What years did Bill Swift play?

Bill Swift played in Major League Baseball from 1985 to 1998.

Was Bill Swift a pitcher?

Yes. Bill Swift pitched in the major leagues, recording 94 wins and 767 strikeouts.

How many home runs did Bill Swift hit?

Bill Swift hit 1 career home runs with 48 hits.

What was Bill Swift's career batting average?

Bill Swift batted .210 over his career, with 48 hits in 229 at bats.

How many RBI did Bill Swift have?

Bill Swift drove in 15 runs in his career.

What was Bill Swift's career ERA?

Bill Swift finished with a 3.95 career ERA, going 94-78 with 767 strikeouts.

Bill Swift

Pitcher · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1985-1998)

Bill Swift was a pitcher who played in Major League Baseball from 1985 to 1998 for the Seattle Mariners, the San Francisco Giants, and the Colorado Rockies, a span of 14 seasons. Across 403 career appearances, he went 94-78 with a 3.95 ERA, 767 strikeouts, and 27 saves. He also batted .210 with 1 home runs. His career Pitcher PIV — Baseball Data Hub's era-adjusted measure of pitching impact — is 4931.5.

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 12, 2026

W–L 94–78

ERA 3.95

WHIP 1.37

SO 767

Pitcher PIV 4931.5

Position: Pitcher
Bats / Throws: R / R
Height / Weight: 6'0" / 170 lb
Born: 10/27/1961 in Portland, ME, USA
MLB Debut: 1985-06-07
Last Game: 1998-09-11

Full name: William Charles Swift

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Career Pitching Statistics

Bill Swift — Career Pitching Statistics
W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
94	78	403	220	11	4	27	1599.2	1,688	702	116	507	767	3.95	4931.5

Career ERA 3.95 vs. league average 4.11 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bill Swift (b. 1961) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1985	SEA	AL	6	10	23	21	0	0	0	120.2	131	64	48	55	4.77	3.89 (-23%)	-177.4
1986	SEA	AL	2	9	29	17	1	0	0	115.1	148	70	55	55	5.46	3.97 (-38%)	-60.7
1988	SEA	AL	8	12	38	24	6	1	0	174.2	199	89	65	47	4.59	3.73 (-23%)	-2162.7
1989	SEA	AL	7	3	37	16	0	0	1	130.0	140	64	38	45	4.43	3.71 (-19%)	55.7
1990	SEA	AL	6	4	55	8	0	0	6	128.0	135	34	21	42	2.39	3.86 (+38%)	2124.1
1991	SEA	AL	1	2	71	0	0	0	17	90.1	74	20	26	48	1.99	3.91 (+49%)	1816.8
1992	SFN	NL	10	4	30	22	3	2	1	164.2	144	38	43	77	2.08	3.75 (+45%)	2493.2
1993	SFN	NL	21	8	34	34	1	1	0	232.2	195	73	55	157	2.82	4.19 (+33%)	4629.7
1994	SFN	NL	8	7	17	17	0	0	0	109.1	109	41	31	62	3.38	4.51 (+25%)	1251.2
1995	COL	NL	9	3	19	19	0	0	0	105.2	122	58	43	68	4.94	4.45 (-11%)	-239.6
1996	COL	NL	1	1	7	3	0	0	2	18.1	23	11	5	5	5.40	4.61 (-17%)	210.5
1997	COL	NL	4	6	14	13	0	0	0	65.1	85	46	26	29	6.34	4.39 (-44%)	-2133.9
1998	SEA	AL	11	9	29	26	0	0	0	144.2	183	94	51	77	5.85	4.43 (-32%)	-2875.5
Career · 13 seasons			94	78	403	220	11	4	27	1,599.2	1,688	702	507	767	3.95	—	4,931

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

Bill Swift — Career Batting Statistics
G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
410	229	27	48	9	0	1	15	1	15	54	.210	.260	.262	.522	-629

Career AVG .210 vs. league average .261 across their career seasons — 19.8% below league average.

Career OBP .260 vs. league average .329 across their career seasons — 21.0% below league average.

Career SLG .262 vs. league average .400 across their career seasons — 34.5% below league average.

Career OPS .522 vs. league average .729 across their career seasons — 28.4% below league average.

Season-by-Season Batting

Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Bill Swift (b. 1961) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Year	Team	Lg	G	AB	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	Lg AVG	Lg OBP	Lg SLG	Lg OPS	PIV
1985	SEA	AL	23	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1986	SEA	AL	29	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1988	SEA	AL	38	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1989	SEA	AL	37	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1990	SEA	AL	55	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1991	SEA	AL	71	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
1992	SFN	NL	34	51	3	8	3	0	3	0	1	18	.157	.255 (-39%)	.322 (-46%)	.377 (-43%)	.699 (-44%)	-359.7
1993	SFN	NL	34	80	12	21	1	0	4	0	5	19	.263	.265 (-1%)	.332 (-9%)	.403 (-32%)	.735 (-22%)	-269.7
1994	SFN	NL	18	32	5	6	3	0	2	0	3	5	.188	—	—	—	—	0.0
1995	COL	NL	19	36	5	7	1	1	4	1	2	5	.194	—	—	—	—	0.0
1996	COL	NL	7	6	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	1	.333	—	—	—	—	0.0
1997	COL	NL	16	19	2	4	1	0	2	0	4	4	.211	—	—	—	—	0.0
1998	SEA	AL	29	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000	—	—	—	—	0.0
Career · 13 seasons			410	229	27	48	9	1	15	1	15	54	.210	—	—	—	—	-629

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

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

Playoff Batting by Year

Bill Swift — Playoff Batting by Year
Year	Round	Team	G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	AVG
1995	NLDS1	COL	1	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	.000

Playoff Career Pitching

Bill Swift — Playoff Career Pitching
W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
0	0	1	1	0	6.0	7	4	2	3	6.00

Playoff Pitching by Year

Bill Swift — Playoff Pitching by Year
Year	Round	Team	W	L	G	GS	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
1995	NLDS1	COL	0	0	1	1	0	6.0	7	4	2	3	6.00

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (813 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Bill Swift — Batting — Home / Away
Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	205	105	12	27	1	10	.257
Away	205	124	15	21	0	5	.169

Pitching — Home / Away

Bill Swift — Pitching — Home / Away
Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	200	822.1	853	339	261	385	3.71
Away	203	777.1	835	363	246	382	4.20

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Bill Swift — Last 10 Games — Pitching
Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1998-09-11	SEA	KCR	L	1.0	6	5	5	1	0	1
1998-09-07	SEA	BAL	—	1.0	1	0	0	0	1	0
1998-09-04	SEA	BAL	—	2.0	3	2	2	1	1	0
1998-08-30	SEA	NYY	W	6.2	5	2	2	2	2	1
1998-08-25	SEA	CLE	L	4.0	7	6	6	5	0	1
1998-08-20	SEA	TOR	L	6.0	12	7	7	2	2	1
1998-08-15	SEA	CHW	W	5.0	5	2	1	2	4	0
1998-08-09	SEA	DET	—	5.0	6	3	3	2	5	0
1998-08-04	SEA	BOS	—	5.2	4	1	1	3	6	0
1998-07-30	SEA	CLE	—	5.0	7	3	3	2	1	1

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Bill Swift — Career Fielding Totals by Position
Position	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
P	403	220	151	330	28	29

Season-by-Season Fielding

Bill Swift — Season-by-Season Fielding
Year	Team	Pos	G	GS	PO	A	E	DP
1985	SEA	P	23	21	10	18	1	1
1986	SEA	P	29	17	13	21	1	1
1988	SEA	P	38	24	19	33	4	3
1989	SEA	P	37	16	18	39	2	5
1990	SEA	P	55	8	10	21	2	1
1991	SEA	P	71	0	6	25	3	4
1992	SFN	P	30	22	18	33	1	3
1993	SFN	P	34	34	17	44	6	3
1994	SFN	P	17	17	8	13	2	1
1995	COL	P	19	19	9	28	1	2
1996	COL	P	7	3	2	4	0	0
1997	COL	P	14	13	4	22	1	2
1998	SEA	P	29	26	17	29	4	3

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Bill Swift (b. 1961) Stats, Bio & Career Records
Position	Games
Pitcher	403

Awards & Honors

Bill Swift — Awards & Honors
Year	Award	Notes
1993	Pitcher of the Month	July
1992	Pitcher of the Month	April

Salary History

Bill Swift — Salary History
Year	Team	League	Salary
1998	SEA	AL	$425,000
1997	COL	NL	$4,608,333
1996	COL	NL	$4,608,333
1995	COL	NL	$3,933,333
1994	SFN	NL	$2,316,667
1993	SFN	NL	$3,316,667
1992	SFN	NL	$2,316,667
1991	SEA	AL	$950,000
1990	SEA	AL	$370,000
1989	SEA	AL	$195,000
1988	SEA	AL	$77,500
1986	SEA	AL	$75,000
Total Career Earnings			$23,192,500

College History

Bill Swift — College History
School Name	City	State	Years Attended
University of Maine at Orono	Orono	ME	1981, 1982, 1983, 1984

Award Voting History

Bill Swift — Award Voting History
Year	Award	League	Finish	Points Won	Points Max	Votes First
1993	Cy Young Award	NL	2nd	61.0	140	2

Most Similar Players

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

Career Spans

Bill Swift (highlighted) compared to peers across the same era.

Bill Swift: the record in brief

Bill Swift's major league career runs from a debut on June 7, 1985 to a final game on September 11, 1998. The season rows list, in order, the Seattle Mariners (1985 to 1998), the San Francisco Giants (1992 through 1994), and the Colorado Rockies (1995 through 1997). Swift played primarily as a pitcher and threw and hit right-handed. The bio adds a birth date on October 27, 1961, in Portland, ME, USA and a listed size of 6'0" and 170 pounds. Swift's full given name, per the bio, is William Charles Swift.

Across 403 games (220 starts), Swift recorded 94 wins against 78 losses with a 3.95 ERA. The totals include 767 strikeouts, 11 complete games, and 27 saves. Swift's 3.95 ERA was close to the 4.11 league figure for those seasons. 1993 brought Swift a season-high 21 wins. Swift saved 17 games in 1991, the season high. Among the heaviest workloads, the lowest ERA was 2.08 in 1992, when the league's was 3.75.

Frequently Asked Questions about Bill Swift

What years did Bill Swift play?: Bill Swift played in Major League Baseball from 1985 to 1998.
Was Bill Swift a pitcher?: Yes. Bill Swift pitched in the major leagues, recording 94 wins and 767 strikeouts.
How many home runs did Bill Swift hit?: Bill Swift hit 1 career home runs with 48 hits.
What was Bill Swift's career batting average?: Bill Swift batted .210 over his career, with 48 hits in 229 at bats.
How many RBI did Bill Swift have?: Bill Swift drove in 15 runs in his career.
What was Bill Swift's career ERA?: Bill Swift finished with a 3.95 career ERA, going 94-78 with 767 strikeouts.