What years did Catfish Hunter play?

Catfish Hunter played in Major League Baseball from 1965 to 1979.

Was Catfish Hunter a pitcher?

Yes. Catfish Hunter pitched in the major leagues, recording 224 wins and 2012 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Catfish Hunter hit?

Catfish Hunter hit 6 career home runs with 149 hits.

Is Catfish Hunter in the Hall of Fame?

Yes. Catfish Hunter was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.

Catfish Hunter

Pitcher · Career Stats, Hall of Fame Bio & Records (1965-1979)

⭐ Hall of Fame 1987

W–L 224–166

ERA 3.26

WHIP 1.13

SO 2,012

Pitcher PIV -8054.3

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'0" / 190 lb
Born: 4/8/1946 in Hertford, NC, USA
Died: 9/9/1999 in Hertford, NC, USA
MLB Debut: 1965-05-13
Last Game: 1979-09-17
Hall of Fame: Inducted 1987 (BBWAA)
Awards: 8× All-Star · Cy Young

Full name: James Augustus Hunter

📊 Compare This Player 📈 View Career Timeline

Career Pitching Statistics

W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
224	166	500	476	181	42	1	3449.3	2,958	1,248	374	954	2,012	3.26	-8054.3

Career ERA 3.26 vs. league average 3.61 across their career seasons — 9.7% 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
1965	KC1	AL	8	8	32	20	3	2	0	133.0	124	63	46	82	4.26	3.50 (-22%)	-3061.1
1966	KC1	AL	9	11	30	25	4	0	0	176.7	158	79	64	103	4.02	3.52 (-14%)	-1058.6
1967	KC1	AL	13	17	35	35	13	5	0	259.7	209	81	84	196	2.81	3.30 (+15%)	3278.6
1968	OAK	AL	13	13	36	34	11	2	1	234.0	210	87	69	172	3.35	2.98 (-12%)	-2807.9
1969	OAK	AL	12	15	38	35	10	3	0	247.0	210	92	85	150	3.35	3.61 (+7%)	-3481.3
1970	OAK	AL	18	14	40	40	9	1	0	262.3	253	111	74	178	3.81	3.89 (+2%)	480.9
1971	OAK	AL	21	11	37	37	16	4	0	273.7	225	90	80	181	2.96	3.47 (+15%)	989.7
1972	OAK	AL	21	7	38	37	16	5	0	295.3	200	67	70	191	2.04	3.26 (+37%)	3857.4
1973	OAK	AL	21	5	36	36	11	3	0	256.3	222	95	69	124	3.34	3.75 (+11%)	-4160.9
1974	OAK	AL	25	12	41	41	23	6	0	318.3	268	88	46	143	2.49	3.63 (+31%)	3861.5
1975	NYA	AL	23	14	39	39	30	7	0	328.0	248	94	83	177	2.58	3.71 (+30%)	3563.9
1976	NYA	AL	17	15	36	36	21	2	0	298.7	268	117	68	173	3.53	3.51 (avg)	857.1
1977	NYA	AL	9	9	22	22	8	1	0	143.3	137	75	47	52	4.71	4.00 (-18%)	-6058.3
1978	NYA	AL	12	6	21	20	5	1	0	118.0	98	47	35	56	3.58	3.69 (+3%)	-1848.7
1979	NYA	AL	2	9	19	19	1	0	0	105.0	128	62	34	34	5.31	4.00 (-33%)	-2466.6
Career · 15 seasons			224	166	500	476	181	42	1	3,449.1	2,958	1,248	954	2,012	3.26	—	-8,054

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
515	658	60	149	16	3	6	51	2	8	160	.226	.234	.287	.521	-2,123

Career AVG .226 vs. league average .253 across their career seasons — 10.4% below league average.

Career OBP .234 vs. league average .319 across their career seasons — 26.7% below league average.

Career SLG .287 vs. league average .373 across their career seasons — 23.0% below league average.

Career OPS .521 vs. league average .692 across their career seasons — 24.7% 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
1965	KC1	AL	32	40	3	6	1	0	0	1	0	0	14	.150	—	—	—	—	0.0
1966	KC1	AL	30	59	5	9	1	1	0	4	1	3	21	.153	.248 (-39%)	.309 (-37%)	.376 (-46%)	.685 (-42%)	-382.0
1967	KC1	AL	37	92	9	18	4	0	2	6	0	0	32	.196	.242 (-19%)	.306 (-36%)	.357 (-15%)	.663 (-25%)	-363.8
1968	OAK	AL	39	82	9	19	3	0	1	8	0	0	19	.232	.236 (-2%)	.298 (-22%)	.340 (-10%)	.638 (-16%)	-210.3
1969	OAK	AL	42	85	5	19	2	0	1	9	0	1	24	.224	.248 (-10%)	.320 (-29%)	.369 (-24%)	.689 (-26%)	-374.0
1970	OAK	AL	43	90	10	18	4	1	1	6	0	2	23	.200	.253 (-21%)	.325 (-34%)	.385 (-22%)	.711 (-28%)	-428.4
1971	OAK	AL	38	103	14	36	1	1	1	12	1	2	11	.350	.249 (+40%)	.316 (+14%)	.365 (+12%)	.682 (+13%)	196.5
1972	OAK	AL	39	105	5	23	0	0	0	5	0	0	16	.219	.243 (-10%)	.310 (-31%)	.353 (-38%)	.664 (-35%)	-561.3
1973	OAK	AL	37	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1974	OAK	AL	41	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1975	NYA	AL	39	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1976	NYA	AL	36	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1977	NYA	AL	22	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1978	NYA	AL	21	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1979	NYA	AL	19	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 15 seasons			515	658	60	149	16	3	6	51	2	8	160	.226	—	—	—	—	-2,123

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
22	21	0	2	0	0	0	1	2	9	.095

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1978	ALCS	NYA	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1978	WS	NYA	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1977	WS	NYA	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1976	ALCS	NYA	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1976	WS	NYA	1	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1974	ALCS	OAK	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1974	WS	OAK	2	2	0	0	0	2	.000
1973	ALCS	OAK	2	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1973	WS	OAK	2	5	0	0	0	3	.000
1972	ALCS	OAK	2	6	1	0	0	2	.167
1972	WS	OAK	3	5	1	1	2	1	.200
1971	ALCS	OAK	1	3	0	0	0	1	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
9	6	22	19	1	132.3	114	48	35	70	3.26

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1978	ALCS	NYA	0	0	1	1	0	6.0	7	3	3	5	4.50
1978	WS	NYA	1	1	2	2	0	13.0	13	6	1	5	4.15
1977	WS	NYA	0	1	2	1	0	4.3	6	5	0	1	10.38
1976	ALCS	NYA	1	1	2	2	0	12.0	10	6	1	5	4.50
1976	WS	NYA	0	1	1	1	0	8.7	10	3	4	5	3.12
1974	ALCS	OAK	1	1	2	2	0	11.7	11	6	2	6	4.63
1974	WS	OAK	1	0	2	1	1	7.7	5	1	2	5	1.17
1973	ALCS	OAK	2	0	2	2	0	16.3	12	3	5	6	1.65
1973	WS	OAK	1	0	2	2	0	13.3	11	3	4	6	2.02
1972	ALCS	OAK	0	0	2	2	0	15.3	10	2	5	9	1.17
1972	WS	OAK	2	0	3	2	0	16.0	12	5	6	11	2.81
1971	ALCS	OAK	0	1	1	1	0	8.0	7	5	2	6	5.62

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1015 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	268	347	31	89	1	27	.256
Away	247	311	29	60	5	24	.193

Pitching — Home / Away

Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	257	1871.0	1501	561	478	1151	2.70
Away	243	1578.1	1457	687	476	860	3.92

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1979-09-17	NYY	CLE	—	6.1	8	5	4	1	2	2
1979-09-12	NYY	BOS	L	4.0	9	7	6	2	2	1
1979-09-02	NYY	KCR	—	6.0	10	4	4	3	1	1
1979-08-16	NYY	MIN	L	5.1	5	2	2	3	2	0
1979-08-09	NYY	CHW	L	2.0	7	4	2	1	0	0
1979-08-04	NYY	BAL	—	6.0	3	0	0	1	3	0
1979-07-29	NYY	MIL	L	4.1	8	5	5	1	0	0
1979-07-12	NYY	SEA	W	8.0	8	2	2	2	1	0
1979-07-06	NYY	OAK	—	5.2	8	2	2	1	2	0
1979-07-01	NYY	BOS	—	5.2	6	5	5	3	3	2

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	1	0	0	0	0	0
P	500	476	225	319	23	16

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1965	KC1	P	32	20	4	16	2	1
1966	KC1	P	30	25	10	14	3	1
1967	KC1	1B	1	0	0	0	0	0
1967	KC1	P	35	35	15	16	1	1
1968	OAK	P	36	34	16	20	4	0
1969	OAK	P	38	35	17	32	0	4
1970	OAK	P	40	40	17	24	1	3
1971	OAK	P	37	37	15	26	0	1
1972	OAK	P	38	37	23	30	2	1
1973	OAK	P	36	36	11	24	1	0
1974	OAK	P	41	41	25	27	3	1
1975	NYA	P	39	39	23	26	3	0
1976	NYA	P	36	36	24	30	2	2
1977	NYA	P	22	22	4	11	0	1
1978	NYA	P	21	20	11	13	0	0
1979	NYA	P	19	19	10	10	1	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position	Games
Pitcher	500
First Base	1

Awards & Honors

Year	Award	Notes
1978	Player of the Week	Week of 1978-08-04
1975	Player of the Week	Week of 1975-09-05
1974	Cy Young Award
1974	TSN All-Star	RHP
1974	TSN Pitcher of the Year

Award Voting History

Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1975	Cy Young Award	AL	2nd	74.0	120	7
1975	Most Valuable Player	AL	12th	31.0	336	0
1974	Cy Young Award	AL	1st	90.0	120	12
1974	Most Valuable Player	AL	6th	107.0	336	1
1973	Cy Young Award	AL	3rd	52.0	120	1
1973	Most Valuable Player	AL	10th	47.0	336	0
1972	Cy Young Award	AL	4th	26.0	120	2
1972	Most Valuable Player	AL	11th	57.0	336	0
1971	Most Valuable Player	AL	28th	1.0	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

Catfish Hunter (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Frequently Asked Questions about Catfish Hunter

What years did Catfish Hunter play?: Catfish Hunter played in Major League Baseball from 1965 to 1979.
Was Catfish Hunter a pitcher?: Yes. Catfish Hunter pitched in the major leagues, recording 224 wins and 2012 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Catfish Hunter hit?: Catfish Hunter hit 6 career home runs with 149 hits.
Is Catfish Hunter in the Hall of Fame?: Yes. Catfish Hunter was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1987.