Willie Foster

HandednessBats Switch · Throws Left

Listed at6 ft 0 in · 190 lb

BornJune 12, 1904 · Calvert, TX, USA

Final gameApril 10, 1938

Seasons15 (1923–1937)

Chicago American Giants 1923; Memphis Red Sox 1923; Chicago American Giants 1924; Memphis Red Sox 1924; Birmingham Black Barons 1925; Chicago American Giants 1925–1930; Homestead Grays 1931; Kansas City Monarchs 1931; Chicago American Giants 1932–1935; Pittsburgh Crawfords 1936; Chicago American Giants 1937

Percentile snapshot

1937 season — qualified pitchers

11.5

15.6

68.8

5.2

SHO

68.8

79.2

81.3

28.1

80.7

22.9

ERA

3.90

55.2

WHIP

1.326

66.7

K/9

5.13

FIP

4.78

29.2

FIP-

106.8

ERA+

114.7

60.4

sWAR

1.3

32.3

of 97 qualified 1937 pitchers (min 59 IP)

Career, era-adjusted

ERA+

162.9

99.9

sWAR

44.8

98.4

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	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1923	12	29	24	3	5	0	0	0	3	2	0	1	.208	.269	.208	.478	65.1	53.3	.240	1.4
1924	13	24	22	1	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	.136	.136	.136	.273	-17.4	-25.1	.128	1.9
1925	12	31	25	3	6	0	2	0	2	2	0	0	.240	.296	.400	.696	85.5	94.5	.315	3.7
1926	27	67	60	6	15	2	0	1	5	4	2	0	.250	.297	.333	.630	64.4	62.1	.294	6.8
1927	39	88	82	11	19	1	1	0	8	3	0	0	.232	.259	.268	.527	41.9	42.2	.247	5.9
1928	29	86	77	9	17	3	0	0	8	3	4	0	.221	.250	.260	.510	41.9	39.3	.239	4.7
1929	30	61	55	9	10	1	0	0	2	4	1	1	.182	.237	.200	.437	24.4	15.2	.213	2.9
1930	33	80	71	6	17	3	0	0	6	4	0	0	.239	.280	.282	.562	55.1	49.9	.264	4.3
1931	14	45	41	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	2	1	.024	.048	.024	.072	-64.7	-79.9	.040	2.3
1932	17	46	42	3	7	0	1	1	4	0	0	0	.167	.167	.286	.452	34.3	36.9	.208	2.9
1933	14	35	32	6	9	0	2	1	5	2	0	0	.281	.324	.500	.824	116.2	121.9	.364	2.7
1934	13	33	32	4	7	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	.219	.219	.219	.438	25.8	22.8	.206	1.1
1935	12	34	31	2	6	0	0	0	2	3	0	0	.194	.265	.194	.458	30.7	17.6	.229	2.4
1936	8	21	20	2	2	0	0	1	1	0	0	0	.100	.100	.250	.350	-11.8	-13.3	.149	0.6
1937	17	35	25	5	5	1	0	0	3	6	3	0	.200	.355	.240	.595	84.6	67.1	.307	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
1923	12	10	6	2	0	6	1	49	17	16	50	1	70.0	2.19	.929	6.43	2.21	69.2	139.8	1.4
1924	13	10	7	1	0	5	3	47	16	24	53	0	66.7	2.16	1.065	7.16	3.12	72.9	198.2	1.9
1925	12	9	6	0	0	5	2	57	14	21	49	0	78.0	1.62	1.000	5.65	4.61	87.8	324.8	3.7
1926	27	17	13	4	1	12	5	115	35	56	111	4	174.7	1.80	.979	5.72	3.68	78.6	259.9	6.8
1927	31	24	20	5	2	20	6	178	52	61	121	5	207.7	2.25	1.151	5.24	3.25	81.6	176.8	5.9
1928	27	20	13	8	3	19	3	184	64	61	119	8	195.0	2.95	1.256	5.49	3.96	92.7	144.6	4.7
1929	25	17	9	7	3	13	2	130	57	50	87	3	145.7	3.52	1.236	5.38	3.70	82.0	128.2	2.9
1930	26	15	11	8	2	12	1	146	51	55	132	7	159.0	2.89	1.264	7.47	3.90	85.5	157.9	4.3
1931	13	12	10	2	0	11	2	79	26	34	88	1	103.0	2.27	1.097	7.69	2.60	70.7	161.8	2.3
1932	17	13	8	5	2	13	2	102	31	24	76	0	116.3	2.40	1.083	5.88	2.75	73.8	155.4	2.9
1933	13	9	6	4	1	7	1	63	23	18	61	2	83.7	2.47	.968	6.56	3.53	81.8	174.2	2.7
1934	11	6	3	2	0	5	1	52	22	22	17	0	56.3	3.51	1.314	2.72	4.74	105.1	128.4	1.1
1935	11	8	5	4	0	6	2	73	26	32	31	2	82.3	2.84	1.275	3.39	4.85	95.2	179.4	2.4
1936	8	7	4	3	0	5	1	45	23	18	21	4	46.0	4.50	1.370	4.11	5.47	107.1	113.5	0.6
1937	16	8	4	5	0	3	2	77	35	30	46	4	80.7	3.90	1.326	5.13	4.78	106.8	114.7	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

290

715

639

129

RBI

.2019

OBP

.2422

SLG

.2567

OPS

.4989

Pitching

G (P)

262

185

125

407th-most career W

142

248th-most career CG

SHO

83rd-most career SHO

1,665

SO (P)

1,062

BB allowed

522

ERA

2.659

72nd-lowest career ERA

WHIP

1.1526

81st-lowest career WHIP

K/9

5.74

431st-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
1933-07-29	CAG @ CBB Gameday	3	1	3	0	1	2	6
1930-06-22	KCM @ CAG Gameday	3	1	2	2	0	0	4
1932-05-08	BBB @ CAG Gameday	5	1	1	0	1	3	4
1936-07-25	TIC @ PHS Gameday	3	1	1	0	1	1	4
1930-08-03	CAG @ MEM Gameday	4	2	3	0	0	2	3

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1933-06-18	CAG @ BBS Gameday	9.0	6	6	3	3	12	1
1930-07-04	BBB @ CAG Gameday	9.0	10	1	1	1	11	0
1930-06-21	KCM @ CAG Gameday	9.0	5	7	4	4	10	2
1930-08-24	KCM @ CAG Gameday	9.0	4	0	0	2	10	0
1933-07-16	CBB @ CAG Gameday	9.0	6	0	0	2	10	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

Hall of Fame, 1996 (Veterans)

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.