What years did John Denny play?

John Denny played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1986.

Was John Denny a pitcher?

Yes. John Denny pitched in the major leagues, recording 123 wins and 1146 strikeouts.

How many home runs did John Denny hit?

John Denny hit 0 career home runs with 97 hits.

What teams did John Denny play for?

John Denny played for 4 teams: the St. Louis Cardinals (1974–1979), the Cleveland Indians (1980–1982), the Philadelphia Phillies (1982–1985), and the Cincinnati Reds (1986).

How many Cy Young Awards did John Denny win?

John Denny won 1 Cy Young Award, in 1983.

What awards did John Denny win?

John Denny won the Cy Young Award (1983).

What were John Denny's career stats?

In 325 games, John Denny went 123-108 with a 3.59 ERA, 1,146 strikeouts, and 2,148.2 innings pitched. At the plate he had 97 hits and 0 home runs.

What was John Denny's salary?

John Denny's last recorded salary was $1,083,333, in 1986. His highest recorded salary was $1,109,333, in 1985, and his lowest was $1,083,333, in 1986. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1986.

What position did John Denny play?

John Denny played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was John Denny and how much did he weigh?

John Denny was listed at 6 feet 3 inches and 185 pounds.

What was John Denny's career ERA?

John Denny finished with a 3.59 career ERA, going 123-108 with 1,146 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did John Denny have?

John Denny recorded 1,146 career strikeouts.

Is John Denny in the Hall of Fame?

No. John Denny has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

John Denny

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1974-1986)

John Denny was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1986 for 4 teams, including the St. Louis Cardinals, a span of 13 seasons. Across 325 career appearances, he went 123-108 with a 3.59 ERA and 1,146 strikeouts. He also batted .170 with 0 home runs. John Denny was a Cy Young. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 11165.2.

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 15, 2026

W–L 123–108

ERA 3.59

WHIP 1.34

SO 1,146

Pitcher PIV 11165.2

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'3" / 185 lb
Born: 11/8/1952 in Prescott, AZ, USA
MLB Debut: 1974-09-12
Last Game: 1986-08-18
Awards: Cy Young

Full name: John Allen Denny

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Career Pitching Statistics

John Denny — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
123	108	325	322	62	18	0	2148.2	2,093	856	137	778	1,146	3.59	11165.2

Career ERA 3.59 vs. league average 3.81 across their career seasons — 5.8% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Denny Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1974	SLN	NL	0	0	2	0	0	0	2.0	3	0	0	1	0.00	—	0.0
1975	SLN	NL	10	7	25	24	3	2	136.0	149	60	51	72	3.97	3.71 (-7%)	1794.1
1976	SLN	NL	11	9	30	30	8	3	207.0	189	58	74	74	2.52	3.51 (+28%)	-1462.8
1977	SLN	NL	8	8	26	26	3	1	149.2	165	75	62	60	4.51	4.00 (-13%)	-233.7
1978	SLN	NL	14	11	33	33	11	2	234.0	200	77	74	103	2.96	3.69 (+20%)	1438.5
1979	SLN	NL	8	11	31	31	5	2	206.0	206	111	100	99	4.85	4.00 (-21%)	-4035.2
1980	CLE	AL	8	6	16	16	4	1	108.2	116	53	47	59	4.39	3.84 (-14%)	725.5
1981	CLE	AL	10	6	19	19	6	3	145.2	139	51	66	94	3.15	3.58 (+12%)	186.1
1982	CLE	AL	6	11	21	21	5	0	138.1	126	77	73	94	5.01	3.86 (-30%)	-835.5
1982	PHI	NL	0	2	4	4	0	0	22.1	18	10	10	19	4.03	3.86 (-4%)	517.4
1983	PHI	NL	19	6	36	36	7	1	242.2	229	64	53	139	2.37	3.87 (+39%)	6854.4
1984	PHI	NL	7	7	22	22	2	0	154.1	122	42	29	94	2.45	3.81 (+36%)	2758.3
1985	PHI	NL	11	14	33	33	6	2	230.2	252	98	83	123	3.82	3.89 (+2%)	1883.1
1986	CIN	NL	11	10	27	27	2	1	171.1	179	80	56	115	4.20	3.97 (-6%)	1575.0
Career · 14 seasons			123	108	325	322	62	18	2,148.2	2,093	856	778	1,146	3.59	—	11,165

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

John Denny — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
326	570	44	97	9	2	0	29	9	19	164	.170	.197	.193	.390	-3,480

Career AVG .170 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 34.5% below league average.

Career OBP .197 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — 39.3% below league average.

Career SLG .193 vs. league average .384 across their career seasons — 49.8% below league average.

Career OPS .390 vs. league average .709 across their career seasons — 45.0% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Denny Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1974	SLN	NL	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1975	SLN	NL	26	44	4	10	0	0	3	0	0	17	.227	—	—	—	—	0.0
1976	SLN	NL	30	67	3	15	2	0	4	1	1	27	.224	.255 (-12%)	.320 (-27%)	.360 (-30%)	.681 (-28%)	-291.8
1977	SLN	NL	26	51	4	5	0	0	2	1	1	15	.098	.264 (-63%)	.329 (-60%)	.401 (-76%)	.730 (-68%)	-555.9
1978	SLN	NL	33	73	10	13	3	1	3	0	4	21	.178	.257 (-31%)	.323 (-33%)	.378 (-35%)	.702 (-34%)	-405.7
1979	SLN	NL	31	70	5	9	2	1	3	1	1	21	.129	.265 (-52%)	.329 (-58%)	.397 (-53%)	.727 (-55%)	-645.5
1980	CLE	AL	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	CLE	AL	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	CLE	AL	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	PHI	NL	4	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	2	2	.167	—	—	—	—	0.0
1983	PHI	NL	36	77	7	13	1	0	2	2	2	16	.169	.260 (-35%)	.324 (-42%)	.389 (-53%)	.714 (-48%)	-577.5
1984	PHI	NL	22	47	3	9	0	0	4	0	1	11	.191	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	PHI	NL	33	81	2	10	1	0	4	2	4	19	.123	.257 (-52%)	.323 (-49%)	.390 (-65%)	.714 (-58%)	-734.7
1986	CIN	NL	27	54	6	12	0	0	4	2	3	15	.222	.257 (-14%)	.325 (-19%)	.395 (-44%)	.720 (-33%)	-269.3
Career · 14 seasons			326	570	44	97	9	2	29	9	19	164	.170	—	—	—	—	-3,480

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

John Denny — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
3	6	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.167

Playoff Batting by Year

John Denny — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1983	NLCS	PHI	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1983	WS	PHI	2	5	1	1	0	0	0	1	0	1	.200

Playoff Career Pitching

John Denny — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1	2	3	3	0	19.0	17	5	6	12	2.37

Playoff Pitching by Year

John Denny — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1983	NLCS	PHI	0	1	1	1	0	6.0	5	0	3	3	0.00
1983	WS	PHI	1	1	2	2	0	13.0	12	5	3	9	3.46

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (651 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

John Denny — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	165	270	16	49	0	17	.181
Away	161	300	28	48	0	12	.160

Pitching — Home / Away

John Denny — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	164	1122.2	1075	405	356	589	3.25
Away	161	1026.0	1018	451	422	557	3.96

Last 10 Games — Batting

John Denny — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
1986-08-18	CIN	SDP	W	3	1	2	1	0	0
1986-08-14	CIN	SFG	W	4	0	1	1	0	2
1986-08-09	CIN	LAD	W	1	1	1	0	1	0
1986-08-04	CIN	SFG	W	2	0	0	0	0	1
1986-07-30	CIN	SDP	L	2	0	0	0	0	1
1986-07-25	CIN	WSN	W	2	1	1	1	1	1
1986-07-20	CIN	PHI	L	2	0	0	0	0	0
1986-07-12	CIN	WSN	W	1	0	0	0	0	0
1986-07-08	CIN	NYN	W	2	0	0	0	0	1
1986-07-03	CIN	PHI	L	2	0	1	0	0	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

John Denny — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1986-08-18	CIN	SDP	W	8.2	8	5	5	1	4	1
1986-08-14	CIN	SFG	W	9.0	3	0	0	0	8	0
1986-08-09	CIN	LAD	W	6.0	7	2	2	0	3	0
1986-08-04	CIN	SFG	W	7.0	5	1	1	1	2	0
1986-07-30	CIN	SDP	L	5.1	10	6	6	5	8	1
1986-07-25	CIN	WSN	W	9.0	5	2	2	1	5	1
1986-07-20	CIN	PHI	L	5.2	8	7	7	6	4	0
1986-07-12	CIN	WSN	W	6.0	1	0	0	2	6	0
1986-07-08	CIN	NYN	—	6.0	5	3	2	1	2	0
1986-07-03	CIN	PHI	L	6.0	7	5	5	3	3	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

John Denny — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	325	322	179	451	32	46

Season-by-Season Fielding

John Denny — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1974	SLN	P	2	0	0	0	0	0
1975	SLN	P	25	24	11	30	4	2
1976	SLN	P	30	30	24	34	4	3
1977	SLN	P	26	26	9	37	3	3
1978	SLN	P	33	33	17	73	4	8
1979	SLN	P	31	31	16	36	2	4
1980	CLE	P	16	16	8	18	1	2
1981	CLE	P	19	19	14	40	3	7
1982	CLE	P	21	21	12	19	0	2
1982	PHI	P	4	4	1	7	0	1
1983	PHI	P	36	36	16	42	8	6
1984	PHI	P	22	22	20	36	1	2
1985	PHI	P	33	33	15	39	0	4
1986	CIN	P	27	27	16	40	2	2

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

John Denny Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	325

Awards & Honors

John Denny — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1983	Cy Young Award
1983	Pitcher of the Month	September
1983	TSN All-Star	RHP
1983	TSN Comeback Player of the Year
1983	TSN Pitcher of the Year
1981	Player of the Week	Week of 1981-09-04

Salary History

John Denny's recorded salaries total $2,192,666 over 2 seasons, 1985 to 1986. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Denny's career ran from 1974 to 1986. His seasons before 1985 are not included.

John Denny — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1986	CIN	NL	$1,083,333
1985	PHI	NL	$1,109,333
Total recorded salary (partial)			$2,192,666

Award Voting History

John Denny — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1983	Cy Young Award	NL	1st	103.0	120	20
1983	Most Valuable Player	NL	13th	24.0	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

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

Compare John Denny

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John Denny: the record in brief

According to the bio, John Denny debuted on September 12, 1974 and played a final game on August 18, 1986. By club, Denny's seasons break down as the St. Louis Cardinals (1974 through 1979), the Cleveland Indians (1980 to 1982), the Philadelphia Phillies (1982 through 1985), and the Cincinnati Reds (1986). The bio lists Denny as a pitcher who threw and hit right-handed. The recorded size is 6'3" and 185 pounds. Denny was born on November 8, 1952, in Prescott, AZ, USA. John Denny was the playing name; the full given name is John Allen.

The pitching table credits Denny with a 123-108 record and a 3.59 ERA in 325 games. Also on Denny's record: 1,146 strikeouts, 62 complete games, and 18 shutouts. That 3.59 ERA compares with a 3.81 league average across the same seasons, 5.8% better. No season topped the 19 wins of 1983. 1983 was Denny's sharpest full season, a 2.37 ERA against the league's 3.87.

Frequently Asked Questions about John Denny

What years did John Denny play?: John Denny played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1986.
Was John Denny a pitcher?: Yes. John Denny pitched in the major leagues, recording 123 wins and 1146 strikeouts.
How many home runs did John Denny hit?: John Denny hit 0 career home runs with 97 hits.
What teams did John Denny play for?: John Denny played for 4 teams: the St. Louis Cardinals (1974–1979), the Cleveland Indians (1980–1982), the Philadelphia Phillies (1982–1985), and the Cincinnati Reds (1986).
How many Cy Young Awards did John Denny win?: John Denny won 1 Cy Young Award, in 1983.
What awards did John Denny win?: John Denny won the Cy Young Award (1983).
What were John Denny's career stats?: In 325 games, John Denny went 123-108 with a 3.59 ERA, 1,146 strikeouts, and 2,148.2 innings pitched. At the plate he had 97 hits and 0 home runs.
How much did John Denny earn in his career?: John Denny's recorded salaries total $2,192,666 over 2 seasons, 1985 to 1986. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Denny's career ran from 1974 to 1986. His seasons before 1985 are not included.
What was John Denny's salary?: John Denny's last recorded salary was $1,083,333, in 1986. His highest recorded salary was $1,109,333, in 1985, and his lowest was $1,083,333, in 1986. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1986.
What position did John Denny play?: John Denny played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was John Denny and how much did he weigh?: John Denny was listed at 6 feet 3 inches and 185 pounds.
What was John Denny's career ERA?: John Denny finished with a 3.59 career ERA, going 123-108 with 1,146 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did John Denny have?: John Denny recorded 1,146 career strikeouts.
Is John Denny in the Hall of Fame?: No. John Denny has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.