Bill Dahlen

Shortstop · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1891-1911)

Bill Dahlen was a shortstop who played in Major League Baseball from 1891 to 1911 for 4 teams, including the Chicago Cubs, a span of 21 seasons. In 2,444 career games, he hit .272 with 2,461 hits, 84 home runs, and 1,234 RBI. His career PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of offensive impact — is 17,465.

AVG (Batting Average):
Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):
Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):
Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging):
On-base percentage plus slugging percentage, the quickest single summary of offensive value. .900 or better is star-level.

Data updated

AVG .272
HR 84
RBI 1,234
H 2,461
OPS .740
PIV 17,465
Position
Shortstop
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
5'9" / 180 lb
Born
1/5/1870 in Nelliston, NY, USA
Died
12/5/1950 in Brooklyn, NY, USA
MLB Debut
1891-04-22
Last Game
1911-10-12

Full name: William Frederick Dahlen

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Career Batting Statistics

Bill Dahlen — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
2,444 9,036 1,590 2,461 413 163 84 1,234 548 1,064 759 .272 .358 .382 .740 17,465

Career AVG .272 vs. league average .263 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .358 vs. league average .326 across their career seasons — +9.7% above league average.

Career SLG .382 vs. league average .346 across their career seasons — +10.4% above league average.

Career OPS .740 vs. league average .672 across their career seasons — +10.1% above league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bill Dahlen Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year Team Lg G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG Lg AVG Lg OBP Lg SLG Lg OPS PIV
1891 CHN NL 135 549 114 143 18 13 9 76 21 67 60 .260 .254 (+3%) .331 (+5%) .343 (+13%) .675 (+9%) 994.6
1892 CHN NL 143 581 114 170 23 19 5 58 60 45 56 .293 .244 (+19%) .316 (+10%) .327 (+29%) .644 (+20%) 1928.9
1893 CHN NL 116 485 113 146 28 15 5 64 31 58 30 .301 .279 (+8%) .356 (+7%) .379 (+19%) .735 (+13%) 1233.2
1894 CHN NL 122 507 150 182 32 14 15 108 43 76 33 .359 .309 (+16%) .379 (+17%) .435 (+30%) .814 (+24%) 2856.1
1895 CHN NL 129 516 106 131 19 10 7 62 38 61 51 .254 .296 (-14%) .361 (-5%) .399 (-7%) .761 (-6%) -497.6
1896 CHN NL 125 474 137 167 30 19 9 74 51 64 36 .352 .290 (+21%) .354 (+24%) .387 (+43%) .741 (+34%) 3355.9
1897 CHN NL 75 276 67 80 18 8 6 40 15 43 25 .290 .291 (-1%) .354 (+13%) .387 (+24%) .741 (+18%) 1028.4
1898 CHN NL 142 521 96 151 35 8 1 79 27 58 41 .290 .270 (+7%) .333 (+15%) .347 (+13%) .680 (+14%) 1717.3
1899 BRO NL 121 428 87 121 22 7 4 76 29 67 23 .283 .282 (avg) .343 (+16%) .366 (+8%) .710 (+12%) 1303.7
1900 BRO NL 133 483 87 125 16 11 1 69 31 73 27 .259 .279 (-7%) .338 (+7%) .366 (-6%) .705 (avg) 280.7
1901 BRO NL 131 511 69 136 17 9 4 82 23 30 43 .266 .271 (-2%) .326 (-4%) .359 (avg) .686 (-2%) -215.8
1902 BRO NL 138 527 67 139 25 8 2 74 20 43 43 .264 .266 (-1%) .321 (+2%) .343 (+3%) .665 (+2%) 274.3
1903 BRO NL 138 474 71 124 17 9 1 64 34 82 50 .262 .261 (avg) .316 (+18%) .345 (-1%) .662 (+8%) 1114.4
1904 NY1 NL 145 523 70 140 26 2 2 80 47 44 47 .268 .246 (+8%) .300 (+8%) .321 (+5%) .622 (+6%) 682.8
1905 NY1 NL 148 520 67 126 20 4 7 81 37 62 43 .242 .248 (-2%) .307 (+10%) .322 (+4%) .629 (+7%) 915.1
1906 NY1 NL 143 471 63 113 18 3 1 49 16 76 48 .240 .247 (-3%) .307 (+16%) .315 (-6%) .622 (+5%) 909.0
1907 NY1 NL 143 464 40 96 20 1 0 34 11 51 34 .207 .245 (-16%) .304 (-4%) .308 (-18%) .613 (-11%) -595.3
1908 BSN NL 144 524 50 125 23 2 3 48 10 35 45 .239 .240 (-1%) .298 (-1%) .306 (avg) .605 (avg) -3.9
1909 BSN NL 69 197 22 46 6 1 2 16 4 29 21 .234 .244 (-4%) .306 (+8%) .312 (-3%) .618 (+3%) 182.8
1910 BRO NL 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1911 BRO NL 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 21 seasons 2,444 9,036 1,590 2,461 413 163 84 1,234 548 1,064 759 .272 — — — — 17,465

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

Bill Dahlen — Playoff Career Batting
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
5 15 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 2 .000

Playoff Batting by Year

Bill Dahlen — Playoff Batting by Year
Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1905 WS NY1 5 15 1 0 0 0 0 1 3 2 .000

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1601 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Bill Dahlen — Batting — Home / Away
SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home807279843472919387.261
Away79428593567119343.249

Last 10 Games — Batting

Bill Dahlen — Last 10 Games — Batting
DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1911-10-12 BRONY1W 300000003
1910-06-08 BROCINL 100000000
1910-06-04 BROPITW 000000000
1910-04-29 BROBSNL 100000000
1909-08-28 BSNCINL 000000110
1909-08-25 BSNSTLW 111000100
1909-08-23 BSNCHCL 100000000
1909-08-21 BSNCHCL 400000000
1909-08-21 BSNCHCL 410000002
1909-08-20 BSNCHCL 412001100

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Bill Dahlen — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
2B 19 6 47 44 8 2
3B 223 2 355 580 89 42
OF 58 0 101 9 8 5
SS 2133 769 4856 7505 975 881

Season-by-Season Fielding

Bill Dahlen — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1891 CHN 3B 84 0 120 211 42 13
1891 CHN OF 37 0 69 7 6 4
1891 CHN SS 15 0 28 46 16 4
1892 CHN 2B 1 0 3 2 1 0
1892 CHN 3B 68 0 113 189 19 14
1892 CHN OF 2 0 3 0 0 0
1892 CHN SS 72 0 178 232 41 29
1893 CHN 2B 10 0 27 24 4 1
1893 CHN 3B 3 0 3 5 1 0
1893 CHN OF 17 0 27 2 2 1
1893 CHN SS 88 0 229 306 65 33
1894 CHN 3B 55 0 96 129 25 10
1894 CHN SS 67 0 192 258 50 43
1895 CHN OF 1 0 1 0 0 0
1895 CHN SS 129 0 281 527 86 70
1896 CHN SS 125 0 310 456 71 66
1897 CHN SS 75 0 215 291 38 48
1898 CHN SS 142 0 369 511 76 77
1899 BRO 3B 11 0 19 41 2 5
1899 BRO SS 110 0 256 377 40 48
1900 BRO SS 133 0 321 517 55 59
1901 BRO 2B 2 0 3 7 0 0
1901 BRO SS 129 0 301 450 57 49
1902 BRO SS 138 0 278 440 66 34
1903 BRO SS 138 0 296 477 42 48
1904 NY1 SS 145 145 316 494 61 61
1905 NY1 OF 1 0 1 0 0 0
1905 NY1 SS 147 147 313 501 45 58
1906 NY1 SS 143 143 287 454 49 36
1907 NY1 SS 143 143 292 426 45 39
1908 BSN SS 144 143 291 553 43 58
1909 BSN 2B 6 6 14 11 3 1
1909 BSN 3B 2 2 4 5 0 0
1909 BSN SS 49 48 101 184 29 20
1911 BRO SS 1 0 2 5 0 1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Bill Dahlen Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position Games
Second Base 19
Third Base 223
Shortstop 2134
Left Field 36
Center Field 11
Right Field 11

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Bill Dahlen (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Bid McPhee HOF
    .272 avg, 53 HR
  2. 92
    George Davis HOF
    .295 avg, 73 HR
  3. 72
    Herman Long
    .277 avg, 91 HR
  4. 63
    Jose Reyes
    .283 avg, 145 HR
  5. 62
    Ed Konetchy
    .281 avg, 74 HR
  6. 61
    Omar Vizquel
    .272 avg, 80 HR

Compare Bill Dahlen

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

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vs George Davis

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Bill Dahlen: the record in brief

According to the bio, Bill Dahlen debuted on April 22, 1891 and played a final game on October 12, 1911. The season rows list, in order, the Chicago Colts (1891 through 1897), the Chicago Orphans (1898), the Brooklyn Superbas (1899 to 1910), the New York Giants (1904 through 1907), the Boston Doves (1908 through 1909), and the Brooklyn Dodgers (1911). Dahlen, born on January 5, 1870, in Nelliston, NY, USA, is listed as a shortstop and both batted and threw right-handed. Size on record: 180 pounds on a 5-foot-9 frame. Dahlen's death is recorded on December 5, 1950, in Brooklyn, NY, USA. Dahlen's full given name, per the bio, is William Frederick Dahlen.

In 2,444 games and 9,036 at bats, Dahlen batted .272 with 2,461 hits, adding 84 homers, 1,234 RBI, and 548 stolen bases. Dahlen's career OPS of .740 combines a .358 on-base mark with .382 slugging. The .272 career average is close to the .263 the league hit across the same seasons. 1894 was Dahlen's biggest home run year, with 15.

Frequently Asked Questions about Bill Dahlen

What years did Bill Dahlen play?
Bill Dahlen played in Major League Baseball from 1891 to 1911.
Was Bill Dahlen a pitcher?
No. Bill Dahlen was a position player (Shortstop).
How many home runs did Bill Dahlen hit?
Bill Dahlen hit 84 career home runs with 2,461 hits.
What teams did Bill Dahlen play for?
Bill Dahlen played for 4 teams: the Chicago Orphans (1891–1898), the Brooklyn Dodgers (1899–1903, 1910–1911), the New York Giants (1904–1907), and the Boston Doves (1908–1909).
What were Bill Dahlen's career stats?
In 2,444 games, Bill Dahlen had 2,461 hits, 84 home runs, 1,234 RBI, 1,590 runs, and 548 stolen bases, with a .272 batting average.
What position did Bill Dahlen play?
Bill Dahlen played primarily as a shortstop, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Bill Dahlen and how much did he weigh?
Bill Dahlen was listed at 5 feet 9 inches and 180 pounds.
How many home runs did Bill Dahlen hit each season?
Bill Dahlen's home runs by season: 9 in 1891, 5 in 1892, 5 in 1893, 15 in 1894, 7 in 1895, 9 in 1896, 6 in 1897, 1 in 1898, 4 in 1899, 1 in 1900, 4 in 1901, 2 in 1902, 1 in 1903, 2 in 1904, 7 in 1905, 1 in 1906, 0 in 1907, 3 in 1908, 2 in 1909, 0 in 1910, and 0 in 1911. His most in one season was 15, in 1894.
What was Bill Dahlen's career batting average?
Bill Dahlen batted .272 over his career, with 2,461 hits in 9,036 at bats.
How many RBI did Bill Dahlen have?
Bill Dahlen drove in 1,234 runs in his career.
Is Bill Dahlen in the Hall of Fame?
No. Bill Dahlen has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.