Smoky Burgess

HandednessBats Left · Throws Right

Listed at5 ft 8 in · 185 lb

BornFebruary 6, 1927 · Caroleen, NC, USA

MLB debutApril 19, 1949

Final gameOctober 1, 1967

Seasons18 (1949–1967)

Chicago Cubs 1949; Chicago Cubs 1951; Philadelphia Phillies 1952–1954; Cincinnati Redlegs 1955; Philadelphia Phillies 1955; Cincinnati Redlegs 1956–1958; Pittsburgh Pirates 1959–1963; Chicago White Sox 1964; Pittsburgh Pirates 1964; Chicago White Sox 1965–1967

Percentile snapshot

1955 season — qualified batters

123

3.7

501

7.4

442

8.6

39.5

133

28.4

22.2

27.2

67.9

RBI

64.2

39.5

82.7

8.6

77.8

.301

76.5

OBP

.369

71.6

SLG

.495

77.8

OPS

.864

76.5

wRC+

123.8

71.6

OPS+

122.9

70.4

wOBA

.378

67.9

sWAR

4.1

of 82 qualified 1955 batters (min 477 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

115.8

73.2

OPS+

116.8

74.2

sWAR

36.1

97.4

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
1949	46	60	56	4	15	0	0	1	12	4	4	0	0	.268	.317	.321	.638	71.3	73.1	.298	0.1
1951	94	240	219	21	55	4	2	2	20	21	12	2	0	.251	.317	.315	.632	67.4	68.8	.296	0.4
1952	110	424	371	49	110	27	2	6	56	49	21	3	1	.296	.380	.429	.809	129.4	126.4	.373	3.9
1953	102	351	312	31	91	17	5	4	36	37	17	3	2	.292	.370	.417	.787	109.1	107.0	.356	2.3
1954	108	392	345	41	127	27	5	4	46	42	11	1	5	.368	.432	.510	.942	152.9	147.4	.420	4.6
1955	123	501	442	71	133	17	3	21	78	50	36	1	1	.301	.369	.495	.864	123.8	122.9	.378	4.1
1956	90	258	229	28	63	10	0	12	39	26	18	0	1	.275	.346	.476	.822	113.6	113.4	.358	1.8
1957	90	232	205	29	58	14	1	14	39	24	16	0	0	.283	.353	.566	.919	134.1	136.4	.389	2.1
1958	99	274	251	28	71	12	1	6	31	22	20	0	0	.283	.343	.410	.753	94.3	94.1	.337	1.2
1959	114	418	377	41	112	28	5	11	59	31	16	0	0	.297	.349	.485	.834	118.0	122.1	.360	3.2
1960	110	376	337	33	99	15	2	7	39	35	13	0	1	.294	.356	.412	.769	106.4	111.0	.338	2.3
1961	100	356	323	37	98	17	3	12	52	30	16	1	0	.303	.365	.486	.851	123.3	125.3	.370	3.0
1962	103	399	360	38	118	19	2	13	61	31	19	0	1	.328	.375	.500	.875	130.1	134.3	.382	3.7
1963	91	293	264	20	74	10	1	6	37	24	14	0	1	.280	.338	.394	.732	106.1	110.9	.324	1.9
1964	75	194	176	10	43	3	1	3	18	15	14	2	1	.244	.307	.324	.631	74.2	78.7	.283	0.4
1965	80	89	77	2	22	4	0	2	24	11	7	0	0	.286	.371	.416	.786	124.3	132.0	.345	0.6
1966	79	80	67	0	21	5	0	0	15	11	8	0	0	.313	.413	.388	.801	143.5	141.4	.365	0.7
1967	77	76	60	2	8	1	0	2	11	14	8	0	0	.133	.303	.250	.553	52.3	69.5	.242	-0.2

Career totals

1,691

5,013

4,471

485

1,318

230

126

RBI

673

477

270

.2948

312th-highest career batting average

OBP

.3616

439th-highest career on-base percentage

SLG

.4455

OPS

.8071

434th-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	TB
1955-07-29	PIT @ CIN Gameday	6	3	4	0	3	9	13
1959-08-06	PIT @ STL Gameday	6	3	5	2	1	6	10
1953-08-09	PHI @ CHC Gameday	5	3	5	2	1	1	10
1955-09-25	CHC @ CIN Gameday	4	3	4	0	2	6	10
1962-06-30	PIT @ STL Gameday	5	2	3	1	2	7	10

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1949-04-19	PIT @ CHC Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1949-04-20	PIT @ CHC Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1949-04-21	PIT @ CHC Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1949-04-22	CHC @ STL Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1949-04-23	CHC @ STL 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

6× 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.