What years did Jim Bouton play?

Jim Bouton played in Major League Baseball from 1962 to 1978.

Was Jim Bouton a pitcher?

Yes. Jim Bouton pitched in the major leagues, recording 62 wins and 720 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Jim Bouton hit?

Jim Bouton hit 0 career home runs with 35 hits.

What was Jim Bouton's career batting average?

Jim Bouton batted .101 over his career, with 35 hits in 347 at bats.

How many RBI did Jim Bouton have?

Jim Bouton drove in 21 runs in his career.

What was Jim Bouton's career ERA?

Jim Bouton finished with a 3.57 career ERA, going 62-63 with 720 strikeouts.

Jim Bouton

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1962-1978)

Jim Bouton was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1962 to 1978 for 4 teams, including the New York Yankees, a span of 17 seasons. Across 304 career appearances, he went 62-63 with a 3.57 ERA and 720 strikeouts. He also batted .101 with 0 home runs. Jim Bouton was an All-Star.

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 62–63

ERA 3.57

WHIP 1.26

SO 720

Pitcher PIV -7774.3

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'0" / 170 lb
Born: 3/8/1939 in Newark, NJ, USA
Died: 7/10/2019 in Great Barrington, MA, USA
MLB Debut: 1962-04-22
Last Game: 1978-09-29
Awards: All-Star

Full name: James Alan Bouton

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Career Pitching Statistics

Jim Bouton — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
62	63	304	144	34	11	6	1238.2	1,131	492	127	435	720	3.57	-7774.3

Career ERA 3.57 vs. league average 3.56 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jim Bouton Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1962	NYA	AL	7	7	36	16	3	1	2	133.0	124	59	59	71	3.99	3.96 (-1%)	666.9
1963	NYA	AL	21	7	40	30	12	6	1	249.1	191	70	87	148	2.53	3.46 (+27%)	954.8
1964	NYA	AL	18	13	38	37	11	4	0	271.1	227	91	60	125	3.02	3.58 (+16%)	-2482.3
1965	NYA	AL	4	15	30	25	2	0	0	151.1	158	81	60	97	4.82	3.50 (-38%)	-3786.2
1966	NYA	AL	3	8	24	19	3	0	1	120.1	117	36	38	65	2.69	3.52 (+24%)	-994.0
1967	NYA	AL	1	0	17	1	0	0	0	44.1	47	23	18	31	4.67	3.30 (-41%)	-652.8
1968	NYA	AL	1	1	12	3	1	0	0	44.0	49	18	9	24	3.68	2.98 (-23%)	-593.4
1969	SE1	AL	2	1	57	1	0	0	1	92.0	77	40	38	68	3.91	3.61 (-8%)	-960.2
1969	HOU	NL	0	2	16	1	1	0	1	30.2	32	14	12	32	4.11	3.61 (-14%)	1078.3
1970	HOU	NL	4	6	29	6	1	0	0	73.1	84	44	33	49	5.40	3.89 (-39%)	570.5
1978	ATL	NL	1	3	5	5	0	0	0	29.0	25	16	21	10	4.97	3.69 (-35%)	-1576.0
Career · 11 seasons			62	63	304	144	34	11	6	1,238.2	1,131	492	435	720	3.57	—	-7,774

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

Jim Bouton — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
307	347	8	35	3	0	0	21	0	14	160	.101	.142	.110	.252	-1,830

Career AVG .101 vs. league average .249 across their career seasons — 59.5% below league average.

Career OBP .142 vs. league average .315 across their career seasons — 54.8% below league average.

Career SLG .110 vs. league average .373 across their career seasons — 70.6% below league average.

Career OPS .252 vs. league average .688 across their career seasons — 63.4% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jim Bouton Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1962	NYA	AL	38	32	0	2	0	1	3	10	.062	—	—	—	—	0.0
1963	NYA	AL	40	83	0	6	1	5	1	33	.072	.246 (-71%)	.308 (-73%)	.371 (-77%)	.680 (-75%)	-940.8
1964	NYA	AL	38	100	3	13	2	7	1	44	.130	.250 (-48%)	.312 (-56%)	.377 (-60%)	.690 (-58%)	-889.1
1965	NYA	AL	31	43	1	4	0	2	5	24	.093	—	—	—	—	0.0
1966	NYA	AL	24	38	1	4	0	4	1	23	.105	—	—	—	—	0.0
1967	NYA	AL	17	7	0	0	0	0	0	5	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1968	NYA	AL	12	7	0	0	0	0	1	4	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1969	SE1	AL	57	9	0	0	0	0	0	7	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1969	HOU	NL	16	4	0	0	0	0	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1970	HOU	NL	29	17	3	6	0	2	1	6	.353	—	—	—	—	0.0
1978	ATL	NL	5	7	0	0	0	0	1	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 11 seasons			307	347	8	35	3	21	14	160	.101	—	—	—	—	-1,830

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

Jim Bouton — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
3	9	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	4	.111

Playoff Batting by Year

Jim Bouton — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1964	WS	NYA	2	7	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	2	.143
1963	WS	NYA	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Jim Bouton — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
2	1	3	3	0	24.1	19	4	10	11	1.48

Playoff Pitching by Year

Jim Bouton — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1964	WS	NYA	2	0	2	2	0	17.1	15	3	5	7	1.56
1963	WS	NYA	0	1	1	1	0	7.0	4	1	5	4	1.29

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (611 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Jim Bouton — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	145	164	5	15	0	6	.091
Away	162	183	3	20	0	15	.109

Pitching — Home / Away

Jim Bouton — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	142	594.2	553	258	201	352	3.90
Away	162	644.0	578	232	234	368	3.24

Last 10 Games — Batting

Jim Bouton — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	BB	SO
1978-09-29	ATL	CIN	L	1	0	1
1978-09-24	ATL	CIN	L	1	1	0
1978-09-19	ATL	HOU	W	2	0	0
1978-09-14	ATL	SFG	W	2	0	0
1978-09-10	ATL	LAD	L	1	0	0
1970-07-29	HOU	CHC	L	0	0	0
1970-07-24	HOU	PIT	L	1	0	1
1970-07-22	HOU	STL	W	0	0	0
1970-07-19	HOU	CHC	L	1	0	1
1970-07-11	HOU	SFG	W	0	0	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Jim Bouton — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1978-09-29	ATL	CIN	L	3.0	6	7	6	4	2	2
1978-09-24	ATL	CIN	L	8.0	5	2	2	5	2	0
1978-09-19	ATL	HOU	—	7.0	5	2	2	5	1	0
1978-09-14	ATL	SFG	W	6.0	3	1	0	3	2	0
1978-09-10	ATL	LAD	L	5.0	6	6	6	4	3	2
1970-07-29	HOU	CHC	—	1.2	0	0	0	3	2	0
1970-07-24	HOU	PIT	—	5.0	6	3	3	2	6	0
1970-07-22	HOU	STL	—	0.2	4	3	0	0	1	0
1970-07-19	HOU	CHC	—	5.0	3	1	0	2	2	0
1970-07-11	HOU	SFG	W	1.0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Jim Bouton — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	304	144	112	177	15	13

Season-by-Season Fielding

Jim Bouton — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1962	NYA	P	36	16	8	23	0	3
1963	NYA	P	40	30	22	32	2	1
1964	NYA	P	38	37	31	27	5	1
1965	NYA	P	30	25	13	21	0	3
1966	NYA	P	24	19	13	22	3	2
1967	NYA	P	17	1	1	7	0	1
1968	NYA	P	12	3	7	11	0	1
1969	SE1	P	57	1	8	15	1	1
1969	HOU	P	16	1	2	5	0	0
1970	HOU	P	29	6	4	11	3	0
1978	ATL	P	5	5	3	3	1	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Jim Bouton Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	304

Award Voting History

Jim Bouton — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1963	Most Valuable Player	AL	16th	11.0	280	0

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Jim Bouton (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Jim Bouton: the record in brief

The profile opens with Jim Bouton's first major league game on April 22, 1962; the last one listed came on September 29, 1978. By club, Bouton's seasons break down as the New York Yankees (1962 through 1968), the Seattle Pilots (1969), the Houston Astros (1969 to 1970), and the Atlanta Braves (1978). At 6-foot-0 and 170 pounds, Bouton is listed as a pitcher. The bio says Bouton batted and threw right-handed. Bouton was born on March 8, 1939, in Newark, NJ, USA. Bouton died on July 10, 2019, in Great Barrington, MA, USA. Jim Bouton was the playing name; the full given name is James Alan.

Bouton pitched in 304 games, starting 144, and finished with a 62-63 record and 3.57 ERA. Bouton had 720 strikeouts, 34 complete games, and 11 shutouts. Bouton's 3.57 ERA was close to the 3.56 league figure for those seasons. Bouton won 21 games in 1963, the most of any season listed. 1963 was Bouton's sharpest full season, a 2.53 ERA against the league's 3.46.

Frequently Asked Questions about Jim Bouton

What years did Jim Bouton play?: Jim Bouton played in Major League Baseball from 1962 to 1978.
Was Jim Bouton a pitcher?: Yes. Jim Bouton pitched in the major leagues, recording 62 wins and 720 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Jim Bouton hit?: Jim Bouton hit 0 career home runs with 35 hits.
What was Jim Bouton's career batting average?: Jim Bouton batted .101 over his career, with 35 hits in 347 at bats.
How many RBI did Jim Bouton have?: Jim Bouton drove in 21 runs in his career.
What was Jim Bouton's career ERA?: Jim Bouton finished with a 3.57 career ERA, going 62-63 with 720 strikeouts.