What years did Dave Righetti play?

Dave Righetti played in Major League Baseball from 1979 to 1995.

Was Dave Righetti a pitcher?

Yes. Dave Righetti pitched in the major leagues, recording 82 wins and 1112 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Dave Righetti hit?

Dave Righetti hit 0 career home runs with 2 hits.

What was Dave Righetti's career batting average?

Dave Righetti batted .182 over his career, with 2 hits in 11 at bats.

How many RBI did Dave Righetti have?

Dave Righetti drove in 1 runs in his career.

What was Dave Righetti's career ERA?

Dave Righetti finished with a 3.46 career ERA, going 82-79 with 1,112 strikeouts.

Dave Righetti

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1979-1995)

Dave Righetti was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1979 to 1995 for 5 teams, including the New York Yankees, a span of 17 seasons. Across 718 career appearances, he went 82-79 with a 3.46 ERA, 1,112 strikeouts, and 252 saves. Dave Righetti was a 2-time All-Star, a Rookie of the Year, and a 2-time Reliever of the Year. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 20202.1.

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 September 8, 2026

W–L 82–79

ERA 3.46

WHIP 1.34

SO 1,112

Pitcher PIV 20202.1

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'4" / 195 lb
Born: 11/28/1958 in San Jose, CA, USA
MLB Debut: 1979-09-16
Last Game: 1995-09-18
Awards: 2× All-Star · Rookie of the Year · 2× Reliever of the Year

Full name: David Allan Righetti

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Career Pitching Statistics

Dave Righetti — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
82	79	718	89	13	2	252	1403.7	1,287	540	95	591	1,112	3.46	20202.1

Career ERA 3.46 vs. league average 3.96 across their career seasons — 12.6% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Dave Righetti Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1979	NYA	AL	0	1	3	3	0	0	0	17.3	10	7	10	13	3.63	4.00 (+9%)	-199.7
1981	NYA	AL	8	4	15	15	2	0	0	105.3	75	24	38	89	2.05	3.58 (+43%)	3948.0
1982	NYA	AL	11	10	33	27	4	0	1	183.0	155	77	108	163	3.79	3.86 (+2%)	1317.4
1983	NYA	AL	14	8	31	31	7	2	0	217.0	194	83	67	169	3.44	3.87 (+11%)	5679.2
1984	NYA	AL	5	6	64	0	0	0	31	96.3	79	25	37	90	2.34	3.81 (+39%)	2663.1
1985	NYA	AL	12	7	74	0	0	0	29	107.0	96	33	45	92	2.78	3.89 (+29%)	2896.9
1986	NYA	AL	8	8	74	0	0	0	46	106.7	88	29	35	83	2.45	3.97 (+38%)	3350.9
1987	NYA	AL	8	6	60	0	0	0	31	95.0	95	37	44	77	3.51	4.29 (+18%)	870.1
1988	NYA	AL	5	4	60	0	0	0	25	87.0	86	34	37	70	3.52	3.73 (+6%)	1143.2
1989	NYA	AL	2	6	55	0	0	0	25	69.0	73	23	26	51	3.00	3.71 (+19%)	1201.2
1990	NYA	AL	1	1	53	0	0	0	36	53.0	48	21	26	43	3.57	3.86 (+8%)	-1154.8
1991	SFN	NL	2	7	61	0	0	0	24	71.7	64	27	28	51	3.39	3.91 (+13%)	828.1
1992	SFN	NL	2	7	54	4	0	0	3	78.3	79	44	36	47	5.06	3.75 (-35%)	238.3
1993	SFN	NL	1	1	51	0	0	0	1	47.3	58	30	17	31	5.70	4.19 (-36%)	-1952.3
1994	OAK	AL	0	0	7	0	0	0	0	7.0	13	13	9	4	16.71	—	0.0
1994	TOR	AL	0	1	13	0	0	0	0	13.3	9	10	10	10	6.75	4.51 (-50%)	-439.8
1995	CHA	AL	3	2	10	9	0	0	0	49.3	65	23	18	29	4.20	4.45 (+6%)	-187.7
Career · 17 seasons			82	79	718	89	13	2	252	1,403.2	1,287	540	591	1,112	3.46	—	20,202

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

Dave Righetti — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
718	11	0	2	0	0	0	1	0	0	6	.182	.182	.182	.364	0

Career AVG .182 vs. league average .260 across their career seasons — 30.1% below league average.

Career OBP .182 vs. league average .326 across their career seasons — 44.3% below league average.

Career SLG .182 vs. league average .392 across their career seasons — 53.7% below league average.

Career OPS .364 vs. league average .718 across their career seasons — 49.4% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Dave Righetti Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	H	RBI	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1979	NYA	AL	3	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1981	NYA	AL	15	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1982	NYA	AL	33	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1983	NYA	AL	31	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1984	NYA	AL	64	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1985	NYA	AL	74	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	NYA	AL	74	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1987	NYA	AL	60	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	NYA	AL	60	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1989	NYA	AL	55	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1990	NYA	AL	53	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1991	SFN	NL	61	3	0	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1992	SFN	NL	54	7	1	0	4	.143	—	—	—	—	0.0
1993	SFN	NL	51	1	1	1	0	1.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1994	OAK	AL	7	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1994	TOR	AL	13	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1995	CHA	AL	10	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 17 seasons			718	11	2	1	6	.182	—	—	—	—	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

Dave Righetti — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000

Playoff Batting by Year

Dave Righetti — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	SO	AVG
1981	AEDIV	NYA	2	0	0	.000
1981	ALCS	NYA	1	0	0	.000
1981	WS	NYA	1	1	1	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Dave Righetti — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
3	0	4	3	0	17.0	17	4	7	18	2.12

Playoff Pitching by Year

Dave Righetti — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	G	GS	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1981	AEDIV	NYA	2	2	1	9.0	8	1	3	13	1.00
1981	ALCS	NYA	1	1	1	6.0	4	0	2	4	0.00
1981	WS	NYA	0	1	1	2.0	5	3	2	1	13.50

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1436 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Dave Righetti — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	363	5	0	1	0	1	.200
Away	355	6	0	1	0	0	.167

Pitching — Home / Away

Dave Righetti — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	363	730.0	613	234	284	617	2.88
Away	355	673.2	674	306	307	495	4.09

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Dave Righetti — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1995-09-18	CHW	CLE	—	1.0	2	0	0	1	1	0
1995-09-01	CHW	TOR	—	2.0	3	2	2	3	1	0
1995-08-27	CHW	TOR	L	5.1	7	2	1	1	5	1
1995-08-22	CHW	DET	—	3.0	10	5	5	1	3	3
1995-08-17	CHW	TEX	—	9.0	5	1	1	2	2	0
1995-08-12	CHW	OAK	L	5.0	10	3	3	2	4	0
1995-08-06	CHW	CLE	W	5.0	6	1	1	1	5	0
1995-08-01	CHW	KCR	W	7.0	6	2	2	2	4	1
1995-07-27	CHW	BOS	—	5.1	7	4	4	2	3	0
1995-07-18	CHW	NYY	W	6.2	9	4	4	3	1	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Dave Righetti — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	718	89	35	150	12	10

Season-by-Season Fielding

Dave Righetti — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1979	NYA	P	3	3	1	3	0	1
1981	NYA	P	15	15	6	9	1	0
1982	NYA	P	33	27	5	18	3	1
1983	NYA	P	31	31	3	24	1	2
1984	NYA	P	64	0	2	13	2	0
1985	NYA	P	74	0	1	12	1	2
1986	NYA	P	74	0	1	10	0	2
1987	NYA	P	60	0	3	12	1	0
1988	NYA	P	60	0	2	8	0	0
1989	NYA	P	55	0	0	9	0	0
1990	NYA	P	53	0	3	1	1	0
1991	SFN	P	61	0	3	13	0	1
1992	SFN	P	54	4	3	5	1	0
1993	SFN	P	51	0	2	5	0	0
1994	OAK	P	7	0	0	1	0	0
1994	TOR	P	13	0	0	2	0	0
1995	CHA	P	10	9	0	5	1	1

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Dave Righetti Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	718

Awards & Honors

Dave Righetti — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1987	Reliever of the Year Award
1987	TSN Fireman of the Year
1986	Player of the Week	Week of 1986-10-03
1986	Reliever of the Year Award
1986	TSN Fireman of the Year
1985	Pitcher of the Month	August
1983	Player of the Week	Week of 1983-07-08
1981	Rookie of the Year
1981	TSN Rookie Pitcher of the Year

Salary History

Dave Righetti — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1995	CHA	AL	$300,000
1994	OAK	AL	$109,000
1994	SFN	NL	$1,750,000
1993	SFN	NL	$2,250,000
1992	SFN	NL	$3,500,000
1991	SFN	NL	$2,500,000
1990	NYA	AL	$1,550,000
1989	NYA	AL	$1,450,000
1988	NYA	AL	$1,300,000
1987	NYA	AL	$800,000
1986	NYA	AL	$837,500
1985	NYA	AL	$680,000
Total Career Earnings			$17,026,500

College History

Dave Righetti — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
San Jose City College	San Jose	CA	1977

Award Voting History

Dave Righetti — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1986	Cy Young Award	AL	4th	20.0	140	0
1986	Most Valuable Player	AL	10th	71.0	392	0
1981	Rookie of the Year	AL	1st	127.0	140	23

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

Career Spans

Dave Righetti (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

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Frequently Asked Questions about Dave Righetti

What years did Dave Righetti play?: Dave Righetti played in Major League Baseball from 1979 to 1995.
Was Dave Righetti a pitcher?: Yes. Dave Righetti pitched in the major leagues, recording 82 wins and 1112 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Dave Righetti hit?: Dave Righetti hit 0 career home runs with 2 hits.
What was Dave Righetti's career batting average?: Dave Righetti batted .182 over his career, with 2 hits in 11 at bats.
How many RBI did Dave Righetti have?: Dave Righetti drove in 1 runs in his career.
What was Dave Righetti's career ERA?: Dave Righetti finished with a 3.46 career ERA, going 82-79 with 1,112 strikeouts.