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Johnny Kucks

John Charles Kucks

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 3", Weight: 170 lb.

Born: July 27, 1933 in Hoboken, NJ
High School: Dickinson (Jersey City, NJ)
Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1952. (All Transactions)
Debut: April 17, 1955
Teams (by GP): Yankees/Athletics 1955-1960

Final Game: September 25, 1960
About biographical information

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All-Star

Fan EloRater

Fine Details · Last Updated Dec 23, 2011, 8:35AM

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	IBB	SO	HBP	BK	WP	BF	ERA+	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB	Awards
1952	18	NYY-min	B	19	6	.760	2.55	29	25					215.0	175	69	61		82								1.195	7.3		3.4			NFK · PIED
1955	21	NYY	AL	8	7	.533	3.41	29	13	5	3	1	0	126.2	122	54	48	8	44	6	49	2	0	3	537	111	1.311	8.7	0.6	3.1	3.5	1.11
1956	22	NYY	AL	18	9	.667	3.85	34	31	1	12	3	0	224.1	223	113	96	19	72	0	67	10	1	3	947	101	1.315	8.9	0.8	2.9	2.7	0.93	AS,MVP-30
1957	23	NYY	AL	8	10	.444	3.56	37	23	10	4	1	2	179.1	169	82	71	13	59	2	78	8	0	2	759	101	1.271	8.5	0.7	3.0	3.9	1.32
1958	24	NYY	AL	8	8	.500	3.93	34	15	8	4	1	4	126.0	132	67	55	14	39	2	46	6	0	1	544	90	1.357	9.4	1.0	2.8	3.3	1.18
1959	25	TOT	AL	8	12	.400	4.34	42	24	10	6	1	1	168.0	184	92	81	15	51	0	60	12	0	1	725	92	1.399	9.9	0.8	2.7	3.2	1.18
1959	25	NYY	AL	0	1	.000	8.64	9	1	4	0	0	0	16.2	21	16	16	5	9	0	9	0	0	1	76	43	1.800	11.3	2.7	4.9	4.9	1.00
1959	25	KCA	AL	8	11	.421	3.87	33	23	6	6	1	1	151.1	163	76	65	10	42	0	51	12	0	0	649	104	1.355	9.7	0.6	2.5	3.0	1.21
1960	26	KCA	AL	4	10	.286	6.00	31	17	5	1	0	0	114.0	140	85	76	22	43	2	38	1	0	2	518	67	1.605	11.1	1.7	3.4	3.0	0.88
1961	27	BAL-min	AAA	10	14	.417	3.72	34	33					201.0	207	103	83	17	47								1.264	9.3	0.8	2.1			ROC · IL
1962	28	STL-min	AAA	14	7	.667	4.34	29	24		6	1		164.0	170	93	79	18	51	3	67	3	0	8			1.348	9.3	1.0	2.8	3.7	1.31	ATA · IL
1963	29	STL-min	AAA	14	9	.609	2.77	30	29					208.0	188	83	64	18	53		114						1.159	8.1	0.8	2.3	4.9	2.15	ATA · IL
6 Seasons				54	56	.491	4.10	207	123	39	30	7	7	938.1	970	493	427	91	308	12	338	39	1	12	4030	93	1.362	9.3	0.9	3.0	3.2	1.10
162 Game Avg.				11	12	.491	4.10	43	25	8	6	1	1	193	200	102	88	19	63	2	70	8	0	2	830	93	1.362	9.3	0.9	3.0	3.2	1.10

NYY (5 yrs)				42	35	.545	3.82	143	83	28	23	6	6	673.0	667	332	286	59	223	10	249	26	1	10	2863	97	1.322	8.9	0.8	3.0	3.3	1.12
KCA (2 yrs)				12	21	.364	4.78	64	40	11	7	1	1	265.1	303	161	141	32	85	2	89	13	0	2	1167	84	1.462	10.3	1.1	2.9	3.0	1.05

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	Awards
1955	21	NYY	AL	126.2	13	54	61	7	1.0	7	0.7	$
1956	22	NYY	AL	224.1	31	113	115	5	.9	2	0.1	$	AS,MVP-30
1957	23	NYY	AL	179.1	23	82	87	6	1.1	5	0.5	$
1958	24	NYY	AL	126.0	15	67	58	6	.9	-9	-1.1	$
1959	25	NYY	AL	16.2	1	16	9	0	.5	-7	-0.6	$
1959	25	KCA	AL	151.1	23	76	93	-3	1.0	17	1.7	$
1960	26	KCA	AL	114.0	17	85	72	-3	1.0	-13	-1.5	$
6 Seasons				938.1	123	493	495	18	1.0	2	-0.2	$

NYY (5 yrs)				673.0	83	332	330	24	1.0	-2	-0.4	$
KCA (2 yrs)				265.1	40	161	165	-6	1.0	4	0.2	$

Postseason Pitching

Postseason Gamelog

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Rslt	Opp	W	W-L%	ERA	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	R	ER	HR	BB	SO	BF	WHIP	H/9	HR/9	BB/9	SO/9	SO/BB
1955	21	NYY	AL	WS	L	BRO	0		6.00	2	0	0	0	3.0	4	2	2	1	1	1	14	1.667	12.0	3.0	3.0	3.0	1.00
1956	22	NYY	AL	WS	W	BRO	1	1.000	0.82	3	1	1	1	11.0	6	2	1	0	3	2	40	0.818	4.9	0.0	2.5	1.6	0.67
1957	23	NYY	AL	WS	L	MLN	0		0.00	1	0	0	0	0.2	1	0	0	0	1	1	4	3.000	13.5	0.0	13.5	13.5	1.00
1958	24	NYY	AL	WS	W	MLN	0		2.08	2	0	0	0	4.1	4	1	1	0	1	0	18	1.154	8.3	0.0	2.1	0.0	0.00
4 Seasons (4 Series)							1	1.000	1.89	8	1	1	1	19.0	15	5	4	1	6	4	76	1.105	7.1	0.5	2.8	1.9	0.67
4 WS							1	1.000	1.89	8	1	1	1	19.0	15	5	4	1	6	4	76	1.105	7.1	0.5	2.8	1.9	0.67

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
1952	18	NYY-min	B	29	77	77		13	2	1	0						.169	.169	.221	.390		17						NFK · PIED
1955	21	NYY	AL	29	42	40	0	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	10	.050	.050	.075	.125	-67	3	0	0	2	0	0	1
1956	22	NYY	AL	34	91	77	7	11	1	0	0	1	0	0	7	25	.143	.224	.156	.379	3	12	0	1	6	0	0	1	AS,MVP-30
1957	23	NYY	AL	37	71	55	4	6	0	0	0	2	0	0	5	18	.109	.183	.109	.292	-18	6	1	0	11	0	0	1
1958	24	NYY	AL	34	49	40	2	5	2	0	0	2	0	0	3	9	.125	.186	.175	.361	2	7	0	0	6	0	0	1
1959	25	TOT	AL	42	55	49	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	24	.082	.135	.102	.237	-34	5	1	0	3	0	0	1
1959	25	NYY	AL	9	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	0	0	0	0	/1
1959	25	KCA	AL	33	53	47	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	3	22	.085	.140	.106	.246	-32	5	1	0	3	0	0	1
1960	26	KCA	AL	31	34	30	4	4	0	0	0	1	0	0	1	9	.133	.161	.133	.295	-19	4	0	0	3	0	0	1
1961	27	BAL-min	AAA	37	65	62	2	8	2	0	0	4	0		3	13	.129	.169	.161	.331		10						ROC · IL
1962	28	STL-min	AAA	30	66	57	3	5	2	0	0	1	0	0	2	14	.088	.119	.123	.241		7		0	7	0		ATA · IL
1963	29	STL-min	AAA	30	61	56	7	6	0	0	0	7	0	0	5	13	.107	.180	.107	.287		6						ATA · IL
6 Seasons				207	342	291	21	32	5	0	0	6	0	0	19	95	.110	.167	.127	.294	-19	37	2	1	31	0	0
162 Game Avg.				162	268	228	16	25	4	0	0	5	0	0	15	74	.110	.167	.127	.294	-19	29	2	1	24	0	0

NYY (5 yrs)				143	255	214	13	24	4	0	0	5	0	0	15	64	.112	.174	.131	.305	-16	28	1	1	25	0	0
KCA (2 yrs)				64	87	77	8	8	1	0	0	1	0	0	4	31	.104	.148	.117	.265	-27	9	1	0	6	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	Awards
1955	21	NYY	AL	42	-10	-1	0	0	0	3	1	-7	-0.7	-7	-0.7	0.0	$	1
1956	22	NYY	AL	91	-11	0	-1	0	0	7	2	-3	-0.3	-3	-0.3	0.0	$	1	AS,MVP-30
1957	23	NYY	AL	71	-9	0	0	0	0	5	2	-2	-0.3	-2	-0.2	-0.1	$	1
1958	24	NYY	AL	49	-6	0	-1	0	0	4	1	-2	-0.2	-2	-0.2	0.0	$	1
1959	25	NYY	AL	2	-1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-1	-0.1	-1	-0.1	0.0	$	/1
1959	25	KCA	AL	53	-9	0	0	0	0	5	1	-3	-0.3	-3	-0.3	0.0	$	1
1960	26	KCA	AL	34	-5	0	1	0	0	3	1	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$	1
6 Seasons				342	-51	-1	-1	0	0	27	8	-18	-1.9	-18	-1.8	-0.1	$

NYY (5 yrs)				255	-37	-1	-2	0	0	19	6	-15	-1.6	-15	-1.5	-0.1	$
KCA (2 yrs)				87	-14	0	1	0	0	8	2	-3	-0.3	-3	-0.3	0.0	$

Postseason Batting

Postseason Gamelog

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Opp	Rslt	G	PA	AB	H	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	SH	IBB
1955	21	NYY	AL	WS	BRO	L	2	0	0	0	0					0	0
1956	22	NYY	AL	WS	BRO	W	3	4	3	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	1	0
1957	23	NYY	AL	WS	MLN	L	1	0	0	0	0					0	0
1958	24	NYY	AL	WS	MLN	W	2	1	1	1	0	1.000	1.000	1.000	2.000	1	0	0
4 Seasons (4 Series)							8	5	4	1	1	.250	.250	.250	.500	1	1	0
4 WS							8	5	4	1	1	.250	.250	.250	.500	1	1	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	SB	CS	CS%	PO	Awards
1955	NYY	AL	21	P	29	13	3	126.2	30	3	24	3	0	.900	1.92	0.93	.956	1.99	1.97	3	1	25%	2
1956	NYY	AL	22	P	34	31	12	224.1	58	13	40	5	5	.914	2.13	1.56	.950	1.92	1.91	5	1	17%	1	AS,MVP-30
1957	NYY	AL	23	P	37	23	4	179.1	57	9	47	1	5	.982	2.81	1.51	.963	1.99	2.00	6	3	33%	2
1958	NYY	AL	24	P	34	15	4	126.0	32	6	25	1	2	.969	2.21	0.91	.963	1.95	1.93	6	2	25%	1
1959	TOT	AL	25	P	42	24	6	168.0	48	11	36	1	4	.979	2.52	1.12	.955	2.05	2.03	9	5	36%	1
1959	NYY	AL	25	P	9	1	0	16.2	6	1	5	0	0	1.000	3.24	0.67	.955	2.05	2.03	1	0	0%	1
1959	KCA	AL	25	P	33	23	6	151.1	42	10	31	1	4	.976	2.44	1.24	.955	2.05	2.03	8	5	38%	0
1960	KCA	AL	26	P	31	17	1	114.0	28	3	22	3	1	.893	1.97	0.81	.967	1.96	1.95	9	2	18%	1
	6 Seasons			P	207	123	30	938.1	253	45	194	14	17	.945	2.29	1.15	.958	1.97	1.97	38	14	27%	8
	6 Seasons			TOT	207	123	30	938.1	253	45	194	14	17	.945	2.29	1.15	.958	1.97	1.97	38	14	27%	8

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

All-Star Games 1956	MVP (yr lg (rk, shr)) 1956 AL (30, 1%) 0.01 Career Shares (1498th)	Wins s c a p y 1956 AL 18 (9th)	Win-Loss % s c a p y 1956 AL .667 (7th)
Bases On Balls per 9 IP s c a p y 1956 AL 2.889 (3rd)	Games Played s c a p y 1959 AL 42 (10th)	Shutouts s c a p y 1956 AL 3 (7th)	Home Runs s c a p y 1960 AL 22 (9th)
Hits s c a p y 1956 AL 223 (9th)	Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y 1956 AL 0.762 (10th)	Losses s c a p y 1959 AL 12 (8th)	Earned Runs s c a p y 1956 AL 96 (8th)
Hit By Pitch s c a p y 1956 AL 10 (2nd) 1957 AL 8 (5th) 1958 AL 6 (9th) 1959 AL 12 (1st)	Sacrifice Hits s c a p y 1957 AL 11 (5th)	Assists as P s c a p y 1957 AL 47 (4th)	Errors Committed as P s c a p y 1955 AL 3 (4th) 1956 AL 5 (2nd) 1960 AL 3 (5th)

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Gray Ink	Pitching - 11 (1407), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame Monitor	Pitching - 18 (658), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Pitching - 5 (1383), 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

Pete Redfern (989) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Don Robinson (980) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Bill Stafford (983) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Dennis Martinez (974) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Scott Erickson (975) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Joe Niekro (970) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

Before 1952 Season: Signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent.
May 26, 1959: Traded by the New York Yankees with Jerry Lumpe and Tom Sturdivant to the Kansas City Athletics for Hector Lopez and Ralph Terry.
October 11, 1961: Purchased by the Baltimore Orioles from the Kansas City Athletics.
December 1, 1961: Traded by the Baltimore Orioles to the St. Louis Cardinals for Ron Kabbes (minors).

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: Johnny Kucks

Viewed 13,098 times through February 10, 2012.
Name and misspellings: John jonny jonnie johny Johnny johnnie johney john johhny Charles Kucks

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