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Lefty Williams

Claude Preston Williams

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Left
Height: 5' 9", Weight: 160 lb.

Born: March 9, 1893 in Aurora, MO (All Transactions)
Debut: September 17, 1913 (Age 20)
Teams (by GP): WhiteSox/Tigers 1913-1920

Final Game: September 25, 1920 (Age 27)
Died: November 4, 1959 in Laguna Beach, CA
Buried: Melrose Abbey Cemetery, Anaheim, CA
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Fine Details  · Last updated May 22, 2013 8:17AM
All-Time Rank (among pitchers): #734. Tex Carleton… #735. Jay Howell… #736. Rod Beck… #737. LEFTY WILLIAMS… #738. Hank Borowy… #739. Red Munger… #740. Tom Seaton… 

Standard Pitching

More Stats

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
1913 20 DET AL 1 3 .250 4.97 5 4 1 3 0 1 29.0 34 18 16 0 4 9 1 0 1 124 59 1.310 10.6 0.0 1.2 2.8 2.25
1914 21 DET AL 0 1 .000 0.00 1 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 3 5 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 9 5.000 27.0 0.0 18.0 0.0 0.00
1916 23 CHW AL 13 7 .650 2.89 43 26 9 10 2 1 224.1 220 99 72 5 65 138 8 0 2 897 96 1.270 8.8 0.2 2.6 5.5 2.12
1917 24 CHW AL 17 8 .680 2.97 45 29 14 8 1 1 230.0 221 94 76 3 81 85 9 0 5 968 90 1.313 8.6 0.1 3.2 3.3 1.05
1918 25 CHW AL 6 4 .600 2.73 15 14 1 7 2 1 105.2 76 32 32 0 47 30 5 0 2 423 101 1.164 6.5 0.0 4.0 2.6 0.64
1919 26 CHW AL 23 11 .676 2.64 41 40 1 27 5 1 297.0 265 104 87 7 58 125 11 0 0 1155 121 1.088 8.0 0.2 1.8 3.8 2.16
1920 27 CHW AL 22 14 .611 3.91 39 38 1 25 0 0 299.0 302 145 130 15 90 128 12 1 4 1218 96 1.311 9.1 0.5 2.7 3.9 1.42
7 Yrs 82 48 .631 3.13 189 152 27 80 10 5 1186.0 1121 497 413 30 347 515 46 1 14 4794 99 1.238 8.5 0.2 2.6 3.9 1.48
162 Game Avg. 16 10 .631 3.13 38 30 5 16 2 1 237 224 99 82 6 69 103 9 0 3 956 99 1.238 8.5 0.2 2.6 3.9 1.48
CHW (5 yrs) 81 44 .648 3.09 183 147 26 77 10 4 1156.0 1084 474 397 30 341 506 45 1 13 4661 101 1.233 8.4 0.2 2.7 3.9 1.48
DET (2 yrs) 1 4 .200 4.80 6 5 1 3 0 1 30.0 37 23 16 0 6 9 1 0 1 133 62 1.433 11.1 0.0 1.8 2.7 1.50

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR Explained (v2.2): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg IP G GS R RA9 RA9opp RA9def RA9role PPFp RA9avg RAA WAA gmLI WAAadj WAR RAR waaWL% 162WL% Salary Awards
1913 20 DET AL 29.0 5 4 18 5.59 3.91 -0.16 0.00 99.0 4.03 -5 -0.5 1.0 -0.0 -0.2 -2 .400 .497
1914 21 DET AL 1.0 1 1 5 45.00 3.62 0.16 0.00 102.0 3.53 -5 -0.3 -0.0 -0.3 -5 .162 .498
1916 23 CHW AL 224.1 43 26 99 3.97 3.69 0.19 0.00 98.5 3.45 -12 -1.4 1.0 -0.2 0.7 6 .467 .491
1917 24 CHW AL 229.1 45 29 94 3.69 3.55 -0.03 0.00 101.4 3.62 -2 -0.3 1.0 -0.2 1.9 18 .494 .498
1918 25 CHW AL 105.2 15 14 32 2.73 3.59 -0.10 0.00 99.3 3.67 11 1.4 1.0 -0.1 2.4 20 .593 .509 $3,000
1919 26 CHW AL 297.1 41 40 104 3.15 4.03 0.07 0.00 99.6 3.94 22 2.6 1.0 -0.3 5.4 54 .563 .516
1920 27 CHW AL 298.0 39 38 145 4.38 4.75 0.07 0.00 99.2 4.63 7 0.7 1.0 -0.2 3.6 41 .519 .505 $6,000
7 Seasons 1184.2 189 152 497 3.78 4.01 0.05 0.00 99.6 3.94 16 2.2 1.0 -0.9 13.3 132 .511 .502 $9,000
CHW (5 yrs) 1154.2 183 147 474 3.69 4.01 0.06 0.00 99.6 3.94 26 3.0 1.0 -0.9 13.8 139 .516 .504 $9,000
DET (2 yrs) 30.0 6 5 23 6.90 3.90 -0.15 0.00 99.1 4.01 -9 -0.8 1.0 -0.0 -0.6 -7 .360 .497

Postseason Pitching

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
1917 24 CHW AL WS W NYG 0 0 9.00 1 0 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 6 2.000 18.0 0.0 0.0 27.0
1919 26 CHW AL WS L CIN 0 3 .000 6.61 3 3 0 1 0 0 16.1 12 12 12 0 8 0 4 0 0 0 66 1.224 6.6 0.0 4.4 2.2 0.50
2 Yrs (2 Series) 0 3 .000 6.75 4 3 0 1 0 0 17.1 14 13 13 0 8 0 7 0 0 0 72 1.269 7.3 0.0 4.2 3.6 0.88
2 WS 0 3 .000 6.75 4 3 0 1 0 0 17.1 14 13 13 0 8 0 7 0 0 0 72 1.269 7.3 0.0 4.2 3.6 0.88

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
1913 20 DET AL 5 11 10 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 .100 .182 .100 .282 -17 1 0 0 /1
1914 21 DET AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 /1
1916 23 CHW AL 43 83 74 5 10 2 1 0 4 0 7 30 .135 .220 .189 .409 22 14 1 0 1
1917 24 CHW AL 45 80 67 5 6 0 1 0 2 0 8 19 .090 .187 .119 .306 -7 8 0 6 1
1918 25 CHW AL 15 43 38 4 5 0 0 0 2 0 1 14 .132 .154 .132 .285 -14 5 0 3 1
1919 26 CHW AL 41 115 94 10 17 2 2 0 10 0 9 28 .181 .252 .245 .497 39 23 0 12 1
1920 27 CHW AL 39 116 101 5 22 2 1 0 11 0 0 7 16 .218 .269 .257 .526 40 26 0 8 1
7 Yrs 190 448 384 30 61 6 5 0 29 0 0 33 112 .159 .227 .201 .428 22 77 1 29
162 Game Avg. 162 382 327 26 52 5 4 0 25 0 28 95 .159 .227 .201 .428 22 66 1 25
CHW (5 yrs) 183 437 374 29 60 6 5 0 29 0 0 32 107 .160 .229 .203 .432 23 76 1 29
DET (2 yrs) 7 11 10 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 5 .100 .182 .100 .282 -17 1 0 0

Player Value--Batters

WAR Explained (v2.2): 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Starter, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl
Year Age Tm Lg G PA Rbat Rbaser Rdp Rfield Rpos RAA WAA Rrep RAR WAR waaWL% 162WL% oWAR dWAR oRAR Salary Pos Awards
1913 20 DET AL 5 11 -2 0 0 0 1 -0 -0.1 0 -0 -0.1 .487 .500 -0.1 0.0 -0 /1
1914 21 DET AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 0 /1
1916 23 CHW AL 43 83 -7 0 0 0 6 -1 -0.1 3 2 -0.1 .498 .499 -0.1 -0.0 2 1
1917 24 CHW AL 45 80 -9 0 0 0 5 -3 -0.4 3 -0 -0.4 .492 .498 -0.4 0.0 -0 1
1918 25 CHW AL 15 43 -6 0 0 0 3 -3 -0.3 2 -1 -0.3 .477 .498 -0.3 0.0 -1 $3,000 1
1919 26 CHW AL 41 115 -9 0 0 0 9 0 0.0 4 4 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 4 1
1920 27 CHW AL 39 116 -9 0 0 0 9 0 0.0 4 4 0.0 .500 .500 0.0 0.0 4 $6,000 1
7 Seasons 190 448 -41 1 0 0 33 -7 -0.8 17 10 -0.8 .496 .499 -0.8 0.0 10 $9,000
CHW (5 yrs) 183 437 -40 1 0 0 32 -6 -0.8 16 10 -0.8 .496 .499 -0.8 0.0 10 $9,000
DET (2 yrs) 7 11 -2 0 0 0 1 -0 -0.1 0 -0 -0.1 .491 .500 -0.1 0.0 -0

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
1917 24 CHW AL WS NYG W 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
1919 26 CHW AL WS CIN L 3 5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .200 .200 .200 .400 1 0 0 0 0 0
2 Yrs (2 Series) 4 5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .200 .200 .200 .400 1 0 0 0 0 0
2 WS 4 5 5 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .200 .200 .200 .400 1 0 0 0 0 0

Standard Fielding

More Stats

Year Tm Lg Age Pos G GS CG Inn Ch PO A E DP Fld% RF/9 RF/G lgFld% lgRF9 lgRFG Awards
1913 DET AL 20 P 5 29.0 3 0 3 0 0 1.000 0.93 0.60 .937 3.01 2.98
1914 DET AL 21 P 1 1.0 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.00 2.70 2.90
1916 CHW AL 23 P 43 26 10 224.1 46 9 37 0 0 1.000 1.85 1.07 .945 2.95 2.96
1917 CHW AL 24 P 45 29 8 230.0 58 8 46 4 2 .931 2.11 1.20 .947 3.04 3.05
1918 CHW AL 25 P 15 14 7 105.2 25 3 20 2 0 .920 1.96 1.53 .952 2.82 2.84
1919 CHW AL 26 P 41 40 27 297.0 65 8 54 3 2 .954 1.88 1.51 .948 2.84 2.83
1920 CHW AL 27 P 39 38 25 299.0 68 8 57 3 6 .956 1.96 1.67 .949 2.70 2.68
7 Seasons P 189 147 77 1186.0 265 36 217 12 10 .955 1.92 1.34 .948 2.87 2.89
7 Seasons TOT 189 147 77 1186.0 265 36 217 12 10 .955 1.92 1.34 .948 2.87 2.89
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-1945 SB & CS data for catchers is estimated from catcher assists, games started and opposition stolen bases.
  • From 1945 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 1945 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 1916 on.
  • Innings played (like SB and CS) come from the retrosheet play-by-play data and should be considered mostly complete from 1945 to 1973 and complete from then on.
  • Stats (PO,A,G, etc) for LF-CF-RF positions (since 1916) 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 1945 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

WAR for Pitchers† s c a p y
1919 AL  5.4 (6th)

Earned Run Average s c a p y
1919 AL  2.64 (9th)
Career  3.13 (217th)

Wins s c a p y
1917 AL  17 (7th)
1919 AL  23 (3rd)
1920 AL  22 (5th)

Win-Loss % s c a p y
1916 AL  .650 (8th)
1917 AL  .680 (5th)
1919 AL  .676 (4th)
Career  .631 (53rd)

Walks & Hits per IP s c a p y
1919 AL  1.088 (3rd)
1920 AL  1.311 (10th)
Career  1.238 (235th)

Hits per 9 IP s c a p y
1919 AL  8.030 (7th)

Bases On Balls per 9 IP s c a p y
1919 AL  1.758 (4th)

Strikeouts per 9 IP s c a p y
1916 AL  5.536 (2nd)
1919 AL  3.788 (8th)
1920 AL  3.853 (5th)

Games Played s c a p y
1917 AL  45 (8th)
1919 AL  41 (5th)

Saves s c a p y
1919 AL  1 (10th)

Innings Pitched s c a p y
1919 AL  297.0 (3rd)
1920 AL  299.0 (6th)

Strikeouts s c a p y
1916 AL  138 (7th)
1919 AL  125 (3rd)
1920 AL  128 (2nd)

Games Started s c a p y
1919 AL  40 (1st)
1920 AL  38 (2nd)

Complete Games s c a p y
1919 AL  27 (2nd)
1920 AL  25 (6th)

Shutouts s c a p y
1919 AL  5 (2nd)

Home Runs s c a p y
1916 AL  5 (7th)
1917 AL  3 (9th)
1919 AL  7 (7th)
1920 AL  15 (1st)

Bases on Balls s c a p y
1920 AL  90 (6th)

Hits s c a p y
1919 AL  265 (3rd)
1920 AL  302 (8th)

Strikeouts / Base On Balls s c a p y
1916 AL  2.123 (5th)
1919 AL  2.155 (3rd)
1920 AL  1.422 (6th)

Home Runs per 9 IP s c a p y
Career  0.228 (200th)

Earned Runs s c a p y
1917 AL  76 (6th)
1919 AL  87 (6th)
1920 AL  130 (1st)

Hit By Pitch s c a p y
1916 AL  8 (7th)
1917 AL  9 (9th)
1919 AL  11 (1st)
1920 AL  12 (3rd)

Batters Faced s c a p y
1919 AL  1,155 (3rd)
1920 AL  1,218 (6th)

Games Finished s c a p y
1917 AL  14 (7th)

Adjusted ERA+ s c a p y
1919 AL  121 (10th)

Adj. Pitching Runs s c a p y
1919 AL  21 (6th)

Adj. Pitching Wins s c a p y
1919 AL  2.3 (6th)

Def. Games as P s c a p y
1919 AL  41 (5th)

Fielding % as P s c a p y
1916 AL  1.000 (1st)

                                         

Hall Of Fame Statistics

Player rank in (·)

Black InkPitching - 1 (873), Average HOFer ≈ 40
Gray InkPitching - 59 (431), Average HOFer ≈ 185
Hall of Fame MonitorPitching - 26 (509), Likely HOFer ≈ 100
Hall of Fame StandardsPitching - 23 (240), Average HOFer ≈ 50
JAWS Starting Pitcher (755th), 12.4 career WAR/12.4 7yr-peak WAR/12.4 JAWS
Average HOF P (out of 57) = 72.6 career WAR/50.0 7yr-peak WAR/61.3 JAWS

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores
Similar Pitchers 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Compare Stats to Similars
  1. Adam Wainwright (953)
  2. Doug Rau (952)
  3. Jim Hughes (951)
  4. Harry Coveleski (945)
  5. Mike Smith (944)
  6. Gene Packard (942)
  7. Lady Baldwin (935)
  8. Tex Hughson (933)
  9. Ray Collins (932)
  10. Ben Sanders (932)
Most Similar by Ages 
 View Similar Player Links in Pop-up
 Hold mouse over #'s to see names
  1. Jaime Garcia (984)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  2. Larry Jaster (980)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  3. Hippo Vaughn (967)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  4. Hod Eller (963)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
  5. John Candelaria (973)  2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
* - Signifies Hall of Famer

Transactions

  • August 11, 1913: Purchased by the Detroit Tigers from Nashville (Southern) for $3,500.
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/Other Sources
191825Chicago White Sox$3,000B. Veeck, The Hustler's Handbook 257
192027Chicago White Sox$6,000*Michael Haupert research of HOF contractsII Seymour at 335:6000.00,White Sox Encyclopedia 241: $2,800
Career to date (may be incomplete)$9,000
Primary salary Data (about) courtesy Doug Pappas, and the Society for American Baseball Research.
Additional 1915-1969 salaries researched via Baseball Hall of Fame contract archives by Dr. Michael Haupert of UW-LaCrosse.
Salaries for mid-season call-ups or traded players may not be shown.
Salaries converted to alternate years using Consumer Price Index (CPI) data courtesty of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Board.

Other Resources & Links

Error?     Compare     Search SABR's Baseball Index     Other Links@google.com     Baseball Library     Baseball-Almanac.com     DeadBallEra Obituary     Retrosheet     The Baseball Cube     WahooSam.com     WhatIfSports: Lefty Williams    

Viewed 21,042 times through May 22, 2013.
Name and misspellings: Claude claude Lefty Preston wiliams willaims willams Williams

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