6	54	28	1	2	0	.369	.443	.548	.991	164.1	176.1	.464	3.0
1947	57	240	206	41	62	6	1	11	47	32	1	6	0	.301	.397	.500	.897	138.9	144.7	.418	2.2
1948	43	173	151	25	41	4	2	5	27	20	0	5	0	.272	.360	.424	.784	123.2	126.4	.371	0.9
1949	36	93	76	7	17	3	2	0	7	17	11	0	0	.224	.366	.316	.681	93.0	84.8	.333	0.1
1950	110	432	374	61	112	19	5	15	66	52	41	3	0	.299	.392	.497	.889	134.6	132.9	.398	2.6
1951	151	657	558	94	174	19	11	24	121	89	44	12	2	.312	.415	.514	.929	152.6	149.0	.418	5.5
1952	46	137	126	10	39	2	1	4	21	10	11	0	1	.310	.365	.437	.801	122.1	121.2	.366	0.7
1953	124	502	444	72	146	21	5	21	97	55	34	2	0	.329	.406	.541	.947	145.5	143.7	.416	4.0
1954	135	512	432	62	113	13	3	19	64	70	23	7	4	.262	.363	.438	.801	111.6	109.3	.361	1.7
1955	51	173	150	16	38	7	1	1	17	17	15	3	0	.253	.337	.333	.671	85.1	80.5	.313	0.0
1956	111	387	339	44	92	13	3	15	50	41	41	1	0	.271	.346	.460	.807	115.6	115.2	.353	1.5

Career totals

1,055

4,116

3,570

593

1,091

159

140

RBI

693

484

231

.3056

160th-highest career batting average

OBP

.3921

107th-highest career on-base percentage

SLG

.4936

148th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.8857

93rd-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	3B	HR	RBI	TB
1939-06-18	NE @ BEG Gameday	5	2	5	0	2	0	3	9
1953-07-12	SF @ LAD Gameday	5	1	4	0	1	1	2	9
1951-09-26	SF @ PHI Gameday	5	2	3	1	1	1	4	9
1956-07-20	SF @ CHC Gameday	4	3	3	0	0	2	2	9
1956-07-31	CHC @ PHI Gameday	5	2	4	1	0	1	5	8

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1938-05-15	NE @ TIC Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1938-05-17	TIC @ NE Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1938-05-19	TIC @ NE Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1938-05-25	BEG @ NE Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1938-05-25	BEG @ NE Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	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

Hall of Fame, 1973 (Negro League)

5× All-Star

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