Willie Wells

⭐ Hall of Fame 1997

Born: 8/10/1904 in Shawnee, OK, USA

Died: 1/22/1989 in Austin, TX, USA

Bats: R | Throws: R | Height: 5'9" | Weight: 170 lbs

Full name: Willie James Wells

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Biography

Willie Wells was a prominent figure in the history of baseball, celebrated for his contributions to the game during a transformative era. Born in 1904, he made his mark primarily as a position player in the Negro Leagues from 1924 to 1948, a time when the sport was still grappling with issues of segregation and racial inequality. Though his official Major League Baseball statistics reflect no recorded games, hits, or other traditional metrics, his impact on the field was profound, and he is often remembered as one of the most talented players of his time. Wells was known for his exceptional skills as a shortstop and his powerful batting, which earned him recognition as a key player in the leagues he participated in. His career culminated in a Hall of Fame induction in 1997, which served to honor not only his individual achievements but also his role in paving the way for future generations of African American players. His legacy continues to inspire, as he remains a significant figure in baseball history, symbolizing the talent and resilience of players during the era of segregation in American sports.

Negro Leagues Career Statistics

Batting

PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
260.0	235.0	30.0	48.0	9.0	1.0	1.0	17.0	19.0	1.0	2.0	0.204	0.268	0.264	0.532

Pitching

W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA
0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

Negro Leagues Season-by-Season Batting

Season	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1925	33.0	27.0	4.0	6.0	0	0	1.0	1.0	3.0	1.0	0	0.222	0.300	0.333	0.633
1926	32.0	27.0	3.0	5.0	2.0	1.0	0	0	2.0	0	2.0	0.185	0.267	0.333	0.600
1927	4.0	4.0	1.0	1.0	0	0	1.0	4.0	0	0	0	0.250	0.250	1.000	1.250
1928	36.0	28.0	11.0	11.0	2.0	1.0	5.0	5.0	7.0	0	1.0	0.393	0.514	1.071	1.585
1929	22.0	21.0	9.0	12.0	3.0	3.0	0	0	1.0	0	3.0	0.571	0.591	1.000	1.591
1930	91.0	84.0	15.0	29.0	4.0	1.0	2.0	3.0	5.0	0	5.0	0.345	0.382	0.488	0.870
1931	19.0	16.0	6.0	7.0	2.0	1.0	0	0	3.0	0	0	0.438	0.526	0.688	1.214
1933	47.0	44.0	9.0	16.0	7.0	0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	2.0	0.364	0.378	0.591	0.969
1934	68.0	60.0	13.0	22.0	8.0	1.0	1.0	9.0	5.0	2.0	2.0	0.367	0.424	0.583	1.007
1935	3.0	3.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000
1936	252.0	229.0	51.0	61.0	13.0	2.0	4.0	16.0	21.0	1.0	6.0	0.266	0.331	0.393	0.724
1937	185.0	163.0	43.0	62.0	9.0	4.0	7.0	25.0	19.0	1.0	2.0	0.380	0.451	0.613	1.064
1938	164.0	144.0	33.0	50.0	7.0	4.0	7.0	23.0	15.0	2.0	4.0	0.347	0.417	0.597	1.014
1939	207.0	178.0	44.0	53.0	5.0	1.0	6.0	19.0	27.0	4.0	5.0	0.298	0.391	0.438	0.829
1942	228.0	210.0	55.0	84.0	18.0	2.0	8.0	31.0	15.0	0	3.0	0.400	0.448	0.619	1.067
1944	4.0	3.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.0	0	0	.000	0.250	.000	0.250
1944	32.0	27.0	1.0	3.0	0	0	0	1.0	3.0	1.0	0	0.111	0.200	0.111	0.311
1945	127.0	109.0	14.0	32.0	9.0	1.0	0	7.0	14.0	0	0	0.294	0.384	0.394	0.778
1945	44.0	42.0	3.0	6.0	3.0	0	0	4.0	2.0	0	0	0.143	0.182	0.214	0.396
1946	267.0	243.0	28.0	72.0	14.0	4.0	1.0	38.0	22.0	0	2.0	0.296	0.355	0.399	0.754
1946	48.0	43.0	6.0	14.0	2.0	0	0	2.0	1.0	0	0	0.326	0.356	0.372	0.728
1947	21.0	18.0	2.0	8.0	0	1.0	0	2.0	2.0	0	0	0.444	0.500	0.556	1.056
1947	73.0	66.0	14.0	12.0	2.0	1.0	0	6.0	8.0	0	2.0	0.182	0.267	0.242	0.509
1948	19.0	17.0	7.0	14.0	5.0	0	1.0	6.0	2.0	1.0	1.0	0.824	0.842	1.294	2.136
1948	39.0	35.0	4.0	10.0	1.0	0	1.0	3.0	3.0	0	0	0.286	0.359	0.400	0.759
1949	7.0	7.0	1.0	3.0	0	0	1.0	2.0	0	0	0	0.429	0.429	0.857	1.286
1949	24.0	22.0	2.0	3.0	1.0	0	0	1.0	2.0	0	0	0.136	0.208	0.182	0.390

Negro Leagues Season-by-Season Pitching

Season	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA
1945	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
1947	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00

Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1068	4030	956	1319	267	70	145	875	176	497	10	0.327	0.407	0.536	0.943	21496.8

Career AVG .327 vs. league average .276 across their career seasons — +18.7% above league average.

Career OBP .407 vs. league average .341 across their career seasons — +19.3% above league average.

Career SLG .536 vs. league average .390 across their career seasons — +37.5% above league average.

Career OPS 0.943 vs. league average 0.731 across their career seasons — +29.0% above 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	SLS	NNL	45	170	29	51	12	4	1	37	2	12	0	0.300	.283 (+6%)	.345 (+2%)	.389 (+12%)	.734 (+7%)	182.9
1925	SLS	NNL	87	338	83	98	19	7	8	53	18	53	0	0.290	.288 (+1%)	.349 (+10%)	.407 (+13%)	.756 (+12%)	839.9
1926	SLS	NNL	84	279	66	104	12	4	13	64	16	50	1	0.373	.279 (+33%)	.345 (+36%)	.390 (+50%)	.735 (+43%)	2472.9
1927	SLS	NNL	96	359	90	131	21	5	29	105	13	55	0	0.365	.282 (+29%)	.344 (+32%)	.392 (+77%)	.736 (+56%)	3969.5
1928	SLS	NNL	78	315	82	113	28	5	22	81	13	25	1	0.359	.280 (+28%)	.342 (+21%)	.395 (+74%)	.737 (+50%)	2789.3
1929	CAG	NNL	4	16	4	8	2	1	0	4	1	0	0	0.500	—	—	—	—	0.0
1929	SLS	NNL	95	363	105	129	22	5	27	117	31	49	0	0.355	.289 (+23%)	.353 (+24%)	.415 (+60%)	.769 (+44%)	0.0
1930	SLS	NNL	91	341	113	136	36	4	18	112	27	56	0	0.399	.293 (+36%)	.354 (+39%)	.429 (+60%)	.784 (+50%)	3682.9
1931	SLS	NNL	34	122	35	39	12	3	3	27	9	24	0	0.320	.276 (+16%)	.338 (+30%)	.388 (+39%)	.726 (+35%)	801.3
1932	DW	EWL	29	113	20	32	13	2	0	20	3	9	0	0.283	.275 (+3%)	.335 (+2%)	.391 (+11%)	.726 (+7%)	100.7
1932	HG	EWL	10	38	5	10	1	1	2	10	0	2	0	0.263	—	—	—	—	100.7
1932	KCM	IND	16	57	15	15	2	3	0	12	1	8	1	0.263	.275 (-4%)	.335 (+11%)	.391 (+3%)	.726 (+7%)	100.7
1933	CAG	NN2	36	156	30	41	7	3	0	23	8	7	0	0.263	.270 (-3%)	.329 (-7%)	.377 (-8%)	.707 (-8%)	-215.7
1934	CAG	NN2	38	144	23	30	7	4	0	13	4	17	1	0.208	.278 (-25%)	.340 (-14%)	.392 (-20%)	.733 (-18%)	-457.2
1935	CAG	NN2	47	184	53	65	14	5	5	36	14	25	0	0.353	.279 (+26%)	.342 (+26%)	.399 (+41%)	.742 (+35%)	1157.4
1936	NE	NN2	29	111	24	35	6	1	2	12	0	12	1	0.315	.283 (+11%)	.349 (+11%)	.404 (+9%)	.753 (+10%)	211.0
1937	NE	NN2	28	103	28	38	9	5	3	27	2	10	0	0.369	.276 (+33%)	.342 (+24%)	.398 (+61%)	.740 (+44%)	729.0
1937	HG	NN2	4	17	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	1	0.059	—	—	—	—	729.0
1938	NE	NN2	27	90	22	29	7	2	2	15	3	13	0	0.322	.272 (+18%)	.341 (+23%)	.392 (+30%)	.734 (+27%)	435.1
1939	NE	NN2	38	150	31	40	4	0	3	21	4	19	3	0.267	.274 (-3%)	.342 (+1%)	.393 (-10%)	.735 (-5%)	-88.6
1942	NE	NN2	51	199	50	68	12	1	6	32	3	16	0	0.342	.253 (+35%)	.323 (+23%)	.349 (+44%)	.672 (+34%)	1100.1
1945	NE	NN2	9	31	6	4	0	0	0	2	0	3	0	0.129	—	—	—	—	0.0
1945	NBY	NN2	18	69	7	21	6	0	0	8	1	6	0	0.304	.260 (+17%)	.328 (+12%)	.354 (+10%)	.683 (+11%)	0.0
1946	NBY	NN2	9	32	3	8	0	0	0	2	1	3	0	0.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
1946	BEG	NN2	53	197	20	59	13	3	1	36	1	18	0	0.299	.256 (+17%)	.328 (+9%)	.358 (+15%)	.687 (+12%)	0.0
1947	CIC	NAL	6	19	2	6	0	1	0	3	0	1	0	0.316	—	—	—	—	0.0
1948	MRS	NAL	6	17	6	8	2	1	0	3	1	2	1	0.471	—	—	—	—	0.0

Career Pitching Statistics

W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0.7	0	0	0	0	0	0.00	0

Career ERA 0.00 vs. league average 3.67 across their career seasons — 100.0% 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
1945	NE	NN2	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0.7	0	0	0	0	0.00	—	0.0

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
31	118	20	32	5	1	6	19	12	0	0.271

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	AVG
1939	NLP1	NE	4	14	1	1	0	0	0	0	3	0.071
1934	NLC	CAG	6	23	2	5	1	0	0	0	1	0.217
1930	NNC	SLS	7	31	6	13	2	0	2	9	1	0.419
1928	NNC	SLS	7	26	7	8	1	1	3	9	4	0.308
1925	NNC	SLS	7	24	4	5	1	0	1	1	3	0.208

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	2	0	0	0	0	0
2B	11	8	24	22	2	3
3B	49	48	53	73	6	4
OF	10	5	9	1	0	0
P	1	0	0	0	0	0
SS	996	907	1972	2954	258	440

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1924	SLS	SS	45	45	115	181	21	30
1925	SLS	1B	1	0	0	0	0	0
1925	SLS	SS	88	2	3	2	0	1
1926	SLS	SS	81	80	188	271	32	60
1927	SLS	3B	1	1	1	0	0	0
1927	SLS	SS	95	94	199	317	35	43
1928	SLS	OF	1	0	0	0	0	0
1928	SLS	SS	77	77	176	280	24	40
1929	CAG	SS	4	4	12	25	2	3
1929	SLS	1B	1	0	0	0	0	0
1929	SLS	SS	95	95	201	320	20	41
1930	SLS	2B	1	0	1	1	0	0
1930	SLS	OF	3	0	1	0	0	0
1930	SLS	SS	90	90	218	325	21	45
1931	SLS	SS	34	34	70	117	9	17
1932	DW	SS	29	29	67	85	8	12
1932	HG	SS	10	10	22	26	3	3
1932	KCM	SS	16	16	23	59	2	11
1933	CAG	SS	36	36	78	94	9	15
1934	CAG	SS	38	38	75	125	7	16
1935	CAG	SS	47	47	119	133	13	22
1936	NE	SS	29	29	53	84	9	12
1937	NE	2B	1	0	2	2	1	0
1937	NE	SS	27	26	51	74	11	14
1937	HG	SS	4	4	8	11	1	1
1938	NE	2B	1	0	1	1	0	0
1938	NE	SS	27	27	57	74	5	13
1939	NE	SS	38	38	71	115	8	9
1942	NE	OF	2	2	4	0	0	0
1942	NE	SS	48	48	82	118	8	15
1945	NE	P	1	0	0	0	0	0
1945	NE	SS	8	8	17	24	3	3
1945	NBY	OF	1	0	1	0	0	0
1945	NBY	SS	18	18	37	61	2	10
1946	NBY	OF	1	1	1	0	0	0
1946	NBY	SS	8	8	20	27	4	4
1946	BEG	2B	7	7	18	15	0	2
1946	BEG	3B	44	44	50	66	6	4
1946	BEG	OF	2	2	2	1	0	0
1947	CIC	2B	1	1	2	3	1	1
1947	CIC	SS	4	4	10	6	1	0
1948	MRS	3B	4	3	2	7	0	0