You Are Here > Baseball-Reference.com > Encyclopedia of Players > K Listing > Jimmy Key Statistics and History

Jimmy Key
James Edward Key
All-Star Player
Bats: Right , Throws: Left
Height: 6' 1" , Weight: 190 lb.

Born: April 22, 1961 in Huntsville, AL
Schools: Clemson University
Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 3rd round of the 1982 amateur draft.
Signed June 12, 1982. (All Transactions)
Debut: April 6, 1984
Final Game: September 20, 1998
    About biographical information

Redesign Note: Due to the increased amount of data available for each player, tables such as postseason stats, all-star stats, neutralized stats, and now much more have been moved to separate pages for batting, pitching and fielding, you can reach these pages by clicking on "Pitching", "Batting" or "Fielding" in the gray navigation bar just above the player's biographical summary at the top of the page or clicking on "More Stats" links just below or beside the table headers below.

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · CSV · PRE · Click rows to sum (Clear)
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
1984 23 TOR AL 4 5 .444 4.65 63 0 24 0 0 10 62.0 70 37 32 8 32 8 44 1 1 3 285 89 1.645 10.2 1.2 4.6 6.4 1.38
1985 24 TOR AL 14 6 .700 3.00 35 32 0 3 0 0 212.2 188 77 71 22 50 1 85 2 1 6 856 142 1.119 8.0 0.9 2.1 3.6 1.70 AS
1986 25 TOR AL 14 11 .560 3.57 36 35 0 4 2 0 232.0 222 98 92 24 74 1 141 3 0 3 959 120 1.276 8.6 0.9 2.9 5.5 1.91
1987 26 TOR AL 17 8 .680 2.76 36 36 0 8 1 0 261.0 210 93 80 24 66 6 161 2 5 8 1033 164 1.057 7.2 0.8 2.3 5.6 2.44 CYA-2
1988 27 TOR AL 12 5 .706 3.29 21 21 0 2 2 0 131.1 127 55 48 13 30 2 65 5 0 1 551 120 1.195 8.7 0.9 2.1 4.5 2.17
1989 28 TOR AL 13 14 .481 3.88 33 33 0 5 1 0 216.0 226 99 93 18 27 2 118 3 1 4 886 94 1.171 9.4 0.8 1.1 4.9 4.37
1990 29 TOR AL 13 7 .650 4.25 27 27 0 0 0 0 154.2 169 79 73 20 22 2 88 1 1 0 636 97 1.235 9.8 1.2 1.3 5.1 4.00
1991 30 TOR AL 16 12 .571 3.05 33 33 0 2 2 0 209.1 207 84 71 12 44 3 125 3 0 1 877 138 1.199 8.9 0.5 1.9 5.4 2.84 AS
1992 31 TOR AL 13 13 .500 3.53 33 33 0 4 2 0 216.2 205 88 85 24 59 0 117 4 0 5 900 116 1.218 8.5 1.0 2.5 4.9 1.98
1993 32 NYY AL 18 6 .750 3.00 34 34 0 4 2 0 236.2 219 84 79 26 43 1 173 1 0 3 948 139 1.107 8.3 1.0 1.6 6.6 4.02 AS,CYA-4,MVP-11
1994 33 NYY AL 17 4 .810 3.27 25 25 0 1 0 0 168.0 177 68 61 10 52 0 97 3 1 8 710 141 1.363 9.5 0.5 2.8 5.2 1.87 AS,CYA-2,MVP-6
1995 34 NYY AL 1 2 .333 5.64 5 5 0 0 0 0 30.1 40 20 19 3 6 1 14 0 0 1 134 82 1.516 11.9 0.9 1.8 4.2 2.33
1996 35 NYY AL 12 11 .522 4.68 30 30 0 0 0 0 169.1 171 93 88 21 58 1 116 2 0 2 715 107 1.352 9.1 1.1 3.1 6.2 2.00
1997 36 BAL AL 16 10 .615 3.43 34 34 0 1 1 0 212.1 210 90 81 24 82 1 141 5 1 4 902 128 1.375 8.9 1.0 3.5 6.0 1.72
1998 37 BAL AL 6 3 .667 4.20 25 11 4 0 0 0 79.1 77 39 37 5 23 0 53 3 1 1 327 108 1.261 8.7 0.6 2.6 6.0 2.30
15 Seasons 186 117 .614 3.51 470 389 28 34 13 10 2591.2 2518 1104 1010 254 668 29 1538 38 12 50 10719 122 1.229 8.7 0.9 2.3 5.3 2.30
162 Game Avg. 15 9 .614 3.51 37 31 2 3 1 1 205 199 87 80 20 53 2 122 3 1 4 849 122 1.229 8.7 0.9 2.3 5.3 2.30
TOR (9 yrs) 116 81 .589 3.42 317 250 24 28 10 10 1695.2 1624 710 645 165 404 25 944 24 9 31 6983 121 1.196 8.6 0.9 2.1 5.0 2.34
NYY (4 yrs) 48 23 .676 3.68 94 94 0 5 2 0 604.1 607 265 247 60 159 3 400 6 1 14 2507 124 1.268 9.0 0.9 2.4 6.0 2.52
BAL (2 yrs) 22 13 .629 3.64 59 45 4 1 1 0 291.2 287 129 118 29 105 1 194 8 2 5 1229 121 1.344 8.9 0.9 3.2 6.0 1.85

Postseason Pitching

Glossary · Click headers to sort · CSV · PRE
Year Age Tm Lg Series Rslt Opp W L W-L% ERA G GS GF CG SHO SV IP H R ER HR BB IBB SO HBP BK WP BF WHIP H/9 HR/9 BB/9 SO/9 SO/BB
1985 24 TOR AL ALCS L KCR 0 1 .000 5.19 2 2 0 0 0 0 8.2 15 5 5 1 2 0 5 0 0 0 41 1.962 15.6 1.0 2.1 5.2 2.50
1989 28 TOR AL ALCS L OAK 1 0 1.000 4.50 1 1 0 0 0 0 6.0 7 3 3 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 26 1.500 10.5 1.5 3.0 3.0 1.00
1991 30 TOR AL ALCS L MIN 0 0 3.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 6.0 5 2 2 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 23 1.000 7.5 0.0 1.5 1.5 1.00
1992 31 TOR AL ALCS W OAK 0 0 0.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.0 2 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 12 1.333 6.0 0.0 6.0 3.0 0.50
1992 31 TOR AL WS W ATL 2 0 1.000 1.00 2 1 0 0 0 0 9.0 6 2 1 0 0 0 6 0 0 0 33 0.667 6.0 0.0 0.0 6.0
1996 35 NYY AL ALDS W TEX 0 0 3.60 1 1 0 0 0 0 5.0 5 2 2 1 1 0 3 0 0 0 21 1.200 9.0 1.8 1.8 5.4 3.00
1996 35 NYY AL ALCS W BAL 1 0 1.000 2.25 1 1 0 0 0 0 8.0 3 2 2 1 1 0 5 0 0 0 27 0.500 3.4 1.1 1.1 5.6 5.00
1996 35 NYY AL WS W ATL 1 1 .500 3.97 2 2 0 0 0 0 11.1 15 5 5 0 5 0 1 1 0 0 51 1.765 11.9 0.0 4.0 0.8 0.20
1997 36 BAL AL ALDS W SEA 0 1 .000 3.86 1 1 0 0 0 0 4.2 8 2 2 0 0 0 4 0 0 1 21 1.714 15.4 0.0 0.0 7.7
1997 36 BAL AL ALCS L CLE 0 0 2.57 2 1 0 0 0 0 7.0 5 2 2 1 3 0 7 3 0 0 31 1.143 6.4 1.3 3.9 9.0 2.33
6 Seasons (10 Series) 5 3 .625 3.15 14 11 0 0 0 0 68.2 71 25 24 5 17 1 35 4 0 1 286 1.282 9.3 0.7 2.2 4.6 2.06
6 ALCS 2 1 .667 3.26 8 6 0 0 0 0 38.2 37 14 14 4 11 1 21 3 0 0 160 1.241 8.6 0.9 2.6 4.9 1.91
2 ALDS 0 1 .000 3.72 2 2 0 0 0 0 9.2 13 4 4 1 1 0 7 0 0 1 42 1.448 12.1 0.9 0.9 6.5 7.00
2 WS 3 1 .750 2.66 4 3 0 0 0 0 20.1 21 7 6 0 5 0 7 1 0 0 84 1.279 9.3 0.0 2.2 3.1 1.40
Redesign Note: Due to the increased amount of data available for each player, tables such as postseason stats, all-star stats, neutralized stats, and now much more have been moved to separate pages. You can reach these pages by clicking on "Pitching", "Batting" or "Fielding" in the gray navigation bar just above the player's biographical summary at the top of the page or clicking on "More Stats" links just below or beside the table headers below.

Standard Batting

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · CSV · PRE · Click rows to sum (Clear)
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
1985 24 TOR AL 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1/D AS
1997 36 BAL AL 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
15 Seasons 2 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 1 0 0
162 Game Avg. 162 243 162 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 162 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 81 0 0
BAL (2 yrs) 1 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .000 .000 .000 .000 -100 0 0 0 1 0 0
TOR (9 yrs) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Postseason Batting

Glossary · Click headers to sort · CSV · PRE
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
1992 31 TOR AL WS ATL W 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Seasons (10 Series) 14 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 ALCS 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 ALDS 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
2 WS 4 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
Redesign Note: Due to the increased amount of data available for each player, tables such as postseason stats, all-star stats, neutralized stats, and now much more have been moved to separate pages. You can reach these pages by clicking on "Pitching", "Batting" or "Fielding" in the gray navigation bar just above the player's biographical summary at the top of the page or clicking on "More Stats" links just below or beside the table headers below.

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · CSV · PRE
Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% Rtot Rtot/yr RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
1984 TOR AL 23 P 63 0 62.0 21 9 11 1 0 .952 0.0 0.0 2.90 0.32 .957 1.79 0.70
1985 TOR AL 24 P 35 32 212.2 70 15 52 3 3 .957 0.0 0.0 2.84 1.91 .953 1.86 0.70 AS
1985 TOR AL 24 DH 1 0.0 AS
1986 TOR AL 25 P 36 35 232.0 60 18 42 0 4 1.000 0.0 0.0 2.33 1.67 .955 1.83 0.68
1987 TOR AL 26 P 36 36 261.0 64 17 44 3 5 .953 0.0 0.0 2.10 1.69 .955 1.84 0.67 CYA-2
1988 TOR AL 27 P 21 21 131.1 24 5 19 0 1 1.000 0.0 0.0 1.64 1.14 .958 1.78 0.67
1989 TOR AL 28 P 33 33 216.0 57 11 44 2 2 .965 0.0 0.0 2.29 1.67 .960 1.87 0.66
1990 TOR AL 29 P 27 27 154.2 31 8 22 1 3 .968 0.0 0.0 1.75 1.11 .952 1.78 0.59
1991 TOR AL 30 P 33 33 209.1 61 22 37 2 3 .967 0.0 0.0 2.54 1.79 .956 1.80 0.58 AS
1992 TOR AL 31 P 33 33 216.2 46 18 27 1 2 .978 0.0 0.0 1.87 1.36 .952 1.72 0.56
1993 NYY AL 32 P 34 34 236.2 51 14 33 4 1 .922 0.0 0.0 1.79 1.38 .955 1.79 0.56 AS,CYA-4,MVP-11
1994 NYY AL 33 P 25 25 168.0 48 6 40 2 3 .958 0.0 0.0 2.46 1.84 .956 1.72 0.52 AS,CYA-2,MVP-6
1995 NYY AL 34 P 5 5 30.1 7 4 3 0 2 1.000 0.0 0.0 2.08 1.40 .957 1.78 0.54
1996 NYY AL 35 P 30 30 169.1 40 9 30 1 1 .975 0.0 0.0 2.07 1.30 .960 1.77 0.52
1997 BAL AL 36 P 34 34 212.1 51 12 37 2 2 .961 0.0 0.0 2.08 1.44 .955 1.71 0.49
1998 BAL AL 37 P 25 11 79.1 15 4 11 0 3 1.000 0.0 0.0 1.70 0.60 .953 1.78 0.50
15 Seasons P 470 389 2591.2 646 172 452 22 35 .966 0.0 0.0 2.17 1.33 .955 1.79 0.61
1 Season DH 1 0.0
15 Seasons TOT 470 389 2591.2 646 172 452 22 35 .966 0.0 0.0 2.17 1.33 .921 1.79 0.61

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank, Glossary

All-Star Games
1985 *
1991 *
1993 *
1994 (P)

Awards (yr-lg-award)
1987-AL-TSN Pitcher of the Year
1994-AL-TSN Pitcher of the Year

MVP (yr-lg-rk-shr)
1993-AL-11-7%
1994-AL-6-26%
0.33 Career Shares (557th)

Cy Young (yr-lg-rk-shr)
1987-AL--2--46%
1993-AL--4--10%
1994-AL--2--69%
1.25 Career Shares (33rd)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1985 AL--3.005--4th
1987 AL--2.759--1st
1991 AL--3.053--9th
1993 AL--3.004--3rd
1994 AL--3.268--6th
1997 AL--3.433--8th

Wins s c a p y
1987 AL--17--8th
1991 AL--16--10th
1993 AL--18--4th
1994 AL--17--1st
1997 AL--16--6th
Career--186--144th

Win-Loss % s c a p y
1985 AL--.700--3rd
1987 AL--.680--4th
1988 AL--.706--4th
1990 AL--.650--9th
1993 AL--.750--3rd
1994 AL--.810--2nd
Career--.614--79th

Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y
1985 AL--1.119--3rd
1987 AL--1.058--1st
1989 AL--1.171--7th
1992 AL--1.219--10th
1993 AL--1.107--3rd
Career--1.229--199th

Hits per 9 IP s c a p y
1985 AL--7.956--6th
1987 AL--7.241--1st

Bases On Balls per 9 IP s c a p y
1985 AL--2.116--4th
1987 AL--2.276--8th
1989 AL--1.125--1st
1991 AL--1.892--6th
1993 AL--1.635--1st
Career--2.320--198th

Games Played s c a p y
1984 AL--63--8th

Innings Pitched s c a p y
1987 AL--261.0--8th
1993 AL--236.7--9th
Career--2591.7--210th

Strikeouts s c a p y
1993 AL--173--8th
Career--1538--153rd

Games Started s c a p y
1986 AL--35--5th
1987 AL--36--5th
1989 AL--33--10th
1993 AL--34--6th
1994 AL--25--1st
1997 AL--34--5th
Career--389--130th

Shutouts s c a p y
1986 AL--2--9th
1988 AL--2--8th
1991 AL--2--6th
1992 AL--2--8th
1993 AL--2--5th
1997 AL--1--9th

Home Runs s c a p y
1992 AL--24--8th
1993 AL--26--8th
Career--254--89th

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1997 AL--82--7th

Hits s c a p y
1989 AL--226--9th
1994 AL--177--6th
Career--2518--216th

Strikeouts / Base On Balls s c a p y
1989 AL--4.370--2nd
1991 AL--2.841--6th
1993 AL--4.023--1st
Career--2.302--132nd

Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y
1987 AL--.828--8th
1991 AL--.516--4th
1994 AL--.536--1st

Losses s c a p y
1989 AL--14--4th

Earned Runs s c a p y
1989 AL--93--10th
Career--1010--215th

Batters Faced s c a p y
Career--10719--189th

Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y
1985 AL--142--4th
1986 AL--120--9th
1987 AL--164--1st
1991 AL--138--7th
1993 AL--139--7th
1994 AL--141--8th
1997 AL--128--8th
Career--122--91st

Salary s c a p y
1993 AL--$4,900,000--9th
1994 AL--$5,350,000--5th

                                         

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black InkPitching - 15 (141), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray InkPitching - 100 (213), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 66 (175), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 33 (115), Average HOFer ≈ 50

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Pitchers 
 View Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Dave McNally (944)
  2. John Candelaria (931)
  3. Mike Cuellar (928)
  4. Art Nehf (928)
  5. Urban Shocker (920)
  6. Lon Warneke (920)
  7. Bret Saberhagen (908)
  8. Dwight Gooden (899)
  9. Ron Guidry (898)
  10. Ed Lopat (897)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Kevin Saucier (977)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Larry Jaster (977)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Frank Sullivan (967)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Matt Morris (971)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Bill Lee (973)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Matt Morris (963)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. John Smiley (960)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. John Smiley (958)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  9. John Candelaria (961)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  10. John Candelaria (979)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  11. Don Newcombe (956)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  12. John Candelaria (968)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  13. John Candelaria (956)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  14. John Candelaria (941)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

June 5, 1979: Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 10th round of the 1979 amateur draft, but did not sign.

June 7, 1982: Drafted by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 3rd round of the 1982 amateur draft. Player signed June 12, 1982.

October 27, 1992: Granted Free Agency.

December 10, 1992: Signed as a Free Agent with the New York Yankees.

December 7, 1996: Granted Free Agency.

December 10, 1996: Signed as a Free Agent with the Baltimore Orioles.

October 27, 1998: Granted Free Agency.

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Last transaction is September 30, 2008.

Salaries

Salaries may not be complete and may not include some earned bonuses
1985Toronto Blue Jays$131,250
1986Toronto Blue Jays$552,500
1987Toronto Blue Jays$554,391
1988Toronto Blue Jays$440,225
1989Toronto Blue Jays$1,766,666
1990Toronto Blue Jays$1,466,667
1992Toronto Blue Jays$2,275,000
1993New York Yankees$4,900,000
1994New York Yankees$5,350,000
1995New York Yankees$4,873,700
1996New York Yankees$1,750,000
1997Baltimore Orioles$2,340,000
1998Baltimore Orioles$5,390,825
Career (may be incomplete)$31,791,224
Salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, member of SABR.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.

Other Resources & Links

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

Viewed 147,009 times through July 5, 2009.
Name and misspellings: jimmie James jim jimmy Jimmy jimmie Edward jim james Key

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 (like '#1972', '#1970-1980-sum', or '#1998,1999,2001,2002,sum') 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.