Mobile Site You Are Here > Home > Encyclopedia of Players > W Listing > Frank Wills Statistics and History

News: Features: PI Batting Order Position Tool »post

Frank Wills

Frank Lee Wills

Position: Pitcher
Bats: Right, Throws: Right
Height: 6' 2", Weight: 200 lb.

Born: October 26, 1958 in New Orleans, LA
High School: De LaSalle (New Orleans, LA)
School: Tulane University
Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (16th pick) of the 1980 amateur draft. (All Transactions)
Debut: July 31, 1983
Teams (by GP): BlueJays/Indians/Mariners/Royals 1983-1991

Final Game: April 30, 1991
About biographical information

View team uniforms at Dressed to the Nines a Baseball Hall of Fame on-line exhibit / Report an error

Like this page? Sponsor it for $10. Your message will replace this ad.

Fan EloRater

Fine Details · Last Updated Dec 23, 2011, 10:03AM

All-Time Rank (among Pitchers): #1. Walter Johnson… #2. Cy Young… #3. Greg Maddux… #4. Christy Mathewson… #5. Pete Alexander… #6. Tom Seaver… #7. Randy Johnson…

All-Time Rank (among Pitchers): #1. Walter Johnson… #2. Cy Young… #3. Greg Maddux… #4. Christy Mathewson… #5. Pete Alexander… #6. Tom Seaver… #7. Randy Johnson…

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
1980	21	KCR-min	A,Rk	4	5	.444	3.15	13	13		3	0	0	80.0	77	40	28	1	40	0	68	8	4	9			1.462	8.7	0.1	4.5	7.6	1.70	CHS,RYB · SALL,GULF
1981	22	KCR-min	AA	9	14	.391	3.98	27	27	0	11	1	0	192.0	199	104	85	16	91	3	174	9	3	15			1.510	9.3	0.8	4.3	8.2	1.91	JCK · SOUL
1982	23	KCR-min	AAA	7	10	.412	5.20	41	12	23	2	0	3	107.1	110	71	62	8	81	2	77	4	0	7			1.780	9.2	0.7	6.8	6.5	0.95	OMA · AA
1983	24	KCR-min	AAA,AA	9	13	.409	3.92	24	24	0	6	1	0	149.1	140	75	65	11	68	3	105	2	4	10			1.393	8.4	0.7	4.1	6.3	1.54	OMA,JCK · AA,SOUL
1983	24	KCR	AL	2	1	.667	4.15	6	4	1	0	0	0	34.2	35	17	16	2	15	0	23	0	0	3	152	99	1.442	9.1	0.5	3.9	6.0	1.53
1984	25	KCR-min	AAA	7	4	.636	2.81	15	15	0	2	1	0	89.2	75	32	28	9	49	0	69	0	0	2			1.383	7.5	0.9	4.9	6.9	1.41	OMA · AA
1984	25	KCR	AL	2	3	.400	5.11	10	5	2	0	0	0	37.0	39	21	21	3	13	0	21	0	0	2	161	80	1.405	9.5	0.7	3.2	5.1	1.62
1985	26	SEA-min	AAA	4	3	.571	4.86	9	9	0	3	2	0	46.1	44	27	25	5	25	0	31	0	0	3			1.489	8.5	1.0	4.9	6.0	1.24	CGY · PCL
1985	26	SEA	AL	5	11	.313	6.00	24	18	2	1	0	1	123.0	122	85	82	18	68	3	67	3	1	9	541	70	1.545	8.9	1.3	5.0	4.9	0.99
1986	27	CLE-min	AAA	4	3	.571	2.87	22	1	17	0	0	6	31.1	37	10	10	4	10	1	21	1	0	1			1.500	10.6	1.1	2.9	6.0	2.10	MAI · IL
1986	27	CLE	AL	4	4	.500	4.91	26	0	16	0	0	4	40.1	43	23	22	6	16	4	32	0	0	2	182	85	1.463	9.6	1.3	3.6	7.1	2.00
1987	28	CLE-min	AAA	3	2	.600	3.34	36	0	30	0	0	6	56.2	53	28	21	5	22	2	45	0	3	1			1.324	8.4	0.8	3.5	7.1	2.05	BFL · AA
1987	28	CLE	AL	0	1	.000	5.06	6	0	4	0	0	1	5.1	3	3	3	0	7	0	4	0	0	0	26	95	1.875	5.1	0.0	11.8	6.8	0.57
1988	29	TOR-min	AAA	6	4	.600	3.24	25	10	8	0	0	3	80.2	70	40	29	4	25	2	53	4	4	7			1.178	7.8	0.4	2.8	5.9	2.12	SYR · IL
1988	29	TOR	AL	0	0		5.23	10	0	4	0	0	0	20.2	22	12	12	2	6	2	19	0	0	1	89	77	1.355	9.6	0.9	2.6	8.3	3.17
1989	30	TOR-min	AAA	1	0	1.000	1.59	14	0	11	0	0	5	17.0	8	7	3	1	8	0	13	0	0	1			0.941	4.2	0.5	4.2	6.9	1.63	SYR · IL
1989	30	TOR	AL	3	1	.750	3.66	24	4	6	0	0	0	71.1	65	31	29	4	30	2	41	1	0	4	302	101	1.332	8.2	0.5	3.8	5.2	1.37
1990	31	TOR	AL	6	4	.600	4.73	44	4	6	0	0	0	99.0	101	54	52	13	38	7	72	1	0	1	422	87	1.404	9.2	1.2	3.5	6.5	1.89
1991	32	TOR-min	AAA	3	5	.375	4.84	22	9	8	0	0	1	61.1	71	35	33	4	21	0	38	3	4	2			1.500	10.4	0.6	3.1	5.6	1.81	SYR · IL
1991	32	TOR	AL	0	1	.000	16.62	4	0	3	0	0	0	4.1	8	8	8	2	5	0	2	1	0	0	27	28	3.000	16.6	4.2	10.4	4.2	0.40
9 Seasons				22	26	.458	5.06	154	35	44	1	0	6	435.2	438	254	245	50	198	18	281	6	1	22	1902	81	1.460	9.0	1.0	4.1	5.8	1.42
162 Game Avg.				8	9	.458	5.06	55	13	16	0	0	2	157	158	91	88	18	71	6	101	2	0	8	684	81	1.460	9.0	1.0	4.1	5.8	1.42

TOR (4 yrs)				9	6	.600	4.65	82	8	19	0	0	0	195.1	196	105	101	21	79	11	134	3	0	6	840	85	1.408	9.0	1.0	3.6	6.2	1.70
KCR (2 yrs)				4	4	.500	4.65	16	9	3	0	0	0	71.2	74	38	37	5	28	0	44	0	0	5	313	88	1.423	9.3	0.6	3.5	5.5	1.57
CLE (2 yrs)				4	5	.444	4.93	32	0	20	0	0	5	45.2	46	26	25	6	23	4	36	0	0	2	208	86	1.511	9.1	1.2	4.5	7.1	1.57
SEA (1 yr)				5	11	.313	6.00	24	18	2	1	0	1	123.0	122	85	82	18	68	3	67	3	1	9	541	70	1.545	8.9	1.3	5.0	4.9	0.99

Player Value--Pitchers

WAR: 8+ MVP, 5+ A-S, 2+ Strtr, 0-2 Sub, < 0 Repl.

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	IP	GS	R	Rrep	Rdef	aLI	RAR	WAR	Salary
1983	24	KCR	AL	34.2	4	17	20	-1	.7	3	0.3	$
1984	25	KCR	AL	37.0	5	21	21	2	1.0	0	-0.1	$
1985	26	SEA	AL	123.0	18	85	75	-2	1.0	-10	-1.1	$
1986	27	CLE	AL	40.1	0	23	26	-1	1.1	3	0.0	$92,000
1987	28	CLE	AL	5.1	0	3	4	0	2.4	1	0.0	$
1988	29	TOR	AL	20.2	0	12	11	0	.4	-1	-0.2	$
1989	30	TOR	AL	71.1	4	31	38	0	.7	7	0.4	$
1990	31	TOR	AL	99.0	4	54	58	2	.9	4	-0.1	$242,500
1991	32	TOR	AL	4.1	0	8	3	0	.7	-5	-0.4	$435,000
9 Seasons				435.2	35	254	256	0	.9	2	-1.2	$769,500

TOR (4 yrs)				195.1	8	105	110	2	.8	5	-0.3	$677,500
KCR (2 yrs)				71.2	9	38	41	1	.9	3	0.2	$
CLE (2 yrs)				45.2	0	26	30	-1	1.3	4	0.0	$92,000
SEA (1 yr)				123.0	18	85	75	-2	1.0	-10	-1.1	$

Standard Batting

More Stats

Year	Age	Tm	Lg	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB	Pos
1980	21	KCR-min	A,Rk	13	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0		CHS,RYB · SALL,GULF
1981	22	KCR-min	AA	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	JCK · SOUL
1982	23	KCR-min	AAA	41	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	OMA · AA
1983	24	KCR-min	AA,AAA	24	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	JCK,OMA · SOUL,AA
1983	24	KCR	AL	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	/1
1984	25	KCR-min	AAA	15	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	OMA · AA
1984	25	KCR	AL	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1985	26	SEA-min	AAA	9	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	CGY · PCL
1985	26	SEA	AL	24	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1986	27	CLE-min	AAA	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	MAI · IL
1986	27	CLE	AL	26	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1987	28	CLE-min	AAA	36	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	BFL · AA
1987	28	CLE	AL	6	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	/1
1988	29	TOR-min	AAA	25	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	SYR · IL
1988	29	TOR	AL	10	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1989	30	TOR-min	AAA	14	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0		0	0	0	0	SYR · IL
1989	30	TOR	AL	24	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1990	31	TOR	AL	44	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1
1991	32	TOR-min	AAA	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	SYR · IL
1991	32	TOR	AL	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	/1
9 Seasons				154	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
162 Game Avg.				162	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

TOR (4 yrs)				82	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
KCR (2 yrs)				16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
CLE (2 yrs)				32	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
SEA (1 yr)				24	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	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	SB	CS	CS%
1983	KCR	AL	24	P	6	4	0	34.2	5	1	3	1	1	.800	1.04	0.67	.958	1.79	1.78	4	1	20%
1984	KCR	AL	25	P	10	5	0	37.0	7	3	2	2	0	.714	1.22	0.50	.959	1.80	1.78	4	3	43%
1985	SEA	AL	26	P	24	18	1	123.0	26	9	17	0	1	1.000	1.90	1.08	.953	1.86	1.84	9	9	50%
1986	CLE	AL	27	P	26	0	0	40.1	10	3	6	1	0	.900	2.01	0.35	.957	1.83	1.81	2	0	0%
1987	CLE	AL	28	P	6	0	0	5.1	2	0	2	0	0	1.000	3.38	0.33	.955	1.86	1.82	1	0	0%
1988	TOR	AL	29	P	10	0	0	20.2	6	1	5	0	0	1.000	2.61	0.60	.962	1.79	1.77	2	0	0%
1989	TOR	AL	30	P	24	4	0	71.1	15	5	10	0	0	1.000	1.89	0.63	.960	1.87	1.85	1	6	86%
1990	TOR	AL	31	P	44	4	0	99.0	19	9	10	0	2	1.000	1.73	0.43	.953	1.78	1.76	8	4	33%
1991	TOR	AL	32	P	4	0	0	4.1	2	0	2	0	0	1.000	4.15	0.50	.955	1.87	1.80	0	0
	9 Seasons			P	154	35	1	435.2	92	31	57	4	4	.957	1.82	0.57	.956	1.83	1.80	31	23	43%
	9 Seasons			TOT	154	35	1	435.2	92	31	57	4	4	.957	1.82	0.57	.956	1.83	1.80	31	23	43%

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

Fielding % as P s c a p y 1990 AL 1.000 (1st)

Fielding % as P s c a p y
1990 AL 1.000 (1st)

Similarity Scores

Explanation of Similarity Scores

Similar Pitchers

Compare Stats to Similars

Rich Yett (985)
Jason Davis (979)
Matt Albers (976)
Lance Cormier (974)
Chad Kimsey (974)
Bob Kline (974)
Byron McLaughlin (974)
Mike Gardiner (973)
Ray Moss (973)
Travis Harper (973)

Most Similar by Ages

Hold mouse over #'s to see names

Carlton Loewer (984) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Gary Knotts (988) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Fritz Dorish (985) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Bob Hall (983) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Tanyon Sturtze (983) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Sean Lowe (972) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C
Manny Aybar (972) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 C

Transactions

June 3, 1980: Drafted by the Kansas City Royals in the 1st round (16th pick) of the 1980 amateur draft.
January 18, 1985: Traded as part of a 4-team trade by the Kansas City Royals to the New York Mets. The Texas Rangers sent a player to be named later and Danny Darwin to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Milwaukee Brewers sent Jim Sundberg to the Kansas City Royals. The New York Mets sent Tim Leary to the Milwaukee Brewers. The Kansas City Royals sent Don Slaught to the Texas Rangers. The Texas Rangers sent Bill Nance (minors) (January 30, 1985) to the Milwaukee Brewers to complete the trade.
March 29, 1985: Traded by the New York Mets to the Seattle Mariners for Wray Bergendahl (minors).
March 20, 1986: Released by the Seattle Mariners.
March 27, 1986: Signed as a Free Agent with the Cleveland Indians.
March 29, 1988: Released by the Cleveland Indians.
April 7, 1988: Signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.
October 28, 1988: Released by the Toronto Blue Jays.
January 12, 1989: Signed as a Free Agent with the Toronto Blue Jays.
October 26, 1991: 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
1986	27	Cleveland Indians	$92,000	1986 USA Today survey

1990	31	Toronto Blue Jays	$242,500	AP in Toronto Star
1991	32	Toronto Blue Jays	$435,000	USA Today survey

Career to date (may be incomplete)			$769,500

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: Frank Wills

Viewed 4,666 times through February 11, 2012.
Name and misspellings: Frank Frank frankie Lee willis Wills

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 or career game numbers (like '#1972:batting_standard', '#1970-1980-sum:batting_standard', or '#1998,1999,2001,2002,sum:pitching_standard') 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.

Automatic Player Linking / Statistical Sharing Tool / Basic Player Linking / Data Coverage

See Front Page for time of last update

Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet.

Win Expectancy, Run Expectancy, and Leverage Index calculations provided by Tom Tango of InsideTheBook.com, and co-author of The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball.

Total Zone Rating and Wins above Replacement calculations provided by Sean Smith of BaseballProjection.com.

Full-year historical Major League statistics provided by Pete Palmer and Gary Gillette of 24-7 Baseball.

Player head shots courtesy of David Davis. Many thanks to him. We have only selected seasons (players who debuted before 1960) for which we believe the image has reverted into the public domain. We will quickly remove any images for which that can be shown to not be the case.Please let us know if you are aware of any such images on this site.

Play Index Loading Photos from the George Grantham Bain Collection at the Library of Congress.

A Sports Reference Site: About Baseball Reference | Found a bug or have a suggestion?
Privacy Statement | Conditions & Terms of Service | Use of Data

Part of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group.