Some of the top players were off to military service. Hank Greenberg was discharged the day before Pearl Harbor was attacked, and reenlisted the day after. Bob Feller and Cecil Travis, as well as many lesser stars, shipped out. On the field, it was the Yankees again, by 9 games over Boston. The Browns climbed to a third place finish, and the other teams were below .500. In order: Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, Washington, Philadelphia.
Ted Williams won the Triple Crown, with a .356 average, 36 HR, and 137 RBI. He led in on-base, slugging, and OPS, in total bases and walks, and in runs with 141. Johnny Pesky led in hits with 205 and was second in average at .331. Chet Laabs was second in homers with 27, Joe DiMaggio second in RBI with 114. Don Kolloway had 40 doubles, Stan Spence 15 triples, and George Case 44 steals.
Tex Hughson led pitchers with 22 wins, followed by Tiny Bonham's 21. Ted Lyons had a 2.10 ERA, followed by Bonham at 2.27 and Spud Chandler at 2.38. Hughson and Bobo Newsom had 113 strikeouts, and Johnny Murphy 11 saves.
Win Shares leaders, players; Ted Williams (Boston) 46, Charlie Keller (New York) 34, Joe DiMaggio (New York) 32, Joe Gordon (New York) 31, Les Fleming (Cleveland) and Stan Spence (Washington) 29, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky (Boston) 28, Bob Johnson (Philadelphia) 26, Phil Rizzuto (New York) and Walt Judnich (St. Louis) 25.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Tex Hughson (Boston) 28, Ted Lyons (Chicago) and Tiny Bonham (New York) 21, Johnny Humphries (Chicago) and Jim Bagby, Jr. (Cleveland) 20, Spud Chandler (New York) 19, Hal White (Detroit) 18, Al Benton and Hal Newhouser (Detroit) and Johnny Niggeling (St. Louis) 17.
WAR (Wins Against Replacement): Williams 11.0 (then off to war), Gordon 8.4, Keller 7.2, J. DiMaggio 6.8 (then into the military), Pesky (rookie, then into the military) and Rizzuto (then into the military) 5.4, Judnich 5.0 (then off to war), D. DiMaggio (then off to war) and Bobby Doerr (also Boston) 4.6, Fleming 4.1 (rookie, then off to war. It was his only year as an everyday player.), Harlond Clift (St. Louis) 3.8, Chet Laabs (St. Louis) 3.7, Lou Boudreau (Cleveland) 3.6, Johnson 3.3, Jeff Heath (Cleveland) 3.2.
Pitchers, Hughson 5.6, Bonham and White (rookie, career year) 4.4, Lyons 4.3 (last full season), Benton 4.2, Niggeling 3.8, Humphries 3.4 (career year), Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 3.3, Newhouser, Chandler 5.5, and Virgil Trucks (Detroit) 3.2, Hank Borowy (New York) 3.0.
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 Joe Gordon NYY 12 270 336 0.80 | 538 173 18 .322 .900 12
2 Ted Williams BOS 9 249 336 0.74 | 522 186 36 .356 1.147 3
3 Johnny Pesky BOS 2 143 336 0.43 | 620 205 2 .331 .791 12
4 Vern Stephens SLB 1 140 336 0.42 | 575 169 14 .294 .774 1
5 Tiny Bonham NYY 0 102 336 0.30 | 74 9 0 .122 .288 0| 21-5 226 2.27 0.987 71
6 Tex Hughson BOS 0 92 336 0.27 | 102 18 0 .176 .442 0| 22-6 281 2.59 1.185 113 4
7 Joe DiMaggio NYY 0 86 336 0.26 | 610 186 21 .305 .875 4
8 Stan Spence WSH 0 65 336 0.19 | 629 203 4 .323 .817 5
9 Phil Marchildon PHA 0 39 336 0.12 | 84 20 0 .238 .535 0| 17-14 244 4.20 1.455 110 1
10 Lou Boudreau CLE 0 34 336 0.10 | 506 143 2 .283 .749 7
Top hitter: Ted Williams. Everyone thinks he was robbed in 1941, but he really was ripped off in 1942, winning the Triple Crown but losing the MVP in a close vote. Gordon was great, but Teddy Ballgame was better. Most of the top players were drafted or volunteered after this season. Many had cushy duty, and continued to play ball while in uniform, but some like Williams served combat duty.
#1 Ted Williams, #2 Joe Gordon, #3 Charlie Keller, #4 Joe DiMaggio, #5 Johnny Pesky.
Top pitcher: Tex Hughson. Without Bob Feller, this was a wide-open field. Hughson led in wins, tied for the lead in strikeouts, and was 2nd in ERA.
#1 Tex Hughson, #2 Tiny Bonham, #3 Ted Lyons, #4 Johnny Niggeling, #5 Spud Chandler.
Top rookie: Johnny Pesky delivered a .331 average and led the league in hits. Hal White turned in a solid year on the mound.
Top manager: Joe McCarthy pushing the buttons again.
No comments:
Post a Comment