What years did Gary Lucas play?

Gary Lucas played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1987.

Was Gary Lucas a pitcher?

Yes. Gary Lucas pitched in the major leagues, recording 29 wins and 410 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Gary Lucas hit?

Gary Lucas hit 0 career home runs with 7 hits.

What teams did Gary Lucas play for?

Gary Lucas played for 3 teams: the San Diego Padres (1980–1983), the Montreal Expos (1984–1985), and the California Angels (1986–1987).

What were Gary Lucas's career stats?

In 409 games, Gary Lucas went 29-44 with a 3.01 ERA, 410 strikeouts, 669.0 innings pitched, and 63 saves.

What was Gary Lucas's salary?

Gary Lucas's last recorded salary was $662,000, in 1987. His highest recorded salary was $662,000, in 1987, and his lowest was $500,000, in 1986. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1987.

What position did Gary Lucas play?

Gary Lucas played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Gary Lucas and how much did he weigh?

Gary Lucas was listed at 6 feet 5 inches and 200 pounds.

What was Gary Lucas's career ERA?

Gary Lucas finished with a 3.01 career ERA, going 29-44 with 410 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Gary Lucas have?

Gary Lucas recorded 410 career strikeouts.

Is Gary Lucas in the Hall of Fame?

No. Gary Lucas has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Gary Lucas

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1980-1987)

Gary Lucas was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1987 for the San Diego Padres, the Montreal Expos, and the California Angels, a span of 8 seasons. Across 409 career appearances, he went 29-44 with a 3.01 ERA, 410 strikeouts, and 63 saves. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 8872.7.

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 29–44

ERA 3.01

WHIP 1.26

SO 410

Pitcher PIV 8872.7

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'5" / 200 lb
Born: 11/8/1954 in Riverside, CA, USA
MLB Debut: 1980-04-16
Last Game: 1987-10-03

Full name: Gary Paul Lucas

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Career Pitching Statistics

Gary Lucas — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
29	44	409	18	0	0	63	669.0	618	224	41	227	410	3.01	8872.7

Career ERA 3.01 vs. league average 3.90 across their career seasons — 22.8% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Gary Lucas Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1980	SDN	NL	5	8	46	18	3	150.0	138	54	43	85	3.24	3.84 (+16%)	2510.6
1981	SDN	NL	7	7	57	0	13	90.0	78	20	36	53	2.00	3.58 (+44%)	1642.2
1982	SDN	NL	1	10	65	0	16	97.1	89	35	29	64	3.24	3.86 (+16%)	2156.8
1983	SDN	NL	5	8	62	0	17	91.0	85	29	34	60	2.87	3.87 (+26%)	68.2
1984	MON	NL	0	3	55	0	8	53.0	54	16	20	42	2.72	3.81 (+29%)	689.1
1985	MON	NL	6	2	49	0	1	67.2	63	24	24	31	3.19	3.89 (+18%)	-154.5
1986	CAL	AL	4	1	27	0	2	45.2	45	16	6	31	3.15	3.97 (+21%)	2166.9
1987	CAL	AL	1	5	48	0	3	74.1	66	30	35	44	3.63	4.29 (+15%)	-206.6
Career · 8 seasons			29	44	409	18	63	669.0	618	224	227	410	3.01	—	8,873

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

Gary Lucas — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
409	80	2	7	0	0	0	5	0	2	32	.087	.110	.087	.197	0

Career AVG .087 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 66.4% below league average.

Career OBP .110 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — 66.2% below league average.

Career SLG .087 vs. league average .391 across their career seasons — 77.6% below league average.

Career OPS .197 vs. league average .716 across their career seasons — 72.5% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Gary Lucas — Season-by-Season Batting
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1980	SDN	NL	46	35	1	6	2	1	11	.171	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	SDN	NL	57	10	1	1	1	0	2	.100	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	SDN	NL	65	14	0	0	1	1	8	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1983	SDN	NL	62	12	0	0	1	0	5	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	MON	NL	55	4	0	0	0	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	MON	NL	49	5	0	0	0	0	4	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	CAL	AL	27	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1987	CAL	AL	48	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 8 seasons			409	80	2	7	5	2	32	.087	—	—	—	—	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

Gary Lucas — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Gary Lucas — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1986	ALCS	CAL	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Gary Lucas — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	0	4	0	0	2.1	3	3	1	2	11.57

Playoff Pitching by Year

Gary Lucas — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1986	ALCS	CAL	0	0	4	0	0	2.1	3	3	1	2	11.57

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (818 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Gary Lucas — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	201	32	1	4	0	3	.125
Away	208	48	1	3	0	2	.062

Pitching — Home / Away

Gary Lucas — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	201	347.0	280	82	101	201	2.13
Away	208	322.0	338	142	126	209	3.97

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Gary Lucas — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1987-10-03	LAA	CLE	—	1.2	0	0	0	2	2	0
1987-09-30	LAA	CHW	—	2.0	1	0	0	1	2	0
1987-09-26	LAA	CLE	L	0.2	1	1	0	1	1	0
1987-09-25	LAA	CLE	L	1.2	2	3	3	3	3	1
1987-09-19	LAA	TEX	—	3.1	0	0	0	1	0	0
1987-09-17	LAA	KCR	—	0.0	1	0	0	0	0	0
1987-09-16	LAA	KCR	—	0.0	0	0	0	1	0	0
1987-09-08	LAA	KCR	—	0.0	0	0	0	1	0	0
1987-09-07	LAA	KCR	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
1987-09-05	LAA	NYY	—	0.1	0	0	0	1	0	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Gary Lucas — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	409	18	38	119	5	8

Season-by-Season Fielding

Gary Lucas — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1980	SDN	P	46	18	9	23	0	4
1981	SDN	P	57	0	5	15	0	0
1982	SDN	P	65	0	6	19	0	0
1983	SDN	P	62	0	5	10	3	1
1984	MON	P	55	0	2	15	0	1
1985	MON	P	49	0	2	11	0	1
1986	CAL	P	27	0	6	9	0	0
1987	CAL	P	48	0	3	17	2	1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Gary Lucas — Career Games by Position
Position	Games
Pitcher	409

Salary History

Gary Lucas's recorded salaries total $1,675,500 over 3 seasons, 1985 to 1987. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Lucas's career ran from 1980 to 1987. His seasons before 1985 are not included.

Gary Lucas — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1987	CAL	AL	$662,000
1986	CAL	AL	$500,000
1985	MON	NL	$513,500
Total recorded salary (partial)			$1,675,500

College History

Gary Lucas — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
Riverside Community College	Riverside	CA	1973
Chapman University	Orange	CA	1975, 1976

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Gary Lucas (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Gary Lucas: the record in brief

April 16, 1980 and October 3, 1987 bracket Gary Lucas's time in the majors: the debut and the last game on record. By club, Lucas's seasons break down as the San Diego Padres (1980 to 1983), the Montreal Expos (1984 through 1985), and the California Angels (1986 through 1987). Born on November 8, 1954, in Riverside, CA, USA, Lucas is listed as a pitcher and both batted and threw left-handed. The bio gives 200 pounds on a 6-foot-5 frame. Gary Lucas was the playing name; the full given name is Gary Paul.

Across 409 games (18 starts), Lucas recorded 29 wins against 44 losses with a 3.01 ERA. Also on Lucas's record: 410 strikeouts and 63 saves. The leagues Lucas pitched in allowed 3.90 earned runs per nine over those seasons, so the career ERA was 22.8% better than average. Lucas won 7 games in 1981, the most of any season listed. 1980 produced Lucas's most strikeouts, 85. The most saves in one season was 17, in 1983.

Frequently Asked Questions about Gary Lucas

What years did Gary Lucas play?: Gary Lucas played in Major League Baseball from 1980 to 1987.
Was Gary Lucas a pitcher?: Yes. Gary Lucas pitched in the major leagues, recording 29 wins and 410 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Gary Lucas hit?: Gary Lucas hit 0 career home runs with 7 hits.
What teams did Gary Lucas play for?: Gary Lucas played for 3 teams: the San Diego Padres (1980–1983), the Montreal Expos (1984–1985), and the California Angels (1986–1987).
What were Gary Lucas's career stats?: In 409 games, Gary Lucas went 29-44 with a 3.01 ERA, 410 strikeouts, 669.0 innings pitched, and 63 saves.
How much did Gary Lucas earn in his career?: Gary Lucas's recorded salaries total $1,675,500 over 3 seasons, 1985 to 1987. This total is partial: the salary data covers 1985 to 2016, and Lucas's career ran from 1980 to 1987. His seasons before 1985 are not included.
What was Gary Lucas's salary?: Gary Lucas's last recorded salary was $662,000, in 1987. His highest recorded salary was $662,000, in 1987, and his lowest was $500,000, in 1986. The Salary History table lists each season from 1985 to 1987.
What position did Gary Lucas play?: Gary Lucas played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Gary Lucas and how much did he weigh?: Gary Lucas was listed at 6 feet 5 inches and 200 pounds.
What was Gary Lucas's career ERA?: Gary Lucas finished with a 3.01 career ERA, going 29-44 with 410 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Gary Lucas have?: Gary Lucas recorded 410 career strikeouts.
Is Gary Lucas in the Hall of Fame?: No. Gary Lucas has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.