MLB / Players

Thornton Lee

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 3 in · 205 lb

BornSeptember 13, 1906 · Sonoma, CA, USA

MLB debutSeptember 19, 1933

Final gameJune 18, 1948

Seasons16 (1933–1948)

Cleveland Indians 1933–1936; Chicago White Sox 1937–1947; New York Giants 1948

Percentile snapshot

1945 season — qualified pitchers

47.6

72.6

78.6

21.4

89.3

SHO

26.2

208

34.5

54.8

21.4

108

89.3

48.8

228.3

78.6

ERA

2.44

90.5

WHIP

1.244

65.5

K/9

4.26

60.7

FIP

2.97

89.3

FIP-

90.1

66.7

ERA+

134.7

73.8

sWAR

4.5

85.7

of 85 qualified 1945 pitchers (min 150 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

117.3

86.7

sWAR

38.3

97.7

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	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1933	3	8	8	2	3	0	1	0	3	0	2	.375	.375	.625	1.000	152.9	157.7	.443	0.3
1934	24	22	21	1	2	1	0	0	1	1	11	.095	.136	.143	.279	-35.3	-27.8	.136	0.2
1935	32	68	61	6	12	2	0	0	7	3	17	.197	.246	.230	.476	18.7	23.1	.230	2.6
1936	43	44	41	3	5	0	0	0	1	3	12	.122	.182	.122	.304	-24.0	-23.6	.157	1.2
1937	30	77	71	5	15	3	2	0	4	1	16	.211	.222	.310	.532	23.7	33.3	.238	4.3
1938	34	101	97	14	25	3	1	4	16	0	23	.258	.258	.433	.691	60.2	69.6	.303	6.3
1939	33	95	91	8	15	3	0	0	4	4	18	.165	.200	.198	.398	-2.4	2.4	.189	3.0
1940	28	93	84	7	23	4	0	0	5	4	30	.274	.307	.321	.628	61.2	63.9	.289	4.8
1941	35	119	114	7	29	5	0	0	8	4	20	.254	.280	.298	.578	49.4	54.8	.269	8.9
1942	11	30	30	0	6	2	0	0	2	0	10	.200	.200	.267	.467	19.0	32.6	.215	1.0
1943	19	43	42	1	3	0	0	0	3	0	8	.071	.071	.071	.143	-87.5	-58.1	.068	-0.7
1944	15	43	42	2	4	0	0	0	2	0	8	.095	.095	.095	.190	-68.9	-45.3	.090	1.3
1945	29	85	78	6	14	1	0	0	6	5	15	.179	.229	.192	.421	15.1	24.0	.211	4.5
1946	7	15	15	0	4	0	0	0	3	0	4	.267	.267	.267	.533	39.6	51.6	.249	0.4
1947	21	31	29	0	6	0	0	0	1	2	11	.207	.258	.207	.465	25.7	32.0	.231	0.0
1948	11	11	11	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	.091	.091	.091	.182	-74.0	-50.9	.084	0.1

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1933	3	2	1	1	0	2	0	13	8	11	7	1	17.3	4.15	1.385	3.63	4.88	111.2	105.6	0.3
1934	24	6	1	1	0	0	0	105	48	44	41	8	85.7	5.04	1.739	4.31	5.06	112.8	88.9	0.2
1935	32	20	7	10	1	8	1	179	81	71	81	6	180.7	4.04	1.384	4.04	3.87	86.3	111.2	2.6
1936	43	8	3	5	3	2	0	138	69	67	49	2	127.0	4.89	1.614	3.47	4.55	90.5	102.9	1.2
1937	30	25	12	10	0	13	2	209	80	60	80	17	204.7	3.52	1.314	3.52	4.32	94.5	129.9	4.3
1938	33	30	13	12	1	18	1	252	95	94	77	12	245.3	3.49	1.410	2.82	4.31	89.4	138.3	6.3
1939	33	29	15	11	3	15	2	260	110	70	81	14	235.0	4.21	1.404	3.10	4.15	90.5	108.9	3.0
1940	28	27	12	13	0	24	1	223	88	56	87	13	228.0	3.47	1.224	3.43	3.66	84.5	124.9	4.8
1941	35	34	22	11	1	30	3	258	79	92	130	18	300.3	2.37	1.165	3.90	3.63	89.8	170.9	8.9
1942	11	8	2	6	0	6	1	82	28	31	25	4	76.0	3.32	1.487	2.96	3.88	109.4	107.0	1.0
1943	19	19	5	9	0	7	1	129	59	50	35	8	127.0	4.18	1.409	2.48	3.89	118.5	78.6	-0.7
1944	15	14	3	9	0	6	0	105	38	25	39	3	113.3	3.02	1.147	3.10	2.89	85.0	112.8	1.3
1945	29	28	15	12	0	19	1	208	62	76	108	6	228.3	2.44	1.244	4.26	2.97	90.1	134.7	4.5
1946	7	7	2	4	0	2	0	39	17	23	23	1	43.3	3.53	1.431	4.78	3.35	98.5	96.2	0.4
1947	21	11	3	7	1	2	1	86	43	56	57	5	86.7	4.47	1.638	5.92	3.87	107.3	80.7	0.0
1948	11	4	1	3	0	1	0	41	16	12	17	3	32.7	4.41	1.622	4.68	3.91	98.0	90.6	0.1

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

375

885

835

167

RBI

208

.2000

OBP

.2260

SLG

.2527

OPS

.4787

Pitching

G (P)

374

272

446th-most career GS

117

466th-most career W

124

313th-most career L

155

214th-most career CG

SHO

436th-most career SHO

2,331

301st-most career IP

SO (P)

937

BB allowed

838

220th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.555

492nd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.3576

K/9

3.62

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
1938-06-07	CWS @ NYY Gameday	5	1	2	0	0	1	2	0	5
1938-07-15	CWS @ MIN Gameday	5	2	2	0	0	1	2	0	5
1933-09-24	CWS @ CLE Gameday	5	2	2	0	1	0	3	0	4
1940-08-02	MIN @ CWS Gameday	3	2	2	2	0	0	0	1	4
1938-08-07	MIN @ CWS Gameday	1	1	1	0	0	1	1	0	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1945-06-12	CLE @ CWS Gameday	9.0	3	0	0	3	13	0
1941-05-30	CLE @ CWS Gameday	9.0	6	2	2	0	9	1
1945-05-30	CWS @ ATH Gameday	9.0	7	2	2	3	9	0
1947-05-03	NYY @ CWS Gameday	9.0	7	1	1	5	9	1
1937-07-20	MIN @ CWS Gameday	10.0	10	3	2	2	8	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

2× 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.