26 March 2008

1935 National League

The Cubs won 100 games and the pennant, beating out defending champs St. Louis by four games. Came up short in the Series, though. New York was third, and Pittsburgh a solid 4th, followed by Brooklyn, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia, with Boston having one of the all-time worst seasons and losing 115 games in spite of stellar play from Wally Berger again. Most important, the first official major league night game was played, in Cincinnati. It would do a lot to boost attendance during the Depression, and after.

Arky Vaughan had a huge year, winning the batting title with a .385 average, leading the league in walks so that he was getting on base in nearly half his plate appearances, and also leading the league in slugging and OPS. He played a good shortstop, too. Joe Medwick was second in average with a .355 mark, and Gabby Hartnett third with a .344. Augie Galan led in runs with 133 and steals with 22. Billy Herman led in hits with 227 and doubles with 57. Ival Goodman had 18 triples. Wally Berger had 34 homers and 130 RBI for the sad-sack Braves. Mel Ott was second with 31 homers and Medwick second with 126 RBI.

Cy Blanton of Pittsburgh, no apparent relation to current pitcher Joe Blanton, led the league with a 2.58 ERA. Dizzy Dean had another great year, with 28 wins and 190 strikeouts to lead the league. Carl Hubbell was second with 23 wins, Paul Derringer third with 22. Bill Swift was second with a 2.70 ERA, Hal Schumacher third at 2.89.

Win Shares leaders, players; Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 39, Mel Ott (New York) 35, Joe Medwick (St. Louis) 33, Augie Galan and Billy Herman (Chicago) 32, Hank Leiber (New York) and Rip Collins (St. Louis) 28, Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) 26, Jo-Jo Moore (New York) 24, Bill Terry (New York) 23, Stan Hack (Chicago) and Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 22, Wally Berger (Boston) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) 31, Carl Hubbell (New York) 26, Cy Blanton (Pittsburgh) 24, Hal Schumacher (New York) 23, Lon Warneke (Chicago) and Paul Dean (St. Louis) 22, Bill Lee (Chicago) and Curt Davis (Philadelphia) 21, Paul Derringer (Cincinnati) and Bill Swift (Pittsburgh) 20.

WARP3 scores: Vaughan 12.2 (best year), Ott 10.4, Herman 8.0 in his first big year, Galan 7.6 in his first full season, Hartnett 7.3, Medwick 6.8, Berger 5.8, Moore 5.5, Leiber 5.4 in his first full season, Collins (last good year) and Waner 5.2, Hack 5.1, Terry 4.9 in his last full season, Dick Bartell (New York) 4.6.

Pitchers, D. Dean 8.0, Davis 7.3, Blanton 6.4 as a rookie in his best year, Warneke 5.3, Hubbell and Swift in his best year 5.0, Schumacher, P. Dean in his last good year, and Syl Johnson (Philadelphia) 4.9, Derringer 4.8, Bob Smith (Boston) 4.5, Van Lingle Mungo (Brooklyn) 4.4.

WAR leaders, position players: Vaughan 9.7, Ott 7.8, Herman 7.3, Medwick 6.5, Galan 6.1, Berger 5.7, Leiber 5.2, Hartnett 5.1, Terry 5.0, Collins and Hack 4.8, Waner 4.4, Moore 3.7. Pitchers: Dean 7.1, Blanton 6.5, Davis 5.6, P. Dean 5.5, Schumacher and Swift 5.0, Hubbell 4.9, Warneke 4.7, French 4.6, Johnson 4.1.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---
1 Gabby Hartnett CHC 0 75 80 0.94 | 413 142 13 .344 .949 1
2 Dizzy Dean STL 0 66 80 0.82 | 128 30 2 .234 .559 2| 28-12 325 3.04 1.233 190 5
3 Arky Vaughan PIT 0 45 80 0.56 | 499 192 19 .385 1.098 4
4 Billy Herman CHC 0 38 80 0.48 | 666 227 7 .341 .859 6
5 Joe Medwick STL 0 37 80 0.46 | 634 224 23 .353 .962 4
6 Wally Berger BSN 0 20 80 0.25 | 589 174 34 .295 .903 3
6 Carl Hubbell NYG 0 20 80 0.25 | 109 26 1 .239 .556 0| 23-12 303 3.27 1.199 150
6 Bill Terry NYG 0 20 80 0.25 | 596 203 6 .341 .834 7
9 Augie Galan CHC 0 18 80 0.22 | 646 203 12 .314 .866 22
10 Pepper Martin STL 0 16 80 0.20 | 539 161 9 .299 .789 20

Top player: Arky Vaughan had one of the all-time great seasons for Pittsburgh. His .385 average led the league by 32 points, and he also led in walks, OPS and OPS+ while playing a strong shortstop. 19 HR and 99 RBI with 105 runs are also strong credentials. Mel Ott gets my #2 spot with the second-best OPS+ and 31 HR with 114 RBI. Billy Herman's .341 average for the pennant winners plus defense at second base gets him #3. Medwick is #4 with a .353-23-126 line, then Augie Galan's league-leading 133 runs for the Cubs gets him #5. Gabby Hartnett won the MVP mostly for sentimental reasons, although he did play well. I'd put him sixth.

Top pitcher: Dizzy Dean again, leading in wins and strikeouts with a 28-12 record and 3.04 ERA. Carl Hubbell ranks #2 with a 23-12 record and 3.15 ERA. Cy Blanton ranked #3 at 18-13 while leading the league with his 2.58 ERA. Hal Schumacher #4 at 19-9, 2.89. Lon Warneke's 20 wins for #5.

Top rookie: Blanton, but his career would decline from here. He was a 26-year old rookie.

Top manager: Charlie Grimm gets this award for managing the pennant winners.

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