What years did John Franco play?

John Franco played in Major League Baseball from 1984 to 2005.

Was John Franco a pitcher?

Yes. John Franco pitched in the major leagues, recording 90 wins and 975 strikeouts.

How many home runs did John Franco hit?

John Franco hit 0 career home runs with 3 hits.

What teams did John Franco play for?

John Franco played for 3 teams: the Cincinnati Reds (1984–1989), the New York Mets (1990–2001, 2003–2004), and the Houston Astros (2005).

Did John Franco win a Cy Young Award?

No. John Franco did not win the Cy Young Award.

What awards did John Franco win?

John Franco was selected to 4 All-Star Games.

What were John Franco's career stats?

In 1,119 games, John Franco went 90-87 with a 2.89 ERA, 975 strikeouts, 1,245.2 innings pitched, and 424 saves.

What was John Franco's salary?

John Franco's last recorded salary was $700,000, in 2005. His highest recorded salary was $4,000,000, in 1993, and his lowest was $75,000, in 1985. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 2005.

What position did John Franco play?

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

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

John Franco was listed at 5 feet 10 inches and 170 pounds.

What was John Franco's career ERA?

John Franco finished with a 2.89 career ERA, going 90-87 with 975 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did John Franco have?

John Franco recorded 975 career strikeouts.

Is John Franco in the Hall of Fame?

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

John Franco

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1984-2005)

John Franco was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1984 to 2005 for the Cincinnati Reds, the New York Mets, and the Houston Astros, a span of 22 seasons. Across 1,119 career appearances, he went 90-87 with a 2.89 ERA, 975 strikeouts, and 424 saves. John Franco was a 4-time All-Star and a 2-time Reliever of the Year. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 22497.5.

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 90–87

ERA 2.89

WHIP 1.33

SO 975

Pitcher PIV 22497.5

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 5'10" / 170 lb
Born: 9/17/1960 in Brooklyn, NY, USA
MLB Debut: 1984-04-24
Last Game: 2005-07-01
Awards: 4× All-Star · 2× Reliever of the Year

Full name: John Anthony Franco

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Career Pitching Statistics

John Franco — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
90	87	1,119	0	0	0	424	1245.2	1,166	400	81	495	975	2.89	22497.5

Career ERA 2.89 vs. league average 4.23 across their career seasons — 31.7% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Franco Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1984	CIN	NL	6	2	54	4	79.1	74	23	36	55	2.61	3.81 (+32%)	1009.4
1985	CIN	NL	12	3	67	12	99.0	83	24	40	61	2.18	3.89 (+44%)	1370.0
1986	CIN	NL	6	6	74	29	101.0	90	33	44	84	2.94	3.97 (+26%)	1540.1
1987	CIN	NL	8	5	68	32	82.0	76	23	27	61	2.52	4.29 (+41%)	2024.7
1988	CIN	NL	6	6	70	39	86.0	60	15	27	46	1.57	3.73 (+58%)	1398.3
1989	CIN	NL	4	8	60	32	80.2	77	28	36	60	3.12	3.71 (+16%)	1256.2
1990	NYN	NL	5	3	55	33	67.2	66	19	21	56	2.53	3.86 (+35%)	1730.1
1991	NYN	NL	5	9	52	30	55.1	61	18	18	45	2.93	3.91 (+25%)	1653.7
1992	NYN	NL	6	2	31	15	33.0	24	6	11	20	1.64	3.75 (+56%)	648.3
1993	NYN	NL	4	3	35	10	36.1	46	21	19	29	5.20	4.19 (-24%)	-908.0
1994	NYN	NL	1	4	47	30	50.0	47	15	19	42	2.70	4.51 (+40%)	1693.0
1995	NYN	NL	5	3	48	29	51.2	48	14	17	41	2.44	4.45 (+45%)	1228.8
1996	NYN	NL	4	3	51	28	54.0	54	11	21	48	1.83	4.61 (+60%)	2141.7
1997	NYN	NL	5	3	59	36	60.0	49	17	20	53	2.55	4.39 (+42%)	2045.3
1998	NYN	NL	0	8	61	38	64.2	66	26	29	59	3.62	4.43 (+18%)	1281.4
1999	NYN	NL	0	2	46	19	40.2	40	13	19	41	2.88	4.71 (+39%)	1765.4
2000	NYN	NL	5	4	62	4	55.2	46	21	26	56	3.40	4.77 (+29%)	1037.7
2001	NYN	NL	6	2	58	2	53.1	55	24	19	50	4.05	4.42 (+8%)	151.2
2003	NYN	NL	0	3	38	2	34.1	35	10	13	16	2.62	4.40 (+40%)	-700.6
2004	NYN	NL	2	7	52	0	46.0	46	27	24	36	5.28	4.46 (-18%)	-397.3
2005	HOU	NL	0	1	31	0	15.0	23	12	9	16	7.20	4.29 (-68%)	528.2
Career · 21 seasons			90	87	1,119	424	1,245.2	1,166	400	495	975	2.89	—	22,498

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 Franco — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1,119	34	2	3	0	0	0	1	0	0	14	.088	.088	.088	.176	0

Career AVG .088 vs. league average .263 across their career seasons — 66.5% below league average.

Career OBP .088 vs. league average .331 across their career seasons — 73.4% below league average.

Career SLG .088 vs. league average .409 across their career seasons — 78.4% below league average.

Career OPS .176 vs. league average .740 across their career seasons — 76.2% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

John Franco Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	RBI	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1984	CIN	NL	54	3	0	0	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	CIN	NL	67	6	1	2	1	0	.333	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	CIN	NL	74	4	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1987	CIN	NL	68	2	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	CIN	NL	70	1	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1989	CIN	NL	60	3	1	1	0	2	.333	—	—	—	—	0.0
1990	NYN	NL	55	5	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1991	NYN	NL	52	1	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1992	NYN	NL	31	1	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1993	NYN	NL	35	1	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1994	NYN	NL	47	3	0	0	0	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1995	NYN	NL	48	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1996	NYN	NL	51	1	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1997	NYN	NL	59	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1998	NYN	NL	61	2	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1999	NYN	NL	46	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2000	NYN	NL	62	1	0	0	0	1	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2001	NYN	NL	58	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2003	NYN	NL	38	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2004	NYN	NL	52	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
2005	HOU	NL	31	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 21 seasons			1,119	34	2	3	1	14	.088	—	—	—	—	0

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

Playoff Batting by Year

John Franco — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AVG
2000	NLCS	NYN	3	.000
2000	NLDS2	NYN	2	.000
2000	WS	NYN	4	.000
1999	NLCS	NYN	3	.000
1999	NLDS2	NYN	3	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

John Franco — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
2	0	15	0	1	14.1	11	3	3	10	1.88

Playoff Pitching by Year

John Franco — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	G	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
2000	NLCS	NYN	0	3	0	2.2	3	2	2	2	6.75
2000	NLDS2	NYN	0	2	1	2.0	1	0	0	2	0.00
2000	WS	NYN	1	4	0	3.1	3	0	0	1	0.00
1999	NLCS	NYN	0	3	0	2.2	3	1	1	3	3.38
1999	NLDS2	NYN	1	3	0	3.2	1	0	0	2	0.00

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (2238 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

John Franco — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	589	13	0	0	0	0	.000
Away	530	21	2	3	0	1	.143

Pitching — Home / Away

John Franco — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	589	669.1	627	216	241	510	2.90
Away	530	576.1	539	184	254	465	2.87

Last 10 Games — Pitching

John Franco — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
2005-07-01	HOU	CIN	—	0.2	3	3	3	1	1
2005-06-28	HOU	COL	—	0.1	1	1	1	0	0
2005-06-25	HOU	TEX	—	0.2	1	0	0	1	1
2005-06-22	HOU	COL	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	1
2005-06-20	HOU	COL	—	1.0	0	0	0	0	2
2005-06-19	HOU	KCR	—	0.2	2	0	0	0	0
2005-06-17	HOU	KCR	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	2
2005-06-15	HOU	BAL	—	0.0	2	1	1	1	0
2005-06-13	HOU	BAL	—	0.2	2	1	1	0	0
2005-06-11	HOU	TOR	—	0.1	0	0	0	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

John Franco — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	1119	0	63	234	11	13

Season-by-Season Fielding

John Franco — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	PO	A	E	DP
1984	CIN	P	54	5	15	0	0
1985	CIN	P	67	9	21	1	1
1986	CIN	P	74	6	22	4	2
1987	CIN	P	68	4	7	0	0
1988	CIN	P	70	3	18	1	1
1989	CIN	P	60	2	19	1	1
1990	NYN	P	55	4	13	1	0
1991	NYN	P	52	3	10	1	1
1992	NYN	P	31	2	12	0	2
1993	NYN	P	35	3	9	0	0
1994	NYN	P	47	4	7	0	1
1995	NYN	P	48	2	9	0	1
1996	NYN	P	51	1	8	0	0
1997	NYN	P	59	4	14	0	1
1998	NYN	P	61	4	16	0	2
1999	NYN	P	46	4	4	0	0
2000	NYN	P	62	1	8	1	0
2001	NYN	P	58	1	7	1	0
2003	NYN	P	38	1	9	0	0
2004	NYN	P	52	0	6	0	0
2005	HOU	P	31	0	0	0	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

John Franco Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	1119

Awards & Honors

John Franco — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
2001	Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
1994	TSN Fireman of the Year
1990	Reliever of the Year Award
1990	TSN Fireman of the Year
1988	Pitcher of the Month	July
1988	Player of the Week	Week of 1988-07-29
1988	Reliever of the Year Award
1988	TSN Fireman of the Year
1985	Player of the Week	Week of 1985-08-23

Salary History

John Franco's recorded salaries total $47,462,499 over 21 seasons, 1985 to 2005. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Franco's career ran from 1984 to 2005. His seasons before 1985 are not included.

John Franco — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
2005	HOU	NL	$700,000
2004	NYN	NL	$1,000,000
2003	NYN	NL	$3,833,333
2002	NYN	NL	$3,083,333
2001	NYN	NL	$3,583,333
2000	NYN	NL	$3,350,000
1999	NYN	NL	$2,950,000
1998	NYN	NL	$2,900,000
1997	NYN	NL	$3,000,000
1996	NYN	NL	$2,600,000
1995	NYN	NL	$2,550,000
1994	NYN	NL	$4,000,000
1993	NYN	NL	$4,000,000
1992	NYN	NL	$3,333,334
1991	NYN	NL	$2,633,333
1990	NYN	NL	$1,633,333
1989	CIN	NL	$1,067,500
1988	CIN	NL	$675,000
1987	CIN	NL	$300,000
1986	CIN	NL	$195,000
1985	CIN	NL	$75,000
Total recorded salary (partial)			$47,462,499

College History

John Franco — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
St. John's University	Queens	NY	1979, 1980, 1981

Award Voting History

John Franco — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max
1994	Cy Young Award	NL	7th	2.0	140
1994	Most Valuable Player	NL	20th	3.0	392
1988	Most Valuable Player	NL	12th	23.0	336

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

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

Compare John Franco

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John Franco: the record in brief

John Franco's major league career runs from a debut on April 24, 1984 to a final game on July 1, 2005. Franco played for the Cincinnati Reds (1984 to 1989), the New York Mets (1990 to 2004), and the Houston Astros (2005). At 170 pounds on a 5-foot-10 frame, Franco is listed as a pitcher. The bio says Franco batted and threw left-handed. Franco was born on September 17, 1960, in Brooklyn, NY, USA. On the record, John Franco was born John Anthony Franco.

Franco pitched in 1,119 games, starting 0, and finished with a 90-87 record and 2.89 ERA. The same table counts 975 strikeouts and 424 saves. The leagues Franco pitched in allowed 4.23 earned runs per nine over those seasons, so the career ERA was 31.7% better than average. The best win total was 12, in 1985. 1986 produced Franco's most strikeouts, 84. The most saves in one season was 39, in 1988.

Frequently Asked Questions about John Franco

What years did John Franco play?: John Franco played in Major League Baseball from 1984 to 2005.
Was John Franco a pitcher?: Yes. John Franco pitched in the major leagues, recording 90 wins and 975 strikeouts.
How many home runs did John Franco hit?: John Franco hit 0 career home runs with 3 hits.
What teams did John Franco play for?: John Franco played for 3 teams: the Cincinnati Reds (1984–1989), the New York Mets (1990–2001, 2003–2004), and the Houston Astros (2005).
Did John Franco win a Cy Young Award?: No. John Franco did not win the Cy Young Award.
What awards did John Franco win?: John Franco was selected to 4 All-Star Games.
What were John Franco's career stats?: In 1,119 games, John Franco went 90-87 with a 2.89 ERA, 975 strikeouts, 1,245.2 innings pitched, and 424 saves.
How much did John Franco earn in his career?: John Franco's recorded salaries total $47,462,499 over 21 seasons, 1985 to 2005. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Franco's career ran from 1984 to 2005. His seasons before 1985 are not included.
What was John Franco's salary?: John Franco's last recorded salary was $700,000, in 2005. His highest recorded salary was $4,000,000, in 1993, and his lowest was $75,000, in 1985. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 2005.
What position did John Franco play?: John Franco played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was John Franco and how much did he weigh?: John Franco was listed at 5 feet 10 inches and 170 pounds.
What was John Franco's career ERA?: John Franco finished with a 2.89 career ERA, going 90-87 with 975 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did John Franco have?: John Franco recorded 975 career strikeouts.
Is John Franco in the Hall of Fame?: No. John Franco has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.