Jake Stephens

Shortstop · Career Stats, Bio & Records

Jake Stephens was a shortstop who played in Major League Baseball for 6 teams, including the Hilldale Club. In 666 career games, he hit .236 with 565 hits, 4 home runs, and 182 RBI. Jake Stephens was an All-Star. His totals include Negro Leagues seasons, which MLB recognized as major league in 2020.

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

AVG .236
HR 4
RBI 182
H 565
OPS .598
PIV -6,048
Position
Shortstop
Bats / Throws
R / R
Height / Weight
5'6" / 135 lb
Born
2/10/1900 in Springettsbury Township, PA, USA
Died
2/5/1981 in York, PA, USA
Awards
All-Star

Full name: Paul Eugene Stephens

📊 Compare This Player 📈 View Career Timeline

Negro Leagues Career Statistics

Batting

Jake Stephens — Batting
PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO SB BA OBP SLG OPS
514.0 459.0 73.0 102.0 13.0 1.0 1.0 12.0 40.0 13.0 11.0 .222 .293 .261 .554

Career Batting Statistics

Jake Stephens — Career Batting Statistics
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI SB BB SO AVG OBP SLG OPS PIV
666 2,391 371 565 67 24 4 182 78 220 37 .236 .308 .289 .598 -6,048

Career AVG .236 vs. league average .282 across their career seasons — 16.2% below league average.

Career OBP .308 vs. league average .344 across their career seasons — 10.4% below league average.

Career SLG .289 vs. league average .398 across their career seasons — 27.2% below league average.

Career OPS .598 vs. league average .742 across their career seasons — 19.4% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jake Stephens 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
1921 HIL EAS 6 19 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .158 — — — — 0.0
1922 HIL IND 7 17 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .059 — — — — 0.0
1923 HIL ECL 18 40 7 4 1 0 0 2 1 1 1 .100 — — — — 0.0
1924 HIL ECL 28 100 11 19 4 1 1 6 4 11 1 .190 .283 (-33%) .345 (-22%) .389 (-28%) .734 (-25%) -412.5
1925 HIL ECL 54 189 29 41 9 2 0 9 8 12 0 .217 .288 (-25%) .349 (-25%) .407 (-30%) .756 (-27%) -884.3
1926 HIL ECL 66 207 30 56 5 2 0 24 12 21 15 .271 .279 (-3%) .345 (+1%) .390 (-20%) .735 (-10%) -266.4
1927 HIL ECL 82 286 39 67 4 6 0 21 19 24 0 .234 .282 (-17%) .344 (-11%) .392 (-26%) .736 (-19%) -849.4
1928 HIL EAS 54 197 21 30 2 0 1 4 4 10 6 .152 .280 (-46%) .342 (-39%) .395 (-55%) .737 (-48%) -1512.0
1928 NLG ECL 1 3 1 2 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .667 — — — — -1512.0
1929 HIL ANL 11 39 6 10 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 .256 — — — — 0.0
1929 HG ANL 4 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 .000 — — — — 0.0
1930 HG IND 55 220 46 60 10 4 1 20 5 29 7 .273 .293 (-7%) .354 (+2%) .429 (-14%) .784 (-7%) -200.7
1931 HG IND 17 56 6 14 5 0 0 5 0 4 2 .250 .276 (-9%) .338 (-8%) .388 (-13%) .726 (-10%) -93.7
1932 HG EWL 28 107 26 35 4 0 0 16 3 17 0 .327 .275 (+19%) .335 (+26%) .391 (-7%) .726 (+8%) 254.6
1932 PC IND 46 171 32 33 2 3 0 14 5 17 0 .193 .275 (-30%) .335 (-17%) .391 (-39%) .726 (-29%) 254.6
1933 PS IND 28 113 18 35 5 1 1 12 1 11 1 .310 .270 (+15%) .329 (+14%) .377 (+6%) .707 (+9%) 205.0
1934 PS NN2 65 254 39 67 8 2 0 22 7 22 2 .264 .278 (-5%) .340 (-5%) .392 (-21%) .733 (-13%) -508.3
1935 PS NN2 40 157 24 38 4 1 0 11 1 18 0 .242 .279 (-13%) .342 (-7%) .399 (-30%) .742 (-19%) -451.2
1936 NBY NN2 31 113 22 24 1 2 0 6 6 12 2 .212 .283 (-25%) .349 (-10%) .404 (-36%) .753 (-24%) -415.6
1937 NBY NN2 25 91 11 26 2 0 0 7 1 7 0 .286 .276 (+3%) .342 (avg) .398 (-23%) .740 (-12%) -152.6
Career · 20 seasons 666 2,391 371 565 67 24 4 182 78 220 37 .236 — — — — -6,544

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 Pitching Statistics

Jake Stephens — Career Pitching Statistics
W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER HR BB SO ERA Pitcher PIV
0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0.00 0.0

Career ERA 0.00 vs. league average 4.34 across their career seasons — 100.0% better than league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Jake Stephens — Season-by-Season Pitching
Year Team Lg W L G GS CG SHO SV IP H ER BB SO ERA Lg ERA Pitcher PIV
1937 NBY NN2 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0.00 — 0.0
Career · 1 season 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.1 0 0 0 0 0.00 — 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

Jake Stephens — Playoff Career Batting
G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
10 31 4 7 2 0 0 1 7 2 .226

Playoff Batting by Year

Jake Stephens — Playoff Batting by Year
Year Round Team G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG
1934 NLC PS 3 9 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 0 .222
1925 NWS HIL 6 20 4 5 2 0 0 1 4 2 .250
1924 NWS HIL 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (86 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Jake Stephens — Batting — Home / Away
SplitGABRHHRRBIAVG
Home51199314705.236
Away35137212702.197

Last 10 Games — Batting

Jake Stephens — Last 10 Games — Batting
DateTmOppResABRH2B3BHRRBIBBSO
1937-09-06 NY5WEGW 311000000
1937-09-06 NY5WEGW 402000000
1937-09-01 NY5WEGL 301000010
1937-08-21 NY5NW2L 300000000
1937-08-18 NY5PTCW 401000000
1937-08-15 NY5WEGW 000000000
1937-07-31 NY5NW2L 500000000
1937-07-24 NY5PTCL 400000100
1937-07-18 NY5WEGL 100000000
1937-07-18 NY5WEGL 301000000

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Jake Stephens — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position G GS PO A E DP
2B 44 41 90 138 10 20
3B 1 1 0 3 0 0
OF 2 2 4 0 0 0
P 1 0 0 0 0 0
SS 618 553 1111 1663 200 213

Season-by-Season Fielding

Jake Stephens — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year Team Pos G GS PO A E DP
1921 HIL SS 6 5 13 17 2 3
1922 HIL SS 6 6 8 14 6 1
1923 HIL 2B 1 0 0 0 0 0
1923 HIL SS 16 13 18 30 11 1
1924 HIL SS 28 28 54 84 12 3
1925 HIL SS 54 1 0 0 0 0
1926 HIL SS 66 63 125 188 31 36
1927 HIL SS 82 80 180 247 33 31
1928 HIL SS 54 53 128 184 19 25
1928 NLG SS 1 1 0 4 0 0
1929 HIL SS 11 11 29 26 3 6
1929 HG SS 4 4 14 14 3 0
1930 HG SS 55 55 95 166 19 21
1931 HG 2B 1 0 1 1 0 1
1931 HG SS 16 16 28 46 4 3
1932 HG SS 28 28 55 81 9 11
1932 PC SS 46 46 97 143 12 15
1933 PS 2B 28 28 64 93 8 9
1934 PS 2B 2 2 3 8 1 2
1934 PS OF 2 2 4 0 0 0
1934 PS SS 61 61 112 168 17 17
1935 PS 2B 1 1 3 6 0 1
1935 PS SS 39 39 76 115 12 21
1936 NBY SS 31 31 58 97 3 12
1937 NBY 2B 11 10 19 30 1 7
1937 NBY 3B 1 1 0 3 0 0
1937 NBY P 1 0 0 0 0 0
1937 NBY SS 14 12 21 39 4 7

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Jake Stephens Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position Games
Pitcher 1
Second Base 44
Third Base 1
Shortstop 618
Right Field 2

Most Similar Players

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

  1. 98
    Tom Downey
    .240 avg, 7 HR
  2. 92
    Jeff Huson
    .234 avg, 8 HR
  3. 90
    Morten Clark
    .236 avg, 3 HR
  4. 82
    Joe Gedeon
    .244 avg, 1 HR
  5. 80
    Arnold Hauser
    .238 avg, 6 HR
  6. 80
    Billy Hitchcock
    .243 avg, 5 HR

Jake Stephens: the record in brief

The season rows for Jake Stephens begin in 1921. The season rows list, in order, the Hilldale Club (1921 through 1929), the New York Lincoln Giants (1928), the Homestead Grays (1929 to 1932), the Pittsburgh Crawfords (1932), the Philadelphia Stars (1933 to 1935), and the New York Black Yankees (1936 through 1937). Stephens, a shortstop by primary position, both batted and threw right-handed. The recorded size is 135 pounds on a 5-foot-6 frame. Stephens was born on February 10, 1900, in Springettsbury Township, PA, USA. Stephens died on February 5, 1981, in York, PA, USA. Stephens's full given name, per the bio, is Paul Eugene Stephens.

In 666 games and 2,391 at bats, Stephens batted .236 with 565 hits, along with 4 homers, 182 RBI, and 78 stolen bases. Reaching base at a .308 clip and slugging .289, Stephens finished with a .598 OPS. Stephens's .236 average ran 16.2% below the .282 that the league posted over the same seasons.

Frequently Asked Questions about Jake Stephens

Was Jake Stephens a pitcher?
No. Jake Stephens was a position player (Shortstop), though he did pitch in 1 career game.
How many home runs did Jake Stephens hit?
Jake Stephens hit 4 career home runs with 565 hits.
What was Jake Stephens's career batting average?
Jake Stephens batted .236 over his career, with 565 hits in 2,391 at bats.
How many RBI did Jake Stephens have?
Jake Stephens drove in 182 runs in his career.
What was Jake Stephens's career ERA?
Jake Stephens finished with a 0.00 career ERA, going 0-0 with 0 strikeouts.
Is Jake Stephens in the Hall of Fame?
No. Jake Stephens has not been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.