Don Larsen

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1953-1967)

W–L 81–91
ERA 3.78
WHIP 1.40
SO 849
Pitcher PIV -1685.9
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
6'4" / 215 lb
Born
8/7/1929 in Michigan City, IN, USA
Died
1/1/2020 in Coeur d'Alene, ID, USA
MLB Debut
1953-04-18
Last Game
1967-07-07
Awards
World Series MVP · Babe Ruth Award

Full name: Don James Larsen

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Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
81 91 412 171 44 11 26 1548.0 1,442 650 130 725 849 3.78 -1685.9

Career ERA 3.78 vs. league average 3.78 across their career seasons — near 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
1953 SLA AL 7 12 38 22 7 2 2 192.7 201 89 64 96 4.16 4.14 (avg) 3721.3
1954 BAL AL 3 21 29 28 12 1 0 201.7 213 98 89 80 4.37 3.90 (-12%) -1041.4
1955 NYA AL 9 2 19 13 5 1 2 97.0 81 33 51 44 3.06 4.00 (+23%) -421.2
1956 NYA AL 11 5 38 20 6 1 1 179.7 133 65 96 107 3.26 3.96 (+18%) -1385.1
1957 NYA AL 10 4 27 20 4 1 0 139.7 113 58 87 81 3.74 3.83 (+2%) -1568.9
1958 NYA AL 9 6 19 19 5 3 0 114.3 100 39 52 55 3.07 3.86 (+20%) 1239.1
1959 NYA AL 6 7 25 18 3 1 3 124.7 122 60 76 69 4.33 3.90 (-11%) -2708.3
1960 KC1 AL 1 10 22 15 0 0 0 83.7 97 50 42 43 5.38 3.82 (-41%) -1876.4
1961 KC1 AL 1 0 8 1 0 0 0 15.0 21 7 11 13 4.20 4.03 (-4%) -355.4
1961 CHA AL 7 2 25 3 0 0 2 74.3 64 34 29 53 4.12 4.03 (-2%) 1496.6
1962 SFN NL 5 4 49 0 0 0 11 86.3 83 42 47 58 4.38 3.96 (-11%) -812.0
1963 SFN NL 7 7 46 0 0 0 3 62.0 46 21 30 44 3.05 3.46 (+12%) -1131.1
1964 SFN NL 0 1 6 0 0 0 0 10.3 10 5 6 6 4.35 3.58 (-22%) 102.2
1964 HOU NL 4 8 30 10 2 1 1 103.3 92 26 20 58 2.26 3.58 (+37%) 2599.4
1965 HOU NL 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 5.3 8 3 3 1 5.06 — 0.0
1965 BAL AL 1 2 27 1 0 0 1 54.0 53 16 20 40 2.67 3.50 (+24%) 455.2
1967 CHN NL 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 4.0 5 4 2 1 9.00 — 0.0
Career · 17 seasons 81 91 412 171 44 11 26 1,548.0 1,442 650 725 849 3.78 — -1,686

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
480 596 65 144 25 5 14 72 0 43 138 .242 .291 .371 .662 -38

Career AVG .242 vs. league average .254 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .291 vs. league average .322 across their career seasons — 9.6% below league average.

Career SLG .371 vs. league average .386 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OPS .662 vs. league average .708 across their career seasons — 6.5% 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
1953 SLA AL 50 81 11 23 3 1 3 10 0 4 14 .284 .264 (+7%) .335 (-5%) .397 (+15%) .733 (+6%) 50.6
1954 BAL AL 44 88 6 22 5 3 1 4 0 5 15 .250 .261 (-4%) .333 (-13%) .390 (+5%) .723 (-3%) -85.0
1955 NYA AL 21 41 4 6 1 0 2 7 0 4 13 .146 — — — — 0.0
1956 NYA AL 45 79 10 19 5 0 2 12 0 6 17 .241 .258 (-7%) .331 (-11%) .397 (-4%) .728 (-8%) -106.3
1957 NYA AL 31 56 6 14 5 0 0 5 0 6 11 .250 .257 (-3%) .323 (-2%) .391 (-13%) .715 (-8%) -74.9
1958 NYA AL 28 49 9 15 1 0 4 13 0 5 9 .306 — — — — 235.8
1959 NYA AL 29 47 8 12 2 0 0 8 0 7 15 .255 — — — — -58.3
1960 KC1 AL 23 29 3 6 1 0 0 3 0 0 11 .207 — — — — 0.0
1961 KC1 AL 18 20 2 6 0 0 1 4 0 1 5 .300 — — — — 0.0
1961 CHA AL 25 25 2 8 0 0 1 4 0 0 5 .320 — — — — 0.0
1962 SFN NL 52 25 3 5 0 1 0 1 0 0 7 .200 — — — — 0.0
1963 SFN NL 46 11 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 .182 — — — — 0.0
1964 SFN NL 6 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1964 HOU NL 31 31 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 4 10 .097 — — — — 0.0
1965 HOU NL 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000 — — — — 0.0
1965 BAL AL 27 11 0 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 4 .273 — — — — 0.0
1967 CHN NL 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
Career · 17 seasons 480 596 65 144 25 5 14 72 0 43 138 .242 — — — — -38

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
10 9 2 1 0 0 0 1 3 2 .111

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1962 WS SFN 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000
1958 WS NYA 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 .000
1957 WS NYA 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 .000
1956 WS NYA 2 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 .333
1955 WS NYA 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
4 2 10 6 0 36.0 24 11 19 24 2.75

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1962 WS SFN 1 0 3 0 0 2.3 1 1 2 0 3.86
1958 WS NYA 1 0 2 2 0 9.3 9 1 6 9 0.96
1957 WS NYA 1 1 2 1 0 9.7 8 4 5 6 3.72
1956 WS NYA 1 0 2 2 0 10.7 1 0 4 7 0.00
1955 WS NYA 0 1 1 1 0 4.0 5 5 2 2 11.25

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (888 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home2262783370738.252
Away2523183274734.233

Pitching — Home / Away

SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home189766.26823073564343.60
Away221778.27593433664093.96

Last 10 Games — Batting

DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1967-07-07 CHCHOUL 000000000
1967-07-04 CHCATLL 000000000
1967-07-03 CHCATLW 000000000
1965-09-10 BALKC1L 000000000
1965-09-07 BALNYYW 100000000
1965-09-05 BALCLEW 100000001
1965-08-29 BALTEXL 100000000
1965-08-24 BALCHWL 000000000
1965-08-19 BALBOSL 100000001
1965-08-14 BALTEXL 000000000

Last 10 Games — Pitching

DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1967-07-07 CHCHOU — 2.0100110
1967-07-04 CHCATL — 2.0222001
1967-07-03 CHCATL — 0.0222100
1965-09-10 BALKC1 — 1.0332111
1965-09-07 BALNYY — 1.0100310
1965-09-05 BALCLE SV 2.0300010
1965-08-29 BALTEX — 2.1200030
1965-08-24 BALCHW — 1.1100210
1965-08-19 BALBOS — 4.0200120
1965-08-14 BALTEX L 1.0230001

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
OF 2 1 3 0 0 0
P 412 149 92 244 17 22

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1953 SLA OF 1 0 0 0 0 0
1953 SLA P 38 0 8 29 2 1
1954 BAL P 29 28 14 34 1 3
1955 NYA P 19 13 5 13 1 3
1956 NYA P 38 20 13 23 3 3
1957 NYA P 27 20 10 20 2 2
1958 NYA P 19 19 5 14 2 2
1959 NYA P 25 18 5 22 2 1
1960 KC1 P 22 15 4 8 1 1
1961 KC1 OF 1 1 3 0 0 0
1961 KC1 P 8 1 1 4 0 0
1961 CHA P 25 3 4 13 0 0
1962 SFN P 49 0 4 15 0 3
1963 SFN P 46 0 4 12 1 0
1964 SFN P 6 0 2 0 0 0
1964 HOU P 30 10 7 19 1 1
1965 HOU P 1 1 1 3 0 0
1965 BAL P 27 1 5 13 1 1
1967 CHN P 3 0 0 2 0 1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position Games
Pitcher 412
Left Field 2

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1956 Babe Ruth Award P
1956 World Series MVP

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Don Larsen (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Ralph Branca
    88-68, 3.79 ERA
  2. 96
    Tom Underwood
    86-87, 3.89 ERA
  3. 91
    Ike Delock
    84-75, 4.03 ERA
  4. 88
    Kirby Higbe
    118-101, 3.69 ERA
  5. 85
    Johnny Schmitz
    93-114, 3.55 ERA
  6. 77
    Pat Malone
    134-92, 3.74 ERA

Frequently Asked Questions about Don Larsen

What years did Don Larsen play?
Don Larsen played in Major League Baseball from 1953 to 1967.
Was Don Larsen a pitcher?
Yes. Don Larsen pitched in the major leagues, recording 81 wins and 849 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Don Larsen hit?
Don Larsen hit 14 career home runs with 144 hits.