What years did Steve Sax play?

Steve Sax played in Major League Baseball from 1981 to 1994.

Was Steve Sax a pitcher?

No. Steve Sax was a position player (Second Baseman).

How many home runs did Steve Sax hit?

Steve Sax hit 54 career home runs with 1949 hits.

What was Steve Sax's career batting average?

Steve Sax batted .281 over his career, with 1,949 hits in 6,940 at bats.

How many RBI did Steve Sax have?

Steve Sax drove in 550 runs in his career.

Is Steve Sax in the Hall of Fame?

No. Steve Sax has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Steve Sax

Second Baseman · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1981-1994)

Steve Sax was a second baseman who played in Major League Baseball from 1981 to 1994 for 4 teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, a span of 14 seasons. In 1,769 career games, he hit .281 with 1,949 hits, 54 home runs, and 550 RBI. Steve Sax was a 5-time All-Star, a Rookie of the Year, and a Silver Slugger.

AVG (Batting Average):: Hits divided by at bats. .300 is the traditional mark of an excellent hitter.
HR (Home Runs):: Hits on which the batter circled the bases and scored, almost always by clearing the outfield fence.
RBI (Runs Batted In):: Runs that scored as a direct result of a batter's plate appearance.
OPS (On-Base Plus Slugging):: On-base percentage plus slugging percentage, the quickest single summary of offensive value. .900 or better is star-level.

Data updated October 12, 2026

AVG .281

HR 54

RBI 550

H 1,949

OPS .692

PIV -1,262

Position: Second Baseman
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 5'11" / 185 lb
Born: 1/29/1960 in Sacramento, CA, USA
MLB Debut: 1981-08-18
Last Game: 1994-05-08
Awards: 5× All-Star · Rookie of the Year · Silver Slugger

Full name: Stephen Louis Sax

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Career Batting Statistics

Steve Sax — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1,769	6,940	913	1,949	278	47	54	550	444	556	584	.281	.335	.358	.692	-1,262

Career AVG .281 vs. league average .259 across their career seasons — +8.4% above league average.

Career OBP .335 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career SLG .358 vs. league average .390 across their career seasons — 8.3% below league average.

Career OPS .692 vs. league average .715 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Steve Sax Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1981	LAN	NL	31	119	15	33	2	0	2	9	5	7	14	.277	.255 (+8%)	.320 (-1%)	.368 (-7%)	.688 (-4%)	-61.5
1982	LAN	NL	150	638	88	180	23	7	4	47	49	49	53	.282	.261 (+8%)	.324 (+3%)	.388 (-8%)	.712 (-3%)	-188.2
1983	LAN	NL	155	623	94	175	18	5	5	41	56	58	73	.281	.260 (+8%)	.324 (+5%)	.389 (-10%)	.714 (-3%)	-175.3
1984	LAN	NL	145	569	70	138	24	4	1	35	34	47	53	.243	.259 (-7%)	.322 (-7%)	.384 (-21%)	.707 (-15%)	-1264.4
1985	LAN	NL	136	488	62	136	8	4	1	42	27	54	43	.279	.257 (+8%)	.323 (+9%)	.390 (-19%)	.714 (-6%)	-284.0
1986	LAN	NL	157	633	91	210	43	4	6	56	40	59	58	.332	.257 (+29%)	.325 (+20%)	.395 (+12%)	.720 (+15%)	2094.3
1987	LAN	NL	157	610	84	171	22	7	6	46	37	44	61	.280	.262 (+7%)	.331 (avg)	.415 (-11%)	.746 (-6%)	-578.2
1988	LAN	NL	160	632	70	175	19	4	5	57	42	45	51	.277	.254 (+9%)	.317 (+2%)	.377 (-9%)	.695 (-4%)	-323.2
1989	NYA	AL	158	651	88	205	26	3	5	63	43	52	44	.315	.254 (+24%)	.319 (+14%)	.375 (+3%)	.694 (+8%)	1144.3
1990	NYA	AL	155	615	70	160	24	2	4	42	43	49	46	.260	.257 (+1%)	.324 (-3%)	.385 (-16%)	.710 (-10%)	-892.9
1991	NYA	AL	158	652	85	198	38	2	10	56	31	41	38	.304	.255 (+19%)	.323 (+7%)	.384 (+8%)	.708 (+7%)	867.5
1992	CHA	AL	143	567	74	134	26	4	4	47	30	43	42	.236	.255 (-8%)	.322 (-10%)	.377 (-16%)	.699 (-13%)	-1214.2
1993	CHA	AL	57	119	20	28	5	0	1	8	7	8	6	.235	.265 (-11%)	.332 (-15%)	.403 (-25%)	.735 (-20%)	-386.1
1994	OAK	AL	7	24	2	6	0	1	0	1	0	0	2	.250	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 14 seasons			1,769	6,940	913	1,949	278	47	54	550	444	556	584	.281	—	—	—	—	-1,262

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

Steve Sax — Playoff Career Batting
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
26	87	11	24	3	0	0	4	6	9	.276

Playoff Batting by Year

Steve Sax — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1988	NLCS	LAN	7	30	7	8	0	3	3	3	.267
1988	WS	LAN	5	20	3	6	0	0	1	1	.300
1985	NLCS	LAN	6	20	1	6	3	1	1	5	.300
1983	NLCS	LAN	4	16	0	4	0	0	1	0	.250
1981	NLCS	LAN	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1981	NWDIV	LAN	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000
1981	WS	LAN	2	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1769 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Steve Sax — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	893	3407	440	942	25	256	.276
Away	876	3533	473	1007	29	294	.285

Last 10 Games — Batting

Steve Sax — Last 10 Games — Batting
Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	3B	RBI	SO
1994-05-08	OAK	LAA	L	3	0	0	0	0	0
1994-05-06	OAK	LAA	L	3	0	0	0	0	1
1994-05-05	OAK	LAA	L	1	0	1	0	0	0
1994-05-04	OAK	BAL	L	5	0	1	0	0	0
1994-05-03	OAK	BAL	L	4	0	1	1	1	0
1994-05-01	OAK	NYY	W	4	1	1	0	0	1
1994-04-30	OAK	NYY	L	4	1	2	0	0	0
1993-10-03	CHW	CLE	W	2	0	1	0	0	0
1993-10-02	CHW	CLE	W	2	0	0	0	0	0
1993-09-28	CHW	SEA	L	5	0	0	0	0	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Steve Sax — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
2B	1679	1664	3574	4805	187	998
3B	7	5	3	12	3	0
OF	33	26	40	0	0	0

Season-by-Season Fielding

Steve Sax — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1981	LAN	2B	29	28	64	93	4	22
1982	LAN	2B	149	145	347	452	19	83
1983	LAN	2B	152	151	331	399	30	74
1984	LAN	2B	141	140	318	450	21	99
1985	LAN	2B	135	132	330	357	22	84
1985	LAN	3B	1	0	0	1	0	0
1986	LAN	2B	154	154	367	432	16	71
1987	LAN	2B	152	151	342	420	14	92
1987	LAN	3B	1	0	0	0	0	0
1987	LAN	OF	1	0	1	0	0	0
1988	LAN	2B	158	156	276	429	14	69
1989	NYA	2B	158	158	312	460	10	117
1990	NYA	2B	154	154	292	457	10	102
1991	NYA	2B	149	148	274	443	7	107
1991	NYA	3B	5	5	3	11	3	0
1992	CHA	2B	141	141	305	390	20	75
1993	CHA	2B	1	0	0	3	0	0
1993	CHA	OF	32	26	39	0	0	0
1994	OAK	2B	6	6	16	20	0	3

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Steve Sax Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Second Base	1679
Third Base	7
Left Field	27
Right Field	6
Designated Hitter	26

Awards & Honors

Steve Sax — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1986	Player of the Month	September
1986	Silver Slugger	2B
1986	TSN All-Star	2B
1982	Rookie of the Year

Salary History

Steve Sax — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1995	CHA	AL	$3,475,000
1994	CHA	AL	$3,475,000
1994	OAK	AL	$109,000
1993	CHA	AL	$1,975,000
1992	CHA	AL	$3,575,000
1991	NYA	AL	$1,650,001
1990	NYA	AL	$950,000
1989	NYA	AL	$1,150,000
1988	LAN	NL	$838,182
1986	LAN	NL	$584,624
1985	LAN	NL	$465,000
Total Career Earnings			$18,246,807

Award Voting History

Steve Sax — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1989	Most Valuable Player	AL	21th	3.0	392	0
1988	Most Valuable Player	NL	18th	1.0	336	0
1986	Most Valuable Player	NL	13th	13.0	336	0
1982	Rookie of the Year	NL	1st	63.0	120	9

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Steve Sax (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Steve Sax: the record in brief

August 18, 1981 and May 8, 1994 bracket Steve Sax's time in the majors: the debut and the last game on record. The team column moves through the Los Angeles Dodgers (1981 to 1988), the New York Yankees (1989 through 1991), the Chicago White Sox (1992 to 1993), and the Oakland Athletics (1994). Born on January 29, 1960, in Sacramento, CA, USA, Sax is listed as a second baseman and both batted and threw right-handed. Size on record: 185 pounds on a 5-foot-11 frame. On the record, Steve Sax was born Stephen Louis Sax.

The batting record for Sax: 1,769 games, 1,949 hits in 6,940 at bats, and a .281 average, plus 54 home runs, 550 RBI, and 444 stolen bases. On-base and slugging figures of .335 and .358 give Sax a career OPS of .692. Sax's .281 average ran 8.4% above the .259 that the league posted over the same seasons. 1991 was Sax's biggest home run year, with 10. 1986 produced Sax's most hits, 210 of them for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Frequently Asked Questions about Steve Sax

What years did Steve Sax play?: Steve Sax played in Major League Baseball from 1981 to 1994.
Was Steve Sax a pitcher?: No. Steve Sax was a position player (Second Baseman).
How many home runs did Steve Sax hit?: Steve Sax hit 54 career home runs with 1949 hits.
What was Steve Sax's career batting average?: Steve Sax batted .281 over his career, with 1,949 hits in 6,940 at bats.
How many RBI did Steve Sax have?: Steve Sax drove in 550 runs in his career.
Is Steve Sax in the Hall of Fame?: No. Steve Sax has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.