19 June 2008

1941 National League

Brooklyn's Dodgers won their first pennant in 21 years after a furious pennant race with the Cardinals, finishing 2.5 games ahead. The two teams were obviously the class of the league, trading the lead back and forth all season, and at no time did more than four games separate them. Two-time defending champ Cincinnati placed third. Pittsburgh was 4th, followed by New York, Chicago and Boston. Philadelphia brought up the rear, dropping 111 games. Brooklyn featured a four-man gang of Dixie Walker, Joe Medwick, Dolph Camilli and Pete Reiser, and strong pitching from Kirby Higbe and Whit Wyatt.

Pete Reiser won the batting title at .343, and also led in slugging and OPS. He just couldn't break the habit of running into outfield walls. Reiser led in runs with 117 and triples with 17. Elbie Fletcher led in on-base, Stan Hack in hits with 186, Reiser and Johnny Mize tied with 39 doubles, Danny Murtaugh led with 18 steals. Dolph Camilli had the finest season of his career, leading the NL with 34 homers and 120 RBI.

For the pitchers, Kirby Higbe and Whit Wyatt won 22 games each, while Elmer Riddle and Bucky Walters won 19. Riddle had a 2.24 ERA with Wyatt second at 2.34 and Ernie White third at 2.40. Johnny Vander Meer had 202 strikeouts with Wyatt second again at 176.

Win Shares leaders, players; Pete Reiser (Brooklyn) 34, Stan Hack (Chicago) 30, Dolph Camilli (Brooklyn) 29, Elbie Fletcher (Pittsburgh) 28, Dixie Walker (Brooklyn), Mel Ott (New York) and Johnny Mize (St. Louis) 26, Joe Medwick (Brooklyn), Lonnie Frey (Cincinnati) and Vince DiMaggio (Pittsburgh) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Whit Wyatt (Brooklyn) 28, Bucky Walters (Cincinnati) 27, Elmer Riddle (Cincinnati) 26, Ernie White (St. Louis) 22, Kirby Higbe (Brooklyn) 21, Johnny Vander Meer (Cincinnati) and Lon Warneke (St. Louis) 19.

WARP3 scores: Reiser 8.2 (career year of an injury-riddled career), Camilli 6.8, Hack 6.4, Fletcher 6.3, Walker 5.9, Mize 5.4, Medwick 5.0, Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 4.9, Ott 4.5, Bill Nicholson (Chicago) 4.2, Frey and Jimmy Brown (St. Louis) 4.1, DiMaggio 4.0.

Pitchers, Wyatt 6.7 (career year), Walters 5.6, Riddle 5.1(rookie), White 4.4 (rookie, career year), Vander Meer 4.0, Jim Tobin (Boston) 3.9, Hal Schumacher (New York) 3.8, Higbe and Warneke (last good year) 3.6.

WAR leaders, position players: Reiser 7.7, Camilli 7.1, Fletcher 5.9, Hack 5.8, Mize 5.6, Walker 5.5, Ott 5.0, Medwick 4.6, Brown 4.2, Jurges and V. DiMaggio 4.0. Pitchers: Wyatt 6.7, Walters 5.6, Riddle 5.1, White 4.4, Vander Meer 4.0, Tobin 3.9, Schumacher 3.8, Higbe and Warneke 3.6, Derringer and Melton 3.2.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+----
1 Dolph Camilli BRO 19 300 336 0.89 | 529 151 34 .285 .962 3
2 Pete Reiser BRO 2 183 336 0.54 | 536 184 14 .343 .964 4
3 Whit Wyatt BRO 0 151 336 0.45 | 109 26 3 .239 .639 0| 22-10 288 2.34 1.058 176 1
4 Jimmy Brown STL 1 107 336 0.32 | 549 168 3 .306 .769 2
5 Elmer Riddle CIN 0 98 336 0.29 | 71 16 0 .225 .538 0| 19-4 217 2.24 1.103 80 1
6 Ernie White STL 0 77 336 0.23 | 79 15 0 .190 .460 0| 17-7 210 2.40 1.138 117 2
7 Kirby Higbe BRO 0 64 336 0.19 | 112 21 0 .188 .448 0| 22-9 298 3.14 1.262 121 3
8 Johnny Hopp STL 0 61 336 0.18 | 445 135 4 .303 .813 15
9 Johnny Mize STL 0 48 336 0.14 | 473 150 16 .317 .941 4
10 Dixie Walker BRO 1 34 336 0.10 | 531 165 9 .311 .843 4

Top player: Pete Reiser. Not sure why the hustling batting champ didn't win the vote, but the veteran HR and RBI champ Camilli did. This was the only year Reiser could stay healthy the whole season. It was pretty close, but Reiser's defensive value in CF puts him over the top.
#1 Pete Reiser, #2 Dolph Camilli, #3 Stan Hack, #4 Elbie Fletcher, #5 Dixie Walker, #6 Johnny Mize.

Top pitcher: Whit Wyatt had the year of his lifetime, tying teammate Higbe for the lead in wins and placing #2 in ERA and strikeouts.
#1 Whit Wyatt, #2 Bucky Walters, #3 Elmer Riddle, #4 Ernie White, #5 Johnny Vander Meer.

Top rookie: Elmer Riddle, just barely a rookie, had a strong season.

Top manager: Leo Durocher brought the Dodgers home in front.

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