John Clarkson

Pitcher · Career Stats, Hall of Fame Bio & Records (1882-1894)

⭐ Hall of Fame 1963
W–L 328–178
ERA 2.81
WHIP 1.21
SO 1,978
Pitcher PIV 36437.9
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
5'10" / 155 lb
Born
7/1/1861 in Cambridge, MA, USA
Died
2/4/1909 in Belmont, MA, USA
MLB Debut
1882-05-02
Last Game
1894-07-12
Hall of Fame
Inducted 1963 (Veterans)
Awards
Pitching Triple Crown

Full name: John Gibson Clarkson

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Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
328 178 531 518 485 37 5 4536.3 4,295 1,417 159 1,191 1,978 2.81 36437.9

Career ERA 2.81 vs. league average 3.64 across their career seasons — 22.9% better than 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
1882 WOR NL 1 2 3 3 2 0 0 24.0 49 12 2 3 4.50 2.80 (-61%) 23.7
1884 CHN NL 10 3 14 13 12 0 0 118.0 94 28 25 102 2.14 3.11 (+31%) -513.3
1885 CHN NL 53 16 70 70 68 10 0 623.0 497 128 97 308 1.85 3.03 (+39%) 4197.2
1886 CHN NL 36 17 55 55 50 3 0 466.7 419 125 86 313 2.41 3.37 (+28%) 6846.8
1887 CHN NL 38 21 60 59 56 2 0 523.0 513 179 92 237 3.08 4.17 (+26%) 11117.4
1888 BSN NL 33 20 54 54 53 3 0 483.3 448 148 119 223 2.76 2.95 (+6%) 361.7
1889 BSN NL 49 19 73 72 68 8 1 620.0 589 188 203 284 2.73 3.93 (+31%) 7881.6
1890 BSN NL 26 18 44 44 43 2 0 383.0 370 139 140 138 3.27 3.88 (+16%) -88.1
1891 BSN NL 33 19 55 51 47 3 3 460.7 435 143 154 141 2.79 3.52 (+21%) 16.5
1892 BSN NL 8 6 16 16 15 4 0 145.7 115 38 60 48 2.35 3.28 (+29%) -681.5
1892 CL4 NL 17 10 29 28 27 1 1 243.3 235 69 72 91 2.55 3.28 (+22%) 2875.0
1893 CL4 NL 16 17 36 35 31 0 0 295.0 358 146 95 62 4.45 4.66 (+4%) 2647.1
1894 CL4 NL 8 10 22 18 13 1 0 150.7 173 74 46 28 4.42 5.33 (+17%) 1753.9
Career · 13 seasons 328 178 531 518 485 37 5 4,536.1 4,295 1,417 1,191 1,978 2.81 — 36,438

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
546 1,974 254 432 73 26 24 232 31 81 382 .219 .250 .319 .569 -4,841

Career AVG .219 vs. league average .257 across their career seasons — 15.0% below league average.

Career OBP .250 vs. league average .319 across their career seasons — 21.5% below league average.

Career SLG .319 vs. league average .348 across their career seasons — 8.6% below league average.

Career OPS .569 vs. league average .667 across their career seasons — 14.8% 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
1882 WOR NL 3 11 0 4 2 0 0 2 0 0 3 .364 — — — — 0.0
1884 CHN NL 21 84 16 22 6 2 3 17 0 2 16 .262 .243 (+8%) .278 (avg) .327 (+49%) .606 (+27%) 262.2
1885 CHN NL 72 283 34 61 11 5 4 32 0 3 44 .216 .244 (-12%) .287 (-22%) .325 (+2%) .613 (-9%) -465.1
1886 CHN NL 55 210 21 49 9 1 3 23 2 0 38 .233 .246 (-5%) .302 (-23%) .331 (-1%) .634 (-11%) -415.5
1887 CHN NL 63 215 40 52 5 5 6 25 6 11 25 .242 .270 (-11%) .331 (-16%) .373 (+6%) .705 (-4%) -220.2
1888 BSN NL 55 205 20 40 9 1 1 17 5 7 48 .195 .238 (-18%) .290 (-24%) .319 (-18%) .610 (-21%) -611.3
1889 BSN NL 73 262 36 54 9 3 2 23 8 11 59 .206 .263 (-22%) .334 (-29%) .357 (-20%) .691 (-24%) -1052.4
1890 BSN NL 45 173 18 43 6 3 2 26 2 8 31 .249 .260 (-4%) .336 (-15%) .351 (avg) .687 (-7%) -255.1
1891 BSN NL 55 187 28 42 7 4 0 26 2 18 50 .225 .254 (-12%) .331 (-12%) .343 (-11%) .675 (-11%) -358.8
1892 BSN NL 16 57 7 13 3 0 1 13 1 3 15 .228 .244 (-7%) .316 (-16%) .327 (+2%) .644 (-7%) -74.7
1892 CL4 NL 29 101 8 14 0 0 0 4 2 8 24 .139 .244 (-43%) .316 (-36%) .327 (-58%) .644 (-47%) -74.7
1893 CL4 NL 37 131 18 27 6 2 1 17 2 4 20 .206 .279 (-26%) .356 (-36%) .379 (-20%) .735 (-27%) -638.2
1894 CL4 NL 22 55 8 11 0 0 1 7 1 6 9 .200 .309 (-35%) .379 (-26%) .435 (-42%) .814 (-35%) -334.3
Career · 13 seasons 546 1,974 254 432 73 26 24 232 31 81 382 .219 — — — — -4,238

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
10 36 2 5 1 0 1 4 0 3 .139

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1892 CS CL4 2 8 1 2 0 0 1 3 0 1 .250
1886 WS CHN 4 15 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 2 .067
1885 WS CHN 4 13 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 .154

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
2 5 8 8 0 64.0 64 19 18 52 2.67

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1892 CS CL4 0 2 2 2 0 17.0 24 10 5 9 5.29
1886 WS CHN 2 2 4 4 0 31.0 25 7 12 28 2.03
1885 WS CHN 0 1 2 2 0 16.0 15 2 1 15 1.12

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
1B 2 0 3 0 3 0
3B 4 0 0 3 2 0
OF 27 0 15 5 11 1
P 531 0 221 1143 162 44

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1882 WOR 1B 1 0 0 0 0 0
1882 WOR P 3 0 1 6 1 0
1884 CHN 1B 1 0 3 0 3 0
1884 CHN 3B 2 0 0 2 2 0
1884 CHN OF 8 0 5 5 4 1
1884 CHN P 14 0 6 38 11 5
1885 CHN 3B 1 0 0 1 0 0
1885 CHN OF 3 0 1 0 0 0
1885 CHN P 70 0 26 174 20 8
1886 CHN OF 5 0 1 0 0 0
1886 CHN P 55 0 19 114 19 3
1887 CHN OF 5 0 5 0 1 0
1887 CHN P 60 0 34 125 7 5
1888 BSN OF 1 0 1 0 2 0
1888 BSN P 54 0 22 117 19 3
1889 BSN 3B 1 0 0 0 0 0
1889 BSN OF 2 0 1 0 0 0
1889 BSN P 73 0 36 172 27 8
1890 BSN OF 1 0 1 0 3 0
1890 BSN P 44 0 21 72 14 3
1891 BSN OF 1 0 0 0 0 0
1891 BSN P 55 0 27 114 13 2
1892 BSN P 16 0 2 36 5 3
1892 CL4 P 29 0 9 51 10 1
1893 CL4 OF 1 0 0 0 1 0
1893 CL4 P 36 0 15 82 7 1
1894 CL4 P 22 0 3 42 9 2

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position Games
Pitcher 531
First Base 2
Third Base 4
Left Field 4
Center Field 1
Right Field 20

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1889 Pitching Triple Crown

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

John Clarkson (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Mickey Welch HOF
    307-210, 2.71 ERA
  2. 88
    Kid Nichols HOF
    362-208, 2.96 ERA
  3. 84
    Old Hoss Radbourn HOF
    310-194, 2.68 ERA
  4. 78
    Tony Mullane
    284-220, 3.05 ERA
  5. 61
    Tim Keefe HOF
    342-225, 2.63 ERA
  6. 48
    Jim McCormick
    265-214, 2.43 ERA

Compare John Clarkson

Side-by-side career stat comparisons against Clarkson's closest peers by position and era.

vs Cy Young
vs Rube Waddell
vs Kid Nichols
vs Tim Keefe
vs Amos Rusie
vs Jim Whitney

Browse all MLB player comparisons →

Frequently Asked Questions about John Clarkson

What years did John Clarkson play?
John Clarkson played in Major League Baseball from 1882 to 1894.
Was John Clarkson a pitcher?
Yes. John Clarkson pitched in the major leagues, recording 328 wins and 1978 strikeouts.
How many home runs did John Clarkson hit?
John Clarkson hit 24 career home runs with 432 hits.
Is John Clarkson in the Hall of Fame?
Yes. John Clarkson was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1963.