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Ralph Birkofer

Ralph Joseph Birkofer (Lefty)

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Left, Throws: Left
Height: 5' 11", Weight: 213 lb.

Born: November 5, 1908 in Cincinnati, OH (All Transactions)
Debut: April 25, 1933
Teams (by GP): Pirates/Dodgers 1933-1937

Final Game: July 11, 1937
Died: March 16, 1971 in Cincinnati, OH
Buried: St. Mary Cemetery, Cincinnati, OH
About biographical information

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Fan EloRater

Fine Details · Last Updated Dec 23, 2011, 6:27AM

All-Time Rank (among Pitchers): #1. Walter Johnson… #2. Cy Young… #3. Greg Maddux… #4. Christy Mathewson… #5. Pete Alexander… #6. Tom Seaver… #7. Randy Johnson…

All-Time Rank (among Pitchers): #1. Walter Johnson… #2. Cy Young… #3. Greg Maddux… #4. Christy Mathewson… #5. Pete Alexander… #6. Tom Seaver… #7. Randy Johnson…

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	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB	Awards
1929	20	-min	D	8	13	.381		30						212.0	221	123			89							1.462	9.4		3.8			CDR,BUR · MSVL
1930	21	-min	A	13	12	.520	4.83	37						177.0	172	117	95		124							1.672	8.7		6.3			DMO · WL
1931	22	-min	A,B	4	7	.364	3.90	19						83.0	54	43	36		28							0.988	5.9		3.0			DMO,QUI · WL,IIIL
1932	23	PIT-min	A,AA	17	11	.607		33						230.0	184	122			128							1.357	7.2		5.0			TUL,KCY · WL,AA
1933	24	DET-min	AA	16	8	.667	3.81	30						196.0	170	99	83		86							1.306	7.8		3.9			TTO · IL
1933	24	PIT	NL	4	2	.667	2.31	9	8	1	3	1	0	50.2	43	22	13	1	17	20	1	0	2	207	144	1.184	7.6	0.2	3.0	3.6	1.18
1934	25	PIT	NL	11	12	.478	4.10	41	23	13	11	0	1	204.0	227	106	93	11	66	71	5	0	2	898	101	1.436	10.0	0.5	2.9	3.1	1.08
1935	26	PIT	NL	9	7	.563	4.07	37	18	12	8	1	1	150.1	173	87	68	5	42	80	6	0	3	675	101	1.430	10.4	0.3	2.5	4.8	1.90
1936	27	PIT	NL	7	5	.583	4.69	34	13	14	2	0	0	109.1	130	73	57	4	41	44	5	0	1	495	87	1.564	10.7	0.3	3.4	3.6	1.07
1937	28	DET-min	AA	4	4	.500	7.50	12	6					42.0	55	42	35		20							1.786	11.8		4.3			TOL · AA
1937	28	BRO	NL	0	2	.000	6.67	11	1	5	0	0	0	29.2	45	28	22	3	9	9	0	0	0	145	62	1.820	13.7	0.9	2.7	2.7	1.00
1938	29	LAD-DET-min	A1,AA	13	10	.565	4.42	37						175.0	201	106	86		68							1.537	10.3		3.5			NVL,TOL · SOUA,AA
1939	30	-min	AA	2	8	.200	6.29	38	8					103.0	151	94	72		24							1.699	13.2		2.1			POR · PCL
1940	31	-min	AA	0	2	.000		3	2					14.0	19				0							1.357	12.2		0.0			POR · PCL
5 Seasons				31	28	.525	4.19	132	63	45	24	2	2	544.0	618	316	253	24	175	224	17	0	8	2420	97	1.458	10.2	0.4	2.9	3.7	1.28
162 Game Avg.				11	10	.525	4.19	46	22	16	8	1	1	190	216	110	88	8	61	78	6	0	3	844	97	1.458	10.2	0.4	2.9	3.7	1.28

PIT (4 yrs)				31	26	.544	4.04	121	62	40	24	2	2	514.1	573	288	231	21	166	215	17	0	8	2275	100	1.437	10.0	0.4	2.9	3.8	1.30
BRO (1 yr)				0	2	.000	6.67	11	1	5	0	0	0	29.2	45	28	22	3	9	9	0	0	0	145	62	1.820	13.7	0.9	2.7	2.7	1.00

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR: 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Strtr, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	IP	GS	R	Rrep	Rdef	aLI	RAR	WAR	Salary
1933	24	PIT	NL	50.2	8	22	26	0	1.0	4	0.4	$
1934	25	PIT	NL	204.0	24	106	123	-3	1.0	17	2.1	$
1935	26	PIT	NL	150.1	18	87	91	-1	1.0	4	0.7	$
1936	27	PIT	NL	109.1	13	73	66	0	1.0	-7	-0.6	$
1937	28	BRO	NL	29.2	1	28	17	-1	1.0	-11	-0.9	$
5 Seasons				544.0	64	316	323	-5	1.0	7	1.7	$

PIT (4 yrs)				514.1	63	288	306	-4	1.0	18	2.6	$
BRO (1 yr)				29.2	1	28	17	-1	1.0	-11	-0.9	$

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	OPS+	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	Pos
1929	20	-min	D	43	94	94		23	3	0	0					.245	.245	.277	.521		26				CDR,BUR · MSVL
1930	21	-min	A	45	79	79		20	8	1	0					.253	.253	.380	.633		30				DMO · WL
1931	22	-min	A,B	19	20	20		6	2	1	0					.300	.300	.500	.800		10				DMO,QUI · WL,IIIL
1932	23	PIT-min	A,AA	43	106	106		35	9	0	0					.330	.330	.415	.745		44				TUL,KCY · WL,AA
1933	24	DET-min	AA	30	71	71		20	3	0	0					.282	.282	.324	.606		23				TTO · IL
1933	24	PIT	NL	9	22	22	1	7	0	0	0	4	0	0	4	.318	.318	.318	.636	82	7	0	0	0	/1
1934	25	PIT	NL	41	78	75	6	17	3	0	0	11	0	1	14	.227	.237	.267	.504	33	20	0	0	2	1
1935	26	PIT	NL	38	59	58	5	14	3	1	0	4	0	0	8	.241	.254	.328	.582	53	19	1	1	0	1
1936	27	PIT	NL	34	42	41	5	9	1	0	0	3	0	1	9	.220	.238	.244	.482	29	10	1	0	0	1
1937	28	DET-min	AA	12	13	13		2	0	0	0					.154	.154	.154	.308		2				TOL · AA
1937	28	BRO	NL	12	12	11	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	.273	.333	.273	.606	65	3	0	0	0	1
1938	29	LAD-DET-min	A1,AA	56	88	88		25	5	0	1					.284	.284	.375	.659		33				NVL,TOL · SOUA,AA
1939	30	-min	AA	38	29	29		6	0	0	0					.207	.207	.207	.414		6				POR · PCL
1940	31	-min	AA	3	6	6		3	0	0	0					.500	.500	.500	1.000		3				POR · PCL
5 Seasons				134	213	207	18	50	7	1	0	22	0	3	39	.242	.256	.285	.541	45	59	2	1	2
162 Game Avg.				162	258	250	22	60	8	1	0	27	0	4	47	.242	.256	.285	.541	45	71	2	1	2

PIT (4 yrs)				122	201	196	17	47	7	1	0	22	0	2	35	.240	.251	.286	.537	43	56	2	1	2
BRO (1 yr)				12	12	11	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	1	4	.273	.333	.273	.606	65	3	0	0	0

Player Value--Batters

WAR: 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Strtr, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	PA	Rbat	Rbaser	Rroe	Rdp	Rfield	Rpos	Rrep	RAR	WAR	oRAR	oWAR	dWAR	Salary	Pos
1933	24	PIT	NL	22	-1	0	0	0	0	1	1	1	0.1	1	0.1	0.0	$	/1
1934	25	PIT	NL	78	-7	0	0	0	0	6	2	1	0.1	1	0.1	0.0	$	1
1935	26	PIT	NL	59	-4	0	0	0	0	4	2	2	0.2	2	0.2	0.0	$	1
1936	27	PIT	NL	42	-4	0	0	0	0	4	1	1	0.1	1	0.1	0.0	$	1
1937	28	BRO	NL	12	-1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$	1
5 Seasons				213	-17	0	0	0	0	16	6	5	0.5	5	0.5	0.0	$

PIT (4 yrs)				201	-16	0	0	0	0	15	6	5	0.5	5	0.5	0.0	$
BRO (1 yr)				12	-1	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG
1933	PIT	NL	24	P	9	8	3	50.2	11	1	10	0	0	1.000	1.95	1.22	.964	2.36	2.33
1934	PIT	NL	25	P	41	23	11	204.0	44	2	39	3	1	.932	1.81	1.00	.960	2.27	2.24
1935	PIT	NL	26	P	37	18	8	150.1	25	3	18	4	1	.840	1.26	0.57	.959	2.31	2.28
1936	PIT	NL	27	P	34	13	2	109.1	22	1	14	7	0	.682	1.23	0.44	.950	2.32	2.31
1937	BRO	NL	28	P	11	1	0	29.2	5	0	5	0	0	1.000	1.52	0.45	.958	2.40	2.36
	5 Seasons			P	132	63	24	544.0	107	7	86	14	2	.869	1.54	0.70	.958	2.31	2.29
	5 Seasons			TOT	132	63	24	544.0	107	7	86	14	2	.869	1.54	0.70	.958	2.31	2.29

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-1950 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
From 1950 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 1950 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 1919 on.
Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1950 to 1973 and complete from then on.
Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1919) 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 1950 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

Bases on Balls s c a p y 1934 NL 66 (9th)	Hit By Pitch s c a p y 1934 NL 5 (8th) 1935 NL 6 (9th) 1936 NL 5 (9th)	Errors Committed as P s c a p y 1935 NL 4 (3rd) 1936 NL 7 (2nd)

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1934 NL 66 (9th)

Hit By Pitch s c a p y
1934 NL  5 (8th)
1935 NL  6 (9th)
1936 NL  5 (9th)

Errors Committed as P s c a p y
1935 NL 4 (3rd)
1936 NL 7 (2nd)

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Hall of Fame Standards

Pitching - 4 (1535), Average HOFer ≈ 50

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores

Similar Pitchers

Compare Stats to Similars

Most Similar by Ages

Hold mouse over #'s to see names

Bill Walker (987) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Donovan Osborne (984) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Vito Tamulis (983) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Larry McWilliams (986) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

December 4, 1936: Traded by the Pittsburgh Pirates with Cookie Lavagetto to the Brooklyn Dodgers for Ed Brandt.
July 11, 1937: Traded by the Brooklyn Dodgers to the Detroit Tigers for Lindsay Brown and cash.

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

Other Resources & Links

Error? Compare Search SABR's Baseball Index Other Links@google.com Baseball Library Baseball-Almanac.com Retrosheet The Baseball Cube The Baseball Page WhatIfSports: Ralph Birkofer

Viewed 3,390 times through February 12, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Ralph Joseph Lefty ralf Ralph Birkofer

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