What years did Jim Sundberg play?

Jim Sundberg played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1989.

Was Jim Sundberg a pitcher?

No. Jim Sundberg was a position player (Catcher).

How many home runs did Jim Sundberg hit?

Jim Sundberg hit 95 career home runs with 1493 hits.

Jim Sundberg

Catcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1974-1989)

AVG .248

HR 95

RBI 624

H 1,493

OPS .674

PIV -3,149

Position: Catcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'0" / 190 lb
Born: 5/18/1951 in Galesburg, IL, USA
MLB Debut: 1974-04-04
Last Game: 1989-09-24
Awards: 3× All-Star · 6× Gold Glove

Full name: James Howard Sundberg

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Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
1,962	6,021	621	1,493	243	36	95	624	20	699	963	.248	.327	.348	.674	-3,149

Career AVG .248 vs. league average .259 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OBP .327 vs. league average .325 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career SLG .348 vs. league average .385 across their career seasons — 9.8% below league average.

Career OPS .674 vs. league average .710 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1974	TEX	AL	132	368	45	91	13	3	3	36	2	62	61	.247	.256 (-4%)	.324 (+9%)	.369 (-12%)	.693 (-2%)	59.3
1975	TEX	AL	155	472	45	94	9	0	6	36	3	51	77	.199	.257 (-23%)	.327 (-14%)	.374 (-31%)	.701 (-23%)	-1591.0
1976	TEX	AL	140	448	33	102	24	2	3	34	0	37	61	.228	.255 (-11%)	.320 (-11%)	.360 (-14%)	.681 (-13%)	-877.0
1977	TEX	AL	149	453	61	132	20	3	6	65	2	53	77	.291	.264 (+10%)	.329 (+11%)	.401 (-3%)	.730 (+3%)	431.9
1978	TEX	AL	149	518	54	144	23	6	6	58	2	64	70	.278	.257 (+8%)	.323 (+11%)	.378 (avg)	.702 (+5%)	689.8
1979	TEX	AL	150	495	50	136	23	4	5	64	3	51	51	.275	.265 (+3%)	.329 (+5%)	.397 (-7%)	.727 (-2%)	-76.1
1980	TEX	AL	151	505	59	138	24	1	10	63	2	64	67	.273	.264 (+3%)	.326 (+8%)	.387 (-1%)	.714 (+3%)	490.6
1981	TEX	AL	102	339	42	94	17	2	3	28	2	50	48	.277	.255 (+8%)	.320 (+15%)	.368 (-1%)	.688 (+7%)	583.3
1982	TEX	AL	139	470	37	118	22	5	10	47	2	49	57	.251	.261 (-4%)	.324 (avg)	.388 (-1%)	.712 (-1%)	-53.9
1983	TEX	AL	131	378	30	76	14	0	2	28	0	35	64	.201	.260 (-23%)	.324 (-16%)	.389 (-35%)	.714 (-26%)	-1515.9
1984	ML4	AL	110	348	43	91	19	4	7	43	1	38	63	.261	.259 (+1%)	.322 (+3%)	.384 (+4%)	.707 (+3%)	211.9
1985	KCA	AL	115	367	38	90	12	4	10	35	0	33	67	.245	.257 (-5%)	.323 (-5%)	.390 (-2%)	.714 (-4%)	-222.5
1986	KCA	AL	140	429	41	91	9	1	12	42	1	57	91	.212	.257 (-18%)	.325 (-7%)	.395 (-19%)	.720 (-13%)	-841.5
1987	CHN	NL	61	139	9	28	2	0	4	15	0	19	40	.201	.262 (-23%)	.331 (-8%)	.415 (-27%)	.746 (-19%)	-371.7
1988	CHN	NL	24	54	8	13	1	0	2	9	0	8	15	.241	.254 (-5%)	.317 (+5%)	.377 (-2%)	.695 (+1%)	24.5
1988	TEX	AL	38	91	13	26	4	0	4	13	0	5	17	.286	.254 (+12%)	.317 (+2%)	.377 (+22%)	.695 (+13%)	24.5
1989	TEX	AL	76	147	13	29	7	1	2	8	0	23	37	.197	.254 (-22%)	.319 (-5%)	.375 (-20%)	.694 (-13%)	-263.7
Career · 17 seasons			1,962	6,021	621	1,493	243	36	95	624	20	699	963	.248	—	—	—	—	-3,298

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

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
14	48	9	10	3	1	1	7	7	11	.208

Playoff Batting by Year

Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1985	ALCS	KCA	7	24	3	4	1	1	1	6	1	7	.167
1985	WS	KCA	7	24	6	6	2	0	0	1	6	4	.250

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (1962 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	982	2950	287	720	36	302	.244
Away	980	3071	334	773	59	322	.252

Last 10 Games — Batting

Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	H	RBI	SO
1989-09-24	TEX	CHW	W	2	1	1	0
1989-09-09	TEX	BAL	L	0	0	0	0
1989-08-31	TEX	MIN	L	3	1	1	1
1989-08-25	TEX	LAA	L	0	0	0	0
1989-08-15	TEX	SEA	L	2	0	0	1
1989-08-13	TEX	DET	L	0	0	0	0
1989-08-12	TEX	DET	L	2	0	0	0
1989-08-09	TEX	TOR	W	4	2	0	1
1989-08-08	TEX	TOR	L	2	0	0	0
1989-08-07	TEX	TOR	L	2	0	0	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
C	1927	1775	9767	1007	81	145
OF	3	2	6	0	0	0

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1974	TEX	C	132	121	722	69	8	15
1975	TEX	C	155	148	791	101	17	11
1976	TEX	C	140	135	719	96	7	11
1977	TEX	C	149	137	801	103	5	12
1978	TEX	C	148	145	769	91	3	14
1979	TEX	C	150	144	754	75	4	14
1980	TEX	C	151	145	853	76	7	7
1981	TEX	C	98	97	464	52	2	9
1981	TEX	OF	2	1	1	0	0	0
1982	TEX	C	132	129	607	69	6	15
1982	TEX	OF	1	1	5	0	0	0
1983	TEX	C	131	116	618	56	5	2
1984	ML4	C	109	100	556	55	3	6
1985	KCA	C	112	107	572	41	5	10
1986	KCA	C	134	124	686	46	4	11
1987	CHN	C	57	35	273	34	2	2
1988	CHN	C	20	14	88	7	0	1
1988	TEX	C	36	25	141	9	0	2
1989	TEX	C	73	53	353	27	3	3

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position	Games
Catcher	1927
Left Field	3
Designated Hitter	2

Awards & Honors

Year	Award	Notes
1981	Gold Glove	C
1981	TSN All-Star	C
1980	Gold Glove	C
1979	Gold Glove	C
1978	Gold Glove	C
1978	Player of the Week	Week of 1978-05-19
1978	TSN All-Star	C
1977	Gold Glove	C
1976	Gold Glove	C

Salary History

Year	Team	League	Salary
1989	TEX	AL	$475,000
1987	CHN	NL	$791,667
1986	KCA	AL	$653,128
1985	KCA	AL	$608,333
Total Career Earnings			$2,528,128

College History

School Name	City	State	Years Attended
University of Iowa	Iowa City	IA	1970, 1971, 1972

Award Voting History

Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1978	Most Valuable Player	AL	15th	24.0	392	0
1977	Most Valuable Player	AL	15th	30.0	392	0
1974	Rookie of the Year	AL	4th	1.0	24	1

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Jim Sundberg (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Frequently Asked Questions about Jim Sundberg

What years did Jim Sundberg play?: Jim Sundberg played in Major League Baseball from 1974 to 1989.
Was Jim Sundberg a pitcher?: No. Jim Sundberg was a position player (Catcher).
How many home runs did Jim Sundberg hit?: Jim Sundberg hit 95 career home runs with 1493 hits.