What years did Walter Thornton play?

Walter Thornton played in Major League Baseball from 1895 to 1898.

Was Walter Thornton a pitcher?

Both. Walter Thornton pitched in 56 games, going 23-18 with a 4.18 ERA, but spent most of his career as an Outfielder.

How many home runs did Walter Thornton hit?

Walter Thornton hit 1 career home runs with 162 hits.

Walter Thornton

Outfielder · Career Stats, Bio & Records (1895-1898)

AVG .312

HR 1

RBI 77

H 162

OPS .771

PIV 661

Position: Outfielder
Bats / Throws: L / L
Height / Weight: 6'1" / 180 lb
Born: 2/18/1875 in Peoria, IL, USA
Died: 7/14/1960 in Los Angeles, CA, USA
MLB Debut: 1895-07-01
Last Game: 1898-10-08

Full name: Walter Miller Thornton

📊 Compare This Player 📈 View Career Timeline

Career Batting Statistics

G	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	BB	SO	AVG	OBP	SLG	OPS	PIV
154	519	83	162	15	9	1	77	23	60	33	.312	.390	.382	.771	661

Career AVG .312 vs. league average .287 across their career seasons — +8.8% above league average.

Career OBP .390 vs. league average .350 across their career seasons — +11.2% above league average.

Career SLG .382 vs. league average .379 across their career seasons — near league average.

Career OPS .771 vs. league average .730 across their career seasons — +5.7% above 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
1895	CHN	NL	8	22	4	7	1	0	1	7	0	3	1	.318	—	—	—	—	0.0
1896	CHN	NL	9	22	6	8	0	1	0	1	2	5	2	.364	—	—	—	—	0.0
1897	CHN	NL	75	265	39	85	9	6	0	55	13	30	16	.321	.291 (+10%)	.354 (+13%)	.387 (+3%)	.741 (+8%)	510.6
1898	CHN	NL	62	210	34	62	5	2	0	14	8	22	14	.295	.270 (+9%)	.333 (+8%)	.347 (-3%)	.680 (+3%)	150.3
Career · 4 seasons			154	519	83	162	15	9	1	77	23	60	33	.312	—	—	—	—	661

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

W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	HR	BB	SO	ERA	Pitcher PIV
23	18	56	48	40	2	1	409.3	478	190	12	151	134	4.18	-1137.3

Career ERA 4.18 vs. league average 4.23 across their career seasons — near league average.

Season-by-Season Pitching

Pitching Career Arc

Click a stat to plot it across every season.

Year	Team	Lg	W	L	G	GS	CG	SHO	SV	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA	Lg ERA	Pitcher PIV
1895	CHN	NL	2	0	7	2	2	0	1	40.0	58	27	31	13	6.08	4.77 (-27%)	-1833.8
1896	CHN	NL	2	1	5	5	2	0	0	23.7	30	15	13	10	5.70	4.36 (-31%)	-169.4
1897	CHN	NL	6	7	16	16	15	0	0	130.3	164	68	51	55	4.70	4.30 (-9%)	404.0
1898	CHN	NL	13	10	28	25	21	2	0	215.3	226	80	56	56	3.34	3.59 (+7%)	461.9
Career · 4 seasons			23	18	56	48	40	2	1	409.1	478	190	151	134	4.18	—	-1,137

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.

Game Log & Splits

View full game log (90 games) →

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

Batting — Home / Away

Split	G	AB	R	H	HR	RBI	AVG
Home	33	105	18	35	0	8	.333
Away	29	105	16	27	0	6	.257

Pitching — Home / Away

Split	G	IP	H	ER	BB	SO	ERA
Home	17	141.0	145	49	32	40	3.13
Away	11	74.1	81	34	24	16	4.12

Last 10 Games — Batting

Date	Tm	Opp	Res	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	SO
1898-10-08	CHC	STL	W	3	0	1	2	0	0
1898-10-04	CHC	LS3	L	3	0	1	0	0	1
1898-09-26	CHC	PIT	W	3	0	2	0	0	0
1898-09-22	CHC	BLN	L	2	0	1	0	0	0
1898-09-19	CHC	WSN	L	0	1	0	0	1	0
1898-09-16	CHC	PHI	W	3	0	1	0	0	0
1898-09-09	CHC	CIN	L	2	0	0	0	0	0
1898-09-05	CHC	PIT	L	3	0	1	0	1	0
1898-09-03	CHC	BRO	L	0	0	0	0	0	0
1898-08-29	CHC	NY1	L	3	0	0	0	0	0

Last 10 Games — Pitching

Date	Tm	Opp	Dec	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1898-10-08	CHC	STL	W	9.0	7	3	1	3	2	1
1898-10-04	CHC	LS3	L	9.0	11	4	3	0	1	0
1898-09-26	CHC	PIT	W	9.0	8	3	3	1	3	0
1898-09-19	CHC	WSN	—	4.0	3	1	1	1	1	0
1898-09-16	CHC	PHI	W	9.0	11	5	5	3	2	0
1898-09-09	CHC	CIN	L	5.0	5	5	1	3	0	0
1898-09-05	CHC	PIT	L	9.0	10	6	1	2	2	0
1898-09-03	CHC	BRO	L	2.0	10	8	6	1	2	0
1898-08-29	CHC	NY1	L	9.0	4	2	2	1	3	0
1898-08-26	CHC	BSN	W	9.0	6	2	1	1	1	0

Fielding Statistics

Career Fielding Totals by Position

Position	G	PO	A	E	DP
1B	1	3	0	0	0
OF	96	147	13	35	2
P	56	24	81	10	4

Season-by-Season Fielding

Year	Team	Pos	G	PO	A	E	DP
1895	CHN	1B	1	3	0	0	0
1895	CHN	P	7	4	5	1	0
1896	CHN	OF	3	7	0	2	0
1896	CHN	P	5	1	3	1	0
1897	CHN	OF	59	74	8	23	0
1897	CHN	P	16	11	25	1	1
1898	CHN	OF	34	66	5	10	2
1898	CHN	P	28	8	48	7	3

Career Games by Position

Position Diamond

Circle size = games played at each position.

Position	Games
Pitcher	56
First Base	1
Left Field	50
Center Field	36
Right Field	10

College History

School Name	City	State	Years Attended
Cornell College	Mount Vernon	IA	1895

Frequently Asked Questions about Walter Thornton

What years did Walter Thornton play?: Walter Thornton played in Major League Baseball from 1895 to 1898.
Was Walter Thornton a pitcher?: Both. Walter Thornton pitched in 56 games, going 23-18 with a 4.18 ERA, but spent most of his career as an Outfielder.
How many home runs did Walter Thornton hit?: Walter Thornton hit 1 career home runs with 162 hits.