MLB / Players

Whitey Ford

HandednessBats Left · Throws Left

Listed at5 ft 10 in · 178 lb

BornOctober 21, 1928 · New York, NY, USA

MLB debutJuly 1, 1950

Final gameMay 21, 1967

Seasons16 (1950–1967)

New York Yankees 1950; New York Yankees 1953–1967

Percentile snapshot

1965 season — qualified pitchers

73.6

72.2

26.4

58.3

61.1

SHO

45.8

241

15.3

31.9

80.6

162

72.2

26.4

244.3

ERA

3.24

51.4

WHIP

1.191

52.8

K/9

5.97

61.1

FIP

2.87

83.3

FIP-

84.0

86.1

ERA+

105.3

sWAR

3.1

56.9

of 73 qualified 1965 pitchers (min 162 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

134.5

97.8

sWAR

68.7

99.6

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	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1950	20	44	36	2	7	0	0	3	4	4	0	0	.194	.275	.194	.469	25.8	24.5	.239	3.0
1953	33	85	75	10	20	2	0	10	9	13	0	0	.267	.345	.293	.639	81.4	78.5	.310	4.4
1954	34	79	62	7	10	1	0	7	9	15	0	0	.161	.264	.177	.441	27.0	26.6	.229	4.0
1955	39	100	86	9	14	0	1	7	11	16	0	0	.163	.258	.198	.455	28.7	26.5	.233	6.2
1956	31	92	78	9	17	2	0	4	9	14	0	0	.218	.299	.244	.542	52.3	49.0	.269	6.2
1957	24	50	42	4	6	0	0	2	3	7	0	0	.143	.200	.143	.343	-9.3	-2.8	.173	2.8
1958	30	84	73	10	15	1	0	2	5	10	0	0	.205	.266	.219	.485	38.2	38.9	.235	6.5
1959	35	80	65	6	15	4	1	6	12	11	0	0	.231	.351	.338	.689	102.5	94.9	.329	4.3
1960	33	66	53	4	8	2	0	3	9	14	0	0	.151	.274	.189	.463	39.5	32.0	.239	3.4
1961	39	114	96	11	17	1	0	10	12	17	0	0	.177	.266	.188	.454	31.8	27.9	.228	4.9
1962	38	99	85	5	10	2	0	5	8	22	1	0	.118	.198	.141	.339	-5.9	-4.4	.172	5.1
1963	38	103	92	5	13	2	1	4	6	22	2	2	.141	.194	.196	.390	5.3	11.3	.185	5.3
1964	39	85	67	5	8	1	0	2	10	23	0	0	.119	.244	.134	.378	12.7	9.1	.202	6.9
1965	38	93	82	4	15	1	0	4	5	26	0	0	.183	.230	.195	.425	19.1	23.3	.206	3.1
1966	22	19	18	0	0	0	0	0	1	6	0	0	.000	.053	.000	.053	-97.5	-83.0	.039	1.3
1967	7	15	13	0	2	0	0	0	0	4	0	0	.154	.154	.154	.308	-22.5	-7.0	.142	1.3

Pitching

Season	G	GS	W	L	SV	CG	SHO	H	ER	BB	SO	HR	IP	ERA	WHIP	K/9	FIP	FIP-	ERA+	sWAR
1950	20	12	9	1	1	7	2	87	35	52	59	7	112.0	2.81	1.241	4.74	3.92	89.4	155.8	3.0
1953	32	30	18	6	0	11	3	187	69	110	110	13	207.0	3.00	1.435	4.78	3.97	104.8	126.3	4.4
1954	34	28	16	8	1	11	3	170	66	101	125	10	210.7	2.82	1.286	5.34	3.26	92.5	125.0	4.0
1955	39	33	18	7	2	18	5	188	74	113	137	20	253.7	2.63	1.187	4.86	3.72	97.1	145.9	6.2
1956	31	30	19	6	1	18	2	187	62	84	141	13	225.7	2.47	1.201	5.62	3.17	80.3	160.0	6.2
1957	24	17	11	5	0	5	0	114	37	53	84	10	129.3	2.57	1.291	5.85	3.36	91.6	142.4	2.8
1958	30	29	14	7	1	15	7	174	49	62	145	14	219.3	2.01	1.076	5.95	2.84	79.0	178.8	6.5
1959	35	29	16	10	1	9	2	194	69	89	114	13	204.0	3.04	1.387	5.03	3.50	94.4	121.7	4.3
1960	33	29	12	9	0	8	4	168	66	65	85	15	192.7	3.08	1.209	3.97	3.56	97.4	118.5	3.4
1961	39	39	25	4	0	11	3	242	101	92	209	23	283.0	3.21	1.180	6.65	3.07	81.0	118.0	4.9
1962	38	37	17	8	0	7	0	243	83	69	160	22	257.7	2.90	1.211	5.59	3.23	85.2	130.8	5.1
1963	38	37	24	7	1	13	3	240	82	56	189	26	269.3	2.74	1.099	6.32	2.96	83.6	129.1	5.3
1964	39	36	17	6	1	12	8	212	58	57	172	10	244.7	2.13	1.099	6.33	2.31	63.7	169.8	6.9
1965	37	36	16	13	1	9	2	241	88	50	162	22	244.3	3.24	1.191	5.97	2.87	84.0	105.3	3.1
1966	22	9	2	5	0	0	0	79	20	24	43	8	73.0	2.47	1.411	5.30	3.67	110.2	135.0	1.3
1967	7	7	2	4	0	2	1	40	8	9	21	2	44.0	1.64	1.114	4.30	2.67	85.4	191.0	1.3

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

500

1,208

1,023

177

RBI

113

224

.1730

OBP

.2563

SLG

.2004

OPS

.4567

Pitching

G (P)

498

447th-most career G (P)

438

97th-most career GS

236

64th-most career W

106

484th-most career L

156

211th-most career CG

SHO

29th-most career SHO

3,170

116th-most career IP

SO (P)

1,956

101st-most career SO (P)

BB allowed

1,086

81st-most career BB allowed

ERA

2.745

93rd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.2150

211th-lowest career WHIP

K/9

5.55

489th-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	HR	RBI	TB
1959-06-04	NYY @ DET Gameday	4	1	2	1	1	3	6
1953-08-12	NYY @ MIN Gameday	5	1	4	0	0	2	4
1953-08-03	BAL @ NYY Gameday	5	2	4	0	0	0	4
1955-07-29	ATH @ NYY Gameday	3	1	1	0	1	1	4
1963-04-28	CLE @ NYY Gameday	3	1	1	0	1	1	4

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1959-04-22	NYY @ MIN Gameday	14.0	7	0	0	7	15	0
1963-07-04	CWS @ NYY Gameday	9.0	6	1	1	0	12	1
1961-06-18	NYY @ DET Gameday	8.0	3	0	0	2	12	0
1956-09-09	MIN @ NYY Gameday	9.0	6	1	1	3	11	0
1961-07-04	DET @ NYY Gameday	9.0	5	2	1	1	11	1

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

Hall of Fame, 1974 (BBWAA)

1× Cy Young Award1× World Series MVP8× 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.