Lew Burdette

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1950-1967)

W–L 203–144
ERA 3.66
WHIP 1.24
SO 1,074
Pitcher PIV 14032.5
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
6'2" / 180 lb
Born
11/22/1926 in Nitro, WV, USA
Died
2/6/2007 in Winter Garden, FL, USA
MLB Debut
1950-09-26
Last Game
1967-07-16
Awards
2× All-Star · World Series MVP · Babe Ruth Award

Full name: Selva Lewis Burdette

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Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
203 144 626 373 158 33 31 3067.3 3,186 1,246 289 628 1,074 3.66 14032.5

Career ERA 3.66 vs. league average 3.80 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1950 NYA AL 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1.3 3 1 0 0 6.75 — 0.0
1951 BSN NL 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 4.3 6 3 5 1 6.23 — 0.0
1952 BSN NL 6 11 45 9 5 0 7 137.0 138 55 47 47 3.61 3.70 (+2%) 585.6
1953 ML1 NL 15 5 46 13 6 1 8 175.0 177 63 56 58 3.24 4.14 (+22%) 2921.1
1954 ML1 NL 15 14 38 32 13 4 0 238.0 224 73 62 79 2.76 3.90 (+29%) 2518.8
1955 ML1 NL 13 8 42 33 11 2 0 230.0 253 103 73 70 4.03 4.00 (-1%) -1175.1
1956 ML1 NL 19 10 39 35 16 6 1 256.3 234 77 52 110 2.70 3.96 (+32%) 4694.1
1957 ML1 NL 17 9 37 33 14 1 0 256.7 260 106 59 78 3.72 3.83 (+3%) 34.0
1958 ML1 NL 20 10 40 36 19 3 0 275.3 279 89 50 113 2.91 3.86 (+25%) 5519.9
1959 ML1 NL 21 15 41 39 20 4 1 289.7 312 131 38 105 4.07 3.90 (-4%) -169.3
1960 ML1 NL 19 13 45 32 18 4 4 275.7 277 103 35 83 3.36 3.82 (+12%) 4097.1
1961 ML1 NL 18 11 40 36 14 3 0 272.3 295 121 33 92 4.00 4.03 (+1%) 1809.3
1962 ML1 NL 10 9 37 19 6 1 2 143.7 172 78 23 59 4.89 3.96 (-24%) -2569.1
1963 ML1 NL 6 5 15 13 4 1 0 84.0 71 34 24 28 3.64 3.46 (-5%) -3292.2
1963 SLN NL 3 8 21 14 3 0 2 98.0 106 41 16 45 3.77 3.46 (-9%) 995.5
1964 SLN NL 1 0 8 0 0 0 0 10.0 10 2 3 3 1.80 3.58 (+50%) -156.1
1964 CHN NL 9 9 28 17 8 2 0 131.0 152 71 19 40 4.88 3.58 (-36%) -1180.0
1965 CHN NL 0 2 7 3 0 0 0 20.3 26 12 4 5 5.31 3.50 (-52%) -601.0
1965 PHI NL 3 3 19 9 1 1 0 70.7 95 43 17 23 5.48 3.50 (-57%) -390.8
1966 CAL AL 7 2 54 0 0 0 5 79.7 80 30 12 27 3.39 3.52 (+4%) 1015.3
1967 CAL AL 1 0 19 0 0 0 1 18.3 16 10 0 8 4.91 3.30 (-49%) -624.6
Career · 21 seasons 203 144 626 373 158 33 31 3,067.1 3,186 1,246 628 1,074 3.66 — 14,033

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

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
666 1,011 101 185 27 4 12 75 2 32 271 .183 .216 .253 .469 -4,783

Career AVG .183 vs. league average .255 across their career seasons — 28.2% below league average.

Career OBP .216 vs. league average .324 across their career seasons — 33.3% below league average.

Career SLG .253 vs. league average .385 across their career seasons — 34.3% below league average.

Career OPS .469 vs. league average .709 across their career seasons — 33.8% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1950 NYA AL 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1951 BSN NL 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1952 BSN NL 45 35 1 4 0 0 0 0 0 3 8 .114 — — — — 0.0
1953 ML1 NL 46 53 4 9 0 0 0 1 0 0 13 .170 .264 (-36%) .335 (-49%) .397 (-57%) .733 (-54%) -459.4
1954 ML1 NL 39 79 3 7 1 0 0 4 0 1 14 .089 .261 (-66%) .333 (-64%) .390 (-74%) .723 (-70%) -902.0
1955 ML1 NL 45 86 10 20 5 0 0 7 0 3 20 .233 .258 (-10%) .332 (-22%) .393 (-26%) .726 (-24%) -346.2
1956 ML1 NL 45 86 9 16 1 0 0 8 0 2 16 .186 .258 (-28%) .331 (-37%) .397 (-50%) .728 (-44%) -628.2
1957 ML1 NL 41 88 11 13 2 0 2 9 0 3 22 .148 .257 (-43%) .323 (-44%) .391 (-39%) .715 (-41%) -590.9
1958 ML1 NL 47 99 11 24 1 1 3 15 0 3 24 .242 .257 (-6%) .324 (-16%) .394 (-8%) .719 (-12%) -196.0
1959 ML1 NL 52 104 14 21 7 1 0 8 0 3 36 .202 .256 (-21%) .323 (-29%) .392 (-26%) .715 (-27%) -472.7
1960 ML1 NL 46 91 11 16 3 0 2 4 0 7 22 .176 .255 (-31%) .323 (-26%) .387 (-29%) .711 (-28%) -406.8
1961 ML1 NL 42 103 10 21 5 0 3 11 0 2 39 .204 .258 (-21%) .328 (-33%) .399 (-15%) .727 (-23%) -410.9
1962 ML1 NL 39 51 6 9 0 0 0 1 0 1 17 .176 .257 (-32%) .326 (-36%) .393 (-55%) .719 (-47%) -370.1
1963 ML1 NL 17 26 2 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 11 .038 — — — — 0.0
1963 SLN NL 21 31 0 3 1 0 0 1 1 0 6 .097 — — — — 0.0
1964 SLN NL 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1964 CHN NL 28 43 6 12 0 1 2 4 0 3 12 .279 — — — — 0.0
1965 CHN NL 8 6 0 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .333 — — — — 0.0
1965 PHI NL 19 20 3 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 7 .300 — — — — 0.0
1966 CAL AL 54 8 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 .125 — — — — 0.0
1967 CAL AL 19 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 21 seasons 666 1,011 101 185 27 4 12 75 2 32 271 .183 — — — — -4,783

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

G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
6 17 1 1 0 0 1 3 1 5 .059

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1958 WS ML1 3 9 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 3 .111
1957 WS ML1 3 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 2 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
4 2 6 6 0 49.3 43 16 8 25 2.92

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1958 WS ML1 1 2 3 3 0 22.3 22 14 4 12 5.64
1957 WS ML1 3 0 3 3 0 27.0 21 2 4 13 0.67

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1290 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home3234855188234.181
Away34252150961041.184

Pitching — Home / Away

SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home2991568.115475792985653.32
Away3261491.216326613315063.99

Last 10 Games — Pitching

DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1967-07-16 LAAMIN — 1.0000000
1967-07-14 LAACHW — 1.0111001
1967-07-03 LAABOS — 0.1100000
1967-06-27 LAATEX — 0.0222000
1967-06-17 LAABAL — 1.0000010
1967-06-06 LAABAL — 1.0111001
1967-06-03 LAAMIN — 0.1122001
1967-05-31 LAATEX — 1.1000000
1967-05-21 LAAMIN — 1.0333001
1967-05-19 LAAMIN — 0.1100010

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 626 351 245 622 27 55

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1950 NYA P 2 0 0 1 0 1
1951 BSN P 3 0 0 1 0 0
1952 BSN P 45 0 9 29 1 3
1953 ML1 P 46 0 11 37 1 6
1954 ML1 P 38 32 17 49 4 4
1955 ML1 P 42 33 18 47 2 6
1956 ML1 P 39 35 19 48 1 4
1957 ML1 P 37 33 22 53 4 3
1958 ML1 P 40 36 27 53 1 4
1959 ML1 P 41 39 21 47 1 6
1960 ML1 P 45 32 31 68 2 6
1961 ML1 P 40 36 27 60 1 2
1962 ML1 P 37 19 8 33 2 1
1963 ML1 P 15 13 7 15 3 2
1963 SLN P 21 14 4 12 2 1
1964 SLN P 8 0 0 2 0 0
1964 CHN P 28 17 10 34 0 3
1965 CHN P 7 3 2 3 0 0
1965 PHI P 19 9 4 14 0 3
1966 CAL P 54 0 8 11 2 0
1967 CAL P 19 0 0 5 0 0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position Games
Pitcher 626

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1957 Babe Ruth Award P
1957 World Series MVP

College History

School Name City State Years Attended
University of Richmond Richmond VA 1946

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1959 Most Valuable Player NL 12th 14.0 336 0
1958 Cy Young Award ML 3rd 3.0 16 3
1958 Most Valuable Player NL 11th 47.0 336 0
1957 Most Valuable Player NL 24th 2.0 336 0
1956 Most Valuable Player NL 22th 8.0 336 0

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Lew Burdette (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Dutch Leonard
    191-181, 3.25 ERA
  2. 97
    Charlie Root
    201-160, 3.59 ERA
  3. 97
    Dolf Luque
    194-179, 3.24 ERA
  4. 96
    Herb Pennock HOF
    240-162, 3.60 ERA
  5. 95
    Urban Shocker
    187-117, 3.17 ERA
  6. 94
    Paul Derringer
    223-212, 3.46 ERA

Frequently Asked Questions about Lew Burdette

What years did Lew Burdette play?
Lew Burdette played in Major League Baseball from 1950 to 1967.
Was Lew Burdette a pitcher?
Yes. Lew Burdette pitched in the major leagues, recording 203 wins and 1074 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Lew Burdette hit?
Lew Burdette hit 12 career home runs with 185 hits.