You Are Here > Baseball-Reference.com > Encyclopedia of Players > M Listing > Andy Messersmith Statistics and History

Andy Messersmith
John Alexander Messersmith
All-Star Player
Bats: Right , Throws: Right
Height: 6' 1" , Weight: 200 lb.

Born: August 6, 1945 in Toms River, NJ
Schools: University of California
Drafted
by the California Angels in the 1st round (12th pick) of the 1966 amateur draft (Secondary Phase). (All Transactions)
Debut: July 4, 1968
Final Game: June 1, 1979
    About biographical information

Standard Pitching

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · 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
1968 22 CAL AL 4 2 .667 2.21 28 5 9 2 1 4 81.1 44 21 20 3 35 4 74 1 1 3 321 131 0.971 4.9 0.3 3.9 8.2 2.11
1969 23 CAL AL 16 11 .593 2.52 40 33 5 10 2 2 250.0 169 81 70 17 100 7 211 5 1 16 1008 137 1.076 6.1 0.6 3.6 7.6 2.11 MVP-29
1970 24 CAL AL 11 10 .524 3.01 37 26 8 6 1 5 194.2 144 75 65 21 78 6 162 6 0 2 795 120 1.140 6.7 1.0 3.6 7.5 2.08
1971 25 CAL AL 20 13 .606 2.99 38 38 0 14 4 0 276.2 224 112 92 16 121 6 179 7 0 9 1170 108 1.247 7.3 0.5 3.9 5.8 1.48 AS,CYA-5
1972 26 CAL AL 8 11 .421 2.81 25 21 4 10 3 2 169.2 125 56 53 5 68 8 142 2 1 2 690 104 1.138 6.6 0.3 3.6 7.5 2.09
1973 27 LAD NL 14 10 .583 2.70 33 33 0 10 3 0 249.2 196 90 75 24 77 3 177 6 1 6 1015 129 1.093 7.1 0.9 2.8 6.4 2.30
1974 28 LAD NL 20 6 .769 2.59 39 39 0 13 3 0 292.1 227 93 84 24 94 0 221 3 3 6 1179 132 1.098 7.0 0.7 2.9 6.8 2.35 AS,CYA-2,MVP-16,GG
1975 29 LAD NL 19 14 .576 2.29 42 40 2 19 7 1 321.2 244 92 82 22 96 2 213 5 0 8 1276 149 1.057 6.8 0.6 2.7 6.0 2.22 AS,CYA-5,MVP-24,GG
1976 30 ATL NL 11 11 .500 3.04 29 28 1 12 3 1 207.1 166 83 70 14 74 1 135 2 0 10 847 125 1.158 7.2 0.6 3.2 5.9 1.82 AS
1977 31 ATL NL 5 4 .556 4.40 16 16 0 1 0 0 102.1 101 54 50 12 39 5 69 2 0 5 447 101 1.368 8.9 1.1 3.4 6.1 1.77
1978 32 NYY AL 0 3 .000 5.64 6 5 1 0 0 0 22.1 24 21 14 7 15 0 16 1 0 0 106 64 1.746 9.7 2.8 6.0 6.4 1.07
1979 33 LAD NL 2 4 .333 4.91 11 11 0 1 0 0 62.1 55 34 34 9 34 2 26 0 0 3 266 75 1.428 7.9 1.3 4.9 3.8 0.76
12 Seasons 130 99 .568 2.86 344 295 30 98 27 15 2230.1 1719 812 709 174 831 44 1625 40 7 70 9120 121 1.143 6.9 0.7 3.4 6.6 1.96
162 Game Avg. 14 11 .568 2.86 37 31 3 10 3 2 237 183 86 75 19 88 5 173 4 1 7 971 121 1.143 6.9 0.7 3.4 6.6 1.96
CAL (5 yrs) 59 47 .557 2.78 168 123 26 42 11 13 972.1 706 345 300 62 402 31 768 21 3 32 3984 118 1.140 6.5 0.6 3.7 7.1 1.91
LAD (4 yrs) 55 34 .618 2.67 125 123 2 43 13 1 926.0 722 309 275 79 301 7 637 14 4 23 3736 129 1.105 7.0 0.8 2.9 6.2 2.12
ATL (2 yrs) 16 15 .516 3.49 45 44 1 13 3 1 309.2 267 137 120 26 113 6 204 4 0 15 1294 115 1.227 7.8 0.8 3.3 5.9 1.81
NYY (1 yr) 0 3 .000 5.64 6 5 1 0 0 0 22.1 24 21 14 7 15 0 16 1 0 0 106 64 1.746 9.7 2.8 6.0 6.4 1.07
NL (6 yrs) 71 49 .592 2.88 170 167 3 56 16 2 1235.2 989 446 395 105 414 13 841 18 4 38 5030 125 1.135 7.2 0.8 3.0 6.1 2.03
AL (6 yrs) 59 50 .541 2.84 174 128 27 42 11 13 994.2 730 366 314 69 417 31 784 22 3 32 4090 116 1.153 6.6 0.6 3.8 7.1 1.88

Postseason Pitching

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Postseason Gamelog
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
1974 28 LAD NL NLCS W PIT 1 0 1.000 2.57 1 1 0 0 0 0 7.0 8 2 2 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 31 1.571 10.3 0.0 3.9 0.0 0.00
1974 28 LAD NL WS L OAK 0 2 .000 4.50 2 2 0 0 0 0 14.0 11 8 7 2 7 1 12 1 0 1 58 1.286 7.1 1.3 4.5 7.7 1.71
1 Season (2 Series) 1 2 .333 3.86 3 3 0 0 0 0 21.0 19 10 9 2 10 1 12 2 0 1 89 1.381 8.1 0.9 4.3 5.1 1.20
1 NLCS 1 0 1.000 2.57 1 1 0 0 0 0 7.0 8 2 2 0 3 0 0 1 0 0 31 1.571 10.3 0.0 3.9 0.0 0.00
1 WS 0 2 .000 4.50 2 2 0 0 0 0 14.0 11 8 7 2 7 1 12 1 0 1 58 1.286 7.1 1.3 4.5 7.7 1.71

Standard Batting

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · 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
1968 22 CAL AL 29 24 20 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 10 .100 .100 .150 .250 -23 3 0 0 4 0 0 1
1969 23 CAL AL 42 91 77 5 12 2 0 0 5 0 0 8 28 .156 .235 .182 .417 22 14 1 0 6 0 0 1 MVP-29
1970 24 CAL AL 38 75 70 4 11 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 28 .157 .157 .243 .400 11 17 0 0 5 0 0 1
1971 25 CAL AL 39 104 93 8 16 2 0 2 5 0 0 5 30 .172 .214 .258 .472 38 24 0 0 6 0 0 1 AS,CYA-5
1972 26 CAL AL 26 58 53 2 10 3 0 0 0 1 0 3 13 .189 .232 .245 .477 46 13 0 0 2 0 0 1
1973 27 LAD NL 34 99 89 3 15 3 0 0 6 0 0 5 16 .169 .213 .202 .415 17 18 1 0 5 0 0 1
1974 28 LAD NL 39 113 96 12 23 8 0 1 11 0 0 11 28 .240 .312 .354 .666 90 34 1 0 4 2 0 1 AS,CYA-2,MVP-16,GG
1975 29 LAD NL 44 123 108 8 17 4 0 0 9 0 0 7 25 .157 .212 .194 .406 16 21 2 1 5 2 0 1 AS,CYA-5,MVP-24,GG
1976 30 ATL NL 29 77 67 3 12 1 0 0 10 0 0 4 19 .179 .225 .194 .419 17 13 1 0 6 0 0 1 AS
1977 31 ATL NL 16 39 34 2 4 2 0 1 3 0 0 3 9 .118 .189 .265 .454 15 9 0 0 2 0 0 1
1979 33 LAD NL 11 23 22 1 2 1 0 0 2 0 0 0 6 .091 .091 .136 .227 -38 3 0 0 1 0 0 1
12 Seasons 347 826 729 49 124 30 0 5 54 1 0 46 212 .170 .219 .232 .451 29 169 6 1 46 4 0
162 Game Avg. 162 386 340 23 58 14 0 2 25 0 0 21 99 .170 .219 .232 .451 29 79 3 0 21 2 0
CAL (5 yrs) 174 352 313 20 51 11 0 3 13 1 0 16 109 .163 .204 .227 .430 26 71 1 0 23 0 0
LAD (4 yrs) 128 358 315 24 57 16 0 1 28 0 0 23 75 .181 .236 .241 .477 35 76 4 1 15 4 0
ATL (2 yrs) 45 116 101 5 16 3 0 1 13 0 0 7 28 .158 .213 .218 .431 17 22 1 0 8 0 0
NL (6 yrs) 173 474 416 29 73 19 0 2 41 0 0 30 103 .175 .231 .236 .466 31 98 5 1 23 4 0
AL (6 yrs) 174 352 313 20 51 11 0 3 13 1 0 16 109 .163 .204 .227 .430 26 71 1 0 23 0 0

Postseason Batting

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK · Postseason Gamelog
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
1974 28 LAD NL NLCS PIT W 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
1974 28 LAD NL WS OAK L 2 5 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .500 .500 .500 1.000 2 0 0 1 0 0
1 Season (2 Series) 3 8 7 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .286 .286 .286 .571 2 0 0 1 0 0
1 NLCS 1 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 .000 .000 .000 0 0 0 0 0 0
1 WS 2 5 4 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 .500 .500 .500 1.000 2 0 0 1 0 0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Glossary · Click headers to sort · SHARE  · CSV · PRE · LINK
Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
1968 CAL AL 22 P 28 5 81.1 19 6 12 1 0 .947 1.99 0.64 .958 1.89 0.73
1969 CAL AL 23 P 40 33 250.0 51 17 29 5 2 .902 1.66 1.15 .953 1.88 0.69 MVP-29
1970 CAL AL 24 P 37 26 194.2 39 12 23 4 3 .897 1.62 0.95 .954 1.86 0.67
1971 CAL AL 25 P 38 38 276.2 72 18 49 5 2 .931 2.18 1.76 .960 1.98 0.77 AS,CYA-5
1972 CAL AL 26 P 25 21 169.2 33 9 24 0 0 1.000 1.75 1.32 .948 1.86 0.75
1973 LAD NL 27 P 33 33 249.2 59 19 35 5 0 .915 1.95 1.64 .953 1.88 0.73
1974 LAD NL 28 P 39 39 292.1 71 18 44 9 3 .873 1.91 1.59 .948 1.88 0.71 AS,CYA-2,MVP-16,GG
1975 LAD NL 29 P 42 40 321.2 59 11 43 5 1 .915 1.51 1.29 .947 1.86 0.72 AS,CYA-5,MVP-24,GG
1976 ATL NL 30 P 29 28 207.1 52 14 33 5 2 .904 2.04 1.62 .952 1.88 0.72 AS
1977 ATL NL 31 P 16 16 102.1 22 5 15 2 1 .909 1.76 1.25 .950 1.85 0.67
1978 NYY AL 32 P 6 5 22.1 4 2 2 0 0 1.000 1.61 0.67 .950 1.89 0.85
1979 LAD NL 33 P 11 11 62.1 14 5 9 0 1 1.000 2.02 1.27 .950 1.80 0.66
12 Seasons P 344 295 2230.1 495 136 318 41 15 .917 1.83 1.32 .952 1.88 0.72
12 Seasons TOT 344 295 2230.1 495 136 318 41 15 .917 1.83 1.32 .869 1.88 0.72

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank, Glossary

All-Star Games
1971
1974 (P)
1975
1976

Gold Gloves
1974-NL-P
1975-NL-P
All multiple winners

MVP (yr-lg-rk-shr)
1969-AL-29-1%
1974-NL-16-1%
1975-NL-24-0%
0.02 Career Shares (1327th)

Cy Young (yr-lg-rk-shr)
1971-AL--5--1%
1974-NL--2--55%
1975-NL--5--1%
0.57 Career Shares (85th)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1969 AL--2.520--4th
1970 AL--3.005--7th
1973 NL--2.704--5th
1974 NL--2.586--5th
1975 NL--2.294--2nd
Career--2.861--122nd

Wins s c a p y
1971 AL--20--6th
1974 NL--20--1st
1975 NL--19--3rd

Win-Loss % s c a p y
1974 NL--.769--1st
Career--.568--232nd

Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y
1969 AL--1.076--4th
1970 AL--1.140--3rd
1973 NL--1.094--3rd
1974 NL--1.098--1st
1975 NL--1.057--3rd
1976 NL--1.158--7th
Career--1.143--55th

Hits per 9 IP s c a p y
1969 AL--6.084--1st
1970 AL--6.658--1st
1971 AL--7.287--4th
1972 AL--6.631--5th
1973 NL--7.065--5th
1974 NL--6.989--2nd
1975 NL--6.827--1st
1976 NL--7.206--4th
Career--6.937--6th

Strikeouts per 9 IP s c a p y
1969 AL--7.596--3rd
1970 AL--7.490--5th
1972 AL--7.532--2nd
1974 NL--6.804--6th
Career--6.557--138th

Innings Pitched s c a p y
1969 AL--250.0--10th
1971 AL--276.7--10th
1974 NL--292.3--2nd
1975 NL--321.7--1st

Strikeouts s c a p y
1969 AL--211--3rd
1973 NL--177--5th
1974 NL--221--2nd
1975 NL--213--3rd
Career--1625--128th

Games Started s c a p y
1971 AL--38--6th
1974 NL--39--2nd
1975 NL--40--1st

Complete Games s c a p y
1974 NL--13--7th
1975 NL--19--1st
1976 NL--12--8th

Shutouts s c a p y
1971 AL--4--7th
1973 NL--3--7th
1974 NL--3--8th
1975 NL--7--1st
Career--27--146th

Home Runs s c a p y
1973 NL--24--9th
1974 NL--24--1st
1975 NL--22--7th

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1969 AL--100--8th
1971 AL--121--2nd
1975 NL--96--8th
Career--831--211th

Hits s c a p y
1975 NL--244--7th

Strikeouts / Base On Balls s c a p y
1969 AL--2.110--10th
1973 NL--2.299--10th
1974 NL--2.351--4th
1975 NL--2.219--10th

Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y
1971 AL--.521--4th
1972 AL--.265--2nd

Losses s c a p y
1975 NL--14--8th

Wild Pitches s c a p y
1969 AL--16--1st
1971 AL--9--8th
1976 NL--10--8th
Career--70--228th

Hit By Pitch s c a p y
1971 AL--7--9th
1973 NL--6--8th

Batters Faced s c a p y
1971 AL--1170--6th
1974 NL--1179--3rd
1975 NL--1276--1st

Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y
1969 AL--137--4th
1970 AL--120--9th
1973 NL--129--8th
1974 NL--132--7th
1975 NL--149--2nd
1976 NL--125--7th
Career--121--104th

                                         

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black InkPitching - 17 (118), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray InkPitching - 92 (242), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 66 (181), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 30 (142), Average HOFer ≈ 50

Similar Pitchers 
 View Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Dean Chance (948)
  2. Bob Veale (938)
  3. Jim Maloney (932)
  4. Howie Camnitz (927)
  5. Sonny Siebert (924)
  6. Lefty Tyler (924)
  7. Cy Falkenberg (920)
  8. Gary Peters (919)
  9. Jose Rijo (918)
  10. Al Downing (917)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Carl Lundgren (976)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Steve Hargan (976)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Bob Shawkey (968)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Mario Soto (961)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. Al Mamaux (967)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  6. Red Ames (958)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  7. Red Ames (953)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  8. Red Ames (952)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  9. Bob Gibson (950) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  10. Luis Tiant (941)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  11. Luis Tiant (963)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer
Similar Batters 
 View Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Hank Borowy (982)
  2. Frank Lary (982)
  3. Bob Rush (981)
  4. Ray Kremer (978)
  5. Bill Duggleby (978)
  6. Johnny Allen (977)
  7. Noodles Hahn (976)
  8. Denny Neagle (976)
  9. Hippo Vaughn (976)
  10. Bob Harmon (976)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Bob Rush (991)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. John Candelaria (986)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Rick Reuschel (985)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Stan Coveleski (986) * 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. John Smoltz (985)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

June 8, 1965: Drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 3rd round of the 1965 amateur draft, but did not sign.

June 7, 1966: Drafted by the California Angels in the 1st round (12th pick) of the 1966 amateur draft (Secondary Phase).

November 28, 1972: Traded by the California Angels with Ken McMullen to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Billy Grabarkewitz, Frank Robinson, Bill Singer, Mike Strahler and Bobby Valentine.

March 16, 1976: Granted Free Agency.

April 10, 1976: Signed as a Free Agent with the Atlanta Braves.

December 7, 1977: Purchased by the New York Yankees from the Atlanta Braves.

November 6, 1978: Released by the New York Yankees.

February 7, 1979: Signed as a Free Agent with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

August 28, 1979: Released by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

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

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: Andy Messersmith    

Viewed 82,241 times through November 8, 2009.
Name and misspellings: John Alexander andrew Andy Messersmith messesmith


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.