Red Ruffing

⭐ Hall of Fame 1967

Born: 5/3/1905 in Granville, IL, USA

Died: 2/17/1986 in Mayfield Heights, OH, USA

MLB Debut: 1924-05-31 | Final Game: 1947-09-15

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 6'1" | Weight: 205 lbs

Full name: Charles Herbert Ruffing

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Biography

Red Ruffing, born in 1905, was a prominent pitcher who made a significant impact in Major League Baseball from 1924 until his retirement in 1947. Over the course of his career, Ruffing compiled a record of 273-225, showcasing his ability to not only win games but also to endure through the rigors of a lengthy career. With an earned run average (ERA) of 3.8 and 1,987 strikeouts, he established himself as one of the era's most reliable pitchers, contributing to his teams' successes during a time when pitching was pivotal in the game. Ruffing was selected as an All-Star six times, reflecting his standing among the best in the league. His induction into the Hall of Fame in 1967 solidified his legacy as one of the greats of the sport. Known for his durability and skill, Ruffing played a crucial role in shaping the pitching landscape of his time, contributing to the evolution of the game during the pre- and post-war years. His legacy continues to resonate, underscoring the importance of consistent performance and excellence on the mound.

Career Pitching Statistics

W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
273	225	624	536	335	45	16	4344.0	4284	1833	254	1541	1987	3.80	0

Career ERA 3.80 vs. league average 4.17 across their career seasons — 8.9% 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
1924	BOS	AL	0	0	8	2	0	0	0	23.0	29	17	9	10	6.65	4.13 (-61%)	130.2
1925	BOS	AL	9	18	37	27	13	3	1	217.3	253	121	75	64	5.01	4.55 (-10%)	-696.1
1926	BOS	AL	6	15	37	22	6	0	2	166.0	169	81	68	58	4.39	4.11 (-7%)	446.8
1927	BOS	AL	5	13	26	18	10	0	2	158.3	160	82	87	77	4.66	4.08 (-14%)	-1367.2
1928	BOS	AL	10	25	42	34	25	1	2	289.3	303	125	96	118	3.89	4.13 (+6%)	3050.7
1929	BOS	AL	9	22	35	30	18	1	1	244.3	280	132	118	109	4.86	4.60 (-6%)	-1476.4
1930	BOS	AL	0	3	4	3	1	0	0	24.0	32	17	6	14	6.38	4.80 (-33%)	568.5
1930	NYY	AL	15	5	34	25	12	2	1	197.7	200	91	62	117	4.14	4.80 (+14%)	-
1931	NYY	AL	16	14	37	30	19	1	2	237.0	240	116	87	132	4.41	4.10 (-7%)	-
1932	NYY	AL	18	7	35	29	22	3	2	259.0	219	89	115	190	3.09	4.13 (+25%)	-
1933	NYY	AL	9	14	35	28	18	0	3	235.0	230	102	93	122	3.91	3.86 (-1%)	-
1934	NYY	AL	19	11	36	31	19	5	0	256.3	232	112	104	149	3.93	4.29 (+8%)	-
1935	NYY	AL	16	11	30	29	19	2	0	222.0	201	77	76	81	3.12	4.35 (+28%)	-
1936	NYY	AL	20	12	33	33	25	3	0	271.0	274	116	90	102	3.85	4.59 (+16%)	-
1937	NYY	AL	20	7	31	31	22	4	0	256.3	242	85	68	131	2.98	4.34 (+31%)	-
1938	NYY	AL	21	7	31	31	22	3	0	247.3	246	91	82	127	3.31	4.35 (+24%)	-
1939	NYY	AL	21	7	28	28	22	5	0	233.3	211	76	75	95	2.93	4.28 (+32%)	-
1940	NYY	AL	15	12	30	30	20	3	0	226.0	218	85	76	97	3.38	4.21 (+20%)	-
1941	NYY	AL	15	6	23	23	13	2	0	185.7	177	73	54	60	3.54	3.94 (+10%)	-
1942	NYY	AL	14	7	24	24	16	4	0	193.7	183	69	41	80	3.21	3.57 (+10%)	-
1945	NYY	AL	7	3	11	11	8	1	0	87.3	85	28	20	24	2.89	3.67 (+21%)	-
1946	NYY	AL	5	1	8	8	4	2	0	61.0	37	12	23	19	1.77	3.59 (+51%)	-
1947	CHW	AL	3	5	9	9	1	0	0	53.0	63	36	16	11	6.11	3.97 (-54%)	-

Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
882	1937	207	521	98	13	36	273	1	97	266	0.269	0.306	0.389	0.695	-1565.7

Career AVG .269 vs. league average .275 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .306 vs. league average .340 across their career seasons — 10.2% below league average.

Career SLG .389 vs. league average .390 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OPS 0.695 vs. league average 0.730 across their career seasons — near 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
1924	BOS	AL	8	7	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	1	0.143	—	—	—	—	0.0
1925	BOS	AL	37	79	6	17	4	2	0	11	0	1	22	0.215	.288 (-25%)	.349 (-33%)	.407 (-22%)	.756 (-27%)	-412.1
1926	BOS	AL	37	51	8	10	1	0	1	5	0	2	12	0.196	.279 (-30%)	.345 (-35%)	.390 (-30%)	.735 (-32%)	-290.8
1927	BOS	AL	29	55	5	14	3	1	0	4	0	0	6	0.255	.282 (-10%)	.344 (-22%)	.392 (-12%)	.736 (-17%)	-176.3
1928	BOS	AL	60	121	12	38	13	1	2	19	0	3	12	0.314	.280 (+12%)	.342 (-3%)	.395 (+23%)	.737 (+11%)	173.5
1929	BOS	AL	60	114	9	35	9	0	2	17	0	2	13	0.307	.289 (+6%)	.353 (-8%)	.415 (+6%)	.769 (-1%)	-47.4
1930	BOS	AL	6	11	2	3	2	0	0	1	0	0	1	0.273	—	—	—	—	0.0
1930	NYY	AL	52	99	15	37	6	2	4	21	0	7	7	0.374	.293 (+27%)	.354 (+17%)	.429 (+39%)	.784 (+29%)	0.0
1931	NYY	AL	48	109	14	36	8	1	3	12	0	1	13	0.330	.276 (+20%)	.338 (-1%)	.388 (+30%)	.726 (+16%)	241.3
1932	NYY	AL	55	124	20	38	6	1	3	19	0	6	10	0.306	.275 (+11%)	.335 (+1%)	.391 (+13%)	.726 (+8%)	141.9
1933	NYY	AL	55	115	10	29	3	1	2	13	0	7	15	0.252	.270 (-7%)	.329 (-11%)	.377 (-8%)	.707 (-9%)	-191.4
1934	NYY	AL	45	113	11	28	3	0	2	13	0	3	17	0.248	.278 (-11%)	.340 (-20%)	.392 (-17%)	.733 (-18%)	-369.5
1935	NYY	AL	50	109	13	37	10	0	2	18	0	3	9	0.339	.279 (+21%)	.342 (+6%)	.399 (+22%)	.742 (+14%)	249.2
1936	NYY	AL	53	127	14	37	5	0	5	22	0	11	12	0.291	.283 (+3%)	.349 (-1%)	.404 (+11%)	.753 (+6%)	125.2
1937	NYY	AL	54	129	11	26	3	0	1	10	0	13	24	0.202	.276 (-27%)	.342 (-20%)	.398 (-38%)	.740 (-29%)	-666.3
1938	NYY	AL	45	107	12	24	4	1	3	17	0	17	21	0.224	.272 (-18%)	.341 (-3%)	.392 (-7%)	.734 (-5%)	-82.4
1939	NYY	AL	44	114	12	35	1	0	1	20	1	7	18	0.307	.274 (+12%)	.342 (+1%)	.393 (-13%)	.735 (-6%)	-106.2
1940	NYY	AL	33	89	8	11	4	0	1	7	0	3	9	0.124	.267 (-54%)	.335 (-55%)	.387 (-48%)	.722 (-51%)	-792.8
1941	NYY	AL	38	89	10	27	8	1	2	22	0	4	12	0.303	.262 (+16%)	.332 (avg)	.373 (+29%)	.705 (+16%)	186.1
1942	NYY	AL	30	80	8	20	4	0	1	13	0	5	13	0.250	.253 (-1%)	.323 (-6%)	.349 (-3%)	.672 (-5%)	-69.9
1945	NYY	AL	21	46	4	10	0	1	1	5	0	0	8	0.217	—	—	—	—	0.0
1946	NYY	AL	8	25	1	3	1	0	0	1	0	1	8	0.120	—	—	—	—	0.0
1947	CHW	AL	14	24	2	5	0	0	0	3	0	1	3	0.208	—	—	—	—	0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
14	34	1	6	1	0	0	4	3	6	0.176

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1942	WS	NYA	4	9	0	2	0	0	0	2	0.222
1941	WS	NYA	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.000
1939	WS	NYA	1	3	0	1	0	0	0	1	0.333
1938	WS	NYA	2	6	1	1	0	1	1	0	0.167
1937	WS	NYA	1	4	0	2	1	3	0	0	0.500
1936	WS	NYA	3	5	0	0	0	0	1	2	0.000
1932	WS	NYA	2	4	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
7	2	10	10	0	85.7	74	25	27	61	2.63

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1942	WS	NYA	1	1	2	2	17.7	14	8	7	11	4.08
1941	WS	NYA	1	0	1	1	9.0	6	1	3	5	1.00
1939	WS	NYA	1	0	1	1	9.0	4	1	1	4	1.00
1938	WS	NYA	2	0	2	2	18.0	17	3	2	11	1.50
1937	WS	NYA	1	0	1	1	9.0	7	1	3	8	1.00
1936	WS	NYA	0	1	2	2	14.0	16	8	5	12	5.14
1932	WS	NYA	1	0	1	1	9.0	10	3	6	10	3.00

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
OF	3	0	2	0	0	0
P	624	0	153	677	27	51

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	PO	A	E	DP
1924	BOS	P	8	0	3	0	0
1925	BOS	P	37	7	50	1	3
1926	BOS	P	37	10	34	1	2
1927	BOS	P	26	8	36	1	1
1928	BOS	P	42	7	51	3	4
1929	BOS	OF	2	1	0	0	0
1929	BOS	P	35	7	46	3	1
1930	BOS	P	4	0	2	1	0
1930	NYA	P	34	3	27	2	0
1931	NYA	OF	1	1	0	0	0
1931	NYA	P	37	4	32	0	1
1932	NYA	P	35	4	38	2	4
1933	NYA	P	35	8	45	2	5
1934	NYA	P	36	10	32	3	2
1935	NYA	P	30	17	26	0	3
1936	NYA	P	33	13	56	1	6
1937	NYA	P	31	9	28	1	2
1938	NYA	P	31	11	34	0	2
1939	NYA	P	28	8	32	2	2
1940	NYA	P	30	6	30	2	2
1941	NYA	P	23	7	21	0	3
1942	NYA	P	24	8	30	1	5
1945	NYA	P	11	2	11	1	1
1946	NYA	P	8	2	6	0	1
1947	CHA	P	9	2	7	0	1

Career Games by Position

Position	Games
Pitcher	624
Left Field	2
Right Field	1

Awards & Honors

Year	Award	Notes
1941	Baseball Magazine All-Star	P3
1939	Baseball Magazine All-Star	P2
1939	Baseball Magazine All-Star	P4
1939	TSN All-Star	P
1938	Baseball Magazine All-Star	P1
1938	Baseball Magazine All-Star	P1
1938	TSN All-Star	P
1937	TSN All-Star	P