What years did Keith Atherton play?

Keith Atherton played in Major League Baseball from 1983 to 1989.

Was Keith Atherton a pitcher?

Yes. Keith Atherton pitched in the major leagues, recording 33 wins and 349 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Keith Atherton hit?

Keith Atherton hit 0 career home runs.

What teams did Keith Atherton play for?

Keith Atherton played for 3 teams: the Oakland Athletics (1983–1986), the Minnesota Twins (1986–1988), and the Cleveland Indians (1989).

What were Keith Atherton's career stats?

In 342 games, Keith Atherton went 33-41 with a 3.99 ERA, 349 strikeouts, 566.1 innings pitched, and 26 saves.

What was Keith Atherton's salary?

Keith Atherton's last recorded salary was $345,000, in 1988. His highest recorded salary was $345,000, in 1988, and his lowest was $107,333, in 1985. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1988.

What position did Keith Atherton play?

Keith Atherton played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Keith Atherton and how much did he weigh?

Keith Atherton was listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 200 pounds.

What was Keith Atherton's career ERA?

Keith Atherton finished with a 3.99 career ERA, going 33-41 with 349 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Keith Atherton have?

Keith Atherton recorded 349 career strikeouts.

Is Keith Atherton in the Hall of Fame?

No. Keith Atherton has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Keith Atherton

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1983-1989)

Keith Atherton was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1983 to 1989 for the Athletics, the Minnesota Twins, and the Cleveland Guardians, a span of 7 seasons. Across 342 career appearances, he went 33-41 with a 3.99 ERA, 349 strikeouts, and 26 saves.

W (Wins):: Games credited to a pitcher whose team took a lead it never surrendered while he was the pitcher of record.
ERA (Earned Run Average):: Earned runs allowed per nine innings pitched: (ER × 9) ÷ IP. The primary measure of pitching effectiveness.
SO (Strikeouts):: For a batter, times retired on a third strike; for a pitcher, batters retired on a third strike.
WHIP (Walks and Hits per Inning Pitched):: Baserunners allowed per inning: (BB + H) ÷ IP. Under 1.00 is elite.

Data updated October 15, 2026

W–L 33–41

ERA 3.99

WHIP 1.34

SO 349

Pitcher PIV -7572.8

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'4" / 200 lb
Born: 2/19/1959 in Newport News, VA, USA
MLB Debut: 1983-07-14
Last Game: 1989-08-05

Full name: Keith Rowe Atherton

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Career Pitching Statistics

Keith Atherton — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
33	41	342	0	0	0	26	566.1	546	251	75	215	349	3.99	-7572.8

Career ERA 3.99 vs. league average 3.90 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Keith Atherton Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1983	OAK	AL	2	5	29	4	68.1	53	21	23	40	2.77	3.87 (+29%)	-166.2
1984	OAK	AL	7	6	57	2	104.0	110	50	39	58	4.33	3.81 (-14%)	-1688.8
1985	OAK	AL	4	7	56	3	104.2	89	50	42	77	4.30	3.89 (-10%)	-1661.1
1986	OAK	AL	1	2	13	0	15.1	18	10	11	8	5.87	3.97 (-48%)	-614.4
1986	MIN	AL	5	8	47	10	81.2	82	34	35	59	3.75	3.97 (+6%)	-222.0
1987	MIN	AL	7	5	59	2	79.1	81	40	30	51	4.54	4.29 (-6%)	-428.8
1988	MIN	AL	7	5	49	3	74.0	65	28	22	43	3.41	3.73 (+9%)	-1115.4
1989	CLE	AL	0	3	32	2	39.0	48	18	13	13	4.15	3.71 (-12%)	-1676.2
Career · 8 seasons			33	41	342	26	566.1	546	251	215	349	3.99	—	-7,573

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Career Batting Statistics

Keith Atherton — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
342	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0

Career AVG .000 vs. league average .258 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OBP .000 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career SLG .000 vs. league average .390 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Career OPS .000 vs. league average .713 across their career seasons — 100.0% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Keith Atherton — Season-by-Season Batting
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1983	OAK	AL	29	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	OAK	AL	57	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	OAK	AL	56	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	OAK	AL	13	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	MIN	AL	47	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1987	MIN	AL	59	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	MIN	AL	49	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1989	CLE	AL	32	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 8 seasons			342	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0

Lg columns show the league average for that season, with the player's figure as a percentage above or below it. Career totals the seasons listed above.

Postseason Statistics

Playoff Career Batting

Keith Atherton — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Keith Atherton — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1987	ALCS	MIN	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1987	WS	MIN	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Keith Atherton — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	0	3	0	0	1.2	1	1	1	0	5.40

Playoff Pitching by Year

Keith Atherton — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1987	ALCS	MIN	0	0	1	0	0	0.1	1	0	0	0	0.00
1987	WS	MIN	0	0	2	0	0	1.1	0	1	1	0	6.75

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (684 games) →

Per-game data from Retrosheet (regular season, through 2025).

Batting — Home / Away

Keith Atherton — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	175	0	0	0	0	0	—
Away	167	1	0	0	0	0	.000

Pitching — Home / Away

Keith Atherton — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	175	290.0	261	111	107	190	3.44
Away	167	276.1	285	140	108	159	4.56

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Keith Atherton — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1989-08-05	CLE	BOS	—	0.1	4	3	3	1	0	0
1989-08-04	CLE	BOS	—	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	0
1989-07-29	CLE	BOS	—	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	0
1989-07-25	CLE	NYY	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1989-07-23	CLE	KCR	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1989-07-21	CLE	KCR	—	0.2	1	0	0	0	0	0
1989-07-16	CLE	TEX	—	2.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
1989-07-13	CLE	TEX	—	0.1	1	0	0	1	0	0
1989-06-22	CLE	MIN	—	0.1	1	1	1	0	0	1
1989-06-20	CLE	MIN	—	0.2	1	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Keith Atherton — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	342	0	26	51	5	1

Season-by-Season Fielding

Keith Atherton — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	PO	A	E	DP
1983	OAK	P	29	1	7	0	0
1984	OAK	P	57	5	5	1	0
1985	OAK	P	56	4	6	1	0
1986	OAK	P	13	1	1	0	0
1986	MIN	P	47	5	10	1	1
1987	MIN	P	59	3	12	1	0
1988	MIN	P	49	3	9	1	0
1989	CLE	P	32	4	1	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Keith Atherton — Career Games by Position
Position	Games
Pitcher	342
Designated Hitter	1

Salary History

Keith Atherton's recorded salaries total $936,033 over 4 seasons, 1985 to 1988. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Atherton's career ran from 1983 to 1989. His seasons before 1985 are not included, and no salary is recorded for 1989.

Keith Atherton — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1988	MIN	AL	$345,000
1987	MIN	AL	$300,000
1986	OAK	AL	$183,700
1985	OAK	AL	$107,333
Total recorded salary (partial)			$936,033

Most Similar Players

Career comps based on counting + rate stats and primary position. Score is relative — closest peer anchors at ~98%.

Career Spans

Keith Atherton (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Keith Atherton: the record in brief

July 14, 1983 and August 5, 1989 bracket Keith Atherton's time in the majors: the debut and the last game on record. By club, Atherton's seasons break down as the Oakland Athletics (1983 through 1986), the Minnesota Twins (1986 to 1988), and the Cleveland Indians (1989). Atherton played primarily as a pitcher and threw and hit right-handed. The bio adds a birth date on February 19, 1959, in Newport News, VA, USA and a listed size of 6-foot-4 and 200 pounds. The given name on file is Keith Rowe Atherton.

The pitching table credits Atherton with a 33-41 record and a 3.99 ERA in 342 games. The same table counts 349 strikeouts and 26 saves. Atherton's 3.99 ERA was close to the 3.90 league figure for those seasons. Atherton won 7 games in 1984, the most of any season listed. 1985 produced Atherton's most strikeouts, 77. The most saves in one season was 10, in 1986. Among the heaviest workloads, the lowest ERA was 2.77 in 1983, when the league's was 3.87.

Frequently Asked Questions about Keith Atherton

What years did Keith Atherton play?: Keith Atherton played in Major League Baseball from 1983 to 1989.
Was Keith Atherton a pitcher?: Yes. Keith Atherton pitched in the major leagues, recording 33 wins and 349 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Keith Atherton hit?: Keith Atherton hit 0 career home runs.
What teams did Keith Atherton play for?: Keith Atherton played for 3 teams: the Oakland Athletics (1983–1986), the Minnesota Twins (1986–1988), and the Cleveland Indians (1989).
What were Keith Atherton's career stats?: In 342 games, Keith Atherton went 33-41 with a 3.99 ERA, 349 strikeouts, 566.1 innings pitched, and 26 saves.
How much did Keith Atherton earn in his career?: Keith Atherton's recorded salaries total $936,033 over 4 seasons, 1985 to 1988. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Atherton's career ran from 1983 to 1989. His seasons before 1985 are not included, and no salary is recorded for 1989.
What was Keith Atherton's salary?: Keith Atherton's last recorded salary was $345,000, in 1988. His highest recorded salary was $345,000, in 1988, and his lowest was $107,333, in 1985. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1988.
What position did Keith Atherton play?: Keith Atherton played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Keith Atherton and how much did he weigh?: Keith Atherton was listed at 6 feet 4 inches and 200 pounds.
What was Keith Atherton's career ERA?: Keith Atherton finished with a 3.99 career ERA, going 33-41 with 349 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Keith Atherton have?: Keith Atherton recorded 349 career strikeouts.
Is Keith Atherton in the Hall of Fame?: No. Keith Atherton has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.