Rick Burleson
Boston Red Sox 1974–1980; California Angels 1981–1984; California Angels 1986; Baltimore Orioles 1987
Percentile snapshot
1981 season — qualified batters
of 138 qualified 1981 batters (min 341 PA)
Career, era-adjusted
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1974 | 114 | 415 | 384 | 36 | 109 | 22 | 0 | 4 | 44 | 21 | 34 | 3 | 3 | .284 | .320 | .372 | .693 | 93.9 | 94.3 | .322 | 1.7 |
| 1975 | 158 | 654 | 580 | 66 | 146 | 25 | 1 | 6 | 62 | 45 | 44 | 8 | 5 | .252 | .305 | .329 | .634 | 72.2 | 73.8 | .298 | 0.9 |
| 1976 | 152 | 616 | 540 | 75 | 157 | 27 | 1 | 7 | 42 | 60 | 37 | 14 | 9 | .291 | .365 | .383 | .748 | 115.4 | 110.2 | .356 | 4.1 |
| 1977 | 154 | 721 | 663 | 80 | 194 | 36 | 7 | 3 | 52 | 47 | 69 | 13 | 12 | .293 | .338 | .382 | .720 | 88.8 | 88.3 | .327 | 2.3 |
| 1978 | 145 | 685 | 626 | 75 | 155 | 32 | 5 | 5 | 49 | 40 | 71 | 8 | 8 | .248 | .295 | .339 | .633 | 68.3 | 71.7 | .292 | 0.6 |
| 1979 | 153 | 682 | 627 | 93 | 174 | 32 | 5 | 5 | 60 | 35 | 54 | 9 | 5 | .278 | .315 | .368 | .683 | 80.1 | 80.8 | .310 | 1.5 |
| 1980 | 155 | 718 | 644 | 89 | 179 | 29 | 2 | 8 | 51 | 62 | 51 | 12 | 13 | .278 | .341 | .366 | .708 | 94.5 | 91.2 | .329 | 2.8 |
| 1981 | 109 | 490 | 430 | 53 | 126 | 17 | 1 | 5 | 33 | 42 | 38 | 4 | 6 | .293 | .357 | .372 | .729 | 115.1 | 111.7 | .341 | 3.2 |
| 1982 | 11 | 53 | 45 | 4 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 0 | .156 | .255 | .178 | .433 | 11.5 | 22.3 | .198 | -0.3 |
| 1983 | 33 | 134 | 119 | 22 | 34 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 0 | 2 | .286 | .348 | .345 | .693 | 97.4 | 93.4 | .322 | 0.6 |
| 1984 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 | .000 | -124.0 | -100.0 | .000 | -0.1 |
| 1986 | 93 | 312 | 271 | 35 | 77 | 14 | 0 | 5 | 29 | 33 | 32 | 1 | 3 | .284 | .363 | .391 | .754 | 111.1 | 107.4 | .344 | 1.2 |
| 1987 | 62 | 232 | 206 | 26 | 43 | 14 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 17 | 30 | 0 | 2 | .209 | .279 | .316 | .594 | 60.5 | 58.8 | .271 | -0.3 |
Career totals
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980-06-06 | BOS @ ATH Gameday | 6 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 1980-07-11 | BOS @ MIL Gameday | 5 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 1977-04-19 | DET @ BOS Gameday | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 |
| 1980-09-27 | BOS @ TOR Gameday | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 1980-06-10 | BOS @ SEA Gameday | 5 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 7 |
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.