What years did Virgil Barnes play?

Virgil Barnes played in Major League Baseball from 1919 to 1928.

Was Virgil Barnes a pitcher?

Yes. Virgil Barnes pitched in the major leagues, recording 61 wins and 275 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Virgil Barnes hit?

Virgil Barnes hit 0 career home runs with 40 hits.

What was Virgil Barnes's career batting average?

Virgil Barnes batted .108 over his career, with 40 hits in 371 at bats.

How many RBI did Virgil Barnes have?

Virgil Barnes drove in 9 runs in his career.

What was Virgil Barnes's career ERA?

Virgil Barnes finished with a 3.66 career ERA, going 61-59 with 275 strikeouts.

Virgil Barnes

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1919-1928)

Virgil Barnes was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1919 to 1928 for the New York Giants and the Boston Braves, a span of 10 seasons. Across 205 career appearances, he went 61-59 with a 3.66 ERA and 275 strikeouts. He also batted .108 with 0 home runs. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 3018.4.

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 12, 2026

W–L 61–59

ERA 3.66

WHIP 1.36

SO 275

Pitcher PIV 3018.4

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'0" / 165 lb
Born: 3/5/1897 in Ontario, KS, USA
Died: 7/24/1958 in Wichita, KS, USA
MLB Debut: 1919-09-25
Last Game: 1928-09-15

Full name: Virgil Jennings Barnes

📊 Compare This Player 📈 View Career Timeline

Career Pitching Statistics

Virgil Barnes — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
61	59	205	135	58	7	11	1094.0	1,192	445	46	293	275	3.66	3018.4

Career ERA 3.66 vs. league average 4.01 across their career seasons — 8.6% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Virgil Barnes Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1919	NY1	NL	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	2.0	6	4	1	1	18.00	—	0.0
1920	NY1	NL	0	1	1	1	0	0	0	7.0	9	3	1	2	3.86	—	0.0
1922	NY1	NL	1	0	22	3	1	0	2	51.2	46	20	11	16	3.48	4.18 (+17%)	931.8
1923	NY1	NL	2	3	22	2	0	0	1	53.0	59	23	19	6	3.91	4.03 (+3%)	-451.5
1924	NY1	NL	16	10	35	29	15	1	3	229.1	239	78	57	59	3.06	4.13 (+26%)	740.4
1925	NY1	NL	15	11	32	27	17	1	2	221.2	242	87	53	53	3.53	4.55 (+22%)	983.1
1926	NY1	NL	8	13	31	25	9	2	1	185.0	183	59	56	54	2.87	4.11 (+30%)	1845.2
1927	NY1	NL	14	11	35	29	12	2	2	228.2	251	101	51	66	3.98	4.08 (+3%)	312.7
1928	NY1	NL	3	3	10	9	3	1	0	55.1	71	31	18	11	5.04	4.13 (-22%)	-336.7
1928	BSN	NL	2	7	16	10	1	0	0	60.1	86	39	26	7	5.82	4.13 (-41%)	-1006.7
Career · 10 seasons			61	59	205	135	58	7	11	1,094.0	1,192	445	293	275	3.66	—	3,018

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

Virgil Barnes — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
205	371	20	40	0	0	0	9	0	7	119	.108	.124	.108	.232	-3,321

Career AVG .108 vs. league average .280 across their career seasons — 61.6% below league average.

Career OBP .124 vs. league average .342 across their career seasons — 63.7% below league average.

Career SLG .108 vs. league average .388 across their career seasons — 72.2% below league average.

Career OPS .232 vs. league average .730 across their career seasons — 68.2% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Virgil Barnes Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1919	NY1	NL	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1920	NY1	NL	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1922	NY1	NL	22	12	1	2	0	0	5	.167	—	—	—	—	0.0
1923	NY1	NL	22	14	0	0	0	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1924	NY1	NL	35	77	8	14	4	6	26	.182	.283 (-36%)	.345 (-30%)	.389 (-53%)	.734 (-42%)	-518.4
1925	NY1	NL	32	89	4	9	0	0	26	.101	.288 (-65%)	.349 (-71%)	.407 (-75%)	.756 (-73%)	-1079.5
1926	NY1	NL	31	56	1	3	1	0	15	.054	.279 (-81%)	.345 (-85%)	.390 (-86%)	.735 (-85%)	-774.8
1927	NY1	NL	35	83	5	9	4	0	29	.108	.282 (-62%)	.344 (-69%)	.392 (-72%)	.736 (-71%)	-948.1
1928	NY1	NL	10	22	0	2	0	0	9	.091	—	—	—	—	0.0
1928	BSN	NL	16	17	1	1	0	1	6	.059	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 10 seasons			205	371	20	40	9	7	119	.108	—	—	—	—	-3,321

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

Virgil Barnes — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
4	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	3	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Virgil Barnes — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1924	WS	NY1	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	2	.000
1923	WS	NY1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Virgil Barnes — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	1	4	2	0	17.1	19	8	1	13	4.15

Playoff Pitching by Year

Virgil Barnes — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1924	WS	NY1	0	1	2	2	0	12.2	15	8	1	9	5.68
1923	WS	NY1	0	0	2	0	0	4.2	4	0	0	4	0.00

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (410 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Virgil Barnes — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	109	173	8	13	0	3	.075
Away	96	198	12	27	0	6	.136

Pitching — Home / Away

Virgil Barnes — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	109	558.2	594	229	138	144	3.69
Away	96	533.2	598	218	155	134	3.68

Last 10 Games — Batting

Virgil Barnes — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	SO
1928-09-15	BSN	CHC	L	0	0
1928-09-13	BSN	NY1	L	1	0
1928-09-07	BSN	PHI	W	3	0
1928-08-24	BSN	CHC	L	0	0
1928-08-15	BSN	STL	L	0	0
1928-08-03	BSN	STL	L	1	1
1928-07-30	BSN	PIT	L	0	0
1928-07-26	BSN	CHC	W	2	0
1928-07-20	BSN	CIN	L	1	0
1928-07-18	BSN	PIT	L	0	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Virgil Barnes — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1928-09-15	BSN	CHC	—	0.0	0	0	0	1	0	0
1928-09-13	BSN	NY1	—	3.2	6	3	3	2	0	0
1928-09-07	BSN	PHI	W	10.0	7	3	3	3	1	1
1928-08-24	BSN	CHC	—	1.2	2	0	0	0	1	0
1928-08-15	BSN	STL	—	3.0	3	0	0	1	0	0
1928-08-03	BSN	STL	L	5.0	6	3	3	3	2	0
1928-07-30	BSN	PIT	L	2.0	3	1	1	0	0	0
1928-07-26	BSN	CHC	—	3.0	7	3	3	1	0	0
1928-07-20	BSN	CIN	L	6.0	9	4	3	3	0	0
1928-07-18	BSN	PIT	L	0.2	5	3	3	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Virgil Barnes — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	205	0	39	268	12	10

Season-by-Season Fielding

Virgil Barnes — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	PO	A	E	DP
1919	NY1	P	1	0	0	0	0
1920	NY1	P	1	0	4	0	0
1922	NY1	P	22	3	13	0	1
1923	NY1	P	22	0	16	0	0
1924	NY1	P	35	10	66	1	3
1925	NY1	P	32	8	54	2	3
1926	NY1	P	31	10	42	2	1
1927	NY1	P	35	6	49	4	1
1928	NY1	P	10	0	12	2	1
1928	BSN	P	16	2	12	1	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Virgil Barnes Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	205

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Virgil Barnes (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Compare Virgil Barnes

Browse all MLB player comparisons →

Virgil Barnes: the record in brief

September 25, 1919 and September 15, 1928 bracket Virgil Barnes's time in the majors: the debut and the last game on record. The season rows list, in order, the New York Giants (1919 through 1928) and the Boston Braves (1928). Barnes, born on March 5, 1897, in Ontario, KS, USA, is listed as a pitcher and threw and hit right-handed. Barnes's listed size is 6-foot-0 and 165 pounds. Barnes's death is recorded on July 24, 1958, in Wichita, KS, USA. The bio lists the given name Virgil Jennings.

The pitching table credits Barnes with a 61-59 record and a 3.66 ERA in 205 games. The totals include 275 strikeouts, 58 complete games, 7 shutouts, and 11 saves. That 3.66 ERA compares with a 4.01 league average across the same seasons, 8.6% better. No season topped the 16 wins of 1924. 1927 produced Barnes's most strikeouts, 66. Among the heaviest workloads, the lowest ERA was 2.87 in 1926, when the league's was 4.11.

Frequently Asked Questions about Virgil Barnes

What years did Virgil Barnes play?: Virgil Barnes played in Major League Baseball from 1919 to 1928.
Was Virgil Barnes a pitcher?: Yes. Virgil Barnes pitched in the major leagues, recording 61 wins and 275 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Virgil Barnes hit?: Virgil Barnes hit 0 career home runs with 40 hits.
What was Virgil Barnes's career batting average?: Virgil Barnes batted .108 over his career, with 40 hits in 371 at bats.
How many RBI did Virgil Barnes have?: Virgil Barnes drove in 9 runs in his career.
What was Virgil Barnes's career ERA?: Virgil Barnes finished with a 3.66 career ERA, going 61-59 with 275 strikeouts.