Keith Atherton

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Keith Atherton

Keith Rowe Atherton

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 4", Weight: 200 lb.

Born: February 19, 1959 in Newport News, VA
High School: Mathews HS (Mathews, VA)
Drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 2nd round of the 1978 amateur draft. (All Transactions)
Debut: July 14, 1983 (Age 24)
Teams (by GP): Twins/Athletics/Indians 1983-1989

Final Game: August 5, 1989 (Age 30)
About biographical information

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Standard Pitching

More Stats

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	W	L	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	GF	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB	Awards
1978	19	OAK-min	A-	7	3	.700	3.42	12	12		9	2	0	92.0	86	44	35	5	40	1	81	3	3	7			1.370	8.4	0.5	3.9	7.9	2.03	BND · NORW
1979	20	OAK-min	A,AA	9	11	.450	5.93	25	25		9	0	0	167.0	218	130	110	20	64	5	110	3	4	2			1.689	11.7	1.1	3.4	5.9	1.72	MOD,WBY · CALL,EL
1980	21	OAK-min	AA	11	12	.478	4.12	27	27		13	2	0	190.0	185	101	87	14	58	0	117	7	2	2			1.279	8.8	0.7	2.7	5.5	2.02	WHA · EL
1981	22	OAK-min	AA	11	13	.458	3.60	27	27	0	4	0	0	175.0	174	83	70	13	64	2	116	6	2	7			1.360	8.9	0.7	3.3	6.0	1.81	WHA · EL
1982	23	OAK-min	AAA	12	9	.571	4.36	28	28	0	6	1	0	200.0	214	108	97	26	54	3	128	2	0	3			1.340	9.6	1.2	2.4	5.8	2.37	TAC · PCL
1983	24	OAK-min	AAA	3	8	.273	3.96	26	14	6	1	0	2	120.1	117	60	53	14	44	7	93	2	2	2			1.338	8.8	1.0	3.3	7.0	2.11	TAC · PCL
1983	24	OAK	AL	2	5	.286	2.77	29	0	21	0	0	4	68.1	53	22	21	7	23	4	40	1	1	1	277	139	1.112	7.0	0.9	3.0	5.3	1.74
1984	25	OAK	AL	7	6	.538	4.33	57	0	24	0	0	2	104.0	110	51	50	13	39	8	58	2	0	3	453	86	1.433	9.5	1.1	3.4	5.0	1.49
1985	26	OAK	AL	4	7	.364	4.30	56	0	21	0	0	3	104.2	89	51	50	17	42	8	77	0	0	2	435	89	1.252	7.7	1.5	3.6	6.6	1.83
1986	27	TOT	AL	6	10	.375	4.08	60	0	36	0	0	10	97.0	100	47	44	11	46	4	67	1	0	2	431	104	1.505	9.3	1.0	4.3	6.2	1.46
1986	27	OAK	AL	1	2	.333	5.87	13	0	5	0	0	0	15.1	18	10	10	2	11	1	8	0	0	0	75	67	1.891	10.6	1.2	6.5	4.7	0.73
1986	27	MIN	AL	5	8	.385	3.75	47	0	31	0	0	10	81.2	82	37	34	9	35	3	59	1	0	2	356	114	1.433	9.0	1.0	3.9	6.5	1.69
1987	28	MIN	AL	7	5	.583	4.54	59	0	29	0	0	2	79.1	81	46	40	10	30	4	51	4	0	1	348	102	1.399	9.2	1.1	3.4	5.8	1.70
1988	29	MIN	AL	7	5	.583	3.41	49	0	13	0	0	3	74.0	65	29	28	10	22	4	43	2	0	1	309	120	1.176	7.9	1.2	2.7	5.2	1.95
1989	30	DET-CLE-min	AAA	1	3	.250	4.94	10	0	4	0	0	1	23.2	27	15	13	1	6	0	18	1	0	1			1.394	10.3	0.4	2.3	6.8	3.00	TOL,CSP · IL,PCL
1989	30	CLE	AL	0	3	.000	4.15	32	0	14	0	0	2	39.0	48	22	18	7	13	4	13	0	0	0	178	97	1.564	11.1	1.6	3.0	3.0	1.00
7 Yrs				33	41	.446	3.99	342	0	158	0	0	26	566.1	546	268	251	75	215	36	349	10	1	10	2431	101	1.344	8.7	1.2	3.4	5.5	1.62
162 Game Avg.				7	8	.446	3.99	68	0	31	0	0	5	113	109	53	50	15	43	7	69	2	0	2	483	101	1.344	8.7	1.2	3.4	5.5	1.62

OAK (4 yrs)				14	20	.412	4.03	155	0	71	0	0	9	292.1	270	134	131	39	115	21	183	3	1	6	1240	94	1.317	8.3	1.2	3.5	5.6	1.59
MIN (3 yrs)				19	18	.514	3.91	155	0	73	0	0	15	235.0	228	112	102	29	87	11	153	7	0	4	1013	111	1.340	8.7	1.1	3.3	5.9	1.76
CLE (1 yr)				0	3	.000	4.15	32	0	14	0	0	2	39.0	48	22	18	7	13	4	13	0	0	0	178	97	1.564	11.1	1.6	3.0	3.0	1.00

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR Explained (v2.2): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	IP	G	GS	R	RA9	RA9opp	RA9def	RA9role	PPFp	RA9avg	RAA	WAA	gmLI	WAAadj	WAR	RAR	waaWL%	162WL%	Salary
1983	24	OAK	AL	68.1	29	0	22	2.90	4.37	0.03	-0.35	96.1	3.83	7	0.7	1.4	0.0	1.4	13	.525	.505
1984	25	OAK	AL	104.0	57	0	51	4.41	4.47	-0.15	-0.36	94.5	4.02	-4	-0.4	1.3	-0.2	0.3	5	.492	.497	$52,500
1985	26	OAK	AL	104.2	56	0	51	4.39	4.49	-0.03	-0.35	92.8	3.87	-6	-0.6	1.2	-0.3	0.1	4	.489	.496	$107,333
1986	27	OAK	AL	15.1	13	0	10	5.87	4.63	0.26	-0.36	93.3	3.74	-4	-0.4	.6	0.1	-0.2	-2	.472	.498	$183,700
1986	27	MIN	AL	81.2	47	0	37	4.08	4.73	-0.15	-0.37	102.0	4.60	5	0.5	1.7	0.0	1.3	13	.510	.503
1987	28	MIN	AL	79.1	59	0	46	5.22	5.01	0.08	-0.39	103.6	4.70	-5	-0.5	1.3	-0.2	0.1	4	.492	.497	$300,000
1988	29	MIN	AL	74.0	49	0	29	3.53	4.48	0.07	-0.36	102.3	4.15	5	0.5	1.6	0.0	1.2	12	.511	.503	$345,000
1989	30	CLE	AL	39.0	32	0	22	5.08	4.44	-0.01	-0.34	103.1	4.23	-4	-0.4	.8	-0.0	-0.1	0	.487	.497	$450,000
7 Seasons				566.1	342	0	268	4.26	4.58	-0.02	-0.36	98.3	4.17	-6	-0.6	1.3	-0.6	4.3	49	.498	.500	$1,438,533

OAK (4 yrs)				292.1	155	0	134	4.13	4.46	-0.04	-0.35	94.2	3.91	-7	-0.7	1.2	-0.4	1.7	21	.496	.499	$343,533
MIN (3 yrs)				235.0	155	0	112	4.29	4.75	-0.00	-0.37	102.6	4.49	5	0.5	1.5	-0.2	2.6	28	.503	.501	$645,000
CLE (1 yr)				39.0	32	0	22	5.08	4.44	-0.01	-0.34	103.1	4.23	-4	-0.4	.8	-0.0	-0.1	0	.487	.497	$450,000

Postseason Pitching

Postseason Gamelog

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Rslt	Opp	ERA	G	GF	IP	H	R	ER	BB	BK	BF	WHIP	H/9	BB/9	SO/BB
1987	28	MIN	AL	ALCS	W	DET	0.00	1	0	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	2	3.000	27.0	0.0
1987	28	MIN	AL	WS	W	STL	6.75	2	1	1.1	0	1	1	1	1	5	0.750	0.0	6.8	0.00
1 Yr (2 Series)							5.40	3	1	1.2	1	1	1	1	1	7	1.200	5.4	5.4	0.00
1 ALCS							0.00	1	0	0.1	1	0	0	0	0	2	3.000	27.0	0.0
1 WS							6.75	2	1	1.1	0	1	1	1	1	5	0.750	0.0	6.8	0.00

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos	Awards
1978	19	OAK-min	A-	12	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0		0	0	0			BND · NORW
1979	20	OAK-min	AA,A	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0		0	0	0			WBY,MOD · EL,CALL
1980	21	OAK-min	AA	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0		0	0	0			WHA · EL
1981	22	OAK-min	AA	28	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0		0	0	0	0		WHA · EL
1982	23	OAK-min	AAA	28	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000		0		0	0	0	0		TAC · PCL
1983	24	OAK-min	AAA	26	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0		0	0	0	0		TAC · PCL
1983	24	OAK	AL	29	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1984	25	OAK	AL	57	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1985	26	OAK	AL	56	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1986	27	TOT	AL	60	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1986	27	OAK	AL	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1986	27	MIN	AL	47	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1987	28	MIN	AL	59	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1988	29	MIN	AL	49	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1989	30	CLE-DET-min	AAA	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0		0	0	0	0		CSP,TOL · PCL,IL
1989	30	CLE	AL	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0	1
7 Yrs				342	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	0	0	0	0
162 Game Avg.				162	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	0	0	0	0

OAK (4 yrs)				155	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	0	0	0	0
MIN (3 yrs)				155	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0
CLE (1 yr)				32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0						0	0	0	0	0	0

Player Value--Batters

WAR Explained (v2.2): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	Rbat	Rbaser	Rdp	Rfield	Rpos	RAA	WAA	Rrep	RAR	WAR	waaWL%	162WL%	oWAR	dWAR	oRAR	Salary	Pos
1983	24	OAK	AL	29	1	-0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.500	.500	0.0	0.0	0		1
1984	25	OAK	AL	57	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.0	0	$52,500	1
1985	26	OAK	AL	56	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.1	0	$107,333	1
1986	27	OAK	AL	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.0	0	$183,700	1
1986	27	MIN	AL	47	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.0	0		1
1987	28	MIN	AL	59	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.1	0	$300,000	1
1988	29	MIN	AL	49	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.1	0	$345,000	1
1989	30	CLE	AL	32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.0	0	$450,000	1
7 Seasons				342	1	-0	0	0	0	2	2	0.2	0	2	0.2	.501	.500	0.2	0.3	2	$1,438,533

OAK (4 yrs)				155	1	-0	0	0	0	1	1	0.1	0	1	0.1	.501	.500	0.1	0.1	1	$343,533
MIN (3 yrs)				155	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0.1	0	1	0.1	.501	.500	0.1	0.1	1	$645,000
CLE (1 yr)				32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0	0.0	.501	.500	0.0	0.0	0	$450,000

Postseason Batting

Postseason Gamelog

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Opp	Rslt	G	IBB
1987	28	MIN	AL	ALCS	DET	W	1	0
1987	28	MIN	AL	WS	STL	W	2
1 Yr (2 Series)							3	0
1 ALCS							1	0
1 WS							2

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	G	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	SB	CS	CS%	lgCS%
1983	OAK	AL	24	P	29	68.1	8	1	7	0	0	1.000	1.05	0.28	.958	1.80	1.78	6	1	14%	33%
1984	OAK	AL	25	P	57	104.0	11	5	5	1	0	.909	0.87	0.18	.958	1.79	1.78	4	6	60%	36%
1985	OAK	AL	26	P	56	104.2	11	4	6	1	0	.909	0.86	0.18	.953	1.86	1.84	9	6	40%	33%
1986	TOT	AL	27	P	60	97.0	18	6	11	1	1	.944	1.58	0.28	.957	1.83	1.81	9	2	18%	34%
1986	OAK	AL	27	P	13	15.1	2	1	1	0	0	1.000	1.17	0.15	.955	1.82	1.81	1	1	50%	34%
1986	MIN	AL	27	P	47	81.2	16	5	10	1	1	.938	1.65	0.32	.957	1.83	1.81	8	1	11%	34%
1987	MIN	AL	28	P	59	79.1	16	3	12	1	0	.938	1.70	0.25	.955	1.84	1.82	8	2	20%	31%
1988	MIN	AL	29	P	49	74.0	13	3	9	1	0	.923	1.46	0.24	.961	1.78	1.77	3	0	0%	31%
1989	CLE	AL	30	P	32	39.0	5	4	1	0	0	1.000	1.15	0.16	.960	1.87	1.85	3	3	50%	31%
	7 Seasons			P	342	566.1	82	26	51	5	1	.939	1.22	0.23	.957	1.82	1.81	42	20	32%	33%
	7 Seasons			TOT	342	566.1	82	26	51	5	1	.939	1.22	0.23	.957	1.82	1.81	42	20	32%	33%

Note: Fielding stats are a combination of official records and RetroSheet records. Both are likely to have substantial errors and will not match perfectly.

View Complete Notes on Fielding Data

Leagues historically made no effort to balance team, league, and player fielding stats. Since 1990 or so, computers have made this feasible, but prior to that there are hundreds or thousands of discrepancies each year in games played (even whether a player played a position), putouts, assists, double plays and errors.

Pre-1945 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
From 1945 on SB, CS, Pickoff, & WP data for catchers and pitchers is taken from play-by-play accounts in the retrosheet files. There are several hundred games without pbp from 1945 to 1973 and for those we may not have any data.
CG & GS come from the retrosheet data and should be complete and pretty accurate from 1916 on.
Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1945 to 1973 and complete from then on.
Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1916) is taken from play-by-play or box score data as available.
Stats (PO,A,G,etc) for C,P,1B,2B,3B,SS,OF positions is taken from the official reported totals and may have been corrected at various times since their publication.
For detailed information on which games retrosheet is missing play-by-play from 1945 to 1973, please see their most wanted games list
For detailed information on the availability of data on this site by year, see our data coverage page

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

Games Played s c a p y 1987 AL 59 (10th)

Games Played s c a p y
1987 AL 59 (10th)

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Gray Ink	Pitching - 1 (2652), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame Monitor	Pitching - 2 (1725), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Pitching - 5 (1412), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS	Relief Pitcher (606th), 4.6 career WAR/4.7 7yr-peak WAR/4.6 JAWS Average HOF RP (out of 5) = 40.6 career WAR/27.9 7yr-peak WAR/34.3 JAWS

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores

Similar Pitchers

Compare Stats to Similars

Most Similar by Ages

Hold mouse over #'s to see names

Max Leon (993) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Larry Bearnarth (983) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
David Hernandez (983) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Jim Acker (979) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Jeff Parrett (967) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
George Frazier (978) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

Transactions

June 6, 1978: Drafted by the Oakland Athletics in the 2nd round of the 1978 amateur draft.
May 20, 1986: Traded by the Oakland Athletics to the Minnesota Twins for a player to be named later and cash. The Minnesota Twins sent Eric Broersma (minors) (May 23, 1986) to the Oakland Athletics to complete the trade.
March 26, 1989: Traded by the Minnesota Twins to the Cleveland Indians for Carmelo Castillo.
August 7, 1989: Released by the Cleveland Indians.
August 17, 1989: Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers.
October 15, 1989: Granted Free Agency.
December 7, 1989: Signed as a Free Agent with the Montreal Expos.

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. We attempt to update transactions throughout the season.

Salaries

Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses

Year	Age	Team	Salary	Sources
1984	25	Oakland Athletics	$52,500	2/20/84 TSN
1985	26	Oakland Athletics	$107,333	1985 USA Today survey
1986	27	Oakland Athletics	$183,700	1986 USA Today survey
1987	28	Minnesota Twins	$300,000	1987 USA Today survey
1988	29	Minnesota Twins	$345,000	USA Today, 4/1/88
1989	30	Cleveland Indians	$450,000	Larry Grasso corrections

Career to date (may be incomplete)			$1,438,533

Primary salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, and the Society for American Baseball Research.
Additional 1915-1969 salaries researched via Baseball Hall of Fame contract archives by Dr. Michael Haupert of UW-LaCrosse.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.
Salaries converted to alternate years using Consumer Price Index (CPI) data courtesty of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Board.

Other Resources & Links

Error? Compare Search SABR's Baseball Index Other Links@google.com Baseball Library Baseball-Almanac.com Retrosheet The Baseball Cube WahooSam.com WhatIfSports: Keith Atherton

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Name and misspellings: Keith Keith kieth Rowe Atherton

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Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet.

Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball.

Total Zone Rating and Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com.

Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of 24-7 Baseball.

Player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Many thanks to him. We have only selected seasons (players who debuted before 1960) for which we believe the image has reverted into the public domain. We will quickly remove any images for which that can be shown to not be the case.Please let us know if you are aware of any such images on this site.

Play Index Loading Photos from the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress.

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