News: Features: Yearly League Leaders »post

 

Photo of Thornton Lee


Thornton Lee

Thornton Starr Lee (Lefty)

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Left, Throws: Left
Height: 6' 3", Weight: 205 lb.

Born: September 13, 1906 in Sonoma, CA
School: California State Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo (All Transactions)
Debut: September 19, 1933
Teams (by GP): WhiteSox/Indians/Giants 1933-1948

Final Game: June 18, 1948
Died: June 9, 1997 in Tucson, AZ
Relatives: Father of Don Lee
    About biographical information


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


All-Star

Standard Batting

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
1933 26 CLE AL 3 8 8 2 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 2 .375 .375 .625 1.000 155 5 0 0 /1
1934 27 CLE AL 24 22 21 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 11 .095 .136 .143 .279 -28 3 0 0 1
1935 28 CLE AL 32 68 61 6 12 2 0 0 7 0 0 3 17 .197 .246 .230 .476 23 14 1 3 1
1936 29 CLE AL 43 44 41 3 5 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 12 .122 .182 .122 .304 -25 5 0 0 1
1937 30 CHW AL 30 77 71 5 15 3 2 0 4 0 0 1 16 .211 .222 .310 .532 33 22 0 5 1
1938 31 CHW AL 34 101 97 14 25 3 1 4 16 0 0 0 23 .258 .258 .433 .691 68 42 0 4 1
1939 32 CHW AL 33 95 91 8 15 3 0 0 4 0 0 4 18 .165 .200 .198 .398 1 18 2 0 0 1
1940 33 CHW AL 28 93 84 7 23 4 0 0 5 0 0 4 30 .274 .307 .321 .628 62 27 2 0 5 1
1941 34 CHW AL 35 119 114 7 29 5 0 0 8 0 0 4 20 .254 .280 .298 .578 53 34 4 0 1 1 AS,MVP-4
1942 35 CHW AL 11 30 30 0 6 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 10 .200 .200 .267 .467 32 8 2 0 0 1
1943 36 CHW AL 19 43 42 1 3 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 8 .071 .071 .071 .143 -58 3 0 0 1 1
1944 37 CHW AL 15 43 42 2 4 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 8 .095 .095 .095 .190 -45 4 3 0 1 1
1945 38 CHW AL 29 85 78 6 14 1 0 0 6 0 0 5 15 .179 .229 .192 .421 24 15 7 0 2 1
1946 39 CHW AL 7 15 15 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 .267 .267 .267 .533 52 4 1 0 0 /1
1947 40 CHW AL 21 31 29 0 6 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 11 .207 .258 .207 .465 32 6 0 0 0 1
1948 41 NYG NL 11 11 11 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .091 .091 .091 .182 -51 1 2 0 0 1
16 Seasons 375 885 835 63 167 24 4 4 66 0 0 27 208 .200 .226 .253 .479 26 211 23 1 22
162 Game Avg. 162 382 361 27 72 10 2 2 29 0 12 90 .200 .226 .253 .479 26 91 0 10
CHW (11 yrs) 262 732 693 50 144 21 3 4 54 0 0 20 163 .208 .230 .264 .494 31 183 21 0 19
CLE (4 yrs) 102 142 131 12 22 3 1 0 12 0 0 7 42 .168 .216 .206 .422 7 27 1 3
NYG (1 yr) 11 11 11 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .091 .091 .091 .182 -51 1 2 0 0
AL (15 yrs) 364 874 824 62 166 24 4 4 66 0 0 27 205 .201 .228 .255 .483 27 210 21 1 22
NL (1 yr) 11 11 11 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .091 .091 .091 .182 -51 1 2 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
1933 26 CLE AL 8 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 0.2 2 0.2 0.0 $ /1
1934 27 CLE AL 22 -5 0 0 0 0 2 1 -2 -0.2 -2 -0.2 0.0 $ 1
1935 28 CLE AL 68 -7 0 0 0 0 5 2 0 0.1 0 0.0 0.1 $ 1
1936 29 CLE AL 44 -9 0 0 0 0 4 1 -4 -0.3 -4 -0.4 0.1 $ 1
1937 30 CHW AL 77 -8 0 0 0 0 6 2 0 0.1 0 0.0 0.1 $ 1
1938 31 CHW AL 101 -6 0 0 0 0 8 3 5 0.6 5 0.5 0.1 $ 1
1939 32 CHW AL 95 -14 0 0 0 0 8 3 -3 -0.2 -3 -0.3 0.1 $ 1
1940 33 CHW AL 93 -5 0 0 0 0 7 2 4 0.5 4 0.4 0.1 $ 1
1941 34 CHW AL 119 -7 -1 0 0 0 10 3 5 0.5 5 0.5 0.0 $ 1 AS,MVP-4
1942 35 CHW AL 30 -3 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 -0.1 0 0.0 -0.1 $ 1
1943 36 CHW AL 43 -8 0 0 0 0 2 1 -5 -0.6 -5 -0.6 0.0 $ 1
1944 37 CHW AL 43 -8 0 0 0 0 3 1 -4 -0.5 -4 -0.4 -0.1 $ 1
1945 38 CHW AL 85 -7 0 0 0 0 5 2 0 -0.1 0 0.0 -0.1 $ 1
1946 39 CHW AL 15 -1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0.0 $ /1
1947 40 CHW AL 31 -3 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 -0.1 0 0.0 -0.1 $ 1
1948 41 NYG NL 11 -2 0 0 0 0 1 0 -1 -0.1 -1 -0.1 0.0 $ 1
16 Seasons 885 -92 -1 0 0 0 67 23 -3 -0.2 -3 -0.4 0.2 $
CHW (11 yrs) 732 -70 -1 0 0 0 54 19 2 0.1 2 0.1 0.0 $
CLE (4 yrs) 142 -20 0 0 0 0 12 4 -4 -0.2 -4 -0.4 0.2 $
NYG (1 yr) 11 -2 0 0 0 0 1 0 -1 -0.1 -1 -0.1 0.0 $

Advanced Batting

Year Age Tm Lg PA Outs RC RC/G AIR BAbip BA lgBA OBP lgOBP SLG lgSLG OPS lgOPS OPS+ OWn% BtRuns BtWins TotA SecA ISO PwrSpd
1933 26 CLE AL 8 5 2 10.8 111 .500 .375 .288 .375 .360 .625 .415 1.000 .775 155 .816 0.4 0.0 1.000 .250 .250
1934 27 CLE AL 22 19 0 0.0 113 .200 .095 .289 .136 .363 .143 .417 .279 .780 -28 .000 -4.1 -0.4 .211 .095 .048
1935 28 CLE AL 68 52 3 1.6 113 .273 .197 .290 .246 .363 .230 .419 .476 .782 23 .104 -7.2 -0.7 .367 .082 .033
1936 29 CLE AL 44 36 1 0.7 124 .172 .122 .302 .182 .378 .122 .444 .304 .823 -25 .025 -8.5 -0.8 .222 .073 .000
1937 30 CHW AL 77 61 5 2.2 117 .273 .211 .290 .222 .365 .310 .432 .532 .797 33 .166 -7.9 -0.7 .411 .113 .099
1938 31 CHW AL 101 76 11 3.8 121 .300 .258 .294 .258 .373 .433 .438 .691 .811 68 .356 -6.0 -0.6 .583 .175 .175 .0
1939 32 CHW AL 95 78 4 1.4 116 .205 .165 .290 .200 .366 .198 .429 .398 .795 1 .083 -14.1 -1.4 .282 .077 .033
1940 33 CHW AL 93 68 8 3.1 113 .426 .274 .282 .307 .355 .321 .427 .628 .782 62 .300 -4.9 -0.5 .492 .095 .048
1941 34 CHW AL 119 90 10 3.0 106 .309 .254 .274 .280 .351 .298 .404 .578 .755 53 .299 -7.8 -0.8 .427 .079 .044
1942 35 CHW AL 30 26 2 2.1 92 .300 .200 .262 .200 .336 .267 .367 .467 .703 32 .220 -2.8 -0.3 .308 .067 .067
1943 36 CHW AL 43 40 0 0.0 86 .088 .071 .255 .071 .329 .071 .352 .143 .681 -58 .000 -8.5 -1.0 .077 .000 .000
1944 37 CHW AL 43 42 0 0.0 90 .118 .095 .266 .095 .332 .095 .363 .190 .695 -45 .000 -8.0 -0.9 .098 .000 .000
1945 38 CHW AL 85 73 3 1.1 86 .222 .179 .258 .229 .330 .192 .351 .421 .680 24 .091 -7.6 -0.8 .282 .077 .013
1946 39 CHW AL 15 12 1 2.2 92 .364 .267 .259 .267 .333 .267 .373 .533 .705 52 .242 -1.0 -0.1 .333 .000 .000
1947 40 CHW AL 31 23 2 2.3 93 .333 .207 .258 .258 .337 .207 .371 .465 .708 32 .255 -2.7 -0.3 .348 .069 .000
1948 41 NYG NL 11 12 0 0.0 103 .125 .091 .270 .091 .345 .091 .400 .182 .744 -51 .000 -2.4 -0.2 .083 .000 .000
16 Seasons 885 713 52 1.9 107 .262 .200 .279 .226 .354 .253 .406 .479 .760 26 .163 -93.1 -9.2 .346 .085 .053 .0
162 Game Avg. 382 308 22 1.9 107 .262 .200 .279 .226 .354 .253 .406 .479 .760 26 .163 -93.1 -9.2 .346 .085 .053
CHW (11 yrs) 732 589 46 2.1 105 .266 .208 .277 .230 .351 .264 .402 .494 .754 31 .185 -71.3 -7.2 .356 .085 .056 .0
CLE (4 yrs) 142 112 6 1.4 116 .247 .168 .294 .216 .368 .206 .426 .422 .794 7 .087 -19.4 -1.8 .321 .092 .038
NYG (1 yr) 11 12 0 0.0 103 .125 .091 .270 .091 .345 .091 .400 .182 .744 -51 .000 -2.4 -0.2 .083 .000 .000
AL (15 yrs) 874 701 52 2.0 107 .263 .201 .279 .228 .354 .255 .406 .483 .760 27 .167 -90.7 -9.0 .351 .086 .053 .0
NL (1 yr) 11 12 0 0.0 103 .125 .091 .270 .091 .345 .091 .400 .182 .744 -51 .000 -2.4 -0.2 .083 .000 .000

All-Star Batting

Year Tm Lg Age GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
1941 CHW AL 34 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
1945 CHW AL 38 DNP

Ratio Batting*

Year Age Tm Lg PA HR% SO% BB% XBH% X/H% SO/BB AB/SO AB/HR AB/RBI GB/FB GO/AO IP% LD% HR/FB IF/FB
1933 26 CLE AL 8 0.0% 25.0% 0.0% 12.5% 33% 4.0 2.7 75%
1934 27 CLE AL 22 0.0% 50.0% 4.6% 4.6% 50% 11.00 1.9 21.0 45%
1935 28 CLE AL 68 0.0% 25.0% 4.4% 2.9% 17% 5.67 3.6 8.7 65%
1936 29 CLE AL 44 0.0% 27.3% 6.8% 0.0% 0% 4.00 3.4 41.0 66%
1937 30 CHW AL 77 0.0% 20.8% 1.3% 6.5% 33% 16.00 4.4 17.8 71%
1938 31 CHW AL 101 4.0% 22.8% 0.0% 7.9% 32% 4.2 24.3 6.1 69%
1939 32 CHW AL 95 0.0% 19.0% 4.2% 3.2% 20% 4.50 5.1 22.8 77%
1940 33 CHW AL 93 0.0% 32.3% 4.3% 4.3% 17% 7.50 2.8 16.8 58%
1941 34 CHW AL 119 0.0% 16.8% 3.4% 4.2% 17% 5.00 5.7 14.3 79%
1942 35 CHW AL 30 0.0% 33.3% 0.0% 6.7% 33% 3.0 15.0 67%
1943 36 CHW AL 43 0.0% 18.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0% 5.3 14.0 79%
1944 37 CHW AL 43 0.0% 18.6% 0.0% 0.0% 0% 5.3 21.0 79%
1945 38 CHW AL 85 0.0% 17.7% 5.9% 1.2% 7% 3.00 5.2 13.0 74%
1946 39 CHW AL 15 0.0% 26.7% 0.0% 0.0% 0% 3.8 5.0 73%
1947 40 CHW AL 31 0.0% 35.5% 6.5% 0.0% 0% 5.50 2.6 29.0 58%
1948 41 NYG NL 11 0.0% 27.3% 0.0% 0.0% 0% 3.7 73%
16 Seasons 885 0.5% 23.5% 3.1% 3.6% 19% 7.70 4.0 208.8 12.7 70%
MLB Averages 1.4% 8.9% 8.8% 6.3% 27% 1.01 10.0 65.9 8.2 79%

Cumulative Batting

Year Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB CS BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS OPS+ TB GDP HBP SH SF IBB
1933 26 3 8 8 2 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 2 .375 .375 .625 1.000 155 5 0 0
1934 27 27 30 29 3 5 1 1 0 4 0 0 1 13 .172 .200 .276 .476 21 8 0 0
1935 28 59 98 90 9 17 3 1 0 11 0 0 4 30 .189 .232 .244 .476 22 22 1 3
1936 29 102 142 131 12 22 3 1 0 12 0 0 7 42 .168 .216 .206 .422 7 27 1 3
1937 30 132 219 202 17 37 6 3 0 16 0 0 8 58 .183 .218 .243 .461 16 49 1 8
1938 31 166 320 299 31 62 9 4 4 32 0 0 8 81 .207 .231 .304 .535 33 91 1 12
1939 32 199 415 390 39 77 12 4 4 36 0 0 12 99 .197 .223 .279 .503 26 109 2 1 12
1940 33 227 508 474 46 100 16 4 4 41 0 0 16 129 .211 .238 .287 .525 32 136 4 1 17
1941 34 262 627 588 53 129 21 4 4 49 0 0 20 149 .219 .246 .289 .535 36 170 8 1 18
1942 35 273 657 618 53 135 23 4 4 51 0 0 20 159 .218 .244 .288 .532 36 178 10 1 18
1943 36 292 700 660 54 138 23 4 4 54 0 0 20 167 .209 .233 .274 .508 31 181 10 1 19
1944 37 307 743 702 56 142 23 4 4 56 0 0 20 175 .202 .225 .264 .489 27 185 13 1 20
1945 38 336 828 780 62 156 24 4 4 62 0 0 25 190 .200 .226 .256 .482 26 200 20 1 22
1946 39 343 843 795 62 160 24 4 4 65 0 0 25 194 .201 .227 .257 .483 27 204 21 1 22
1947 40 364 874 824 62 166 24 4 4 66 0 0 27 205 .201 .228 .255 .483 27 210 21 1 22
1948 41 375 885 835 63 167 24 4 4 66 0 0 27 208 .200 .226 .253 .479 26 211 23 1 22

Neutralized Batting

Change to: Default / 750 Runs / 1968 Dodgers / 2000 Rockies or

All seasons are converted to 162-game seasons &
average team scoring of 716 total runs (4.42 R/G) How this works
Year Age G PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS RC Gact
1933 26 3 8 8 2 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 2 .375 .375 .625 1.000 2 3
1934 27 25 23 22 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 12 .000 .043 .000 .043 0 24
1935 28 34 68 64 6 12 2 0 0 7 0 3 18 .188 .235 .219 .454 3 32
1936 29 45 48 44 3 6 0 0 0 1 0 4 13 .136 .208 .136 .345 1 43
1937 30 31 73 72 4 14 3 2 0 3 0 1 17 .194 .205 .292 .497 4 30
1938 31 36 100 100 12 24 3 1 4 14 0 0 24 .240 .240 .410 .650 10 34
1939 32 35 98 94 7 14 3 0 0 4 0 4 19 .149 .184 .181 .365 3 33
1940 33 29 90 86 6 22 4 0 0 4 0 4 31 .256 .289 .302 .591 7 28
1941 34 36 121 117 7 29 5 0 0 8 0 4 21 .248 .273 .291 .563 9 35
1942 35 12 32 32 0 7 2 0 0 3 0 0 11 .219 .219 .281 .500 2 11
1943 36 20 44 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 19
1944 37 16 44 44 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 15
1945 38 31 90 84 7 16 1 0 0 7 0 6 16 .190 .244 .202 .447 4 29
1946 39 7 15 15 0 4 0 0 0 3 0 0 4 .267 .267 .267 .533 1 7
1947 40 22 33 31 0 7 0 0 0 1 0 2 11 .226 .273 .226 .499 2 21
1948 41 11 11 11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 11
16 Seasons 393 898 868 54 158 23 4 4 58 0 29 218 .182 .209 .232 .441 48 375
162 Game Avg. 162 370 358 22 65 9 2 2 24 0 12 90 .182 .209 .232 .441 20 375

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

All-Star Games
1941 *
1945--not played

MVP (yr lg (rk, shr))
1941 AL (4, 43%)
0.43 Career Shares (489th)

Wins Above Replacement† s c a p y
1938 AL  5.4 (7th)
1941 AL  8.7 (3rd)

Oldest s c a p y
1946 AL  born 1906-09-13 (9th)
1947 AL  born 1906-09-13 (6th)
1948 NL  born 1906-09-13 (2nd)

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Batters 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Bob Ewing (983)
  2. Rip Sewell (981)
  3. Milt Gaston (980)
  4. Dwight Gooden (979)
  5. Fernando Valenzuela (979)
  6. Orel Hershiser (979)
  7. Eddie Rommel (979)
  8. Jim Perry (978)
  9. Mike Krukow (978)
  10. Curt Davis (978)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Harry McIntire (990)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Hal Carlson (988)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Jack Quinn (991)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Babe Adams (989)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Babe Adams (992)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Babe Adams (983)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Orel Hershiser (979)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. Orel Hershiser (979)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

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: Thornton Lee    

Viewed 9,057 times through February 12, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Thornton Lefty Starr Thornton thorton thronton Lee

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.