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John Wathan

John David Wathan

Positions: Catcher, First Baseman and Outfielder
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 2", Weight: 205 lb.

Born: October 4, 1949 in Cedar Rapids, IA
High School: St. Augustine (San Diego, CA)
School: University of San Diego
Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1971 amateur draft (January). (All Transactions)
Debut: May 26, 1976
Team: Royals 1976-1985

Final Game: October 6, 1985
Relatives: Father of Dusty Wathan
View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject
About biographical information

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Fan EloRater

Fine Details · Last Updated Dec 23, 2011, 9:59AM

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
1971	21	KCR-min	A	107	387	362	31	97	15	6	4	21	5	2	25	18	.268	.315	.376	.691		136						SJO,WLO · CALL,MIDW
1972	22	KCR-min	A,AA,AAA	82	291	253	39	72	12	2	4	20	5	4	35	36	.285	.374	.395	.769		100		1	2	0		SJO,JCK,OMA · CALL,SOUL,AA
1973	23	KCR-min	AA	65	233	233		58	8	3	5						.249	.249	.373	.622		87						JCK · SOUL
1974	24	KCR-min	AA	120	479	428	63	105	14	2	7	47	7	1	45	68	.245	.319	.336	.656		144		2	3	1		JCK · SOUL
1975	25	KCR-min	AAA	104	399	360	42	109	14	4	8	46	2	1	33	48	.303	.361	.431	.792		155		1	3	2		OMA · AA
1976	26	KCR-min	AAA	24	89	84	4	13	5	0	0	6	0	0	5	16	.155	.202	.214	.417		18		0	0	0		OMA · AA
1976	26	KCR	AL	27	46	42	5	12	1	0	0	5	0	2	2	5	.286	.333	.310	.643	88	13	1	1	1	0	0	2/3
1977	27	KCR	AL	55	127	119	18	39	5	3	2	21	2	0	5	8	.328	.346	.471	.817	119	56	1	0	0	3	1	2/3
1978	28	KCR	AL	67	203	190	19	57	10	1	2	28	2	1	3	12	.300	.320	.395	.715	98	75	5	4	3	3	1	32
1979	29	KCR	AL	90	216	199	26	41	7	3	2	28	2	1	7	24	.206	.227	.302	.529	41	60	7	0	5	5	1	32/D79
1980	30	KCR	AL	126	510	453	57	138	14	7	6	58	17	3	50	42	.305	.377	.406	.783	115	184	19	3	3	1	6	2793	MVP-24
1981	31	KCR	AL	89	330	301	24	76	9	3	1	19	11	6	19	23	.252	.298	.312	.611	78	94	9	2	5	3	1	*29/73
1982	32	KCR	AL	121	502	448	79	121	11	3	3	51	36	9	48	46	.270	.343	.328	.671	86	147	26	2	3	1	0	*2/3
1983	33	KCR	AL	128	469	437	49	107	18	3	2	32	28	7	27	56	.245	.289	.314	.603	67	137	11	1	2	2	0	23/97
1984	34	KCR	AL	97	196	171	17	31	7	1	2	10	6	6	21	34	.181	.271	.269	.540	51	46	6	0	4	0	0	23/7
1985	35	KCR	AL	60	165	145	11	34	8	1	1	9	1	1	17	15	.234	.319	.324	.643	77	47	4	1	2	0	0	2/3
10 Seasons				860	2764	2505	305	656	90	25	21	261	105	36	199	265	.262	.318	.343	.661	83	859	89	14	28	18	10
162 Game Avg.				162	521	472	57	124	17	5	4	49	20	7	37	50	.262	.318	.343	.661	83	162	17	3	5	3	2

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
1976	26	KCR	AL	46	0	0	0	0	-0	1	2	3	0.3	3	0.3	0.0	$	2/3
1977	27	KCR	AL	127	3	1	2	1	-4	1	4	8	0.8	12	1.2	-0.4	$	2/3
1978	28	KCR	AL	203	0	0	1	0	6	-1	7	13	1.3	7	0.7	0.6	$	32
1979	29	KCR	AL	216	-17	1	0	0	-1	-2	7	-12	-1.2	-11	-1.1	-0.1	$	32/D79
1980	30	KCR	AL	510	9	3	-1	-2	-5	3	16	23	2.4	28	2.9	-0.5	$	2793	MVP-24
1981	31	KCR	AL	330	-13	0	-2	1	-9	4	10	-9	-1.0	0	0.0	-1.0	$	*29/73
1982	32	KCR	AL	502	-7	4	1	-3	0	7	15	17	1.7	17	1.8	-0.1	$	*2/3
1983	33	KCR	AL	469	-21	3	-2	-2	1	4	15	-3	-0.4	-3	-0.3	-0.1	$	23/97
1984	34	KCR	AL	196	-12	-4	0	-1	-2	2	6	-11	-1.2	-9	-0.9	-0.3	$	23/7
1985	35	KCR	AL	165	-5	0	-2	0	5	2	5	5	0.5	0	0.0	0.5	$425,000	2/3
10 Seasons				2764	-63	8	-3	-6	-9	21	87	34	3.2	44	4.6	-1.4	$425,000

Postseason Batting

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
1976	26	KCR	AL	ALCS	NYY	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0					0	0	0	0	0
1977	27	KCR	AL	ALCS	NYY	L	4	6	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0
1978	28	KCR	AL	ALCS	NYY	L	1	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0

1980	30	KCR	AL	ALCS	NYY	W	3	9	6	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	.000	.333	.000	.333	0	0	0	0	0	1
1980	30	KCR	AL	WS	PHI	L	3	10	7	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	1	.286	.400	.286	.686	2	2	0	0	1	0
1981	31	KCR	AL	ALDS	OAK	L	3	11	10	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.300	.364	.300	.664	3	0	0	0	0	0

1984	34	KCR	AL	ALCS	DET	L	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0
1985	35	KCR	AL	WS	STL	W	2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0	0	0	0	0
7 Seasons (8 Series)							18	41	34	3	5	0	0	0	1	0	0	6	7	.147	.268	.147	.415	5	2	0	0	1	1
1 ALDS							3	11	10	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	.300	.364	.300	.664	3	0	0	0	0	0
5 ALCS							10	19	16	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	3	4	.000	.158	.000	.158	0	0	0	0	0	1
2 WS							5	11	8	1	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	2	2	.250	.364	.250	.614	2	2	0	0	1	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	PB	WP	SB	CS	CS%	PO	Awards
1976	KCR	AL	26	C	23	8	7	101.0	62	57	4	1	1	.984	0	0	5.44	2.65	.981	5.75	5.77	0	2	9	3	25%	0
1976	KCR	AL	26	1B	3	1	0	11.0	6	6	0	0	0	1.000	-0	-11	4.91	2.00	.992	9.82	9.90
1977	KCR	AL	27	C	35	19	16	205.0	140	130	9	1	0	.993	-3	-18	6.10	3.97	.986	6.01	5.97	2	4	15	3	17%	0
1977	KCR	AL	27	1B	5	4	1	26.0	27	26	0	1	2	.963	-1	-28	9.00	5.20	.990	10.00	9.96
1978	KCR	AL	28	1B	47	31	23	296.1	329	307	22	0	20	1.000	6	24	9.99	7.00	.992	10.05	9.95
1978	KCR	AL	28	C	21	16	12	146.1	86	78	6	2	0	.977	0	0	5.17	4.00	.983	5.53	5.48	1	2	11	6	35%	0
1979	KCR	AL	29	1B	49	25	16	250.0	285	264	19	2	30	.993	-0	-1	10.19	5.78	.992	10.08	9.96
1979	KCR	AL	29	C	23	18	16	164.1	76	70	5	1	0	.987	0	0	4.11	3.26	.982	5.46	5.39	0	2	7	2	22%	0
1979	KCR	AL	29	DH	5	5
1979	KCR	AL	29	OF	3	0	0	8.0	2	2	0	0	0	1.000	-1	-120	2.25	0.67	.980	2.48	2.43
1979	KCR	AL	29	LF	2	0	0	6.0	1	1	0	0	0	1.000	-0	-100	1.50	0.50	.980	2.25	2.20
1979	KCR	AL	29	RF	1	0	0	2.0	1	1	0	0	0	1.000	-0	-180	4.50	1.00	.980	2.25	2.20
1980	KCR	AL	30	C	77	72	70	651.0	337	306	25	6	5	.982	-4	-7	4.58	4.30	.986	5.48	5.47	1	17	58	21	27%	0	MVP-24
1980	KCR	AL	30	OF	35	31	26	278.0	56	54	1	1	0	.982	-1	-6	1.78	1.57	.979	2.47	2.46							MVP-24
1980	KCR	AL	30	LF	19	18	15	157.0	36	35	0	1	0	.972	1	6	2.01	1.84	.980	2.35	2.35							MVP-24
1980	KCR	AL	30	RF	17	13	11	121.0	20	19	1	0	0	1.000	-2	-22	1.49	1.18	.975	2.13	2.12							MVP-24
1980	KCR	AL	30	1B	12	11	9	102.1	120	112	7	1	14	.992	0	0	10.47	9.92	.992	10.02	10.00							MVP-24
1981	KCR	AL	31	C	73	68	61	615.1	333	300	26	7	1	.979	-3	-6	4.77	4.47	.987	5.51	5.49	2	10	45	18	29%	0
1981	KCR	AL	31	OF	16	13	8	115.0	17	15	2	0	0	1.000	-6	-61	1.33	1.06	.983	2.48	2.47
1981	KCR	AL	31	RF	13	10	7	92.0	15	14	1	0	0	1.000	-4	-50	1.47	1.15	.980	2.16	2.15
1981	KCR	AL	31	LF	3	3	1	23.0	2	1	1	0	0	1.000	-2	-104	0.78	0.67	.980	2.39	2.37
1981	KCR	AL	31	1B	1	0	0	1.0	1	1	0	0	0	1.000	-0	-120	9.00	1.00	.990	9.90	10.00
1982	KCR	AL	32	C	120	116	93	991.1	511	463	38	10	3	.980	0	0	4.55	4.18	.988	5.69	5.66	4	29	61	40	40%	0
1982	KCR	AL	32	1B	3	2	0	18.2	21	19	2	0	2	1.000	0	13	10.12	7.00	.992	9.88	9.80
1983	KCR	AL	33	C	92	89	83	786.2	398	360	32	6	5	.985	-1	-2	4.48	4.26	.986	5.70	5.66	2	28	57	30	34%	1
1983	KCR	AL	33	1B	37	27	21	238.0	273	244	26	3	24	.989	1	7	10.21	7.30	.992	9.90	9.82
1983	KCR	AL	33	OF	9	3	0	33.0	11	11	0	0	0	1.000	0	7	3.00	1.22	.981	2.51	2.48
1983	KCR	AL	33	RF	8	2	0	24.0	9	9	0	0	0	1.000	0	15	3.38	1.13	.978	2.25	2.22
1983	KCR	AL	33	LF	3	1	0	9.0	2	2	0	0	0	1.000	-0	-13	2.00	0.67	.975	2.30	2.30
1984	KCR	AL	34	C	59	49	36	421.0	240	213	21	6	2	.975	-2	-6	5.00	3.97	.987	5.96	5.92	1	13	29	13	31%	1
1984	KCR	AL	34	1B	33	1	1	77.1	101	91	10	0	8	1.000	1	14	11.75	3.06	.991	9.74	9.68
1984	KCR	AL	34	LF	1	1	0	4.0	0	0	0	0	0		-0	-150	0.00	0.00		2.25	2.30
1984	KCR	AL	34	OF	1	1	0	4.0	0	0	0	0	0		-0	-150	0.00	0.00		2.48	2.50
1985	KCR	AL	35	C	49	40	35	371.2	279	247	28	4	6	.986	4	13	6.66	5.61	.987	6.05	5.99	2	9	21	16	43%	0
1985	KCR	AL	35	1B	6	1	0	14.0	13	12	1	0	0	1.000	1	69	8.36	2.17	.991	9.77	9.67
	10 Seasons			C	572	495	429	4453.2	2462	2224	194	44	23	.982	-9	-2	4.89	4.23	.986	5.69	5.67	15	116	313	152	33%	2
	10 Seasons			1B	196	103	71	1034.2	1176	1082	87	7	100	.994	8	9	10.17	5.96	.992	9.99	9.87
	5 Seasons			OF	64	48	34	438.0	86	82	3	1	0	.988	-8	-23	1.75	1.33	.980	2.48	2.46
	4 Seasons			RF	39	25	18	239.0	45	43	2	0	0	1.000	-6	-30	1.69	1.15	.977	2.15	2.15
	5 Seasons			LF	28	23	16	199.0	41	39	1	1	0	.976	-2	-14	1.81	1.43	.980	2.35	2.33
	10 Seasons			TOT	832	646	534	5926.1	3724	3388	284	52	123	.986	-9	-2	5.58	4.41	.988	6.21	6.42	15	116	313	152	33%	2
Lg				Pos	G	GS	CG	Inn	Ch	PO	A	E	DP	Fld%	Rtot	Rtot/yr	RF/9	RF/G	lgFld%	lgRF9	lgRFG	PB	WP	SB	CS	CS%	PO	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

Hall of Fame 1991 BBWAA ()	MVP (yr lg (rk, shr)) 1980 AL (24, 0%) 0.00 Career Shares (1713th)	Stolen Bases s c a p y 1982 AL 36 (6th)	Double Plays Grounded Into s c a p y 1982 AL 26 (2nd)
AB per SO s c a p y 1981 AL 13.1 (10th)	Errors Committed as C s c a p y 1981 AL 7 (4th) 1982 AL 10 (3rd)	Stolen Bases Allowed as C s c a p y 1981 AL 45 (5th)	Caught Stealing %† s c a p y 1985 AL 43.2 (3rd)
Total Zone Runs as C s c a p y 1985 AL 4 (5th)	Total Zone Runs as 1B s c a p y 1978 AL 6 (3rd) Career 8 (97th)

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Gray Ink	Batting - 2 (2130), Average HOFer ≈ 144
Hall of Fame Monitor	Batting - 2 (1908), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame Standards	Batting - 3 (2527), 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

Frank Bonner (979) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Dave Berg (953) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Tom Carey (966) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Bob Fisher (975) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Bones Ely (954) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Ernie Johnson (958) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Ernie Johnson (962) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

Transactions

January 13, 1971: Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (4th pick) of the 1971 amateur draft (January).

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
1985	35	Kansas City Royals	$425,000	1985 USA Today survey
1986	36	Kansas City Royals	$400,000	1986 USA Today survey
1987	37	Kansas City Royals	$450,000	Proofing corrections

Career to date (may be incomplete)			$1,275,000

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: John Wathan

Viewed 11,897 times through February 11, 2012.
Name and misspellings: John David james jim jimmy John jon Wathan

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