MLB players born in 1881
101 MLB players on file were born in 1881. Ed Walsh leads them with 59.5 career WAR. The first born in 1881 to play in the MLB was Joe Stanley, in 1897. Every season since 1876 is on file.
Former MLB players born in 1881 (101)
| Player | Pos | Years | Seasons | Career | Born |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ed Walsh | P | 1904–1917 | 14 | 195 W · 1,736 SO · 59.5 WAR | — |
| Johnny Evers | — | 1902–1922 | 17 | 1,659 H · 12 HR · 45.2 WAR | — |
| Terry Turner | — | 1901–1919 | 17 | 1,499 H · 8 HR · 35.6 WAR | — |
| Gavvy Cravath | — | 1908–1920 | 11 | 1,134 H · 119 HR · 29.6 WAR | — |
| Dode Paskert | — | 1907–1921 | 15 | 1,613 H · 42 HR · 22.2 WAR | — |
| Hans Lobert | — | 1903–1917 | 14 | 1,252 H · 32 HR · 21.0 WAR | — |
| Orval Overall | P | 1905–1913 | 7 | 108 W · 935 SO · 19.5 WAR | — |
| Howie Camnitz | P | 1904–1915 | 11 | 133 W · 915 SO · 16.6 WAR | — |
| Roy Hartzell | — | 1906–1916 | 11 | 1,146 H · 12 HR · 10.7 WAR | — |
| Larry McLean | — | 1901–1915 | 13 | 694 H · 6 HR · 10.3 WAR | — |
| Doc Scanlan | P | 1903–1911 | 8 | 65 W · 584 SO · 9.2 WAR | — |
| Buster Brown | P | 1905–1913 | 9 | 51 W · 501 SO · 7.1 WAR | — |
| Tom Walker | P | 1902–1905 | 3 | 24 W · 94 SO · 5.6 WAR | — |
| Joe Lake | P | 1908–1913 | 6 | 62 W · 594 SO · 4.9 WAR | — |
| Al Shaw | — | 1907–1915 | 5 | 434 H · 14 HR · 4.9 WAR | — |
| Slow joe Doyle | P | 1906–1910 | 5 | 22 W · 209 SO · 4.9 WAR | — |
| Claude Rossman | — | 1904–1909 | 5 | 523 H · 3 HR · 4.8 WAR | — |
| Bill Hogg | P | 1905–1908 | 4 | 37 W · 368 SO · 4.8 WAR | — |
| Bob Unglaub | — | 1904–1910 | 6 | 554 H · 5 HR · 4.0 WAR | — |
| Ad Brennan | P | 1910–1918 | 7 | 37 W · 283 SO · 3.7 WAR | — |
| Moose McCormick | — | 1904–1913 | 5 | 356 H · 6 HR · 3.6 WAR | — |
| Jim Doyle | — | 1910–1911 | 2 | 135 H · 5 HR · 3.0 WAR | — |
| Charlie Hanford | — | 1914–1915 | 2 | 217 H · 12 HR · 2.5 WAR | — |
| Fred Olmstead | P | 1908–1911 | 4 | 19 W · 135 SO · 1.7 WAR | — |
| Fred Carisch | — | 1903–1914 | 7 | 149 H · 1 HR · 1.2 WAR | — |
| Branch Rickey | — | 1905–1914 | 4 | 82 H · 3 HR · 1.0 WAR | — |
| Jim Pastorius | P | 1906–1909 | 4 | 31 W · 205 SO · 0.9 WAR | — |
| Ira Thomas | — | 1906–1914 | 9 | 327 H · 3 HR · 0.6 WAR | — |
| Neal Ball | — | 1907–1913 | 7 | 404 H · 4 HR · 0.5 WAR | — |
| Bucky Veil | P | 1903–1904 | 2 | 5 W · 21 SO · 0.4 WAR | — |
| Steamer Flanagan | — | 1905 | 1 | 7 H · 0 HR · 0.4 WAR | — |
| Rabbit Nill | — | 1904–1908 | 5 | 204 H · 3 HR · 0.3 WAR | — |
| Wish Egan | P | 1902–1906 | 3 | 8 W · 52 SO · 0.3 WAR | — |
| Frank Leary | P | 1907 | 1 | 0 W · 4 SO · 0.2 WAR | — |
| King Brady | P | 1905–1912 | 5 | 3 W · 20 SO · 0.1 WAR | — |
| Harry Ostdiek | — | 1904–1908 | 2 | 3 H · 0 HR · 0.1 WAR | — |
| Swat McCabe | — | 1909–1910 | 2 | 15 H · 0 HR · 0.1 WAR | — |
| Wally Clement | — | 1908–1909 | 2 | 96 H · 0 HR · 0.1 WAR | — |
| Tom Dougherty | P | 1904 | 1 | 1 W · 0 SO · 0.1 WAR | — |
| Tom Raftery | — | 1909 | 1 | 7 H · 0 HR · 0.1 WAR | — |
| Jack Hoey | — | 1906–1908 | 3 | 116 H · 0 HR | — |
| Billy Maharg | — | 1912–1916 | 2 | 0 H · 0 HR | — |
| Forrest Crawford | — | 1906–1907 | 2 | 35 H · 0 HR | — |
| Jim Fairbank | P | 1903–1904 | 2 | 1 W · 16 SO | — |
| Joe McCarthy | — | 1905–1906 | 2 | 9 H · 0 HR | — |
| Bert Daly | — | 1903 | 1 | 4 H · 0 HR | — |
| Billy Kelsey | — | 1907 | 1 | 2 H · 0 HR | — |
| Bob Lindemann | — | 1901 | 1 | 1 H · 0 HR | — |
| Dave Williams | P | 1902 | 1 | 0 W · 7 SO | — |
| Ed McLane | — | 1907 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR | — |
| Gerry Shea | — | 1905 | 1 | 2 H · 0 HR | — |
| Harry Wood | — | 1903 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR | — |
| Lou Polchow | P | 1902 | 1 | 0 W · 2 SO | — |
| Pete Lister | — | 1907 | 1 | 18 H · 0 HR | — |
| Reeve McKay | P | 1915 | 1 | 0 W · 0 SO | — |
| Tony Tonneman | — | 1911 | 1 | 1 H · 0 HR | — |
| Lave Winham | P | 1902–1903 | 2 | 3 W · 23 SO · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Mike Donovan | — | 1904–1908 | 2 | 5 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Bill Lindsay | — | 1911 | 1 | 16 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Charlie Loudenslager | — | 1904 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Emil Leber | — | 1905 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| George Wheeler | — | 1910 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Jim Kane | — | 1908 | 1 | 35 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Jim Wallace | — | 1905 | 1 | 6 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Ned Pettigrew | — | 1914 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Red Bowser | — | 1910 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Rudy Bell | — | 1907 | 1 | 11 H · 0 HR · -0.1 WAR | — |
| Harry Betts | P | 1903–1913 | 2 | 0 W · 2 SO · -0.2 WAR | — |
| Bill Bailey | — | 1911 | 1 | 1 H · 0 HR · -0.2 WAR | — |
| Doc Tonkin | P | 1907 | 1 | 0 W · 0 SO · -0.2 WAR | — |
| Jack Schulte | — | 1906 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR · -0.2 WAR | — |
| Jesse Purnell | — | 1904 | 1 | 2 H · 0 HR · -0.2 WAR | — |
| Lou Schiappacasse | — | 1902 | 1 | 0 H · 0 HR · -0.2 WAR | — |
| Bill Essick | P | 1906–1907 | 2 | 2 W · 23 SO · -0.3 WAR | — |
| Clay Perry | — | 1908 | 1 | 2 H · 0 HR · -0.3 WAR | — |
| Jess Orndorff | — | 1907 | 1 | 2 H · 0 HR · -0.3 WAR | — |
| John Durham | P | 1902 | 1 | 1 W · 3 SO · -0.3 WAR | — |
| O. f. Baldwin | P | 1908 | 1 | 1 W · 5 SO · -0.3 WAR | — |
| Rube Sellers | — | 1910 | 1 | 5 H · 0 HR · -0.3 WAR | — |
| Bob Vail | P | 1908 | 1 | 1 W · 9 SO · -0.4 WAR | — |
| Frosty Thomas | P | 1905 | 1 | 0 W · 5 SO · -0.4 WAR | — |
| Harry Eells | P | 1906 | 1 | 4 W · 35 SO · -0.4 WAR | — |
| Henry Gehring | P | 1907–1908 | 2 | 3 W · 31 SO · -0.5 WAR | — |
| Moxie Manuel | P | 1905–1908 | 2 | 3 W · 28 SO · -0.5 WAR | — |
| Biddy Dolan | — | 1914 | 1 | 23 H · 1 HR · -0.5 WAR | — |
| Jack Hickey | P | 1904 | 1 | 0 W · 5 SO · -0.5 WAR | — |
| Punch Knoll | — | 1905 | 1 | 52 H · 0 HR · -0.5 WAR | — |
| Pete Noonan | — | 1904–1907 | 3 | 98 H · 4 HR · -0.6 WAR | — |
| Beany Jacobson | P | 1904–1907 | 4 | 23 W · 195 SO · -0.7 WAR | — |
| Patsy O'rourke | — | 1908 | 1 | 32 H · 0 HR · -0.8 WAR | — |
| Gene Ford | P | 1905 | 1 | 0 W · 20 SO · -1.1 WAR | — |
| Bill Jackson | — | 1914–1915 | 2 | 17 H · 1 HR · -1.2 WAR | — |
| Pryor McElveen | — | 1909–1911 | 3 | 105 H · 4 HR · -1.4 WAR | — |
| Jack Bracken | P | 1901 | 1 | 4 W · 18 SO · -1.5 WAR | — |
| Art Kruger | — | 1907–1915 | 4 | 283 H · 6 HR · -1.7 WAR | — |
| Walter Moser | P | 1906–1911 | 2 | 0 W · 30 SO · -1.8 WAR | — |
| Al Boucher | — | 1914 | 1 | 119 H · 2 HR · -2.3 WAR | — |
| Joe Stanley | — | 1897–1909 | 7 | 148 H · 2 HR · -2.6 WAR | — |
| Chappy Charles | — | 1908–1910 | 3 | 186 H · 1 HR · -2.6 WAR | — |
| Bud Sharpe | — | 1905–1910 | 2 | 139 H · 0 HR · -3.2 WAR | — |
- Harry Swacina 1907–1915
Birth dates as ESPN lists them. Best career first: WAR in the regular season, summed over the seasons on file.