Bill Lee

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1934-1947)

W–L 169–157
ERA 3.54
WHIP 1.34
SO 998
Pitcher PIV 16581.9
Position
Pitcher
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
6'3" / 195 lb
Born
10/21/1909 in Plaquemine, LA, USA
Died
6/15/1977 in Plaquemine, LA, USA
MLB Debut
1934-04-29
Last Game
1947-06-29
Awards
2× All-Star

Full name: William Crutcher Lee

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Career Pitching Statistics

W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
169 157 462 378 182 29 13 2864.0 2,953 1,127 138 893 998 3.54 16581.9

Career ERA 3.54 vs. league average 4.01 across their career seasons — 11.7% 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
1934 CHN NL 13 14 35 29 16 4 1 214.3 218 81 74 104 3.40 4.29 (+21%) 2420.4
1935 CHN NL 20 6 39 32 18 3 1 252.0 241 83 84 100 2.96 4.35 (+32%) 2149.1
1936 CHN NL 18 11 43 33 20 4 1 258.7 238 95 93 102 3.31 4.59 (+28%) 1371.0
1937 CHN NL 14 15 42 33 17 2 3 272.3 289 107 73 108 3.54 4.34 (+18%) 3291.8
1938 CHN NL 22 9 44 37 19 9 2 291.0 281 86 74 121 2.66 4.35 (+39%) 3856.1
1939 CHN NL 19 15 37 36 20 1 0 282.3 295 108 85 105 3.44 4.28 (+20%) 1623.5
1940 CHN NL 9 17 37 30 9 1 0 211.3 246 118 70 70 5.03 4.21 (-19%) 619.4
1941 CHN NL 8 14 28 22 12 0 1 167.3 179 70 43 62 3.76 3.94 (+4%) 2599.1
1942 CHN NL 13 13 32 30 18 1 0 219.7 221 94 67 75 3.85 3.57 (-8%) 2927.9
1943 CHN NL 3 7 13 12 4 0 0 78.3 83 31 27 18 3.56 3.50 (-2%) -757.6
1943 PHI NL 1 5 13 7 2 0 3 60.7 70 31 21 17 4.60 3.50 (-31%) -808.6
1944 PHI NL 10 11 31 28 11 3 1 208.3 199 73 57 50 3.15 3.57 (+12%) -256.1
1945 PHI NL 3 6 13 13 2 0 0 77.3 107 40 30 13 4.66 3.67 (-27%) 240.1
1945 BSN NL 6 3 16 13 6 1 0 106.3 112 33 36 12 2.79 3.67 (+24%) -1525.3
1946 BSN NL 10 9 25 21 8 0 0 140.0 148 65 45 32 4.18 3.59 (-16%) -609.2
1947 CHN NL 0 2 14 2 0 0 0 24.0 26 12 14 9 4.50 3.97 (-13%) -559.6
Career · 16 seasons 169 157 462 378 182 29 13 2,864.0 2,953 1,127 893 998 3.54 — 16,582

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
467 980 59 165 15 2 5 71 1 42 177 .168 .204 .203 .407 -5,837

Career AVG .168 vs. league average .268 across their career seasons — 37.1% below league average.

Career OBP .204 vs. league average .335 across their career seasons — 39.1% below league average.

Career SLG .203 vs. league average .377 across their career seasons — 46.2% below league average.

Career OPS .407 vs. league average .713 across their career seasons — 42.9% 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
1934 CHN NL 40 76 6 10 3 0 0 7 0 4 11 .132 .278 (-53%) .340 (-49%) .392 (-56%) .733 (-53%) -657.0
1935 CHN NL 39 102 8 24 3 0 0 11 0 2 15 .235 .279 (-16%) .342 (-27%) .399 (-34%) .742 (-31%) -514.8
1936 CHN NL 43 87 5 12 0 1 1 3 0 2 14 .138 .283 (-51%) .349 (-52%) .404 (-52%) .753 (-52%) -762.5
1937 CHN NL 42 87 4 15 2 0 1 4 0 3 23 .172 .276 (-38%) .342 (-42%) .398 (-42%) .740 (-42%) -604.2
1938 CHN NL 44 101 10 20 3 1 0 13 1 4 20 .198 .272 (-27%) .341 (-33%) .392 (-37%) .734 (-35%) -591.1
1939 CHN NL 37 103 3 13 0 0 1 3 0 4 16 .126 .274 (-54%) .342 (-54%) .393 (-60%) .735 (-57%) -960.9
1940 CHN NL 37 76 4 10 2 0 0 3 0 2 20 .132 .267 (-51%) .335 (-51%) .387 (-59%) .722 (-55%) -676.5
1941 CHN NL 28 59 8 11 0 0 2 5 0 1 9 .186 .262 (-29%) .332 (-40%) .373 (-23%) .705 (-31%) -297.5
1942 CHN NL 32 69 2 11 2 0 0 7 0 7 13 .159 .253 (-37%) .323 (-27%) .349 (-46%) .672 (-37%) -375.5
1943 CHN NL 13 26 3 7 0 0 0 1 0 2 4 .269 — — — — 0.0
1943 PHI NL 13 17 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 .059 — — — — 0.0
1944 PHI NL 31 72 5 14 0 0 0 4 0 4 12 .194 .261 (-26%) .325 (-27%) .357 (-46%) .683 (-37%) -396.6
1945 PHI NL 13 24 1 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 5 .167 — — — — 0.0
1945 BSN NL 16 31 0 4 0 0 0 2 0 4 5 .129 — — — — 0.0
1946 BSN NL 25 47 0 8 0 0 0 7 0 2 5 .170 — — — — 0.0
1947 CHN NL 14 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .333 — — — — 0.0
Career · 16 seasons 467 980 59 165 15 2 5 71 1 42 177 .168 — — — — -5,837

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
4 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 .000

Playoff Batting by Year

Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1938 WS CHN 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
1935 WS CHN 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000

Playoff Career Pitching

W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
0 2 4 3 1 21.3 26 8 6 13 3.38

Playoff Pitching by Year

Year Round Team W L G GS SV IP H ER BB SO ERA
1938 WS CHN 0 2 2 2 0 11.0 15 3 1 8 2.45
1935 WS CHN 0 0 2 1 1 10.3 11 5 5 5 4.35

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (929 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home2404713075240.159
Away2275062889333.176

Pitching — Home / Away

SplitGIPHERBBSOERA
Home2371477.114505484645433.34
Away2251386.215095784364583.75

Last 10 Games — Pitching

DateTmOppDecIPHRERBBSOHR
1947-06-29 CHCPIT — 0.1100100
1947-06-27 CHCPIT L 0.1344200
1947-06-22 CHCBSN — 0.1000000
1947-06-21 CHCBSN — 2.0110200
1947-06-19 CHCBRO — 2.0100020
1947-06-15 CHCPHI — 0.0000200
1947-06-06 CHCBRO — 1.0211010
1947-06-05 CHCNY1 — 0.1342000
1947-06-03 CHCNY1 — 2.2311011
1947-05-15 CHCNY1 — 1.2222310

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position G GS PO A E DP
P 462 0 163 662 58 37

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1934 CHN P 35 0 15 48 4 2
1935 CHN P 39 0 12 52 7 4
1936 CHN P 43 0 12 61 7 5
1937 CHN P 42 0 20 70 5 5
1938 CHN P 44 0 18 61 5 3
1939 CHN P 37 0 15 80 5 3
1940 CHN P 37 0 10 42 6 3
1941 CHN P 28 0 10 39 6 3
1942 CHN P 32 0 10 55 2 2
1943 CHN P 13 0 4 12 1 0
1943 PHI P 13 0 5 9 2 1
1944 PHI P 31 0 17 47 4 2
1945 PHI P 13 0 1 19 1 1
1945 BSN P 16 0 4 27 0 1
1946 BSN P 25 0 6 35 1 2
1947 CHN P 14 0 4 5 2 0

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position Games
Pitcher 462

Awards & Honors

Year Award Notes
1938 Baseball Magazine All-Star P3

Award Voting History

Year Award League Finish Points Won Points Max Votes First
1939 Most Valuable Player NL 19th 8.0 336 0
1938 Most Valuable Player NL 2nd 166.0 336 5
1935 Most Valuable Player NL 24th 1.0 80 0

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Bill Lee (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

  1. 98
    Lee Meadows
    188-180, 3.37 ERA
  2. 95
    Howard Ehmke
    166-166, 3.75 ERA
  3. 91
    Jesse Haines HOF
    210-158, 3.64 ERA
  4. 91
    Ned Garver
    129-157, 3.73 ERA
  5. 90
    Larry French
    197-171, 3.44 ERA
  6. 88
    Claude Passeau
    162-150, 3.32 ERA

Frequently Asked Questions about Bill Lee

What years did Bill Lee play?
Bill Lee played in Major League Baseball from 1934 to 1947.
Was Bill Lee a pitcher?
Yes. Bill Lee pitched in the major leagues, recording 169 wins and 998 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Bill Lee hit?
Bill Lee hit 5 career home runs with 165 hits.