Rick Ferrell

Richard Benjamin Ferrell

Position: Catcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 5' 10", Weight: 160 lb.

Born: October 12, 1905 in Durham, NC
High School: Guilford HS (Guilford, NC)
School: Guilford College (Greensboro, NC)
Signed as a Free Agent with the Detroit Tigers in 1926. (All Transactions)
Debut: April 19, 1929
Teams (by GP): Browns/Senators/RedSox 1929-1947

Final Game: September 14, 1947
Inducted into the Hall of Fame by Veteran's Committee as Player in 1984.
View Rick Ferrell Page at the Baseball Hall of Fame (plaque, photos, videos).
Died: July 27, 1995 in Bloomfield Hills, MI
Buried: New Garden Cemetery, Greensboro, NC
Relatives: Brother of Wes Ferrell
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
About biographical information

View team uniforms at Dressed to the Nines a Baseball Hall of Fame on-line exhibit / Report an error

Sponsor this page for $40 and help Baseball-Reference.com provide this service. Your message will replace this ad.

Hall of Fame

Standard Fielding

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	PB	WP	SB	CS	CS%	lgCS%	PO	Awards
1929	SLB	AL	23	C	45	39	37		182	140	35	7	3	.962		3.89	.976		4.69	2		10	18	64%	44%
1930	SLB	AL	24	C	101	91	85		409	336	66	7	5	.983		3.98	.984		4.88	2		36	39	52%	41%
1931	SLB	AL	25	C	108	105	98		512	412	86	14	11	.973		4.61	.981		4.92	6		42	31	42%	42%
1932	SLB	AL	26	C	120	119	103		572	486	78	8	9	.986		4.70	.982		4.90	3		41	45	52%	43%		MVP-13
1933	TOT	AL	27	C	137	136	129		690	591	92	7	10	.990		4.99	.988		4.88	1		68	55	45%	45%		AS,MVP-12
1933	SLB	AL	27	C	21	21	21		108	91	16	1	1	.991		5.10	.988		4.88	0		5	8	62%	45%
1933	BOS	AL	27	C	116	115	108		582	500	76	6	9	.990		4.97	.988		4.88	1		63	47	43%	45%
1934	BOS	AL	28	C	128	124	115		609	531	72	6	7	.990		4.71	.981		4.99	6		50	26	34%	37%		AS
1935	BOS	AL	29	C	131	126	114		612	520	79	13	12	.979		4.57	.984		4.75	8		35	50	59%	41%		AS
1936	BOS	AL	30	C	121	118	108		619	556	55	8	5	.987		5.05	.979		4.78	1		47	30	39%	36%		AS
1937	TOT	AL	31	C	102	101	94		492	434	52	6	6	.988		4.76	.980		5.04	6		49	23	32%	37%		AS
1937	BOS	AL	31	C	18	18	17		104	93	10	1	1	.990		5.72	.980		5.04	0		6	2	25%	38%
1937	WSH	AL	31	C	84	83	77		388	341	42	5	5	.987		4.56	.980		5.04	6		43	21	33%	37%
1938	WSH	AL	32	C	131	123	106		592	512	69	11	15	.981		4.44	.983		4.88	8		50	35	41%	37%		AS
1939	WSH	AL	33	C	83	81	74		382	327	46	9	9	.976		4.49	.981		4.92	19		17	24	59%	37%
1940	WSH	AL	34	C	99	97	91		504	427	67	10	5	.980		4.99	.982		5.27	17		30	30	50%	41%
1941	TOT	AL	35	C	119	113	102		493	425	64	4	12	.992		4.11	.983		5.00	9		43	29	40%	41%
1941	WSH	AL	35	C	21	21	17		100	85	13	2	1	.980		4.67	.983		5.00	3		8	6	43%	41%
1941	SLB	AL	35	C	98	92	85		393	340	51	2	11	.995		3.99	.983		5.00	6		35	23	40%	41%
1942	SLB	AL	36	C	95	75	67		419	356	57	6	7	.986		4.35	.979		4.93	10		48	28	37%	42%		MVP-21
1943	SLB	AL	37	C	70	67	53		384	327	52	5	7	.987		5.41	.981		5.23	2		47	25	35%	42%
1944	WSH	AL	38	C	96	95	88		483	403	71	9	8	.981		4.94	.976		4.91	20		37	19	34%	39%		AS
1945	WSH	AL	39	C	83	82	77		399	331	64	4	3	.990		4.76	.986		4.92	21		20	21	51%	45%		MVP-23
1947	WSH	AL	41	C	37	29	27		157	134	22	1	5	.994		4.22	.985		5.02	1		6	12	67%	46%
	18 Seasons			C	1806	1721	1568		8510	7248	1127	135	139	.984		4.64	.982		4.93	142		676	540	44%	41%
	18 Seasons			TOT	1806	1721	1568		8510	7248	1127	135	139	.984		4.64	.982		4.93	142		676	540	44%	41%
Lg				Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	PB	WP	SB	CS	CS%	lgCS%	PO	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-1948 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
From 1948 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 1948 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 1918 on.
Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1948 to 1973 and complete from then on.
Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1918) 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 1948 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

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	G	GS	Batting	Defense	P	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	OF	DH	PH	PR
1929	SLB	AL	23	64	39	64	45	0	45	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	19	0
1930	SLB	AL	24	101	91	101	101	0	101	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1931	SLB	AL	25	117	105	117	108	0	108	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
1932	SLB	AL	26	126	119	126	120	0	120	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6	0
1933	BOS	AL	27	118	115	118	116	0	116	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
1933	SLB	AL	27	22	21	22	21	0	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
1934	BOS	AL	28	132	124	132	128	0	128	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
1935	BOS	AL	29	133	126	133	131	0	131	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	1
1936	BOS	AL	30	121	118	121	121	0	121	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
1937	WSH	AL	31	86	83	86	84	0	84	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
1937	BOS	AL	31	18	18	18	18	0	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1938	WSH	AL	32	135	123	135	131	0	131	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
1939	WSH	AL	33	87	81	87	83	0	83	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
1940	WSH	AL	34	103	97	103	99	0	99	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
1941	SLB	AL	35	100	92	100	98	0	98	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
1941	WSH	AL	35	21	21	21	21	0	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1942	SLB	AL	36	99	75	99	96	0	96	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
1943	SLB	AL	37	74	67	74	70	0	70	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
1944	WSH	AL	38	99	95	99	96	0	96	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
1945	WSH	AL	39	91	82	91	83	0	83	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	8	0
1947	WSH	AL	41	37	29	37	37	0	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	18 Seasons			1884	1721	1884	1807	0	1807	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	82	1
Lg				G	GS	Batting	Defense	P	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	OF	DH	PH	PR

Appearances table is calculated solely from full RetroSheet play-by-play data available from 1973 on. A combination of RetroSheet (starting with the 1918 season) and non-RetroSheet data is used for other seasons.

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

Hall of Fame 1956 BBWAA ( 0.5%) 1958 BBWAA ( 0.4%) 1960 BBWAA ( 0.4%) 1984 Veterans (inducted) Selected to HOF in 1984 by Veteran's Committee	All-Star Games 1933 (C) 1934 1935 1936 (C) 1937 1938 1944 1945--not played	MVP (yr lg (rk, shr)) 1932 AL (13, 11%) 1933 AL (12, 11%) 1942 AL (21, 2%) 1945 AL (23, 2%) 0.26 Career Shares (652nd)	Def. Games as C s c a p y 1930 AL 101 (2nd) 1931 AL 108 (4th) 1932 AL 120 (2nd) 1933 AL 137 (2nd) 1934 AL 128 (1st) 1935 AL 131 (2nd) 1936 AL 121 (3rd) 1937 AL 102 (4th) 1938 AL 131 (1st) 1941 AL 119 (2nd) 1942 AL 95 (3rd) 1944 AL 96 (3rd) Career 1,806 (12th)
Putouts as C s c a p y 1930 AL 336 (4th) 1931 AL 412 (4th) 1932 AL 486 (3rd) 1933 AL 591 (2nd) 1934 AL 531 (1st) 1935 AL 520 (2nd) 1936 AL 556 (1st) 1937 AL 434 (5th) 1938 AL 512 (2nd) 1940 AL 427 (5th) 1941 AL 425 (3rd) 1942 AL 356 (4th) 1944 AL 403 (4th) Career 7,248 (37th)	Assists as C s c a p y 1930 AL 66 (2nd) 1931 AL 86 (1st) 1932 AL 78 (2nd) 1933 AL 92 (1st) 1934 AL 72 (2nd) 1935 AL 79 (3rd) 1936 AL 55 (5th) 1937 AL 52 (5th) 1938 AL 69 (3rd) 1940 AL 67 (3rd) 1941 AL 64 (4th) 1942 AL 57 (3rd) 1944 AL 71 (2nd) 1945 AL 64 (3rd) Career 1,127 (28th)	Errors Committed as C s c a p y 1930 AL 7 (3rd) 1931 AL 14 (1st) 1932 AL 8 (5th) 1933 AL 7 (1st) 1935 AL 13 (1st) 1938 AL 11 (1st) 1939 AL 9 (5th) 1940 AL 10 (4th) Career 135 (94th)	Passed Balls s c a p y 1931 AL 6 (1st) 1935 AL 8 (3rd) 1937 AL 6 (4th) 1938 AL 8 (3rd) 1939 AL 19 (1st) 1940 AL 17 (1st) 1941 AL 9 (4th) 1942 AL 10 (3rd) 1944 AL 20 (1st) 1945 AL 21 (1st) Career 142 (73rd)
Stolen Bases Allowed as C s c a p y 1932 AL 41 (5th) 1933 AL 68 (1st) 1934 AL 50 (3rd) 1935 AL 35 (5th) 1936 AL 47 (2nd) 1937 AL 49 (2nd) 1938 AL 50 (1st) 1940 AL 30 (5th) 1941 AL 43 (2nd) 1942 AL 48 (2nd) 1943 AL 47 (4th) 1944 AL 37 (3rd) Career 676 (89th)	Caught Stealing as C s c a p y 1930 AL 39 (1st) 1932 AL 45 (2nd) 1933 AL 55 (1st) 1934 AL 26 (4th) 1935 AL 50 (1st) 1936 AL 30 (4th) 1938 AL 35 (1st) 1940 AL 30 (2nd) 1941 AL 29 (4th) 1942 AL 28 (4th) Career 540 (56th)	Caught Stealing %† s c a p y 1930 AL 52.0 (5th) 1932 AL 52.3 (3rd) 1934 AL 34.2 (4th) 1935 AL 58.8 (1st) 1939 AL 58.5 (1st) 1940 AL 50.0 (4th) 1945 AL 51.2 (3rd)	Range Factor/Game as C s c a p y 1930 AL 3.98 (4th) 1931 AL 4.61 (4th) 1932 AL 4.70 (3rd) 1933 AL 4.99 (2nd) 1934 AL 4.71 (5th) 1935 AL 4.57 (3rd) 1936 AL 5.05 (2nd) 1937 AL 4.76 (5th) 1938 AL 4.44 (4th) 1939 AL 4.49 (5th) 1940 AL 4.99 (4th) 1944 AL 4.94 (2nd) 1945 AL 4.76 (3rd)
Fielding % as C s c a p y 1930 AL .983 (4th) 1932 AL .986 (4th) 1933 AL .990 (4th) 1934 AL .990 (1st) 1935 AL .979 (5th) 1936 AL .987 (2nd) 1937 AL .988 (3rd) 1939 AL .976 (5th) 1940 AL .980 (4th) 1941 AL .992 (2nd) 1942 AL .986 (4th) 1944 AL .981 (5th) 1945 AL .990 (2nd)	Oldest s c a p y 1943 AL born 1905-10-12 (8th) 1947 AL born 1905-10-12 (4th)

Other Resources & Links

Error? Compare Search SABR's Baseball Index Other Links@google.com Baseball Library Baseball-Almanac.com DeadBallEra Obituary Hall of Fame Retrosheet The Baseball Cube The Baseball Page WhatIfSports: Rick Ferrell

Viewed 31,121 times through May 30, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Richard Benjamin Rick rickey ricky farrell ferrall Ferrell

Player Page Tricks and Tips

Sum any set of rows by clicking anywhere (not red or blue) on the first and last rows of your selection. We will then compute the totals for the player between and including those two seasons.
Default Setting for this feature: Turn On / Turn Off
Summation of season totals only works for the initial case when the table is in year order. On a sorted table the results may get a bit goofy.

HIGHLIGHTING: Adding a range or series of player's career seasons or career game numbers (like '#1972:batting_standard', '#1970-1980-sum:batting_standard', or '#1998,1999,2001,2002,sum:pitching_standard') onto the end of a player page url causes the seasons to the highlighted and summed. After changing address bar, reload the page to see highlighting. This will work even in links e-mailed to others. Note that for tables with multiple pages the first table is the default. If you want to create a sum for a table other than the first one, select the rows and after the summation window appears click on "permanent link" link.

The play-by-play information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet.

Automatic Player Linking / Statistical Sharing Tool / Basic Player Linking / Data Coverage

See Front Page for time of last update

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.

A Sports Reference Site: About Baseball Reference | Found a bug or have a suggestion?
Privacy Statement | Conditions & Terms of Service | Use of Data

Part of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group.