What years did Nels Potter play?

Nels Potter played in Major League Baseball from 1936 to 1949.

Was Nels Potter a pitcher?

Yes. Nels Potter pitched in the major leagues, recording 92 wins and 747 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Nels Potter hit?

Nels Potter hit 0 career home runs with 128 hits.

What teams did Nels Potter play for?

Nels Potter played for 5 teams: the St. Louis Cardinals (1936), the Philadelphia Athletics (1938–1941, 1948), the Boston Red Sox (1941), the St. Louis Browns (1943–1948), and the Boston Braves (1948–1949).

What were Nels Potter's career stats?

In 349 games, Nels Potter went 92-97 with a 3.99 ERA, 747 strikeouts, 1,686.0 innings pitched, and 22 saves. At the plate he had 128 hits and 0 home runs.

What position did Nels Potter play?

Nels Potter played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.

How tall was Nels Potter and how much did he weigh?

Nels Potter was listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 180 pounds.

What was Nels Potter's career ERA?

Nels Potter finished with a 3.99 career ERA, going 92-97 with 747 strikeouts.

How many strikeouts did Nels Potter have?

Nels Potter recorded 747 career strikeouts.

Is Nels Potter in the Hall of Fame?

No. Nels Potter has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Nels Potter

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1936-1949)

Nels Potter was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1936 to 1949 for 5 teams, including the St. Louis Cardinals, a span of 14 seasons. Across 349 career appearances, he went 92-97 with a 3.99 ERA, 747 strikeouts, and 22 saves. He also batted .228 with 0 home runs.

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 17, 2026

W–L 92–97

ERA 3.99

WHIP 1.37

SO 747

Pitcher PIV -583.0

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: L / R
Height / Weight: 5'11" / 180 lb
Born: 8/23/1911 in Mount Morris, IL, USA
Died: 9/30/1990 in Mount Morris, IL, USA
MLB Debut: 1936-04-25
Last Game: 1949-09-18

Full name: Nelson Thomas Potter

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Career Pitching Statistics

Nels Potter — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
92	97	349	177	89	6	22	1686.0	1,721	748	123	582	747	3.99	-583.0

Career ERA 3.99 vs. league average 3.99 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Nels Potter Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1936	SLN	NL	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1.0	0	0	0	0	0.00	—	0.0
1938	PHA	AL	2	12	35	9	4	0	5	111.1	139	80	49	43	6.47	4.35 (-49%)	-3057.9
1939	PHA	AL	8	12	41	25	9	0	2	196.1	258	144	88	60	6.60	4.28 (-54%)	-6458.5
1940	PHA	AL	9	14	31	25	13	0	0	200.2	213	99	71	73	4.44	4.21 (-5%)	-1530.3
1941	PHA	AL	1	1	10	3	1	0	2	23.1	35	24	16	7	9.26	3.94 (-135%)	-1165.0
1941	BOS	AL	2	0	10	0	0	0	0	20.0	21	10	16	6	4.50	3.94 (-14%)	-334.3
1943	SLA	AL	10	5	33	13	8	0	1	168.1	146	52	54	80	2.78	3.50 (+21%)	-266.8
1944	SLA	AL	19	7	32	29	16	3	0	232.0	211	73	70	91	2.83	3.57 (+21%)	2598.5
1945	SLA	AL	15	11	32	32	21	3	0	255.1	212	70	68	129	2.47	3.67 (+33%)	4313.3
1946	SLA	AL	8	9	23	19	10	0	0	145.0	152	60	59	72	3.72	3.59 (-4%)	-333.6
1947	SLA	AL	4	10	32	10	3	0	2	122.2	130	55	44	65	4.04	3.97 (-2%)	-513.2
1948	SLA	AL	1	1	2	2	0	0	0	10.1	11	6	4	4	5.23	4.10 (-27%)	-231.5
1948	PHA	AL	2	2	8	0	0	0	1	18.0	17	8	5	13	4.00	4.10 (+3%)	550.5
1948	BSN	NL	5	2	18	7	3	0	2	85.0	77	22	8	47	2.33	4.10 (+43%)	3335.9
1949	BSN	NL	6	11	41	3	1	0	7	96.2	99	45	30	57	4.19	4.12 (-2%)	2509.8
Career · 15 seasons			92	97	349	177	89	6	22	1,686.0	1,721	748	582	747	3.99	—	-583

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

Nels Potter — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
352	562	25	128	15	0	0	37	0	35	50	.228	.274	.254	.529	-1,825

Career AVG .228 vs. league average .265 across their career seasons — 14.2% below league average.

Career OBP .274 vs. league average .336 across their career seasons — 18.3% below league average.

Career SLG .254 vs. league average .375 across their career seasons — 32.2% below league average.

Career OPS .529 vs. league average .711 across their career seasons — 25.7% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Nels Potter Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1936	SLN	NL	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1938	PHA	AL	38	39	1	10	1	6	1	3	.256	—	—	—	—	0.0
1939	PHA	AL	41	67	6	12	2	4	5	6	.179	.274 (-35%)	.342 (-31%)	.393 (-47%)	.735 (-39%)	-428.2
1940	PHA	AL	31	71	4	18	2	4	3	7	.254	.267 (-5%)	.335 (-15%)	.387 (-27%)	.722 (-22%)	-246.4
1941	PHA	AL	10	6	1	1	0	2	1	2	.167	—	—	—	—	0.0
1941	BOS	AL	10	3	0	0	0	0	1	3	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1943	SLA	AL	33	55	0	8	1	4	4	2	.145	.255 (-43%)	.324 (-37%)	.346 (-53%)	.671 (-45%)	-373.1
1944	SLA	AL	32	82	4	13	1	5	4	4	.159	.261 (-39%)	.325 (-37%)	.357 (-52%)	.683 (-45%)	-553.1
1945	SLA	AL	32	92	3	28	2	5	2	7	.304	.260 (+17%)	.328 (-3%)	.354 (-8%)	.683 (-6%)	-89.8
1946	SLA	AL	23	52	2	12	3	1	4	4	.231	.256 (-10%)	.328 (-13%)	.358 (-20%)	.687 (-16%)	-134.9
1947	SLA	AL	32	35	3	9	1	2	7	2	.257	—	—	—	—	0.0
1948	SLA	AL	2	4	1	2	0	1	0	0	.500	—	—	—	—	0.0
1948	PHA	AL	8	4	0	1	0	0	1	0	.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
1948	BSN	NL	18	29	0	11	1	3	0	3	.379	—	—	—	—	0.0
1949	BSN	NL	41	23	0	3	1	0	2	7	.130	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 15 seasons			352	562	25	128	15	37	35	50	.228	—	—	—	—	-1,825

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

Nels Potter — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
4	6	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	2	.167

Playoff Batting by Year

Nels Potter — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1948	WS	BSN	2	2	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	.500
1944	WS	SLA	2	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Nels Potter — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	1	4	3	0	15.0	16	6	5	7	3.60

Playoff Pitching by Year

Nels Potter — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1948	WS	BSN	0	0	2	1	0	5.1	6	5	2	1	8.44
1944	WS	SLA	0	1	2	2	0	9.2	10	1	3	6	0.93

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (701 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Nels Potter — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	187	276	13	66	0	18	.239
Away	165	288	12	62	0	19	.215

Pitching — Home / Away

Nels Potter — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	185	903.2	908	406	300	440	4.04
Away	164	781.2	813	340	289	307	3.91

Last 10 Games — Batting

Nels Potter — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	H	SO
1949-09-18	BSN	CIN	L	0	0	0
1949-09-16	BSN	STL	L	0	0	0
1949-09-14	BSN	CHC	L	0	0	0
1949-09-07	BSN	BRO	L	0	0	0
1949-09-04	BSN	PHI	L	1	1	0
1949-08-28	BSN	STL	L	0	0	0
1949-08-25	BSN	CIN	L	1	0	1
1949-08-22	BSN	BRO	W	1	0	0
1949-08-19	BSN	BRO	L	2	0	1
1949-08-12	BSN	BRO	W	4	0	2

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Nels Potter — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1949-09-18	BSN	CIN	L	1.1	4	1	1	1	3	0
1949-09-16	BSN	STL	—	1.2	0	0	0	0	0	0
1949-09-14	BSN	CHC	—	0.1	1	0	0	0	1	0
1949-09-07	BSN	BRO	L	2.2	1	2	2	2	2	1
1949-09-04	BSN	PHI	L	2.1	2	2	2	2	1	1
1949-08-28	BSN	STL	—	2.1	3	2	2	0	0	1
1949-08-25	BSN	CIN	L	3.0	2	1	1	0	3	0
1949-08-22	BSN	BRO	—	1.0	2	2	2	1	0	0
1949-08-19	BSN	BRO	—	6.1	10	4	4	4	2	0
1949-08-12	BSN	BRO	W	9.0	7	3	1	3	3	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Nels Potter — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	349	0	98	307	18	18

Season-by-Season Fielding

Nels Potter — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	PO	A	E	DP
1936	SLN	P	1	0	0	0	0
1938	PHA	P	35	8	16	1	0
1939	PHA	P	41	8	34	1	0
1940	PHA	P	31	17	30	0	2
1941	PHA	P	10	3	4	1	1
1941	BOS	P	10	2	2	0	0
1943	SLA	P	33	10	36	1	2
1944	SLA	P	32	11	52	3	3
1945	SLA	P	32	13	43	3	4
1946	SLA	P	23	11	18	1	3
1947	SLA	P	32	6	27	3	1
1948	SLA	P	2	2	4	1	0
1948	PHA	P	8	1	1	0	0
1948	BSN	P	18	4	20	2	1
1949	BSN	P	41	2	20	1	1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Nels Potter Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	349

College History

Nels Potter — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
Mount Morris College	Mount Morris	IL	1931, 1932

Award Voting History

Nels Potter — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1944	Most Valuable Player	AL	9th	52.0	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

Nels Potter (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Nels Potter: the record in brief

Between the debut on April 25, 1936 and the final game on September 18, 1949, Nels Potter built the record summarized on this page. The team column moves through the St. Louis Cardinals (1936), the Philadelphia Athletics (1938 to 1948), the Boston Red Sox (1941), the St. Louis Browns (1943 through 1948), and the Boston Braves (1948 to 1949). Potter played primarily as a pitcher and hit left-handed while throwing right-handed. Born on August 23, 1911, in Mount Morris, IL, USA, Potter was listed at 180 pounds on a 5-foot-11 frame. Potter died on September 30, 1990, in Mount Morris, IL, USA. Potter's full given name, per the bio, is Nelson Thomas Potter.

The pitching table credits Potter with a 92-97 record and a 3.99 ERA in 349 games. The same table counts 747 strikeouts, 89 complete games, 6 shutouts, and 22 saves. Potter's 3.99 ERA was close to the 3.99 league figure for those seasons. No season topped the 19 wins of 1944.

Frequently Asked Questions about Nels Potter

What years did Nels Potter play?: Nels Potter played in Major League Baseball from 1936 to 1949.
Was Nels Potter a pitcher?: Yes. Nels Potter pitched in the major leagues, recording 92 wins and 747 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Nels Potter hit?: Nels Potter hit 0 career home runs with 128 hits.
What teams did Nels Potter play for?: Nels Potter played for 5 teams: the St. Louis Cardinals (1936), the Philadelphia Athletics (1938–1941, 1948), the Boston Red Sox (1941), the St. Louis Browns (1943–1948), and the Boston Braves (1948–1949).
What were Nels Potter's career stats?: In 349 games, Nels Potter went 92-97 with a 3.99 ERA, 747 strikeouts, 1,686.0 innings pitched, and 22 saves. At the plate he had 128 hits and 0 home runs.
What position did Nels Potter play?: Nels Potter played primarily as a pitcher, the position where he appeared in the most games.
How tall was Nels Potter and how much did he weigh?: Nels Potter was listed at 5 feet 11 inches and 180 pounds.
What was Nels Potter's career ERA?: Nels Potter finished with a 3.99 career ERA, going 92-97 with 747 strikeouts.
How many strikeouts did Nels Potter have?: Nels Potter recorded 747 career strikeouts.
Is Nels Potter in the Hall of Fame?: No. Nels Potter has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.