What years did Monte Irvin play?

Monte Irvin played in Major League Baseball from 1949 to 1956.

Was Monte Irvin a pitcher?

No. Monte Irvin was a position player (Outfielder).

How many home runs did Monte Irvin hit?

Monte Irvin hit 140 career home runs with 1091 hits.

Is Monte Irvin in the Hall of Fame?

Yes. Monte Irvin was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.

Monte Irvin

Outfielder · Career Stats, Hall of Fame Bio & Records (1949-1956)

⭐ Hall of Fame 1973

AVG .306

HR 140

RBI 693

H 1,091

OPS .886

PIV 15,659

Position: Outfielder
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 195 lb
Born: 2/25/1919 in Haleburg, AL, USA
Died: 1/11/2016 in Houston, TX, USA
MLB Debut: 1949-07-08
Last Game: 1956-09-30
Hall of Fame: Inducted 1973 (Negro League)
Awards: 5× All-Star

Full name: Monford Merrill Irvin

📊 Compare This Player 📈 View Career Timeline

Negro Leagues Career Statistics

Batting

PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS
1358.0	1191.0	253.0	429.0	63.0	17.0	54.0	215.0	146.0	9.0	31.0	.360	.431	.578	1.009

Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1,055	3,570	593	1,091	159	46	140	693	54	484	231	.306	.392	.494	.886	15,659

Career AVG .306 vs. league average .262 across their career seasons — +16.7% above league average.

Career OBP .392 vs. league average .334 across their career seasons — +17.3% above league average.

Career SLG .494 vs. league average .379 across their career seasons — +30.3% above league average.

Career OPS .886 vs. league average .713 across their career seasons — +24.2% above 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
1938	NE	NN2	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1939	NE	NN2	32	115	22	33	6	3	3	22	2	14	4	.287	.274 (+5%)	.342 (+9%)	.393 (+19%)	.735 (+15%)	295.2
1940	NE	NN2	40	146	32	54	11	4	4	36	3	16	3	.370	.267 (+38%)	.335 (+31%)	.387 (+50%)	.722 (+41%)	1038.7
1941	NE	NN2	53	200	47	77	15	2	11	54	7	22	2	.385	.262 (+47%)	.332 (+35%)	.373 (+73%)	.705 (+55%)	1878.1
1942	NE	NN2	5	22	7	11	3	1	1	10	1	1	0	.500	—	—	—	—	0.0
1943	NE	NN2	1	4	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
1945	NE	NN2	2	9	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.111	—	—	—	—	0.0
1946	NE	NN2	57	217	52	80	17	2	6	54	2	28	1	.369	.256 (+44%)	.328 (+35%)	.358 (+53%)	.687 (+44%)	1667.2
1947	NE	NN2	57	206	41	62	6	1	11	47	6	32	1	.301	.262 (+15%)	.336 (+18%)	.376 (+33%)	.712 (+26%)	998.5
1948	NE	NN2	43	151	25	41	4	2	5	27	5	20	0	.272	.263 (+3%)	.340 (+6%)	.379 (+12%)	.719 (+9%)	251.0
1949	NY1	NL	36	76	7	17	3	2	0	7	0	17	11	.224	.262 (-15%)	.343 (+6%)	.384 (-18%)	.727 (-6%)	-42.5
1950	NY1	NL	110	374	61	112	19	5	15	66	3	52	41	.299	.265 (+13%)	.346 (+13%)	.401 (+24%)	.747 (+19%)	1466.2
1951	NY1	NL	151	558	94	174	19	11	24	121	12	89	44	.312	.260 (+20%)	.336 (+23%)	.385 (+33%)	.721 (+29%)	3544.0
1952	NY1	NL	46	126	10	39	2	1	4	21	0	10	11	.310	.252 (+23%)	.326 (+12%)	.369 (+18%)	.696 (+15%)	319.1
1953	NY1	NL	124	444	72	146	21	5	21	97	2	55	34	.329	.264 (+24%)	.335 (+21%)	.397 (+36%)	.733 (+29%)	2651.1
1954	NY1	NL	135	432	62	113	13	3	19	64	7	70	23	.262	.261 (avg)	.333 (+9%)	.390 (+12%)	.723 (+11%)	1071.3
1955	NY1	NL	51	150	16	38	7	1	1	17	3	17	15	.253	.258 (-2%)	.332 (+2%)	.393 (-15%)	.726 (-8%)	-157.1
1956	CHN	NL	111	339	44	92	13	3	15	50	1	41	41	.271	.258 (+5%)	.331 (+5%)	.397 (+16%)	.728 (+11%)	678.4
Career · 18 seasons			1,055	3,570	593	1,091	159	46	140	693	54	484	231	.306	—	—	—	—	15,659

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
21	71	14	28	3	1	3	13	9	5	.394

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1954	WS	NY1	4	9	1	2	1	0	0	2	0	3	.222
1951	WS	NY1	6	24	3	11	0	1	0	2	2	1	.458
1946	NWS	NE	7	26	10	12	2	0	3	8	4	1	.462
1939	NLP1	NE	4	12	0	3	0	0	0	1	3	0	.250

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1043 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	554	1808	299	578	71	307	.320
Away	489	1677	274	504	71	318	.301

Last 10 Games — Batting

Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	BB	SO
1956-09-30	CHC	CIN	L	0	0	0	0	0	1	0
1956-09-29	CHC	CIN	L	4	0	0	0	0	0	0
1956-09-26	CHC	STL	W	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1956-09-25	CHC	STL	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1956-09-23	CHC	ATL	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1956-09-21	CHC	ATL	L	4	1	2	1	2	0	0
1956-09-19	CHC	NY1	L	3	1	0	0	0	1	0
1956-09-19	CHC	NY1	L	3	0	1	0	0	1	0
1956-09-18	CHC	NY1	L	1	0	0	0	0	0	0
1956-09-18	CHC	NY1	W	1	0	0	0	0	0	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1B	108	2	872	102	20	115
2B	20	19	47	60	8	8
3B	41	30	20	54	10	2
OF	730	384	1490	56	30	7
SS	106	96	192	259	33	43

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1938	NE	SS	1	0	0	2	0	0
1939	NE	1B	2	0	5	0	0	0
1939	NE	3B	23	22	9	26	6	1
1939	NE	OF	9	9	17	2	0	0
1940	NE	2B	3	3	9	15	2	0
1940	NE	3B	5	4	3	8	0	0
1940	NE	OF	23	23	53	0	2	0
1940	NE	SS	10	10	15	23	4	3
1941	NE	3B	3	2	2	5	1	0
1941	NE	OF	13	13	24	1	0	0
1941	NE	SS	38	38	84	99	13	17
1942	NE	OF	5	5	18	1	0	1
1943	NE	OF	1	1	2	0	0	0
1945	NE	2B	1	1	4	3	0	1
1945	NE	OF	1	1	0	2	0	0
1946	NE	OF	27	23	34	1	3	0
1946	NE	SS	36	33	61	86	13	16
1947	NE	2B	16	15	34	42	6	7
1947	NE	OF	27	26	49	1	1	0
1947	NE	SS	21	15	32	49	3	7
1948	NE	1B	2	2	18	1	1	1
1948	NE	3B	3	2	4	3	1	0
1948	NE	OF	39	38	60	3	2	0
1949	NY1	1B	5	0	40	3	0	5
1949	NY1	3B	5	0	1	11	1	1
1949	NY1	OF	10	0	15	3	0	0
1950	NY1	1B	59	0	459	48	11	62
1950	NY1	3B	1	0	1	1	0	0
1950	NY1	OF	49	0	109	2	1	0
1951	NY1	1B	39	0	348	50	8	47
1951	NY1	OF	112	0	237	10	1	1
1952	NY1	OF	32	0	44	3	0	1
1953	NY1	OF	113	0	244	10	7	4
1954	NY1	1B	1	0	2	0	0	0
1954	NY1	3B	1	0	0	0	1	0
1954	NY1	OF	128	118	274	7	7	0
1955	NY1	OF	45	39	94	4	4	0
1956	CHN	OF	96	88	216	6	2	0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position	Games
First Base	108
Second Base	20
Third Base	42
Shortstop	106
Left Field	546
Center Field	68
Right Field	127

Award Voting History

Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1953	Most Valuable Player	NL	15th	11.0	336	0
1952	Most Valuable Player	NL	31th	5.0	336	0
1951	Most Valuable Player	NL	3rd	166.0	336	5

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Monte Irvin (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Compare Monte Irvin

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Frequently Asked Questions about Monte Irvin

What years did Monte Irvin play?: Monte Irvin played in Major League Baseball from 1949 to 1956.
Was Monte Irvin a pitcher?: No. Monte Irvin was a position player (Outfielder).
How many home runs did Monte Irvin hit?: Monte Irvin hit 140 career home runs with 1091 hits.
Is Monte Irvin in the Hall of Fame?: Yes. Monte Irvin was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.