Sam Bankhead
Birmingham Black Barons 1932; Louisville Black Caps 1932; Nashville Elite Giants 1932–1934; Pittsburgh Crawfords 1935–1938; Homestead Grays 1939; Homestead Grays 1942–1944; Cleveland Buckeyes 1945; Homestead Grays 1945–1948
Percentile snapshot
1947 season — qualified batters
of 104 qualified 1947 batters (min 217 PA)
1932 season — qualified pitchers
of 138 qualified 1932 pitchers (min 46 IP)
Career, era-adjusted
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | 11 | 29 | 27 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .296 | .345 | .407 | .752 | 124.8 | 132.2 | .358 | 0.4 |
| 1933 | 36 | 154 | 141 | 23 | 40 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 12 | 0 | 5 | 0 | .284 | .340 | .333 | .673 | 88.7 | 85.0 | .315 | 0.4 |
| 1934 | 37 | 160 | 148 | 25 | 50 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 20 | 8 | 0 | 10 | 0 | .338 | .376 | .405 | .781 | 116.3 | 118.9 | .370 | 1.1 |
| 1935 | 51 | 242 | 207 | 49 | 70 | 13 | 8 | 2 | 32 | 24 | 2 | 8 | 0 | .338 | .412 | .507 | .919 | 126.7 | 130.6 | .415 | 1.4 |
| 1936 | 63 | 263 | 231 | 37 | 77 | 16 | 4 | 1 | 39 | 20 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .333 | .386 | .450 | .837 | 111.3 | 113.0 | .385 | 1.2 |
| 1937 | 8 | 35 | 33 | 5 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .273 | .314 | .333 | .648 | 71.3 | 67.0 | .299 | 0.0 |
| 1938 | 32 | 144 | 128 | 23 | 29 | 5 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 13 | 0 | 6 | 0 | .227 | .298 | .313 | .610 | 67.7 | 61.3 | .289 | -0.1 |
| 1939 | 35 | 159 | 137 | 31 | 40 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 13 | 0 | 5 | 1 | .292 | .355 | .409 | .764 | 100.1 | 102.2 | .352 | 0.6 |
| 1942 | 58 | 250 | 219 | 35 | 62 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 48 | 30 | 2 | 9 | 0 | .283 | .372 | .384 | .756 | 115.1 | 115.6 | .366 | 1.8 |
| 1943 | 72 | 307 | 265 | 53 | 69 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 42 | 32 | 0 | 17 | 0 | .260 | .347 | .306 | .652 | 82.4 | 74.9 | .326 | 0.6 |
| 1944 | 56 | 256 | 217 | 46 | 55 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 28 | 29 | 1 | 8 | 0 | .253 | .345 | .355 | .700 | 91.7 | 87.8 | .338 | 0.8 |
| 1945 | 37 | 149 | 136 | 16 | 46 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 0 | .338 | .392 | .412 | .804 | 123.6 | 125.5 | .383 | 1.2 |
| 1946 | 53 | 228 | 205 | 28 | 55 | 4 | 1 | 3 | 26 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 0 | .268 | .324 | .341 | .666 | 87.0 | 85.9 | .322 | 0.6 |
| 1947 | 61 | 253 | 223 | 19 | 52 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 21 | 0 | 13 | 0 | .233 | .302 | .305 | .607 | 69.6 | 66.3 | .295 | 0.1 |
| 1948 | 42 | 186 | 155 | 32 | 40 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 21 | 0 | 7 | 0 | .258 | .354 | .348 | .702 | 106.6 | 103.5 | .343 | 1.0 |
Pitching
| Season | G | GS | W | L | SV | CG | SHO | H | ER | BB | SO | HR | IP | ERA | WHIP | K/9 | FIP | FIP- | ERA+ | sWAR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 49 | 22 | 4 | 21 | 0 | 46.7 | 4.24 | 1.136 | 4.05 | 2.99 | 80.2 | 87.8 | 0.4 |
| 1934 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.3 | 0.00 | 3.000 | 0.00 | 4.07 | 90.2 | — | 1.1 |
| 1942 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 9.0 | 3.00 | 1.222 | 3.00 | 3.22 | 82.1 | 130.8 | 1.8 |
| 1944 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 15 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 10.0 | 6.30 | 1.900 | 3.60 | 4.14 | 95.9 | 68.5 | 0.8 |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1935-07-20 | CAG @ TIC Gameday | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 8 |
| 1944-08-27 | NE @ HOM Gameday | 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 |
| 1942-06-08 | NE @ HOM Gameday | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 8 |
| 1947-05-24 | NBY @ HOM Gameday | 5 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 7 |
| 1947-05-25 | NBY @ HOM Gameday | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6 |
Pitching
| Date | Game | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1932-06-12 | LBC @ BEG Gameday | 9.1 | 7 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 1932-05-22 | BBB @ MON Gameday | 8.0 | 9 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 0 |
| 1932-08-21 | BEG @ IND Gameday | 8.0 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 1932-07-31 | IND @ BEG Gameday | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
| 1942-07-18 | CLB @ HOM Gameday | 9.0 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 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.