What years did Clay Bryant play?

Clay Bryant played in Major League Baseball from 1935 to 1940.

Was Clay Bryant a pitcher?

Yes. Clay Bryant pitched in the major leagues, recording 32 wins and 272 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Clay Bryant hit?

Clay Bryant hit 5 career home runs with 51 hits.

What was Clay Bryant's career batting average?

Clay Bryant batted .266 over his career, with 51 hits in 192 at bats.

How many RBI did Clay Bryant have?

Clay Bryant drove in 28 runs in his career.

What was Clay Bryant's career ERA?

Clay Bryant finished with a 3.73 career ERA, going 32-20 with 272 strikeouts.

Clay Bryant

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1935-1940)

Clay Bryant was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1935 to 1940 for the Chicago Cubs, a span of 6 seasons. Across 129 career appearances, he went 32-20 with a 3.73 ERA and 272 strikeouts. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 6123.5.

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 32–20

ERA 3.73

WHIP 1.42

SO 272

Pitcher PIV 6123.5

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'2" / 195 lb
Born: 11/16/1911 in Madison Heights, VA, USA
Died: 4/9/1999 in Boca Raton, FL, USA
MLB Debut: 1935-04-19
Last Game: 1940-09-26

Full name: Henry Claiborne Bryant

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Career Pitching Statistics

Clay Bryant — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
32	20	129	45	23	4	7	543.1	511	225	13	262	272	3.73	6123.5

Career ERA 3.73 vs. league average 4.35 across their career seasons — 14.3% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Clay Bryant — Season-by-Season Pitching
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1935	CHN	NL	1	2	9	1	0	0	2	22.2	34	13	7	13	5.16	4.35 (-19%)	457.8
1936	CHN	NL	1	2	26	0	0	0	0	57.1	57	21	24	35	3.30	4.59 (+28%)	1581.1
1937	CHN	NL	9	3	38	10	4	1	3	135.1	117	64	78	75	4.26	4.34 (+2%)	1382.5
1938	CHN	NL	19	11	44	30	17	3	2	270.1	235	93	125	135	3.10	4.35 (+29%)	4053.5
1939	CHN	NL	2	1	4	4	2	0	0	31.1	42	20	14	9	5.74	4.28 (-34%)	-697.8
1940	CHN	NL	0	1	8	0	0	0	0	26.1	26	14	14	5	4.78	4.21 (-14%)	-653.5
Career · 6 seasons			32	20	129	45	23	4	7	543.1	511	225	262	272	3.73	—	6,124

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

Clay Bryant — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
185	192	48	51	5	2	5	28	0	7	21	.266	.291	.391	.682	-371

Career AVG .266 vs. league average .276 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .291 vs. league average .342 across their career seasons — 14.9% below league average.

Career SLG .391 vs. league average .396 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OPS .682 vs. league average .738 across their career seasons — 7.6% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Clay Bryant — Season-by-Season Batting
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1935	CHN	NL	12	6	2	2	0	0	1	2	2	2	.333	—	—	—	—	0.0
1936	CHN	NL	32	12	4	5	0	0	0	2	0	0	.417	—	—	—	—	0.0
1937	CHN	NL	47	45	13	14	2	1	1	7	2	4	.311	—	—	—	—	0.0
1938	CHN	NL	50	106	16	24	2	1	3	15	2	10	.226	.272 (-17%)	.341 (-30%)	.392 (-11%)	.734 (-20%)	-370.6
1939	CHN	NL	28	14	9	3	1	0	0	1	1	1	.214	—	—	—	—	0.0
1940	CHN	NL	16	9	4	3	0	0	0	1	0	4	.333	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 6 seasons			185	192	48	51	5	2	5	28	7	21	.266	—	—	—	—	-371

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

Clay Bryant — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Clay Bryant — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1938	WS	CHN	1	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Clay Bryant — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	1	1	1	0	5.1	6	4	5	3	6.75

Playoff Pitching by Year

Clay Bryant — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1938	WS	CHN	0	1	1	1	0	5.1	6	4	5	3	6.75

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (314 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Clay Bryant — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	106	84	19	23	1	11	.274
Away	79	108	29	28	4	17	.259

Pitching — Home / Away

Clay Bryant — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	69	260.1	249	108	136	127	3.73
Away	60	282.2	262	113	126	144	3.60

Last 10 Games — Batting

Clay Bryant — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	RBI	SO
1940-09-26	CHC	PIT	L	3	1	1	1	1
1940-09-22	CHC	STL	L	0	0	0	0	0
1940-09-22	CHC	STL	L	2	0	0	0	2
1940-09-17	CHC	NY1	W	1	0	0	0	1
1940-09-13	CHC	PHI	L	1	0	1	0	0
1940-09-01	CHC	CIN	L	1	1	1	0	0
1940-08-28	CHC	BSN	L	0	0	0	0	0
1940-08-24	CHC	BRO	L	1	0	0	0	0
1940-08-21	CHC	PHI	L	0	0	0	0	0
1940-06-03	CHC	BRO	L	0	0	0	0	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Clay Bryant — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1940-09-26	CHC	PIT	L	4.1	4	3	3	2	2	0
1940-09-22	CHC	STL	—	5.2	7	3	3	3	0	0
1940-09-17	CHC	NY1	—	3.0	2	2	2	2	2	0
1940-09-13	CHC	PHI	—	4.0	2	1	1	2	0	1
1940-09-01	CHC	CIN	—	3.1	0	0	0	3	1	0
1940-08-28	CHC	BSN	—	2.0	2	0	0	0	0	0
1940-08-24	CHC	BRO	—	3.2	9	6	3	2	0	1
1940-08-21	CHC	PHI	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1939-08-12	CHC	PIT	W	8.0	13	4	2	3	1	1
1939-05-07	CHC	NY1	L	8.0	16	10	9	3	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Clay Bryant — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
OF	1	0	3	0	0	0
P	129	0	28	74	7	7

Season-by-Season Fielding

Clay Bryant — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	PO	A	E	DP
1935	CHN	P	9	2	3	0	0
1936	CHN	P	26	6	13	2	0
1937	CHN	P	38	4	13	2	3
1938	CHN	P	44	9	38	2	4
1939	CHN	OF	1	3	0	0	0
1939	CHN	P	4	4	2	1	0
1940	CHN	P	8	3	5	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Clay Bryant — Career Games by Position
Position	Games
Pitcher	129
Center Field	1

Award Voting History

Clay Bryant — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1938	Most Valuable Player	NL	15th	16.0	336	0

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Clay Bryant (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Clay Bryant: the record in brief

According to the bio, Clay Bryant debuted on April 19, 1935 and played a final game on September 26, 1940. All of the seasons listed were played for the Chicago Cubs. Bryant, born on November 16, 1911, in Madison Heights, VA, USA, is listed as a pitcher and both batted and threw right-handed. Size on record: 6-foot-2 and 195 pounds. Bryant's death is recorded on April 9, 1999, in Boca Raton, FL, USA. On the record, Clay Bryant was born Henry Claiborne Bryant.

Bryant pitched in 129 games, starting 45, and finished with a 32-20 record and 3.73 ERA. The same table counts 272 strikeouts and 23 complete games. Against a 4.35 league ERA for the same years, Bryant was 14.3% better. The best win total was 19, in 1938. 1938 was Bryant's sharpest full season, a 3.10 ERA against the league's 4.35. Pitcher PIV, the site's era-adjusted run-prevention measure, totals 6,123.5 for Bryant's career.

Frequently Asked Questions about Clay Bryant

What years did Clay Bryant play?: Clay Bryant played in Major League Baseball from 1935 to 1940.
Was Clay Bryant a pitcher?: Yes. Clay Bryant pitched in the major leagues, recording 32 wins and 272 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Clay Bryant hit?: Clay Bryant hit 5 career home runs with 51 hits.
What was Clay Bryant's career batting average?: Clay Bryant batted .266 over his career, with 51 hits in 192 at bats.
How many RBI did Clay Bryant have?: Clay Bryant drove in 28 runs in his career.
What was Clay Bryant's career ERA?: Clay Bryant finished with a 3.73 career ERA, going 32-20 with 272 strikeouts.