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Bill Donovan played 18 major-league seasons (1898-1918) as a P (378), OF (37), 1B (18), 2B (8), SS (3). Career totals and every year-by-year line below come from the SABR/Lahman database (CC BY-SA), covering 1871-2025.
Showing 17 season lines
| Year | Age | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | 22 | WAS | 39 | 103 | 11 | 17 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 4 | 28 | .165 | .493 | 44 |
| 1899 | 23 | BRO | 5 | 13 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | .231 | .538 | 51 |
| 1900 | 24 | BRO | 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | .000 | .000 | -100 |
| 1901 | 25 | BRO | 46 | 135 | 16 | 23 | 2 | 13 | 1 | 8 | 27 | .170 | .454 | 36 |
| 1902 | 26 | BRO | 48 | 161 | 16 | 28 | 1 | 16 | 7 | 9 | 26 | .174 | .463 | 47 |
| 1903 | 27 | DET | 40 | 124 | 11 | 30 | 0 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 34 | .242 | .564 | 74 |
| 1904 | 28 | DET | 46 | 140 | 12 | 38 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 41 | .271 | .608 | 97 |
| 1905 | 29 | DET | 44 | 130 | 16 | 25 | 0 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 28 | .192 | .489 | 60 |
| 1906 | 30 | DET | 28 | 91 | 5 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 32 | .121 | .273 | -12 |
| 1907 | 31 | DET | 37 | 109 | 20 | 29 | 0 | 19 | 4 | 6 | 34 | .266 | .671 | 119 |
| 1908 | 32 | DET | 30 | 82 | 5 | 13 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 26 | .159 | .421 | 41 |
| 1909 | 33 | DET | 22 | 45 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | .200 | .450 | 47 |
| 1910 | 34 | DET | 26 | 69 | 6 | 10 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 24 | .145 | .362 | 17 |
| 1911 | 35 | DET | 24 | 60 | 11 | 12 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 20 | .200 | .657 | 89 |
| 1912 | 36 | DET | 6 | 13 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | .077 | .220 | -35 |
| 1915 | 39 | NYA | 10 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | .083 | .237 | -27 |
| 1918 | 42 | DET | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .500 | 1.000 | 210 |
| Year | Age | Team | G | GS | W | L | SV | IP | SO | BB | ERA | ERA+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | 22 | WAS | 17 | 7 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 88 | 36 | 69 | 4.30 | 84 |
| 1899 | 23 | BRO | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 25 | 11 | 13 | 4.32 | 89 |
| 1900 | 24 | BRO | 5 | 4 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 31 | 13 | 18 | 6.68 | 55 |
| 1901 | 25 | BRO | 45 | 38 | 25 | 15 | 3 | 351 | 226 | 152 | 2.77 | 120 |
| 1902 | 26 | BRO | 35 | 33 | 17 | 15 | 1 | 297.2 | 170 | 111 | 2.78 | 100 |
| 1903 | 27 | DET | 35 | 34 | 17 | 16 | 0 | 307 | 187 | 95 | 2.29 | 130 |
| 1904 | 28 | DET | 34 | 34 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 293 | 137 | 94 | 2.46 | 106 |
| 1905 | 29 | DET | 34 | 32 | 18 | 15 | 0 | 280.2 | 135 | 101 | 2.60 | 102 |
| 1906 | 30 | DET | 25 | 25 | 9 | 15 | 0 | 211.2 | 85 | 72 | 3.15 | 85 |
| 1907 | 31 | DET | 32 | 28 | 25 | 4 | 1 | 271 | 123 | 82 | 2.19 | 116 |
| 1908 | 32 | DET | 29 | 28 | 18 | 7 | 0 | 242.2 | 141 | 53 | 2.08 | 115 |
| 1909 | 33 | DET | 21 | 17 | 8 | 7 | 2 | 140.1 | 76 | 60 | 2.31 | 107 |
| 1910 | 34 | DET | 26 | 23 | 17 | 7 | 0 | 206.2 | 107 | 61 | 2.44 | 103 |
| 1911 | 35 | DET | 20 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 0 | 168.1 | 81 | 64 | 3.31 | 101 |
| 1912 | 36 | DET | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 0.90 | 371 |
| 1915 | 39 | NYA | 9 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 33.2 | 17 | 10 | 4.81 | 61 |
| 1916 | 40 | NYA | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.00 | — |
| 1918 | 42 | DET | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1.50 | 185 |
| Year | Pos | G | GS | PO | A | E | DP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1898 | OF | 20 | 0 | 38 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| 1898 | P | 17 | 0 | 6 | 17 | 3 | 2 |
| 1898 | 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1898 | SS | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| 1899 | P | 5 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 |
| 1900 | P | 5 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 1901 | P | 45 | 0 | 14 | 75 | 7 | 5 |
| 1902 | P | 35 | 0 | 20 | 71 | 5 | 2 |
| 1902 | 1B | 8 | 0 | 87 | 7 | 1 | 3 |
| 1902 | OF | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1902 | 2B | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 1903 | P | 35 | 0 | 25 | 65 | 6 | 2 |
| 1903 | SS | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
| 1903 | 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1903 | OF | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 1904 | P | 34 | 34 | 28 | 89 | 4 | 2 |
| 1904 | 1B | 8 | 7 | 52 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 1904 | OF | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 1905 | P | 34 | 32 | 16 | 67 | 6 | 3 |
| 1905 | OF | 8 | 7 | 10 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 1905 | 2B | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 1906 | P | 25 | 25 | 11 | 62 | 3 | 1 |
| 1906 | 2B | 3 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| 1906 | OF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1907 | P | 32 | 28 | 13 | 56 | 4 | 0 |
| 1908 | P | 29 | 28 | 16 | 39 | 5 | 0 |
| 1909 | P | 21 | 17 | 9 | 29 | 1 | 1 |
| 1910 | P | 26 | 23 | 9 | 33 | 2 | 2 |
| 1911 | P | 20 | 0 | 4 | 25 | 2 | 0 |
| 1912 | P | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1912 | 1B | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 1912 | OF | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1915 | P | 9 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| 1916 | P | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 1918 | P | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Team codes are the source codes (e.g. NYN for the New York Mets, BS1 for the 1875 Boston club). OPS+ is league-season normalized, not park-adjusted; unrecorded source values (such as RBI in the earliest recorded seasons) are absent, never zero-filled.
Bill Donovan won: Baseball Magazine All-Star 1908 (AL).
Bill Donovan ranks on 1 all-time single-season position leaderboard (1871-2025, league-season-normalized OPS+ / ERA+).
| Rank | Board | Year | Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| #181 | relief pitchers | 1898 | 84 ERA+ |
Every career total and season line is computed from the SABR / Sean Lahman baseball database (2025 edition, CC BY-SA 3.0), the same source behind our historical position leaderboards. Rate stats use league-season normalization only (OPS+ and ERA+ as marked, never park-adjusted); unrecorded early-era values stay absent rather than being invented. Career totals sum only what the source records.
Award winners and MVP / Cy Young / Rookie of the Year voting history come from the same database; the year pages live under MLB award voting history. Official transactions (2011 to the current season) come from the MLB StatsAPI feed on our transactions archive.