16 August 2008

1949 National League

Brooklyn beat St. Louis for the pennant by one game, as Jackie Robinson's year trumped Stan Musial's. The Phillies served notice, finishing third with a burgeoning young team. Everyone else was below .500, though no one was so bad as to lose 100 games. Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Chicago finished in that order. Ralph Kiner kept the Pittsburgh fans interested by taking a run at Ruth's record, finishing with 54 homers. A dynasty was beginning to emerge in Brooklyn, as Duke Snider and Roy Campanella had their first full seasons as regulars, and Don Newcombe was in his rookie year.

Robinson edged Musial for the batting title .342 to .338. Musial led in on-base, Kiner in slugging and OPS. Pee Wee Reese led with 132 runs, Musial with 207 hits and 41 doubles, Musial and Enos Slaughter tied with 13 triples, Kiner had 54 home runs and 127 RBI, Robinson had 37 steals.

Warren Spahn paced the league with 21 wins, followed by Howie Pollet with 20. Dave Koslo led the league with a 2.50 ERA. Spahn had 151 strikeouts to edge Don Newcombe's 149. Ted Wilks led with 9 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Stan Musial (St. Louis) 40, Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 37, Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) 36, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn) 32, Enos Slaughter (St. Louis) 29, Del Ennis (Philadelphia) 27, Bobby Thomson (New York) 26, Roy Campanella and Duke Snider (Brooklyn) 24, Bob Elliott (Boston) and Carl Furillo (Brooklyn) 23, Eddie Stanky (Boston) and Gil Hodges (Brooklyn) 21, Red Schoendienst (St. Louis) 20.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Warren Spahn (Boston) and Howie Pollet (St. Louis) 24, Ken Heintzelman (Philadelphia) 23, Don Newcombe (Brooklyn) 21, Ken Raffensberger (Cincinnati) and Russ Meyer (Philadelphia) 20, Preacher Roe (Brooklyn), Dave Koslo (New York) and Murry Dickson (Pittsburgh) 19, Harry Brecheen (St. Louis) 18.

WAR scores: Robinson 10.3, Musial 8.7, Kiner 8.1, Reese 7.3, Thomson 5.8, Slaughter and Snider 5.4, Elliott 5.1, Ennis, Furillo, and Sid Gordon (New York) 4.9, Campanella 4.6, Willard Marshall (New York) 4.0, Stanky, Hodges, and Whitey Lockman (New York) 3.5.

Pitchers, Pollet 5.9, Roe 5.6, Newcombe 5.5 (rookie), Heintzelman 5.4 (career year), Koslo 5.3 (career year), Spahn 5.2, Raffensberger 4.8, Meyer 4.3, Dickson 4.2, Al Brazle (St. Louis) 4.0, Gerry Staley (St. Louis) 3.9, Brecheen and Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 3.4.

Actual award winners; MVP (top 15)| 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 Jackie Robinson BRO 12 264 336 0.79 | 593 203 16 .342 .960 37|
2 Stan Musial STL 5 226 336 0.67 | 612 207 36 .338 1.062 3|
3 Enos Slaughter STL 2 181 336 0.54 | 568 191 13 .336 .929 3|
4 Ralph Kiner PIT 0 133 336 0.40 | 549 170 54 .310 1.089 6|
5 Pee Wee Reese BRO 2 118 336 0.35 | 617 172 16 .279 .806 26|
6 Carl Furillo BRO 2 68 336 0.20 | 549 177 18 .322 .875 4|
7 Warren Spahn BSN 0 60 336 0.18 | 111 18 2 .162 .408 1| 21-14 302 3.07 1.221 151
8 Don Newcombe BRO 0 55 336 0.16 | 96 22 0 .229 .538 0| 17-8 244 3.17 1.212 149 1
9 Ken Heintzelman PHI 1 48 336 0.14 | 83 13 0 .157 .382 0| 17-10 250 3.02 1.328 65
10 Red Schoendienst STL 0 30 336 0.09 | 640 190 3 .297 .707 8|
11 Gil Hodges BRO 0 29 336 0.09 | 596 170 23 .285 .813 10|
11 Howie Pollet STL 0 29 336 0.09 | 82 16 0 .195 .474 0| 20-9 231 2.77 1.244 108 1
13 Del Ennis PHI 0 28 336 0.08 | 610 184 25 .302 .892 2|
14 Bobby Thomson NYG 0 25 336 0.07 | 641 198 27 .309 .873 10|
15 Roy Campanella BRO 0 22 336 0.07 | 436 125 22 .287 .883 3|

Rookie of the Year--| 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 Don Newcombe BRO 21 21 24 0.88 | 96 22 0 .229 .538 0| 17-8 244 3.17 1.212 149 1
2 Del Crandall BSN 3 3 24 0.12 | 228 60 4 .263 .660 2|

Top player: Jackie Robinson. It's a close call between Robinson and Musial, but I will go with Robinson on the pennant-winning team since Musial's lead in WS is well within the error margins and Robinson has a slight edge in WAR. Musial led in hits, total bases, doubles, triples, and on base, with Robinson ahead in average and steals. Robinson rates a good-sized defensive edge, so I'll go with him.
#1 Jackie Robinson, #2 Stan Musial, #3 Ralph Kiner, #4 Pee Wee Reese, #5 Enos Slaughter, #6 Bobby Thomson.

Top pitcher: Howie Pollet, 2nd in wins and 3rd in ERA. Just ahead of Warren Spahn, the wins and strikeouts leader. A very close call, again.
#1 Howie Pollet, #2 Warren Spahn, #3 Dave Koslo (ERA leader), #4 Ken Heintzelman, #5 Don Newcombe.

Top rookie: Don Newcombe runs away with this. 17-8 for the pennant winners in his debut.

Top manager: Burt Shotton brought a young Dodger team home.

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