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Ken Phelps

Kenneth Allen Phelps (Digger)

Positions: Designated Hitter, Pinch Hitter and First Baseman
Bats: Left, Throws: Left
Height: 6' 1", Weight: 209 lb.

Born: August 6, 1954 in Seattle, WA
High School: Ingraham (Seattle, WA)
School: Arizona State University
Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 15th round of the 1976 amateur draft. (All Transactions)
Debut: September 20, 1980
Teams (by GP): Mariners/Yankees/Athletics/Royals/Indians/... 1980-1990

Final Game: September 8, 1990
About biographical information

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Fan EloRater

Fine Details · Last Updated Dec 23, 2011, 9:18AM

All-Time Rank (among Batters): #1. Babe Ruth… #2. Ted Williams… #3. Willie Mays… #4. Ty Cobb… #5. Lou Gehrig… #6. Rogers Hornsby… #7. Stan Musial…

All-Time Rank (among Batters): #1. Babe Ruth… #2. Ted Williams… #3. Willie Mays… #4. Ty Cobb… #5. Lou Gehrig… #6. Rogers Hornsby… #7. Stan Musial…

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
1976	21	KCR-min	Rk,A	52	170	170		48	14	3	4						.282	.282	.471	.753		80						ROY,WLO · GULF,MIDW
1977	22	KCR-min	AA,A	121	491	407	52	101	13	3	10	72	2	1	68	62	.248	.363	.369	.732		150		9	1	6		JCK,DYB · SOUL,FLOR
1978	23	KCR-min	AA	124	495	381	65	94	20	0	16	61	1	0	99	57	.247	.407	.425	.832		162		7	3	5		JCK · SOUL
1979	24	KCR-min	AAA	130	538	430	71	114	26	3	20	77	4	4	98	72	.265	.406	.479	.885		206		6	1	3		OMA · AA
1980	25	KCR-min	AAA	133	586	442	80	130	30	3	23	72	4	2	128	84	.294	.456	.532	.988		235		8	3	5		OMA · AA
1980	25	KCR	AL	3	4	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	.000	.000	.000	-100	0	0	0	0	0	0	/3
1981	26	KCR-min	AAA	19	78	66	9	22	8	1	5	21	0	0	12	9	.333	.436	.712	1.148		47		0	0	0	1	OMA · AA
1981	26	KCR	AL	21	23	22	1	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	13	.136	.174	.227	.401	16	5	0	0	0	0	0	/3D
1982	27	WSN-min	AAA	132	574	453	112	151	23	4	46	141	2	4	108	99	.333	.469	.706	1.175		320		10	0	3	12	WCH · AA
1982	27	MON	NL	10	9	8	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.250	.333	.250	.583	65	2	0	1	0	0	0
1983	28	SEA-min	AAA	74	329	270	81	92	29	6	24	82	4	0	54	35	.341	.450	.759	1.209		205		2	0	3	4	SLC · PCL
1983	28	SEA	AL	50	144	127	10	30	4	1	7	16	0	0	13	25	.236	.301	.449	.750	100	57	0	0	1	3	0	3D
1984	29	SEA-min	AAA	12	54	45	7	14	3	0	3	13	0	1	7	10	.311	.407	.578	.985		26		1	0	1	1	SLC · PCL
1984	29	SEA	AL	101	360	290	52	70	9	0	24	51	3	3	61	73	.241	.378	.521	.898	149	151	1	5	0	4	5	D/3
1985	30	SEA	AL	61	140	116	18	24	3	0	9	24	2	0	24	33	.207	.343	.466	.808	120	54	1	0	0	0	2	D/3
1986	31	SEA	AL	125	441	344	69	85	16	4	24	64	2	3	88	96	.247	.406	.526	.932	152	181	4	6	0	3	6	3D
1987	32	SEA	AL	120	424	332	68	86	13	1	27	68	1	1	80	75	.259	.410	.548	.959	147	182	7	8	0	4	5	D/3
1988	33	TOT	AL	117	371	297	54	78	13	0	24	54	1	0	70	61	.263	.402	.549	.950	162	163	6	1	0	3	5	D/3
1988	33	SEA	AL	72	244	190	37	54	8	0	14	32	1	0	51	35	.284	.434	.547	.982	170	104	3	1	0	2	2	D/3
1988	33	NYY	AL	45	127	107	17	24	5	0	10	22	0	0	19	26	.224	.339	.551	.890	147	59	3	0	0	1	3	D/3
1989	34	TOT	AL	97	228	194	26	47	4	0	7	29	0	0	31	47	.242	.342	.371	.713	103	72	2	0	0	3	2	D/39
1989	34	NYY	AL	86	215	185	26	46	3	0	7	29	0	0	27	47	.249	.340	.378	.718	104	70	2	0	0	3	2	D/39
1989	34	OAK	AL	11	13	9	0	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	0	.111	.385	.222	.607	78	2	0	0	0	0	0	/3
1990	35	TOT	AL	56	143	120	10	18	2	0	1	6	1	0	22	21	.150	.280	.192	.471	36	23	4	0	0	1	3	D3
1990	35	OAK	AL	32	72	59	6	11	2	0	1	6	0	0	12	10	.186	.319	.271	.591	70	16	1	0	0	1	1	D/3
1990	35	CLE	AL	24	71	61	4	7	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	11	.115	.239	.115	.354	3	7	3	0	0	0	2	3/D
1991	36	SFG-min	AAA	7	25	22	1	7	1	0	0	3	0	0	2	1	.318	.400	.364	.764		8		1	0	0	1	PHX · PCL
11 Seasons				761	2287	1854	308	443	64	7	123	313	10	7	390	449	.239	.374	.480	.854	132	890	25	21	1	21	28
162 Game Avg.				162	487	395	66	94	14	1	26	67	2	1	83	96	.239	.374	.480	.854	132	189	5	4	0	4	6
				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
SEA (6 yrs)				529	1753	1399	254	349	53	6	105	255	9	7	317	337	.249	.392	.521	.913	145	729	16	20	1	16	20
KCR (2 yrs)				24	27	26	1	3	0	1	0	1	0	0	1	15	.115	.148	.192	.340	-3	5	0	0	0	0	0
OAK (2 yrs)				43	85	68	6	12	3	0	1	6	0	0	16	10	.176	.329	.265	.594	72	18	1	0	0	1	1
NYY (2 yrs)				131	342	292	43	70	8	0	17	51	0	0	46	73	.240	.339	.442	.781	120	129	5	0	0	4	5
CLE (1 yr)				24	71	61	4	7	0	0	0	0	1	0	10	11	.115	.239	.115	.354	3	7	3	0	0	0	2
MON (1 yr)				10	9	8	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.250	.333	.250	.583	65	2	0	1	0	0	0

AL (10 yrs)				751	2278	1846	308	441	64	7	123	313	10	7	390	446	.239	.374	.481	.855	133	888	25	20	1	21	28
NL (1 yr)				10	9	8	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.250	.333	.250	.583	65	2	0	1	0	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
1980	25	KCR	AL	4	-1	0	0	0	-0	0	0	-1	-0.1	-1	-0.1	0.0	$	/3
1981	26	KCR	AL	23	-3	0	0	0	0	0	1	-2	-0.3	-2	-0.2	-0.1	$	/3D
1982	27	MON	NL	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$
1983	28	SEA	AL	144	0	-1	1	0	-0	-3	4	1	0.2	1	0.1	0.1	$	3D
1984	29	SEA	AL	360	20	0	-1	0	1	-9	11	22	2.3	21	2.2	0.1	$	D/3
1985	30	SEA	AL	140	3	0	0	0	-0	-3	4	4	0.5	4	0.4	0.1	$180,000	D/3
1986	31	SEA	AL	441	29	1	1	0	-11	-9	14	25	2.6	36	3.7	-1.1	$235,000	3D
1987	32	SEA	AL	424	25	-1	-2	0	0	-11	13	24	2.4	24	2.4	0.0	$300,000	D/3
1988	33	SEA	AL	244	21	-2	-1	0	-0	-7	8	19	2.0	19	2.0	0.0	$670,000	D/3
1988	33	NYY	AL	127	6	0	-1	0	0	-2	4	7	0.7	7	0.7	0.0	$	D/3
1989	34	NYY	AL	215	1	1	0	0	0	-6	7	2	0.2	3	0.3	-0.1	$655,000	D/39
1989	34	OAK	AL	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$	/3
1990	35	OAK	AL	72	-2	0	0	0	-0	-2	3	-3	-0.3	-1	-0.1	-0.2	$825,000	D/3
1990	35	CLE	AL	71	-8	0	0	-1	1	-1	3	-7	-0.7	-7	-0.7	0.0	$	3/D
11 Seasons				2287	91	-2	-3	-1	-9	-53	72	91	9.5	104	10.7	-1.2	$2,865,000

SEA (6 yrs)				1753	98	-3	-2	0	-10	-42	54	95	10.0	105	10.8	-0.8	$1,385,000
KCR (2 yrs)				27	-4	0	0	0	0	0	1	-3	-0.4	-3	-0.3	-0.1	$
OAK (2 yrs)				85	-2	0	0	0	-0	-2	3	-3	-0.3	-1	-0.1	-0.2	$825,000
NYY (2 yrs)				342	7	1	-1	0	0	-8	11	9	0.9	10	1.0	-0.1	$655,000
CLE (1 yr)				71	-8	0	0	-1	1	-1	3	-7	-0.7	-7	-0.7	0.0	$
MON (1 yr)				9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.0	0	0.0	0.0	$

Postseason Batting

Postseason Gamelog

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	Series	Opp	Rslt	G	PA	AB	H	2B	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB
1989	34	OAK	AL	ALCS	TOR	W	1	1	1	1	1	1.000	1.000	2.000	3.000	2
1989	34	OAK	AL	WS	SFG	W	1	1	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0
1 Season (2 Series)							2	2	2	1	1	.500	.500	1.000	1.500	2
1 ALCS							1	1	1	1	1	1.000	1.000	2.000	3.000	2
1 WS							1	1	1	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Adv Fielding w/ run summary

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	Rtot	Rtot/yr	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	Awards
1980	KCR	AL	25	1B	2	1	0	8.0	14	14	0	0	2	1.000	-0	-30	15.75	7.00	.992	10.01	10.00
1981	KCR	AL	26	1B	2	0	0	3.0	5	4	1	0	0	1.000	0	80	15.00	2.50	.992	10.20	10.05
1981	KCR	AL	26	DH	2	2
1983	SEA	AL	28	1B	22	20	18	175.0	180	164	16	0	11	1.000	-0	-1	9.26	8.18	.992	9.90	9.82
1983	SEA	AL	28	DH	13	13
1984	SEA	AL	29	DH	75	75
1984	SEA	AL	29	1B	9	9	6	79.0	77	72	4	1	7	.987	1	9	8.66	8.44	.991	9.75	9.68
1985	SEA	AL	30	DH	22	22
1985	SEA	AL	30	1B	8	4	4	41.0	33	31	2	0	5	1.000	-0	-3	7.24	4.13	.991	9.77	9.68
1986	SEA	AL	31	1B	55	53	50	464.2	530	487	34	9	58	.983	-11	-28	10.09	9.47	.991	9.42	9.33
1986	SEA	AL	31	DH	50	50
1987	SEA	AL	32	DH	104	104
1987	SEA	AL	32	1B	1	1	0	7.0	8	8	0	0	0	1.000	0	51	10.29	8.00	.992	9.64	9.50
1988	TOT	AL	33	DH	83	83
1988	TOT	AL	33	1B	4	3	2	24.0	21	18	2	1	2	.952	-0	-10	7.50	5.00	.992	9.60	9.50
1988	SEA	AL	33	DH	55	55
1988	SEA	AL	33	1B	3	3	2	23.0	21	18	2	1	2	.952	-0	-10	7.83	6.67	.992	9.59	9.50
1988	NYY	AL	33	DH	28	28
1988	NYY	AL	33	1B	1	0	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0.00	0.00		9.90	9.50
1989	TOT	AL	34	1B	9	5	2	47.0	49	47	1	1	4	.980	0	10	9.19	5.33	.993	9.79	9.69
1989	NYY	AL	34	DH	41	41
1989	NYY	AL	34	1B	8	4	1	38.0	49	47	1	1	4	.980	0	0	11.37	6.00	.993	9.78	9.69
1989	NYY	AL	34	RF	1	1	1	9.0	2	2	0	0	0	1.000	-1	-80	2.00	2.00	.980	2.30	2.30
1989	OAK	AL	34	1B	1	1	1	9.0	0	0	0	0	0		0	53	0.00	0.00		9.80	9.70
1990	TOT	AL	35	DH	20	20
1990	TOT	AL	35	1B	19	14	7	117.0	122	111	10	1	7	.992	1	6	9.31	6.37	.992	9.63	9.53
1990	OAK	AL	35	DH	14	14
1990	OAK	AL	35	1B	5	3	0	20.0	28	24	3	1	3	.964	-0	-30	12.15	5.40	.992	9.63	9.52
1990	CLE	AL	35	1B	14	11	7	97.0	94	87	7	0	4	1.000	1	14	8.72	6.71	.992	9.63	9.53
1990	CLE	AL	35	DH	6	6
	10 Seasons			1B	131	110	89	965.2	1039	956	70	13	96	.987	-9	-12	9.56	7.83	.991	9.61	9.54
	1 Season			RF	1	1	1	9.0	2	2	0	0	0	1.000	-1	-80	2.00	2.00	.980	2.30	2.30
	11 Seasons			TOT	131	110	89	965.2	1039	956	70	13	96	.987	-9	-12	9.56	7.83	.991	9.61	9.54
Lg				Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	Rtot	Rtot/yr	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	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-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

Bases on Balls s c a p y 1986 AL 88 (8th)	Adj. Batting Runs s c a p y 1986 AL 29 (6th)	Adj. Batting Wins s c a p y 1986 AL 2.8 (6th)	Hit By Pitch s c a p y 1987 AL 8 (8th)
AB per HR s c a p y 1984 AL 12.1 (9th) 1986 AL 14.3 (6th) 1987 AL 12.3 (7th) 1988 AL 12.4 (5th)	Base-Out Runs Added (RE24)† s c a p y 1986 AL 30.05 (8th)	Situ. Wins Added (WPA/LI)† s c a p y 1986 AL 2.9 (9th)	Base-Out Wins Added (REW)† s c a p y 1986 AL 2.9 (8th)

A ** by the stat's value indicates the player had fewer than the required number of at bats or plate appearances for the BA, OBP, SLG or OPS title that year. In order to rank the player, the necessary number of hitless at bats were added to the player's season total. The value printed here is their actual value and not the value used to rank them, therefore some numbers may appear out of order. Requirements to qualify for rate stats.
† Statistics like WPA, REW and RE24 are computed from play-by-play data which is only complete from 1974 to the present. From 1950-1973, the data is incomplete, though for most seasons only less than 20 games per season total are missing. Please see our page on data coverage for a full view of the data used to create these leaderboards.

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Gray Ink	Batting - 2 (2130), Average HOFer ≈ 144
Hall of Fame Standards	Batting - 16 (994), Average HOFer ≈ 50

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores

Similar Batters

Compare Stats to Similars

Most Similar by Ages

Hold mouse over #'s to see names

Dave Hostetler (946) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Sam Horn (959) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Marcus Thames (924) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Marcus Thames (926) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Marcus Thames (930) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Dale Long (882) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

June 6, 1972: Drafted by the Atlanta Braves in the 8th round of the 1972 amateur draft, but did not sign.
January 9, 1974: Drafted by the New York Yankees in the 1st round (11th pick) of the 1974 amateur draft (January), but did not sign.
June 5, 1974: Drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 1st round (19th pick) of the 1974 amateur draft (June Secondary), but did not sign.
June 8, 1976: Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 15th round of the 1976 amateur draft.
January 14, 1982: Traded by the Kansas City Royals to the Montreal Expos for Grant Jackson.
March 31, 1983: Purchased by the Seattle Mariners from the Montreal Expos.
July 21, 1988: Traded by the Seattle Mariners to the New York Yankees for a player to be named later, Rich Balabon (minors) and Jay Buhner. The New York Yankees sent Troy Evers (minors) (October 12, 1988) to the Seattle Mariners to complete the trade.
August 30, 1989: Traded by the New York Yankees to the Oakland Athletics for Scott Holcomb (minors).
November 13, 1989: Granted Free Agency.
December 8, 1989: Signed as a Free Agent with the Oakland Athletics.
June 17, 1990: Purchased by the Cleveland Indians from the Oakland Athletics.
November 5, 1990: Granted Free Agency.

The transaction information used here was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. We attempt to update transactions throughout the season.

Salaries

Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses

Year	Age	Team	Salary	Sources	Notes
1985	30	Seattle Mariners	$180,000	1985 USA Today survey
1986	31	Seattle Mariners	$235,000	Scully, Business of MLB, p. 163
1987	32	Seattle Mariners	$300,000	G. Scully, Business of MLB, p. 163	Arbitration loss; $515,000 request
1988	33	Seattle Mariners	$670,000*
1989	34	New York Yankees	$655,000	1989 USA Today survey
1990	35	Oakland Athletics	$825,000	USA Today

Career to date (may be incomplete)			$2,865,000

Disputed Salaries
*1988 - $630,000 - 12/13/88 NYT - 4/1/88 USAT $670,000

Salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, and the Society for American Baseball Research.
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 Library Baseball-Almanac.com Retrosheet The Baseball Cube The Baseball Page WhatIfSports: Ken Phelps

Viewed 17,868 times through February 11, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Kenneth Allen Digger Ken kenny keny king Phelps

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