Burleigh Grimes, baseball player, 1916-1934

Burleigh Grimes

⭐ Hall of Fame 1964

Born: 8/18/1893 in Emerald, WI, USA

Died: 12/6/1985 in Clear Lake, WI, USA

MLB Debut: 1916-09-10 | Final Game: 1934-09-20

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 5'10" | Weight: 175 lbs

Full name: Burleigh Arland Grimes

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Biography

Burleigh Grimes was a distinguished right-handed pitcher whose career spanned from 1916 to 1934, leaving an indelible mark on Major League Baseball during a transformative era. He recorded a career win-loss record of 270-212 and posted an earned run average (ERA) of 3.53. Grimes was known for his exceptional ability to strike out batters, finishing his career with 1,512 strikeouts, and demonstrated his versatility as a reliever with 18 saves. His adeptness on the mound and competitive spirit made him a formidable opponent during the early years of the live-ball era, where pitching styles began to evolve. Inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1964, Grimes was celebrated not only for his statistical achievements but also for his unique pitching style. He was one of the last pitchers to utilize the spitball, a pitch that would eventually be banned due to its controversial nature. Grimes' contribution to the game and his role in the transition of pitching strategies in the early 20th century solidified his legacy as one of the sport's noteworthy figures. His impact on the game continues to be recognized by baseball historians and fans alike, affirming his place in baseball history.

Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
270 212 616 497 314 35 18 4180.0 4412 1638 148 1295 1512 3.53 0

Career ERA 3.53 vs. league average 3.93 across their career seasons — 10.4% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1916 PIT NL 2 3 6 5 4 0 0 45.7 40 12 10 20 2.36 2.78 (+15%) 392.0
1917 PIT NL 3 16 37 17 8 1 0 194.0 186 76 70 72 3.53 2.69 (-31%) -1822.7
1918 BRO NL 19 9 40 30 19 7 1 270.0 210 64 76 113 2.13 2.83 (+25%) 2440.9
1919 BRO NL 10 11 25 21 13 1 0 181.3 179 70 60 82 3.47 3.09 (-13%) 1409.7
1920 BRO NL 23 11 40 33 25 5 2 303.7 271 75 67 131 2.22 3.45 (+35%) 4847.5
1921 BRO NL 22 13 37 35 30 2 0 302.3 313 95 76 136 2.83 4.02 (+30%) 5574.9
1922 BRO NL 17 14 36 34 18 1 1 259.0 324 137 84 99 4.76 4.18 (-14%) -1083.7
1923 BRO NL 21 18 39 38 33 2 0 327.0 356 130 100 119 3.58 4.03 (+11%) 3068.8
1924 BRO NL 22 13 38 36 30 1 1 310.7 351 132 91 135 3.82 4.13 (+7%) 1871.0
1925 BRO NL 12 19 33 31 19 0 0 246.7 305 138 102 73 5.04 4.55 (-11%) -3732.5
1926 BRO NL 12 13 30 29 18 1 0 225.3 238 93 88 64 3.71 4.11 (+10%) 808.0
1927 NY1 NL 19 8 39 34 15 2 2 259.7 274 102 87 102 3.54 4.08 (+13%) 863.0
1928 PIT NL 25 14 48 37 28 4 3 330.7 311 110 77 97 2.99 4.13 (+28%) 3665.1
1929 PIT NL 17 7 33 29 18 2 2 232.7 245 81 70 62 3.13 4.60 (+32%) 1345.9
1930 BSN NL 3 5 11 9 1 0 0 49.0 72 40 22 15 7.35 4.80 (-53%) -974.2
1930 STL NL 13 6 22 19 10 1 0 152.3 174 51 43 58 3.01 4.80 (+37%) -
1931 STL NL 17 9 29 28 17 3 0 212.3 240 86 59 67 3.65 4.10 (+11%) -
1932 CHC NL 6 11 30 18 5 1 1 141.3 174 75 50 36 4.78 4.13 (-16%) -
1933 CHC NL 3 6 17 7 3 1 3 69.7 71 27 29 12 3.49 3.86 (+10%) -
1933 STL NL 0 1 4 3 0 0 1 13.7 15 8 8 4 5.27 3.86 (-37%) -
1934 STL NL 2 1 4 0 0 0 0 7.7 5 3 2 1 3.52 — -
1934 NYY AL 1 2 10 0 0 0 1 18.0 22 11 14 5 5.50 4.29 (-28%) -
1934 PIT NL 1 2 8 4 0 0 0 27.3 36 22 10 9 7.24 4.29 (-69%) 358.9

Career Batting Statistics

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
632 1535 157 380 62 11 2 168 15 69 241 0.248 0.282 0.306 0.588 -4370.3

Career AVG .248 vs. league average .277 across their career seasons — 10.6% below league average.

Career OBP .282 vs. league average .339 across their career seasons — 16.7% below league average.

Career SLG .306 vs. league average .384 across their career seasons — 20.3% below league average.

Career OPS 0.588 vs. league average 0.723 across their career seasons — 18.6% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1916 PIT NL 6 17 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0.176 — — — — 0.0
1917 PIT NL 42 69 7 16 3 0 0 4 2 2 18 0.232 .248 (-7%) .312 (-19%) .323 (-15%) .635 (-17%) -195.8
1918 BRO NL 41 90 5 18 2 1 0 4 2 3 14 0.200 .255 (-22%) .318 (-29%) .326 (-25%) .645 (-27%) -405.9
1919 BRO NL 26 69 8 17 4 0 0 12 1 0 10 0.246 .262 (-6%) .322 (-24%) .347 (-13%) .670 (-18%) -216.5
1920 BRO NL 43 111 9 34 8 3 0 16 2 8 21 0.306 .271 (+13%) .331 (+8%) .363 (+19%) .694 (+14%) 230.3
1921 BRO NL 37 114 10 27 6 0 1 11 1 2 16 0.237 .286 (-17%) .344 (-26%) .395 (-20%) .739 (-23%) -468.5
1922 BRO NL 36 93 15 22 3 1 0 11 2 9 15 0.237 .285 (-17%) .345 (-12%) .397 (-27%) .743 (-20%) -318.1
1923 BRO NL 40 126 15 30 3 1 0 15 0 7 15 0.238 .282 (-16%) .344 (-18%) .390 (-29%) .734 (-24%) -516.9
1924 BRO NL 40 124 11 37 3 0 0 7 1 5 13 0.298 .283 (+5%) .345 (-4%) .389 (-17%) .734 (-11%) -227.0
1925 BRO NL 34 96 12 24 4 1 1 14 0 8 25 0.250 .288 (-13%) .349 (-12%) .407 (-16%) .756 (-14%) -241.2
1926 BRO NL 31 81 4 18 4 0 0 9 2 4 8 0.222 .279 (-21%) .345 (-25%) .390 (-30%) .735 (-28%) -397.1
1927 NY1 NL 39 96 10 18 4 0 0 6 0 5 16 0.188 .282 (-34%) .344 (-34%) .392 (-42%) .736 (-38%) -644.6
1928 PIT NL 48 131 17 42 8 1 0 16 1 4 15 0.321 .280 (+14%) .342 (-1%) .395 (avg) .737 (avg) -24.3
1929 PIT NL 33 91 11 26 3 3 0 12 0 4 10 0.286 .289 (-1%) .353 (-11%) .415 (-7%) .769 (-9%) -171.4
1930 BSN NL 11 16 3 3 1 0 0 3 0 1 2 0.188 — — — — 0.0
1930 STL NL 23 57 9 15 4 0 0 10 0 5 12 0.263 .293 (-10%) .354 (-9%) .429 (-22%) .784 (-16%) 0.0
1931 STL NL 29 76 4 14 0 0 0 8 0 1 10 0.184 .276 (-33%) .338 (-42%) .388 (-53%) .726 (-48%) -611.3
1932 CHC NL 30 44 4 11 1 0 0 5 1 0 9 0.250 — — — — 0.0
1933 CHC NL 17 20 1 3 0 0 0 4 0 1 4 0.150 — — — — 0.0
1933 STL NL 4 5 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0.200 — — — — 0.0
1934 STL NL 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1934 NYY AL 10 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.000 — — — — 0.0
1934 PIT NL 8 7 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.143 — — — — 0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
9 19 1 6 0 0 0 2 0 4 0.316

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1932 WS CHN 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.000
1931 WS SLN 2 7 0 2 0 0 0 2 0 2 0.286
1930 WS SLN 2 5 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0.400
1920 WS BRO 3 6 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.333

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
3 4 9 7 0 56.7 49 27 26 28 4.29

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1932 WS CHN 0 0 2 0 0 2.7 7 7 2 0 23.62
1931 WS SLN 2 0 2 2 0 17.7 9 4 9 11 2.04
1930 WS SLN 0 2 2 2 0 17.0 10 7 6 13 3.71
1920 WS BRO 1 2 3 3 0 19.3 23 9 9 4 4.19

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 616 0 225 1252 71 74

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1916 PIT P 6 0 1 16 3 1
1917 PIT P 37 0 9 62 6 3
1918 BRO P 40 0 12 94 5 1
1919 BRO P 25 0 12 50 3 3
1920 BRO P 40 0 17 95 7 2
1921 BRO P 37 0 17 89 2 5
1922 BRO P 36 0 12 79 6 2
1923 BRO P 39 0 16 101 10 6
1924 BRO P 38 0 25 91 4 5
1925 BRO P 33 0 18 92 7 11
1926 BRO P 30 0 4 72 3 1
1927 NY1 P 39 0 16 71 0 9
1928 PIT P 48 0 9 106 4 6
1929 PIT P 33 0 10 65 3 5
1930 BSN P 11 0 3 10 1 1
1930 SLN P 22 0 5 37 0 3
1931 SLN P 29 0 16 57 4 3
1932 CHN P 30 0 12 33 2 4
1933 CHN P 17 0 6 16 0 2
1933 SLN P 4 0 0 0 1 0
1934 SLN P 4 0 1 2 0 1
1934 NYA P 10 0 1 7 0 0
1934 PIT P 8 0 3 7 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Games
Pitcher 616

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1929 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1929 TSN All-Star P
1928 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3
1928 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3
1924 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3
1924 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1921 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1921 Baseball Magazine All-Star P1
1920 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3
1920 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2
1918 Baseball Magazine All-Star P2

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1929 Most Valuable Player NL 4th 35.0 80 0
1928 Most Valuable Player NL 3rd 53.0 80 0
1927 Most Valuable Player NL 18th 4.0 80 0
1924 Most Valuable Player NL 15th 5.0 80 0