29 June 2008

1943 American League

Most of the best players in the league were off fighting a war, and most of the minor leaguers who would otherwise have replaced them were gone too. Those who remained were injured in some way, or older veterans not as much in demand by the armed forces. Many minor league veterans got a second chance during this period. The New York Yankees won the pennant again, 13.5 games ahead of the Senators, with Cleveland third, Chicago fourth, and Detroit fifth. St. Louis and Boston trailed, while the Philadelphia A's were last.

Luke Appling at 36 years old won the batting title with a .328 average, as just four qualifiers batted .300. Dick Wakefield, Ralph Hodgin, and Doc Cramer were the other .300 hitters. Appling led in on-base, Rudy York in slugging, and Charlie Keller in OPS. George Case scored 102 runs and stole 62 bases, as his type of running game came back into vogue with offense generally down. Wakefield led in hits with 200 and doubles with 38. York led with 34 homers and 118 RBI. Johnny Lindell and Wally Moses tied for the triples lead with 12.

Spud Chandler led pitchers with 20 wins and a 1.64 ERA. Dizzy Trout tied him with his own 20 wins. Allie Reynolds led with 151 strikeouts, and Gordon Maltzberger had 14 saves. Bet you never heard of him before.

Win Shares leaders, players; Luke Appling (Chicago) 40, Charlie Keller (New York) 36, Lou Boudreau (Cleveland) 32, Joe Gordon (New York) and Stan Spence (Washington) 28, Roy Cullenbine (Cleveland) 27, Rudy York (Detroit) 26, George Case (Washington) 25, Bobby Doerr (Boston), Jeff Heath (Cleveland) and Dick Wakefield (Detroit) 24, Vern Stephens (St. Louis) 23.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Spud Chandler (New York) 29, Dizzy Trout (Detroit) 23, Tex Hughson (Boston) and Tiny Bonham (New York) 20, Early Wynn (Washington) 19, Orval Grove (Chicago) 18, Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 17, Virgil Trucks (Detroit) and Butch Wensloff (New York) 16.

WAR (Wins Against Replacement) scores: Boudreau 6.7, Appling and Keller 6.5, Gordon 5.7 (then off to the service), York 5.5, Spence 4.4, Cullenbine 4.2, Case and Doerr 4.0, Bill Dickey (New York) 3.6, Heath 3.5, Bob Johnson (Washington) 3.3, Stephens 3.2, Wakefield (rookie) and Jerry Priddy (Washington) 3.0.

Pitchers, Chandler 6.0, Trout 4.6, Bonham 4.5, Hughson and Bridges (last good year) 4.4, Johnny Niggeling (St. Louis/Washington) 3.6, Denny Galehouse (St. Louis) 3.5, Trucks (then into the service) and Jesse Flores (Philadelphia) 3.3, Nels Potter (St. Louis) 3.1.

Actual award voting (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 Spud Chandler NYY 12 246 336 0.73 97 25 2 .258 .658 0 20-4 253 1.64 0.992 134
2 Luke Appling CHW 5 215 336 0.64 585 192 3 .328 .825 27
3 Rudy York DET 1 152 336 0.45 571 155 34 .271 .893 5
4 Billy Johnson NYY 3135 336 0.40 592 166 5 .280 .710 3
5 Bob Johnson WSH 1 116336 0.35 438 116 7 .265 .762 11
6 Dick Wakefield DET 0 72 336 0.21 633 200 7 .316 .811 4
7 Nick Etten NYY 0 61 336 0.18 583 158 14 .271 .775 3
8 Bill Dickey NYY 2 58 336 0.17 242 85 4 .351 .937 2
9 Vern Stephens SLB 0 49 336 0.15 512 148 22 .289 .839 3
10 Lou Boudreau CLE 0 40336 0.12 539 154 3 .286 .776 4

Top player: Luke Appling, batting champ, 4th in steals, and the White Sox' 36-year-old shortstop. He went into working for the war effort for the duration after this season.
#1 Luke Appling, #2 Lou Boudreau, #3 Charlie Keller, #4 Joe Gordon, #5 Rudy York.

Top pitcher: Spud Chandler dominated the league with a 20-4 record, leading in wins, ERA, and WHIP.
#1 Spud Chandler, #2 Dizzy Trout, #3 Tiny Bonham, #4 Tex Hughson, #5 Tommy Bridges.

Top rookie: Dick Wakefield got a big bonus to sign, but never did much outside of this season.

Top manager: Joe McCarthy kept the Yankees on top in spite of depleted ranks. This would be the last World Series win of McCarthy's illustrious managerial career.

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