What years did Dean Chance play?

Dean Chance played in Major League Baseball from 1961 to 1971.

Was Dean Chance a pitcher?

Yes. Dean Chance pitched in the major leagues, recording 128 wins and 1534 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Dean Chance hit?

Dean Chance hit 0 career home runs with 44 hits.

What was Dean Chance's career batting average?

Dean Chance batted .066 over his career, with 44 hits in 662 at bats.

How many RBI did Dean Chance have?

Dean Chance drove in 16 runs in his career.

What was Dean Chance's career ERA?

Dean Chance finished with a 2.92 career ERA, going 128-115 with 1,534 strikeouts.

Dean Chance

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1961-1971)

Dean Chance was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1961 to 1971 for 6 teams, including the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, a span of 11 seasons. Across 406 career appearances, he went 128-115 with a 2.92 ERA, 1,534 strikeouts, and 23 saves. He also batted .066 with 0 home runs. Dean Chance was a 2-time All-Star and a Cy Young. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 30038.3.

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 128–115

ERA 2.92

WHIP 1.21

SO 1,534

Pitcher PIV 30038.3

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'3" / 200 lb
Born: 6/1/1941 in Wooster, OH, USA
Died: 10/11/2015 in Wooster, OH, USA
MLB Debut: 1961-09-11
Last Game: 1971-08-09
Awards: 2× All-Star · Cy Young

Full name: Wilmer Dean Chance

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Career Pitching Statistics

Dean Chance — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
128	115	406	294	83	33	23	2147.1	1,864	697	122	739	1,534	2.92	30038.3

Career ERA 2.92 vs. league average 3.57 across their career seasons — 18.2% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Dean Chance Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1961	LAA	AL	0	2	5	4	0	0	0	18.1	33	14	5	11	6.87	4.03 (-71%)	768.6
1962	LAA	AL	14	10	50	24	6	2	8	206.2	195	68	66	127	2.96	3.96 (+25%)	3532.5
1963	LAA	AL	13	18	45	35	6	2	3	248.0	229	88	90	168	3.19	3.46 (+8%)	3915.6
1964	LAA	AL	20	9	46	35	15	11	4	278.1	194	51	86	207	1.65	3.58 (+54%)	8736.7
1965	CAL	AL	15	10	36	33	10	4	0	225.2	197	79	101	164	3.15	3.50 (+10%)	1661.7
1966	CAL	AL	12	17	41	37	11	2	1	259.2	206	89	114	180	3.08	3.52 (+12%)	364.3
1967	MIN	AL	20	14	41	39	18	5	1	283.2	244	86	68	220	2.73	3.30 (+17%)	5578.6
1968	MIN	AL	16	16	43	39	15	6	1	292.0	224	82	63	234	2.53	2.98 (+15%)	6050.6
1969	MIN	AL	5	4	20	15	1	0	0	88.1	76	29	35	50	2.95	3.61 (+18%)	64.7
1970	CLE	AL	9	8	45	19	1	1	4	155.0	172	73	59	109	4.24	3.89 (-9%)	-441.1
1970	NYN	NL	0	1	3	0	0	0	1	2.0	3	3	2	0	13.50	—	0.0
1971	DET	AL	4	6	31	14	0	0	0	89.2	91	35	50	64	3.51	3.47 (-1%)	-193.9
Career · 12 seasons			128	115	406	294	83	33	23	2,147.1	1,864	697	739	1,534	2.92	—	30,038

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

Dean Chance — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
406	662	17	44	2	0	0	16	0	30	420	.066	.113	.069	.183	-6,117

Career AVG .066 vs. league average .249 across their career seasons — 73.3% below league average.

Career OBP .113 vs. league average .315 across their career seasons — 64.1% below league average.

Career SLG .069 vs. league average .373 across their career seasons — 81.4% below league average.

Career OPS .183 vs. league average .688 across their career seasons — 73.5% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Dean Chance 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
1961	LAA	AL	5	5	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1962	LAA	AL	50	65	1	4	0	1	3	29	.062	.257 (-76%)	.326 (-68%)	.393 (-84%)	.719 (-77%)	-793.9
1963	LAA	AL	45	80	5	12	1	3	2	38	.150	.246 (-39%)	.308 (-45%)	.371 (-56%)	.680 (-51%)	-612.3
1964	LAA	AL	46	89	3	7	0	0	3	53	.079	.250 (-69%)	.312 (-65%)	.377 (-79%)	.690 (-73%)	-983.6
1965	CAL	AL	36	75	3	7	1	5	5	56	.093	.245 (-62%)	.310 (-52%)	.371 (-71%)	.682 (-62%)	-703.3
1966	CAL	AL	41	76	1	2	0	0	3	54	.026	.248 (-89%)	.309 (-76%)	.376 (-93%)	.685 (-85%)	-977.1
1967	MIN	AL	41	92	2	3	0	0	7	58	.033	.242 (-87%)	.306 (-61%)	.357 (-91%)	.663 (-77%)	-1034.1
1968	MIN	AL	43	93	0	5	0	3	3	63	.054	.236 (-77%)	.298 (-69%)	.340 (-84%)	.638 (-77%)	-1013.0
1969	MIN	AL	20	24	1	1	0	1	2	19	.042	—	—	—	—	0.0
1970	CLE	AL	45	42	1	3	0	3	2	32	.071	—	—	—	—	0.0
1970	NYN	NL	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1971	DET	AL	31	21	0	0	0	0	0	16	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 12 seasons			406	662	17	44	2	16	30	420	.066	—	—	—	—	-6,117

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

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

Playoff Batting by Year

Dean Chance — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1969	ALCS	MIN	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Dean Chance — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	0	1	0	0	2.0	4	3	0	2	13.50

Playoff Pitching by Year

Dean Chance — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1969	ALCS	MIN	0	0	1	0	0	2.0	4	3	0	2	13.50

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (812 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Dean Chance — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	196	327	7	20	0	14	.061
Away	210	335	10	24	0	2	.072

Pitching — Home / Away

Dean Chance — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	196	1113.1	954	333	340	796	2.69
Away	210	1034.0	910	364	399	737	3.17

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Dean Chance — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
1971-08-09	DET	BOS	—	0.0	2	2	2	0	0
1971-08-05	DET	BOS	—	0.2	1	0	0	0	1
1971-08-03	DET	TEX	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	1
1971-08-01	DET	LAA	—	0.1	0	0	0	1	0
1971-07-29	DET	KCR	—	0.0	0	0	0	1	0
1971-07-28	DET	KCR	W	2.0	3	2	2	1	1
1971-07-25	DET	OAK	—	1.0	1	0	0	1	2
1971-07-24	DET	OAK	—	1.1	0	0	0	0	0
1971-07-21	DET	LAA	—	0.1	3	3	3	1	0
1971-07-18	DET	KCR	—	2.0	0	0	0	0	2

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Dean Chance — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	406	294	111	373	33	31

Season-by-Season Fielding

Dean Chance — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1961	LAA	P	5	4	1	6	0	1
1962	LAA	P	50	24	12	37	1	2
1963	LAA	P	45	35	15	46	6	2
1964	LAA	P	46	35	10	33	1	1
1965	CAL	P	36	33	14	49	1	6
1966	CAL	P	41	37	17	48	4	7
1967	MIN	P	41	39	15	51	7	6
1968	MIN	P	43	39	15	57	5	3
1969	MIN	P	20	15	3	9	0	1
1970	CLE	P	45	19	3	20	2	2
1970	NYN	P	3	0	0	1	0	0
1971	DET	P	31	14	6	16	6	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Dean Chance Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	406

Awards & Honors

Dean Chance — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1967	TSN Comeback Player of the Year
1964	Cy Young Award
1964	TSN All-Star	P
1964	TSN Pitcher of the Year

Award Voting History

Dean Chance — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1967	Most Valuable Player	AL	13th	19.0	280	0
1964	Cy Young Award	ML	1st	17.0	20	17
1964	Most Valuable Player	AL	5th	97.0	280	0
1962	Rookie of the Year	AL	3rd	1.0	20	1

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Dean Chance (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Compare Dean Chance

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Dean Chance: the record in brief

The profile opens with Dean Chance's first major league game on September 11, 1961; the last one listed came on August 9, 1971. The team column moves through the Los Angeles Angels (1961 to 1964), the California Angels (1965 through 1966), the Minnesota Twins (1967 to 1969), the Cleveland Indians (1970), the New York Mets (1970), and the Detroit Tigers (1971). Chance, a pitcher by primary position, both batted and threw right-handed. Chance is listed at 6'3" and 200 pounds. The birth record reads June 1, 1941, in Wooster, OH, USA. The bio records the death on October 11, 2015, in Wooster, OH, USA. Chance's full given name, per the bio, is Wilmer Dean Chance.

The pitching table credits Chance with a 128-115 record and a 2.92 ERA in 406 games. The same table counts 1,534 strikeouts, 83 complete games, 33 shutouts, and 23 saves. Against a 3.57 league ERA for the same years, Chance was 18.2% better. Chance won 20 games in 1964, the most of any season listed.

Frequently Asked Questions about Dean Chance

What years did Dean Chance play?: Dean Chance played in Major League Baseball from 1961 to 1971.
Was Dean Chance a pitcher?: Yes. Dean Chance pitched in the major leagues, recording 128 wins and 1534 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Dean Chance hit?: Dean Chance hit 0 career home runs with 44 hits.
What was Dean Chance's career batting average?: Dean Chance batted .066 over his career, with 44 hits in 662 at bats.
How many RBI did Dean Chance have?: Dean Chance drove in 16 runs in his career.
What was Dean Chance's career ERA?: Dean Chance finished with a 2.92 career ERA, going 128-115 with 1,534 strikeouts.