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Wally Backman

Walter Wayne Backman

Positions: Second Baseman and Third Baseman
Bats: Both, Throws: Right
Height: 5' 9", Weight: 160 lb.

Born: September 22, 1959 in Hillsboro, OR
High Schools: Aloha HS (Beaverton, OR), Aloha HS (Aloha, OR)
Drafted by the New York Mets in the 1st round (16th pick) of the 1977 amateur draft. (All Transactions)
Debut: September 2, 1980 (Age 20)
Teams (by GP): Mets/Phillies/Pirates/Twins/Mariners 1980-1993
Agents: Terry Bross, previously: Dick Moss [*]
Final Game: May 14, 1993 (Age 33)
    About biographical information

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Fine Details  · Last updated Feb 13, 2013 1:17AM
All-Time Rank (among batters): #1220. Ping Bodie… #1221. Cass Michaels… #1222. Joe Hauser… #1223. WALLY BACKMAN… #1224. Vic Saier… #1225. Carlos Quentin… #1226. Rich Dauer… 

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
1980 20 NYM NL 27 110 93 12 30 1 1 0 9 2 3 11 14 .323 .396 .355 .751 115 33 3 1 4 1 1 4/6
1981 21 NYM NL 26 42 36 5 10 2 0 0 0 1 0 4 7 .278 .350 .333 .683 97 12 0 0 2 0 0 4/5
1982 22 NYM NL 96 312 261 37 71 13 2 3 22 8 7 49 47 .272 .387 .372 .759 115 97 6 0 2 0 1 4/56
1983 23 NYM NL 26 45 42 6 7 0 1 0 3 0 0 2 8 .167 .205 .214 .419 17 9 2 0 1 0 0 4/5
1984 24 NYM NL 128 499 436 68 122 19 2 1 26 32 9 56 63 .280 .360 .339 .700 99 148 13 0 5 2 2 *4/6
1985 25 NYM NL 145 574 520 77 142 24 5 1 38 30 12 36 72 .273 .320 .344 .664 87 179 3 1 14 3 1 *4/6
1986 26 NYM NL 124 440 387 67 124 18 2 1 27 13 7 36 32 .320 .376 .385 .761 113 149 3 0 14 3 1 *4
1987 27 NYM NL 94 335 300 43 75 6 1 1 23 11 3 25 43 .250 .307 .287 .593 62 86 5 0 9 1 0 4
1988 28 NYM NL 99 347 294 44 89 12 0 0 17 9 5 41 49 .303 .388 .344 .731 117 101 6 1 9 2 1 4
1989 29 MIN AL 87 337 299 33 69 9 2 1 26 1 1 32 45 .231 .306 .284 .591 63 85 4 1 4 1 0 4/D
1990 30 PIT NL 104 361 315 62 92 21 3 2 28 6 3 42 53 .292 .374 .397 .771 117 125 5 1 0 3 1 54
1991 31 PHI NL 94 220 185 20 45 12 0 0 15 3 2 30 30 .243 .344 .308 .652 86 57 2 0 2 3 0 45
1992 32 PHI NL 42 55 48 6 13 1 0 0 6 1 0 6 9 .271 .352 .292 .644 85 14 3 0 1 0 1 4/5
1993 33 SEA AL 10 31 29 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 .138 .167 .138 .305 -17 4 0 0 1 0 0 /54
14 Yrs 1102 3708 3245 482 893 138 19 10 240 117 52 371 480 .275 .349 .339 .687 94 1099 55 5 68 19 9
162 Game Avg. 162 545 477 71 131 20 3 1 35 17 8 55 71 .275 .349 .339 .687 94 162 8 1 10 3 1
NYM (9 yrs) 765 2704 2369 359 670 95 14 7 165 106 46 260 335 .283 .353 .344 .696 97 814 41 3 60 12 7
PHI (2 yrs) 136 275 233 26 58 13 0 0 21 4 2 36 39 .249 .346 .305 .650 86 71 5 0 3 3 1
MIN (1 yr) 87 337 299 33 69 9 2 1 26 1 1 32 45 .231 .306 .284 .591 63 85 4 1 4 1 0
PIT (1 yr) 104 361 315 62 92 21 3 2 28 6 3 42 53 .292 .374 .397 .771 117 125 5 1 0 3 1
SEA (1 yr) 10 31 29 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 8 .138 .167 .138 .305 -17 4 0 0 1 0 0
NL (12 yrs) 1005 3340 2917 447 820 129 17 9 214 116 51 338 427 .281 .355 .346 .701 98 1010 51 4 63 18 9
AL (2 yrs) 97 368 328 35 73 9 2 1 26 1 1 33 53 .223 .295 .271 .566 56 89 4 1 5 1 0

Player Value--Batters

WAR Explained (v2.1): 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 Awards
1980 20 NYM NL 27 110 1 -1 0 -6 1 -4 -0.4 3 -0 -0.1 .485 .498 0.5 -0.5 5 4/6
1981 21 NYM NL 26 42 2 1 0 -0 0 2 0.3 1 4 0.4 .511 .502 0.5 -0.0 4 4/5
1982 22 NYM NL 96 312 8 -2 0 -6 2 2 0.3 10 12 1.2 .502 .501 1.9 -0.4 18 4/56
1983 23 NYM NL 26 45 -5 0 0 -2 0 -6 -0.7 1 -5 -0.5 .474 .496 -0.3 -0.2 -3 4/5
1984 24 NYM NL 128 499 -0 2 -2 -10 3 -6 -0.6 15 9 0.9 .495 .496 2.0 -0.7 19 $93,000 *4/6
1985 25 NYM NL 145 574 -3 0 3 -0 3 3 0.5 18 21 2.2 .502 .502 2.2 0.4 21 $200,000 *4/6
1986 26 NYM NL 124 440 7 0 3 3 2 14 1.6 14 28 3.0 .513 .510 2.6 0.6 25 $325,000 *4
1987 27 NYM NL 94 335 -8 1 1 -0 2 -5 -0.4 10 5 0.6 .495 .497 0.5 0.2 6 $550,000 4
1988 28 NYM NL 99 347 10 -2 0 4 2 14 1.7 11 25 2.7 .516 .510 2.3 0.7 21 $650,000 4
1989 29 MIN AL 87 337 -13 -0 1 -7 2 -18 -1.8 10 -8 -0.9 .477 .488 -0.1 -0.5 -0 $750,000 4/D
1990 30 PIT NL 104 361 9 -1 1 -8 1 2 0.4 10 12 1.4 .502 .502 2.1 -0.6 20 $400,000 54
1991 31 PHI NL 94 220 -2 -1 0 -0 1 -2 -0.2 6 4 0.4 .498 .499 0.4 0.1 4 $650,000 45
1992 32 PHI NL 42 55 -0 0 -0 1 0 0 0.1 2 2 0.2 .501 .500 0.1 0.2 1 $650,000 4/5
1993 33 SEA AL 10 31 -3 0 0 1 0 -1 -0.1 1 -0 0.0 .488 .499 -0.1 0.1 -1 /54
14 Seasons 1102 3708 2 -1 8 -33 20 -4 0.6 112 109 11.5 .500 .500 14.6 -0.6 141 $4,268,000
NYM (9 yrs) 765 2704 11 0 6 -19 17 15 2.3 83 98 10.4 .502 .501 12.2 0.2 118 $1,818,000
PHI (2 yrs) 136 275 -2 -1 -0 1 1 -2 -0.1 8 6 0.6 .499 .499 0.5 0.3 5 $1,300,000
MIN (1 yr) 87 337 -13 -0 1 -7 2 -18 -1.8 10 -8 -0.9 .477 .488 -0.1 -0.5 -0 $750,000
PIT (1 yr) 104 361 9 -1 1 -8 1 2 0.4 10 12 1.4 .502 .502 2.1 -0.6 20 $400,000
SEA (1 yr) 10 31 -3 0 0 1 0 -1 -0.1 1 -0 0.0 .488 .499 -0.1 0.1 -1

Postseason Batting

Postseason Gamelog
Year Age Tm Lg Series Opp Rslt G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
1986 26 NYM NL NLCS HOU W 6 23 21 5 5 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 4 .238 .304 .238 .542 5 0 0 0 0 1
1986 26 NYM NL WS BOS W 6 22 18 4 6 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 2 .333 .429 .333 .762 6 0 0 1 0 0
1988 28 NYM NL NLCS LAD L 7 26 22 2 6 1 0 0 2 1 0 2 5 .273 .333 .318 .652 7 0 0 2 0 0
1990 30 PIT NL NLCS CIN L 3 8 7 1 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 3 .143 .250 .286 .536 2 0 0 0 0 0
3 Yrs (4 Series) 22 79 68 12 18 2 0 0 5 4 1 8 14 .265 .342 .294 .636 20 0 0 3 0 1
3 NLCS 16 57 50 8 12 2 0 0 4 3 0 5 12 .240 .309 .280 .589 14 0 0 2 0 1
1 WS 6 22 18 4 6 0 0 0 1 1 1 3 2 .333 .429 .333 .762 6 0 0 1 0 0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Adv Fielding w/ run summary
Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% Rtot Rtot/yr RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
1980 NYM NL 20 2B 20 18 17 165.0 91 48 43 0 7 1.000 -5 -34 4.96 4.55 .980 5.49 5.49
1980 NYM NL 20 SS 8 8 5 66.0 27 14 12 1 4 .963 -1 -15 3.55 3.25 .966 5.02 5.03
1981 NYM NL 21 2B 11 5 5 57.0 37 14 21 2 2 .946 -0 -11 5.53 3.18 .982 5.53 5.54
1981 NYM NL 21 3B 1 0 0 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 2.70 2.80
1982 NYM NL 22 2B 88 69 39 586.0 385 169 202 14 30 .964 -5 -9 5.70 4.22 .978 5.42 5.43
1982 NYM NL 22 3B 6 4 2 32.0 13 4 7 2 0 .846 -2 -64 3.09 1.83 .951 2.76 2.78
1982 NYM NL 22 SS 1 0 0 2.0 0 0 0 0 0 -0 -60 0.00 0.00 4.95 5.00
1983 NYM NL 23 2B 14 3 3 44.2 23 11 12 0 2 1.000 -1 -24 4.63 1.64 .978 5.34 5.31
1983 NYM NL 23 3B 2 2 2 18.0 10 5 3 2 0 .800 -1 -60 4.00 4.00 .949 2.70 2.70
1984 NYM NL 24 2B 115 108 89 914.2 522 218 294 10 72 .981 -11 -14 5.04 4.45 .979 5.41 5.39
1984 NYM NL 24 SS 8 2 1 32.0 17 5 12 0 1 1.000 0 15 4.78 2.13 .965 4.87 4.86
1985 NYM NL 25 2B 140 122 104 1128.0 649 272 370 7 76 .989 -0 -0 5.12 4.59 .982 5.47 5.47
1985 NYM NL 25 SS 1 0 0 2.0 1 1 0 0 0 1.000 -0 -240 4.50 1.00 .960 4.95 4.90
1986 NYM NL 26 2B 113 92 78 848.0 493 186 290 17 56 .966 3 4 5.05 4.21 .980 5.21 5.22
1987 NYM NL 27 2B 87 76 55 654.2 347 131 210 6 44 .983 -0 -1 4.69 3.92 .982 5.19 5.16
1988 NYM NL 28 2B 92 84 58 707.2 351 128 219 4 36 .989 4 6 4.41 3.77 .980 5.22 5.23
1989 MIN AL 29 2B 84 79 56 655.2 339 146 187 6 37 .982 -7 -14 4.57 3.96 .981 5.24 5.18
1989 MIN AL 29 DH 1 0
1990 PIT NL 30 3B 71 68 32 519.1 150 34 104 12 5 .920 -8 -18 2.39 1.94 .947 2.73 2.71
1990 PIT NL 30 2B 15 14 6 106.0 54 22 32 0 5 1.000 -0 -2 4.58 3.60 .983 5.01 4.98
1991 PHI NL 31 2B 36 23 16 222.0 104 50 52 2 12 .981 -1 -8 4.14 2.83 .982 5.14 5.12
1991 PHI NL 31 3B 20 17 5 120.2 33 4 27 2 1 .939 1 10 2.31 1.55 .950 2.74 2.73
1992 PHI NL 32 2B 10 3 2 36.0 31 10 20 1 4 .968 1 37 7.50 3.00 .981 5.18 5.18
1992 PHI NL 32 3B 2 0 0 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 2.70 2.65
1993 SEA AL 33 3B 9 8 5 62.0 21 4 14 3 0 .857 1 21 2.61 2.00 .951 2.69 2.66
1993 SEA AL 33 2B 1 0 0 4.0 1 0 1 0 0 1.000 0 0 2.25 1.00 .980 5.18 5.10
14 Seasons 2B 826 696 528 6129.1 3427 1405 1953 69 383 .980 -23 -5 4.93 4.07 .980 5.32 5.30
7 Seasons 3B 111 99 46 754.1 227 51 155 21 6 .907 -8 -13 2.46 1.86 .948 2.73 2.71
4 Seasons SS 18 10 6 102.0 45 20 24 1 5 .978 -1 -11 3.88 2.44 .965 4.97 4.94
14 Seasons TOT 955 805 580 6985.2 3699 1476 2132 91 394 .975 -33 -6 4.65 3.78 .978 5.03 4.99
Lg Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% Rtot Rtot/yr RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
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

Sacrifice Hits s c a p y
1985 NL  14 (1st)
1986 NL  14 (3rd)

Caught Stealing s c a p y
1985 NL  12 (8th)

Errors Committed as 2B s c a p y
1982 NL  14 (5th)
1986 NL  17 (4th)

Range Factor/9Inn as 2B† s c a p y
1982 NL  5.70 (3rd)
Career  4.93 (87th)

Fielding % as 2B s c a p y
1985 NL  .989 (1st)
1988 NL  .989 (1st)
Career  .980 (99th)

Youngest s c a p y
1980 NL  born 1959-09-22 (4th)

                           

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Hall of Fame MonitorBatting - 8 (1259), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsBatting - 17 (978), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS Second Base (152nd), 11.5 career WAR/12.0 7yr-peak WAR/11.8 JAWS
Average HOF 2B (out of 19) = 66.0 career WAR/42.8 7yr-peak WAR/54.4 JAWS

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Batters 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Jamey Carroll (969)
  2. Eddie Kasko (945)
  3. Marty Barrett (944)
  4. Ryan Theriot (940)
  5. Jimmy Brown (940)
  6. Burgess Whitehead (939)
  7. Bill Sweeney (937)
  8. Duane Kuiper (932)
  9. Jerry Browne (928)
  10. Aaron Miles (925)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Jose Lind (976)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Felix Millan (979)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Felix Millan (975)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Burgess Whitehead (961)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Ted Sizemore (957)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Johnny Temple (965)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Johnny Temple (961)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. Marty Barrett (944)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  9. Joey Cora (951)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  10. Eddie Kasko (950)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

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 Notes/Other Sources
198424New York Mets$93,0001/4/85 TSN
198525New York Mets$200,000Scully, Business of MLB, p. 163
198626New York Mets$325,000G. Scully, Business of MLB, p. 163Arbitration loss; $425,000 request
198727New York Mets$550,0001987 USA Today survey
198828New York Mets$650,000USA Today, 4/1/88
198929Minnesota Twins$750,0001989 USA Today survey
199030Pittsburgh Pirates$400,000*
199131Philadelphia Phillies$650,0001991 USA Today
199232Philadelphia Phillies$650,0004/2/92 USA Today
Career to date (may be incomplete)$4,268,000
Disputed Salaries
*1990 - $600,000 - 11/21/90 NYT -
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

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Viewed 41,247 times through February 12, 2013.
Name and misspellings: Walter Wally walt walter Wayne bachman Backman

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