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Luke Appling played 20 major-league seasons (1930-1950) as a SS (2,218), 3B (88), 2B (40), 1B (13). Career totals and every year-by-year line below come from the SABR/Lahman database (CC BY-SA), covering 1871-2025.
Showing 20 season lines
| Year | Age | Team | G | AB | R | H | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | AVG | OPS | OPS+ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | 23 | CHA | 6 | 26 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | .308 | .692 | 79 |
| 1931 | 24 | CHA | 96 | 297 | 36 | 69 | 1 | 28 | 9 | 29 | 27 | .232 | .616 | 67 |
| 1932 | 25 | CHA | 139 | 489 | 66 | 134 | 3 | 63 | 9 | 40 | 36 | .274 | .703 | 88 |
| 1933 | 26 | CHA | 151 | 612 | 90 | 197 | 6 | 85 | 6 | 56 | 29 | .322 | .822 | 124 |
| 1934 | 27 | CHA | 118 | 452 | 75 | 137 | 2 | 61 | 3 | 59 | 27 | .303 | .788 | 111 |
| 1935 | 28 | CHA | 153 | 525 | 94 | 161 | 1 | 71 | 12 | 122 | 40 | .307 | .826 | 121 |
| 1936 | 29 | CHA | 138 | 526 | 111 | 204 | 6 | 128 | 10 | 85 | 25 | .388 | .981 | 151 |
| 1937 | 30 | CHA | 154 | 574 | 98 | 182 | 4 | 77 | 18 | 86 | 28 | .317 | .846 | 121 |
| 1938 | 31 | CHA | 81 | 294 | 41 | 89 | 0 | 44 | 1 | 42 | 17 | .303 | .742 | 94 |
| 1939 | 32 | CHA | 148 | 516 | 82 | 162 | 0 | 56 | 16 | 105 | 37 | .314 | .798 | 113 |
| 1940 | 33 | CHA | 150 | 566 | 96 | 197 | 0 | 79 | 3 | 69 | 35 | .348 | .862 | 131 |
| 1941 | 34 | CHA | 154 | 592 | 93 | 186 | 1 | 57 | 12 | 82 | 32 | .314 | .789 | 117 |
| 1942 | 35 | CHA | 142 | 543 | 78 | 142 | 3 | 53 | 17 | 63 | 23 | .262 | .682 | 99 |
| 1943 | 36 | CHA | 155 | 585 | 63 | 192 | 3 | 80 | 27 | 90 | 29 | .328 | .825 | 149 |
| 1945 | 38 | CHA | 18 | 57 | 12 | 21 | 1 | 10 | 1 | 12 | 7 | .368 | 1.005 | 199 |
| 1946 | 39 | CHA | 149 | 582 | 59 | 180 | 1 | 55 | 6 | 71 | 41 | .309 | .762 | 121 |
| 1947 | 40 | CHA | 139 | 503 | 67 | 154 | 8 | 49 | 8 | 64 | 28 | .306 | .797 | 129 |
| 1948 | 41 | CHA | 139 | 497 | 63 | 156 | 0 | 47 | 10 | 94 | 35 | .314 | .777 | 114 |
| 1949 | 42 | CHA | 142 | 492 | 82 | 148 | 5 | 58 | 7 | 121 | 24 | .301 | .833 | 128 |
| 1950 | 43 | CHA | 50 | 128 | 11 | 30 | 0 | 13 | 2 | 12 | 8 | .234 | .620 | 64 |
| Year | Pos | G | GS | PO | A | E | DP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1930 | SS | 6 | 0 | 12 | 17 | 4 | 1 |
| 1931 | SS | 76 | 0 | 147 | 232 | 42 | 37 |
| 1931 | 2B | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 1932 | SS | 85 | 0 | 195 | 287 | 37 | 66 |
| 1932 | 2B | 30 | 0 | 62 | 110 | 6 | 16 |
| 1932 | 3B | 14 | 0 | 13 | 22 | 6 | 2 |
| 1933 | SS | 151 | 0 | 314 | 534 | 55 | 107 |
| 1934 | SS | 110 | 0 | 243 | 341 | 34 | 55 |
| 1934 | 2B | 8 | 0 | 21 | 16 | 1 | 4 |
| 1935 | SS | 153 | 0 | 335 | 556 | 39 | 93 |
| 1936 | SS | 137 | 0 | 320 | 471 | 41 | 119 |
| 1937 | SS | 154 | 0 | 280 | 541 | 49 | 111 |
| 1938 | SS | 78 | 0 | 149 | 258 | 20 | 37 |
| 1939 | SS | 148 | 0 | 289 | 461 | 39 | 78 |
| 1940 | SS | 150 | 0 | 307 | 436 | 37 | 83 |
| 1941 | SS | 154 | 0 | 294 | 473 | 42 | 95 |
| 1942 | SS | 141 | 0 | 269 | 418 | 38 | 77 |
| 1943 | SS | 155 | 0 | 300 | 500 | 36 | 115 |
| 1945 | SS | 17 | 0 | 37 | 56 | 7 | 7 |
| 1946 | SS | 149 | 0 | 252 | 505 | 39 | 99 |
| 1947 | SS | 129 | 0 | 232 | 422 | 35 | 86 |
| 1947 | 3B | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 1948 | 3B | 72 | 0 | 84 | 163 | 15 | 13 |
| 1948 | SS | 64 | 0 | 133 | 210 | 20 | 50 |
| 1949 | SS | 141 | 0 | 253 | 450 | 26 | 95 |
| 1950 | SS | 20 | 0 | 37 | 50 | 3 | 13 |
| 1950 | 1B | 13 | 0 | 91 | 12 | 0 | 16 |
| 1950 | 2B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 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.
Luke Appling won: Baseball Magazine All-Star 1936 (AL), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1936 (ML), TSN All-Star 1936 (ML), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1937 (AL), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1937 (ML), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1940 (AL), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1940 (ML), TSN All-Star 1940 (ML), Baseball Magazine All-Star 1943 (AL), TSN All-Star 1943 (ML).
MVP, Cy Young and Rookie of the Year voting history (11 ballot finishes, 0 wins). Full year pages: 1949, 1948, 1947, 1946, 1943, 1940, 1939, 1937, 1936, 1935, 1933.
| Year | Award | Lg | Rank | Points | First-place votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1933 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 21 | 1 / 80 | 0 |
| 1935 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 15 | 7 / 80 | 0 |
| 1936 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 2 | 65 / 80 | 0 |
| 1937 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 17 | 5 / 80 | 0 |
| 1939 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 33 | 1 / 336 | 0 |
| 1940 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 10 | 54 / 336 | 0 |
| 1943 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 2 | 215 / 336 | 5 |
| 1946 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 12 | 26 / 336 | 0 |
| 1947 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 10 | 43 / 336 | 0 |
| 1948 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 22 | 8 / 336 | 0 |
| 1949 | Most Valuable Player | AL | 22 | 3 / 336 | 0 |
Luke Appling ranks on 3 all-time single-season position leaderboards (1871-2025, league-season-normalized OPS+ / ERA+).
| Rank | Board | Year | Stat |
|---|---|---|---|
| #64 | shortstops | 1936 | 151 OPS+ |
| #78 | shortstops | 1943 | 149 OPS+ |
| #143 | shortstops | 1940 | 131 OPS+ |
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.