Jimmy Wynn

James Sherman Wynn
(The Toy Cannon)

• Bats Right, Throws Right
• Height 5' 9", Weight 170 lb.
• School Central State University
• High School Robert A. Taft High School
• Debut July 10, 1963
• Final Game September 27, 1977
• Born March 12, 1942 in Hamilton, OH USA
• Died March 26, 2020 in Houston, TX USA

BR page

Biographical Information

Jim Wynn had an excellent 15-year major league career. He was one of the many youngsters who played on the Houston Colt 45's in the early 1960s. His lifetime .250 batting average is better than it appears because he played most of his career in the second dead-ball era and he played in a pitcher-friendly ballpark. His 128 OPS+ puts him in a tie with Goose Goslin, Mickey Cochrane, John Olerud, Keith Hernandez and others.

Additionally, he was an excellent power hitter given those circumstances and he added enough walks to reach a .366 on-base percentage. Wynn hit 291 career home runs; his 37 round trippers in 1967 were second in the National League behind Hank Aaron at 39. His 148 walks in 1969 were a National League record for many years.

He finally was traded to a competitive team for the 1974 season, and his performance (he was 5th in the MVP voting) helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the pennant. Although Steve Garvey won the MVP award, Wynn had a much higher on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS+ that year.

Wynn was a multi-talented player. His range in the outfield was good (he mostly played center field), and he also appeared 21 times at shortstop during his rookie year. As a base stealer, he had 225 lifetime stolen bases, finishing third in the league in 1965 with 43. His 1,224 walks put him #56 on the all-time list, and his 1,427 strikeouts put him #87 on the all-time list.

Wynn's #24 was retired by the Houston Astros in 2005, and he was a member of the team's inaugural Hall of Fame class in 2019. He died in 2020, shortly after his 78th birthday.

Notable Achievements

• 3-time NL All-Star (1967, 1974 & 1975)
• 1974 NL Comeback Player of the Year Award
• 2-time NL Bases on Balls Leader (1969 & 1976)
• 20-Home Runs Seasons: 8 (1965, 1967-1970 & 1972-1974)
• 30-Home Runs Seasons: 3 (1967, 1969 & 1974)
• 100 RBI Seasons: 2 (1967 & 1974)
• 100 Runs Scored Seasons: 4 (1967, 1969, 1972 & 1974)

Further Reading

• Alyson Footer: "Houston great Jimmy Wynn dies at 78", mlb.com, March 26, 2020. [1]
• Jimmy Wynn (as told to Al Doyle): "The Game I'll Never Forget", Baseball Digest, March 2003, pp. 74-77. [2]
• Jimmy Wynn and Bill McCurdy: Toy Cannon: The Autobiography of Baseball's Jimmy Wynn, McFarland, Jefferson, NC, 2010. [3]

Related Sites

• Jim Wynn at the SABR Bio Project