Buck Ewing

Catcher · Career Stats, Hall of Fame Bio & Records (1880-1897)

Buck Ewing was a catcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1880 to 1897 for 5 teams, including the Troy Trojans, a span of 18 seasons. In 1,315 career games, he hit .303 with 1,625 hits, 71 home runs, and 883 RBI. Buck Ewing was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. His career PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of offensive impact — is 17,919.

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

⭐ Hall of Fame 1939
AVG .303
HR 71
RBI 883
H 1,625
OPS .807
PIV 17,919
Position
Catcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
5'10" / 188 lb
Born
10/17/1859 in Hoagland, OH, USA
Died
10/20/1906 in Cincinnati, OH, USA
MLB Debut
1880-09-09
Last Game
1897-05-27
Hall of Fame
Inducted 1939 (Veterans)

Full name: William Ewing

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Career Batting Statistics

Buck Ewing — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
1,315 5,363 1,129 1,625 250 178 71 883 354 392 294 .303 .351 .456 .807 17,919

Career AVG .303 vs. league average .262 across their career seasons — +15.5% above league average.

Career OBP .351 vs. league average .321 across their career seasons — +9.5% above league average.

Career SLG .456 vs. league average .354 across their career seasons — +28.8% above league average.

Career OPS .807 vs. league average .675 across their career seasons — +19.6% above league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Buck Ewing (b. 1859) 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
1880 TRN NL 13 45 1 8 1 0 0 5 0 1 3 .178 — — — — 0.0
1881 TRN NL 67 272 40 68 14 7 0 25 0 7 8 .250 .260 (-4%) .290 (-7%) .338 (+4%) .628 (-1%) -104.9
1882 TRN NL 74 328 67 89 16 11 2 29 0 10 15 .271 .248 (+9%) .275 (+6%) .329 (+23%) .605 (+15%) 672.7
1883 NY1 NL 88 376 90 114 11 13 10 41 0 20 14 .303 .257 (+18%) .285 (+18%) .345 (+39%) .631 (+30%) 1792.3
1884 NY1 NL 94 382 90 106 15 20 3 41 0 28 22 .277 .243 (+14%) .278 (+17%) .327 (+36%) .606 (+27%) 1580.1
1885 NY1 NL 81 342 81 104 15 12 6 63 0 13 17 .304 .244 (+25%) .287 (+14%) .325 (+45%) .613 (+31%) 1490.9
1886 NY1 NL 73 275 59 85 11 7 4 31 18 16 17 .309 .246 (+25%) .302 (+15%) .331 (+34%) .634 (+25%) 1021.9
1887 NY1 NL 77 318 83 97 17 13 6 44 26 30 33 .305 .270 (+13%) .331 (+12%) .373 (+33%) .705 (+23%) 1248.0
1888 NY1 NL 103 415 83 127 18 15 6 58 53 24 28 .306 .238 (+28%) .290 (+20%) .319 (+45%) .610 (+33%) 2120.2
1889 NY1 NL 99 407 91 133 23 13 4 87 34 37 32 .327 .263 (+24%) .334 (+15%) .357 (+33%) .691 (+24%) 1705.3
1890 NYP PL 83 352 98 119 19 15 8 72 36 39 12 .338 .260 (+30%) .336 (+20%) .351 (+55%) .687 (+38%) 2287.7
1891 NY1 NL 14 49 8 17 2 1 0 18 5 5 5 .347 — — — — 181.9
1892 NY1 NL 105 393 58 122 10 15 8 76 42 38 26 .310 .244 (+27%) .316 (+17%) .327 (+45%) .644 (+31%) 2010.2
1893 CL4 NL 116 500 117 172 28 15 6 122 47 41 18 .344 .279 (+23%) .356 (+10%) .379 (+31%) .735 (+21%) 1921.9
1894 CL4 NL 53 211 32 53 12 4 2 39 18 24 9 .251 .309 (-19%) .379 (-14%) .435 (-14%) .814 (-14%) -549.0
1895 CIN NL 105 434 90 138 24 13 5 94 34 30 22 .318 .296 (+7%) .361 (+1%) .399 (+17%) .761 (+9%) 651.1
1896 CIN NL 69 263 41 73 14 4 1 38 41 29 13 .278 .290 (-4%) .354 (-1%) .387 (-4%) .741 (-3%) -111.5
1897 CIN NL 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 18 seasons 1,315 5,363 1,129 1,625 250 178 71 883 354 392 294 .303 — — — — 17,919

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 Pitching Statistics

Buck Ewing — Career Pitching Statistics
W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
2 3 9 4 4 0 1 47.0 55 18 2 23 23 3.45 465.7

Career ERA 3.45 vs. league average 3.36 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Buck Ewing — Season-by-Season Pitching
Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1882 TRN NL 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1.0 2 1 1 0 9.00 — 0.0
1884 NY1 NL 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 8.0 7 1 4 3 1.12 — 0.0
1885 NY1 NL 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2.0 4 1 3 0 4.50 — 0.0
1888 NY1 NL 0 0 2 0 0 0 1 7.0 8 2 4 6 2.57 — 0.0
1889 NY1 NL 2 0 3 2 2 0 0 20.0 23 9 8 12 4.05 3.93 (-3%) 465.7
1890 NYP PL 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 9.0 11 4 3 2 4.00 3.88 (-3%) 0.0
Career · 6 seasons 2 3 9 4 4 0 1 47.0 55 18 23 23 3.45 — 466

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

Buck Ewing — Playoff Career Batting
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
15 62 10 18 4 2 1 13 3 8 .290

Playoff Batting by Year

Buck Ewing — Playoff Batting by Year
Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1889 WS NY1 8 36 5 9 4 0 0 7 2 5 .250
1888 WS NY1 7 26 5 9 0 2 1 6 1 3 .346

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Buck Ewing — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
1B 253 0 2331 180 66 145
2B 51 0 107 166 40 19
3B 127 0 200 264 76 22
C 636 0 3301 1017 322 78
OF 235 0 364 31 37 7
P 9 0 0 7 4 1
SS 34 0 52 117 27 10

Season-by-Season Fielding

Buck Ewing — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1880 TRN C 10 0 44 7 8 0
1880 TRN OF 4 0 4 0 3 0
1881 TRN 3B 1 0 2 5 0 1
1881 TRN C 44 0 211 89 28 9
1881 TRN OF 2 0 1 1 0 1
1881 TRN SS 22 0 42 90 15 7
1882 TRN 1B 1 0 6 0 1 0
1882 TRN 2B 4 0 18 14 2 3
1882 TRN 3B 44 0 76 112 24 11
1882 TRN C 25 0 103 45 20 5
1882 TRN OF 1 0 1 0 0 0
1882 TRN P 1 0 0 1 0 0
1883 NY1 2B 11 0 22 41 7 2
1883 NY1 3B 1 0 3 3 3 0
1883 NY1 C 63 0 270 96 31 8
1883 NY1 OF 14 0 14 1 5 1
1883 NY1 SS 4 0 1 4 4 1
1884 NY1 3B 1 0 0 1 2 0
1884 NY1 C 80 0 445 127 41 10
1884 NY1 OF 12 0 8 1 0 0
1884 NY1 P 1 0 0 1 0 0
1884 NY1 SS 3 0 5 9 3 1
1885 NY1 1B 1 0 7 0 1 0
1885 NY1 3B 8 0 11 13 4 1
1885 NY1 C 63 0 337 102 39 8
1885 NY1 OF 14 0 21 3 1 0
1885 NY1 P 1 0 0 0 0 0
1885 NY1 SS 1 0 1 1 2 0
1886 NY1 1B 2 0 14 2 3 0
1886 NY1 C 50 0 270 91 31 4
1886 NY1 OF 23 0 27 4 2 0
1887 NY1 2B 19 0 39 62 20 9
1887 NY1 3B 51 0 76 101 28 6
1887 NY1 C 8 0 38 10 0 2
1888 NY1 3B 21 0 32 29 15 3
1888 NY1 C 78 0 480 143 35 12
1888 NY1 P 2 0 0 0 0 0
1888 NY1 SS 4 0 3 13 3 1
1889 NY1 C 97 0 524 149 45 10
1889 NY1 OF 1 0 1 0 0 0
1889 NY1 P 3 0 0 3 2 0
1890 NYP 2B 1 0 2 4 0 0
1890 NYP C 81 0 372 107 26 7
1890 NYP P 1 0 0 2 2 1
1891 NY1 2B 8 0 11 26 5 3
1891 NY1 C 6 0 24 7 5 1
1892 NY1 1B 73 0 669 49 19 35
1892 NY1 2B 2 0 4 4 2 1
1892 NY1 C 30 0 182 44 12 2
1893 CL4 1B 1 0 5 1 0 0
1893 CL4 2B 5 0 10 14 3 1
1893 CL4 C 1 0 1 0 1 0
1893 CL4 OF 112 0 201 14 17 3
1894 CL4 2B 1 0 1 1 1 0
1894 CL4 OF 52 0 86 7 9 2
1895 CIN 1B 105 0 957 79 26 69
1896 CIN 1B 69 0 669 49 15 41
1897 CIN 1B 1 0 4 0 1 0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Buck Ewing (b. 1859) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position Games
Pitcher 9
Catcher 636
First Base 253
Second Base 51
Third Base 127
Shortstop 34
Left Field 9
Center Field 34
Right Field 193

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Buck Ewing (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Duke Farrell
    .277 avg, 52 HR
  2. 93
    Roger Bresnahan HOF
    .279 avg, 26 HR
  3. 91
    George Miller
    .267 avg, 33 HR
  4. 89
    Wally Schang
    .284 avg, 59 HR
  5. 89
    Charles Zimmer
    .269 avg, 26 HR
  6. 88
    Deacon McGuire
    .278 avg, 45 HR

Compare Buck Ewing

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

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Buck Ewing: the record in brief

Buck Ewing's major league career runs from a debut on September 9, 1880 to a final game on May 27, 1897. Club by club, the record runs the Troy Trojans (1880 through 1882), the New York Gothams (1883 through 1884), the New York Giants (1885 through 1892), the Cleveland Spiders (1893 through 1894), and the Cincinnati Reds (1895 to 1897). At 5 feet, 10 inches and 188 pounds, Ewing is listed as a catcher. The bio says Ewing batted and threw right-handed. The recorded birth is October 17, 1859, in Hoagland, OH, USA. The bio records the death on October 20, 1906, in Cincinnati, OH, USA. The given name on file is William Ewing.

The batting record for Ewing: 1,315 games, 1,625 hits in 5,363 at bats, and a .303 average, along with 71 home runs, 883 runs batted in, and 354 stolen bases. Reaching base at a .351 clip and slugging .456, Ewing finished with a .807 OPS.

Frequently Asked Questions about Buck Ewing

What years did Buck Ewing play?
Buck Ewing played in Major League Baseball from 1880 to 1897.
Was Buck Ewing a pitcher?
No. Buck Ewing was a position player (Catcher), though he did pitch in 9 career games.
How many home runs did Buck Ewing hit?
Buck Ewing hit 71 career home runs with 1625 hits.
Is Buck Ewing in the Hall of Fame?
Yes. Buck Ewing was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939.
What was Buck Ewing's career batting average?
Buck Ewing batted .303 over his career, with 1,625 hits in 5,363 at bats.
How many RBI did Buck Ewing have?
Buck Ewing drove in 883 runs in his career.