Vern Stephens

Vernon Decatur Stephens (Junior or Buster)

Positions: Shortstop and Third Baseman
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 5' 10", Weight: 185 lb.

Born: October 23, 1920 in McAllister, NM
High School: Polytechnic HS (Long Beach, CA)
Signed by the St. Louis Browns as an amateur free agent in 1938. (All Transactions)
Debut: September 13, 1941
Teams (by GP): Browns/RedSox/Orioles/WhiteSox 1941-1955

Final Game: June 30, 1955
Died: November 4, 1968 in Long Beach, CA
Buried: Sunnyside Memorial Park, Long Beach, CA
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All-Star

Standard Fielding

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
1941	SLB	AL	20	SS	1	0	0		2	0	1	1	0	.500				1.00	.950		5.00
1942	SLB	AL	21	SS	144	144	141		747	290	415	42	82	.944				4.90	.949		5.01	MVP-4
1943	SLB	AL	22	SS	123	123	120		593	220	339	34	51	.943				4.54	.953		5.13	AS,MVP-9
1943	SLB	AL	22	OF	11	11	8		23	20	3	0	0	1.000				2.09	.977		2.47	AS,MVP-9
1943	SLB	AL	22	LF	9	9	7		16	13	3	0	0	1.000				1.78	.979		2.40	AS,MVP-9
1943	SLB	AL	22	RF	3	2	1		7	7	0	0	0	1.000				2.33	.973		2.20	AS,MVP-9
1944	SLB	AL	23	SS	143	142	138		754	239	480	35	71	.954				5.03	.947		5.29	AS,MVP-3
1945	SLB	AL	24	SS	144	144	140		723	256	439	28	69	.961				4.83	.951		5.28	MVP-6
1945	SLB	AL	24	3B	4	4	4		15	2	11	2	2	.867				3.25	.948		3.15	MVP-6
1946	SLB	AL	25	SS	112	112	108		597	224	343	30	71	.950				5.06	.954		4.97	AS,MVP-19
1947	SLB	AL	26	SS	149	149	144		801	283	494	24	113	.970				5.21	.964		5.13	MVP-31
1948	BOS	AL	27	SS	155	155	155		833	269	540	24	113	.971				5.22	.964		5.17	AS,MVP-4
1949	BOS	AL	28	SS	155	155	154		792	257	508	27	128	.966				4.94	.963		5.17	AS,MVP-7
1950	BOS	AL	29	SS	146	146	144	1281.1	702	258	431	13	115	.981			4.84	4.72	.961	5.05	4.96	AS,MVP-24
1951	BOS	AL	30	3B	89	89	80	772.1	319	105	207	7	19	.978			3.64	3.51	.950	3.17	3.15	AS
1951	BOS	AL	30	SS	2	0	0	4.0	2	0	2	0	0	1.000			4.50	1.00	.960	5.18	5.15	AS
1952	BOS	AL	31	SS	53	50	46	433.2	254	89	154	11	40	.957			5.04	4.58	.962	4.94	4.94
1952	BOS	AL	31	3B	29	29	19	226.1	99	21	73	5	8	.949			3.74	3.24	.953	3.29	3.29
1953	TOT	AL	32	3B	84	79	61	674.2	250	84	158	8	16	.968	1	2	3.23	2.88	.957	3.38	3.36
1953	CHW	AL	32	3B	38	33	23	281.2	98	30	67	1	7	.990	1	4	3.10	2.55	.957	3.38	3.36
1953	CHW	AL	32	SS	3	0	0	11.0	4	0	4	0	0	1.000	1	109	3.27	1.33	.965	5.07	5.07
1953	SLB	AL	32	3B	46	46	38	393.0	152	54	91	7	9	.954	0	0	3.32	3.15	.957	3.38	3.36
1954	BAL	AL	33	3B	96	95	83	821.0	298	102	186	10	19	.966	-1	-2	3.16	3.00	.959	3.48	3.46
1955	TOT	AL	34	3B	20	16	14	149.0	52	13	39	0	4	1.000	2	14	3.14	2.60	.950	3.17	3.14
1955	BAL	AL	34	3B	2	2	1	11.0	2	0	2	0	0	1.000	0	0	1.64	1.00	.950	3.19	3.15
1955	CHW	AL	34	3B	18	14	13	138.0	50	13	37	0	4	1.000	2	16	3.26	2.78	.950	3.17	3.14
	13 Seasons			SS	1330	1320	1290	1730.0	6804	2385	4150	269	853	.960	1	1	4.88	4.91	.957	5.02	5.12
	6 Seasons			3B	322	312	261	2643.1	1033	327	674	32	68	.969	1	1	3.36	3.11	.955	3.33	3.31
	1 Season			OF	11	11	8		23	20	3	0	0	1.000				2.09	.977		2.47
	1 Season			LF	9	9	7		16	13	3	0	0	1.000				1.78	.979		2.40
	1 Season			RF	3	2	1		7	7	0	0	0	1.000				2.33	.973		2.20
	15 Seasons			TOT	1663	1643	1559	4373.1	7860	2732	4827	301	921	.962	2	1	3.96	4.55	.957	4.00	4.75
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-1948 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
From 1948 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 1948 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 1918 on.
Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1948 to 1973 and complete from then on.
Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1918) 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 1948 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

Sabermetric Fielding

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	Pos	Rtot	Rtot/yr	Rtz	Rtzhm	Rtzrd	Rdp	Rof	Rctch	Rdrs	Rdrs/yr	Rpm	Rdp	Rbnt	Rof	Rhr	RerC	RsbC	RsbP
1941	SLB	AL	20	SS
1942	SLB	AL	21	SS
1943	SLB	AL	22	SS
1943	SLB	AL	22	LF
1943	SLB	AL	22	RF
1944	SLB	AL	23	SS
1945	SLB	AL	24	SS
1945	SLB	AL	24	3B
1946	SLB	AL	25	SS
1947	SLB	AL	26	SS
1948	BOS	AL	27	SS
1949	BOS	AL	28	SS
1950	BOS	AL	29	SS
1951	BOS	AL	30	3B
1951	BOS	AL	30	SS
1952	BOS	AL	31	SS
1952	BOS	AL	31	3B
1953	CHW	AL	32	3B	1	4	1	2	-1	0
1953	CHW	AL	32	SS	1	109	1	0	0	0
1953	SLB	AL	32	3B	0	0	0	0	0	0
1954	BAL	AL	33	3B	-1	-2	-1	-3	1	0
1955	BAL	AL	34	3B	0	0	0	0	0	0
1955	CHW	AL	34	3B	2	16	2	1	1	0
	13 Seasons			SS	1	1	1	0	0	0
	6 Seasons			3B	1	1	1	0	1	0
	1 Season			LF
	1 Season			RF
	15 Seasons			TOT	2	1	2	0	1	0
Lg				Pos	Rtot	Rtot/yr	Rtz	Rtzhm	Rtzrd	Rdp	Rof	Rctch	Rdrs	Rdrs/yr	Rpm	Rdp	Rbnt	Rof	Rhr	RerC	RsbC	RsbP

Appearances

Year	Tm	Lg	Age	G	GS	Batting	Defense	P	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	OF	DH	PH	PR
1941	SLB	AL	20	3	0	3	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	1
1942	SLB	AL	21	145	144	145	144	0	0	0	0	0	144	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
1943	SLB	AL	22	137	134	137	134	0	0	0	0	0	123	9	0	3	11	0	3	0
1944	SLB	AL	23	145	142	145	143	0	0	0	0	0	143	0	0	0	0	0	2	0
1945	SLB	AL	24	149	148	149	148	0	0	0	0	4	144	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
1946	SLB	AL	25	115	112	115	112	0	0	0	0	0	112	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
1947	SLB	AL	26	150	149	150	149	0	0	0	0	0	149	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1948	BOS	AL	27	155	155	155	155	0	0	0	0	0	155	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1949	BOS	AL	28	155	155	155	155	0	0	0	0	0	155	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1950	BOS	AL	29	149	146	149	146	0	0	0	0	0	146	0	0	0	0	0	3	0
1951	BOS	AL	30	109	89	109	89	0	0	0	0	89	2	0	0	0	0	0	20	0
1952	BOS	AL	31	92	79	92	82	0	0	0	0	29	53	0	0	0	0	0	11	0
1953	SLB	AL	32	46	46	46	46	0	0	0	0	46	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1953	CHW	AL	32	44	33	44	41	0	0	0	0	38	3	0	0	0	0	0	4	0
1954	BAL	AL	33	101	95	101	96	0	0	0	0	96	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
1955	CHW	AL	34	22	14	22	18	0	0	0	0	18	0	0	0	0	0	0	5	0
1955	BAL	AL	34	3	2	3	2	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
	15 Seasons			1720	1643	1720	1661	0	0	0	0	322	1330	9	0	3	11	0	60	2
Lg				G	GS	Batting	Defense	P	C	1B	2B	3B	SS	LF	CF	RF	OF	DH	PH	PR

Appearances table is calculated solely from full RetroSheet play-by-play data available from 1973 on. A combination of RetroSheet (starting with the 1918 season) and non-RetroSheet data is used for other seasons.

Advanced Fielding -- SS*

											Putouts				Assists					Errors					Double Plays
Year	Tm	Lg	Age	PA	RHB%	BIP%	GBIP%	Fld	F2O%	FC	Tot	Cgt	Frc	Tag	Tot	1B	2B	Hm	Rly	Tot	Cch	Fld	Thr	ROE	Tot	643	63	463	163	363	GB	GBs	GBr	LD	LDs	LDf
1948	BOS	AL	27	4544	59%	83%	27%	475	92%	3	194	86	89	19	398	288	97	1	8	21	3	17	1	13	83	41	3	21	4	5	79	44	34	3	1	1
1949	BOS	AL	28	5446	63%	80%	27%	527	92%	4	235	89	132	15	465	337	117	2	3	25	1	19	5	18	120	45	3	32	12	12	111	49	59	6	2	4
1950	BOS	AL	29	4848	63%	78%	24%	441	94%	6	219	103	101	16	367	251	97	0	2	12	0	9	3	10	99	42	2	31	12	3	94	44	47	2	2	0
1951	BOS	AL	30	23	74%	87%	35%	2	100%	0	0	0	0	0	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1952	BOS	AL	31	1863	58%	81%	28%	175	89%	2	85	29	47	9	150	114	29	0	4	11	0	7	4	9	40	16	2	11	5	2	37	18	18	3	1	1
1953	CHW	AL	32	44	66%	86%	30%	5	100%	0	0	0	0	0	5	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	6 Seasons			16768	62%	81%	26%	1625	92%	15	733	307	369	59	1387	996	341	3	17	69	4	52	13	50	342	144	10	95	33	22	321	155	158	14	6	6
	MLB Averages				63%	82%	26%		90%

Advanced Fielding -- 3B*

											Putouts				Assists					Errors					Double Plays
Year	Tm	Lg	Age	PA	RHB%	BIP%	GBIP%	Fld	F2O%	FC	Tot	Cgt	Frc	Tag	Tot	1B	2B	Hm	Rly	Tot	Cch	Fld	Thr	ROE	Tot	543	53	GB	LD	LDs	LDf	bFld	bF2O%
1951	BOS	AL	30	3312	65%	81%	27%	303	92%	3	105	77	17	12	203	151	40	3	9	7	0	4	3	4	19	13	2	19	0	0	0	13	77%
1952	BOS	AL	31	1008	61%	80%	26%	102	85%	2	20	16	1	3	74	55	14	0	1	5	0	4	1	4	8	5	0	6	2	2	0	7	71%
1953	SLB	AL	32	1589	65%	79%	22%	139	86%	2	51	38	4	9	85	67	14	0	4	7	0	4	3	4	7	5	0	6	1	0	1	10	50%
1953	CHW	AL	32	1230	67%	81%	26%	100	83%	0	30	19	6	5	67	51	13	0	4	1	0	1	0	1	7	3	3	7	0	0	0	8	63%
1954	BAL	AL	33	3530	64%	79%	24%	292	89%	2	96	76	14	6	185	141	34	2	2	10	0	10	0	8	19	10	1	16	3	3	0	31	61%
1955	CHW	AL	34	580	63%	82%	23%	45	98%	0	16	10	3	3	33	26	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	4	3	0	3	1	0	1	5	80%
1955	BAL	AL	34	55	64%	82%	25%	3	100%	0	0	0	0	0	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	100%
	5 Seasons			11304	65%	80%	25%	984	89%	9	318	236	45	38	650	494	121	5	21	30	0	23	7	21	64	39	6	57	7	5	2	75	65%
	MLB Averages				63%	82%	26%		89%																								67%

* Many Detailed Statistics are based on play-by-play accounts accumulated by RetroSheet. These totals may be incomplete (3.6% of all plays from 1918 to 1973 are missing or have incomplete accounts, click link for year and team summary) for some players prior to 1974 and even complete seasons may not match the official totals due to errors in both the official totals and the play-by-play accounts. Pre-1954 seasons have a substantial numbers of games missing play-by-play accounts and should be viewed as essentially incomplete.

Appearances on Leader Boards, Awards, and Honors

Stats are Year-Value-Rank · Glossary

All-Star Games 1943 (SS) 1944 (SS) 1945--not played 1946 * 1948 * 1949 * 1950 1951 *	MVP (yr lg (rk, shr)) 1942 AL (4, 42%) 1943 AL (9, 15%) 1944 AL (3, 56%) 1945 AL (6, 28%) 1946 AL (19, 2%) 1947 AL (31, 0%) 1948 AL (4, 36%) 1949 AL (7, 30%) 1950 AL (24, 2%) 2.12 Career Shares (83rd)	Assists† s c a p y 1944 AL 480 (4th) 1945 AL 450 (4th) 1947 AL 494 (1st) 1948 AL 540 (1st) 1949 AL 508 (1st)	Errors Committed† s c a p y 1942 AL 42 (1st) 1943 AL 34 (5th) 1946 AL 30 (5th) 1948 AL 24 (5th) 1949 AL 27 (2nd)
Putouts as 3B s c a p y 1951 AL 105 (5th)	Def. Games as SS s c a p y 1942 AL 144 (3rd) 1944 AL 143 (2nd) 1945 AL 144 (2nd) 1947 AL 149 (4th) 1948 AL 155 (1st) 1949 AL 155 (1st) 1950 AL 146 (3rd) Career 1,330 (79th)	Putouts as SS s c a p y 1942 AL 290 (3rd) 1944 AL 239 (5th) 1945 AL 256 (5th) 1947 AL 283 (4th) 1948 AL 269 (3rd) 1949 AL 257 (4th) 1950 AL 258 (3rd) Career 2,385 (75th)	Assists as SS s c a p y 1942 AL 415 (5th) 1944 AL 480 (2nd) 1945 AL 439 (2nd) 1947 AL 494 (1st) 1948 AL 540 (1st) 1949 AL 508 (1st) 1950 AL 431 (4th) Career 4,150 (75th)
Errors Committed as SS s c a p y 1942 AL 42 (1st) 1943 AL 34 (5th) 1944 AL 35 (4th) 1946 AL 30 (3rd) 1947 AL 24 (5th) 1948 AL 24 (1st) 1949 AL 27 (2nd) Career 269 (88th)	Range Factor/9Inn as 3B† s c a p y 1951 AL 3.64 (1st)	Range Factor/Game as 3B s c a p y 1951 AL 3.51 (1st)	Fielding % as 3B s c a p y 1951 AL .978 (1st) 1953 AL .968 (2nd) 1954 AL .966 (4th)
Range Factor/Game as SS s c a p y 1942 AL 4.90 (4th) 1944 AL 5.03 (5th) 1946 AL 5.06 (5th) 1947 AL 5.21 (4th) 1948 AL 5.22 (3rd) Career 4.91 (81st)	Fielding % as SS s c a p y 1944 AL .954 (4th) 1945 AL .961 (2nd) 1946 AL .950 (5th) 1947 AL .970 (4th) 1948 AL .971 (4th) 1949 AL .966 (4th) 1950 AL .981 (2nd)	Youngest s c a p y 1941 AL born 1920-10-23 (8th)

Other Resources & Links

Error? Compare Search SABR's Baseball Index Other Links@google.com Baseball Library Baseball-Almanac.com DeadBallEra Obituary Retrosheet SABR BioProject The Baseball Cube The Baseball Page WhatIfSports: Vern Stephens

Viewed 34,854 times through June 1, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Vernon Buster Decatur Junior Junior,Buster Vern vernon Stephens

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