Tom Gordon

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at5 ft 9 in · 160 lb

BornNovember 18, 1967 · Sebring, FL, USA

MLB debutSeptember 8, 1988

Final gameMay 3, 2009

Seasons21 (1988–2009)

Kansas City Royals 1988–1995; Boston Red Sox 1996–1999; Chicago Cubs 2001–2002; Houston Astros 2002; Chicago White Sox 2003; New York Yankees 2004–2005; Philadelphia Phillies 2006–2008; Arizona Diamondbacks 2009

Percentile snapshot

1997 season — qualified pitchers

100

46.3

100

35.4

SHO

48.8

155

92.7

81.7

18.3

159

68.3

93.9

182.7

20.7

ERA

3.74

62.2

WHIP

1.276

63.4

K/9

7.83

85.4

FIP

3.45

86.6

FIP-

74.4

ERA+

123.7

70.7

sWAR

3.5

65.9

of 83 qualified 1997 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

112.1

76.5

sWAR

31.7

96.8

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	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1988	5	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.1
1989	49	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.0
1990	33	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.2
1991	46	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.0
1992	40	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.4
1993	48	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.1
1994	24	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.4
1995	32	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.4
1996	34	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.0
1997	42	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	3.5
1998	73	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.4
1999	21	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0
2001	47	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.8
2002	34	1	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-134.7	-100.0	.000	0.8
2003	66	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.7
2004	80	1	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-118.7	-100.0	.000	3.1
2005	79	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	2.3
2006	59	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1.4
2007	44	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.3
2008	34	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	0.0
2009	3	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	-0.3

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1988	5	2	0	2	0	0	0	16	9	7	18	1	15.7	5.17	1.468	10.34	2.69	67.8	76.8	-0.1
1989	49	16	17	9	1	1	1	122	66	86	153	10	163.0	3.64	1.276	8.45	3.37	87.4	105.9	2.0
1990	32	32	12	11	0	6	1	192	81	99	175	17	195.3	3.73	1.490	8.06	3.71	96.3	103.4	2.2
1991	45	14	9	14	1	1	0	129	68	87	167	16	158.0	3.87	1.367	9.51	3.84	93.4	106.2	2.0
1992	40	11	6	10	0	0	0	116	60	55	98	9	117.7	4.59	1.453	7.50	3.62	90.2	87.5	0.4
1993	48	14	12	6	1	2	0	125	62	77	143	11	155.7	3.58	1.298	8.27	3.59	79.7	125.5	3.1
1994	24	24	11	7	0	0	0	136	75	87	126	15	155.3	4.35	1.436	7.30	4.57	93.1	112.9	2.4
1995	31	31	12	12	0	2	0	204	93	89	119	12	189.0	4.43	1.550	5.67	4.18	88.8	106.4	2.4
1996	34	34	12	9	0	4	1	249	134	105	171	28	215.7	5.59	1.641	7.14	4.87	95.9	90.7	1.0
1997	42	25	6	10	11	2	1	155	76	78	159	10	182.7	3.74	1.276	7.83	3.45	74.4	123.7	3.5
1998	73	0	7	4	46	0	0	55	24	25	78	2	79.3	2.72	1.008	8.85	2.53	54.0	172.0	2.4
1999	21	0	0	2	11	0	0	17	11	12	24	2	17.7	5.60	1.642	12.23	4.17	85.1	87.4	0.0
2001	47	0	1	2	27	0	0	32	17	16	67	4	45.3	3.38	1.059	13.30	2.32	56.2	122.5	0.8
2002	34	0	1	3	0	0	0	42	16	16	48	3	42.7	3.38	1.359	10.13	2.74	66.1	121.9	0.8
2003	66	0	7	6	12	0	0	57	26	31	91	4	74.0	3.16	1.189	11.07	2.76	62.7	139.0	1.7
2004	80	0	9	4	4	0	0	56	22	23	96	5	89.7	2.21	.881	9.64	2.54	55.7	207.0	3.1
2005	79	0	5	4	2	0	0	59	23	29	69	8	80.7	2.57	1.091	7.70	3.71	86.4	167.2	2.3
2006	59	0	3	4	34	0	0	53	22	22	68	9	59.3	3.34	1.264	10.31	3.95	85.5	138.6	1.4
2007	44	0	3	2	6	0	0	40	21	13	32	7	40.0	4.73	1.325	7.20	4.98	110.4	95.4	0.3
2008	34	0	5	4	2	0	0	31	17	17	26	3	29.7	5.16	1.618	7.89	4.39	100.8	84.4	0.0
2009	3	0	0	1	0	0	0	3	4	3	0	0	1.7	21.60	3.600	0.00	8.46	192.5	20.3	-0.3

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

893

RBI

.0000

OBP

.0000

SLG

.0000

OPS

.0000

Pitching

G (P)

890

31st-most career G (P)

203

138

325th-most career W

126

298th-most career L

158

83rd-most career SV

SHO

2,108

395th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,928

106th-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

977

127th-most career BB allowed

ERA

3.958

WHIP

1.3596

K/9

8.23

83rd-highest career K/9

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
1990-06-10	KC @ ATH Gameday	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1991-05-14	KC @ TOR Gameday	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1995-07-29	DET @ KC Gameday	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1997-08-25	BOS @ SEA Gameday	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1997-09-03	BOS @ WSH Gameday	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1991-04-20	KC @ NYY Gameday	7.0	4	0	0	4	13
1996-05-10	BOS @ TOR Gameday	7.0	6	4	3	3	12
1993-09-22	KC @ ATH Gameday	8.0	5	1	1	3	11
1996-08-23	SEA @ BOS Gameday	7.0	2	2	2	4	11
1997-05-17	BOS @ MIN Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	4	10

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

3× 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.