18 August 2008

1950 National League

The pennant was won by a surprise from the Whiz Kids of Philadelphia, as the Phillies took their first pennant in 35 years. It was disappointing that young team could not put together a longer run of success. The Phils and that young core of talent slipped under .500 in 1951, and stayed around the middle of the league for the rest of the decade, unable to break out.

The Phils beat out the Dodgers by two games in a great pennant race, with New York 3rd, Boston 4th and St. Louis 5th. Cincinnati and Chicago followed, while Pittsburgh slipped to last as the Pirates were going into one of their worst phases. Dynasties were forming and wilting as the 1950s began. Jim Konstanty won an MVP as a reliever, since he was the big surprise with 16 wins and 22 saves.

Stan Musial won another batting title at .346 and also led in slugging and OPS. Eddie Stanky led in on-base. Earl Torgeson led with 120 runs, Duke Snider had 199 hits, Red Schoendienst had 43 doubles, Richie Ashburn 14 triples, Ralph Kiner 47 home runs, Del Ennis 126 RBI, and Sam Jethroe 35 steals.

Warren Spahn won 21, while Robin Roberts and Johnny Sain won 20. Spahn had 191 strikeouts to edge Ewell Blackwell at 188. Sal Maglie had a 2.71 ERA that bettered Blackwell's 2.97. Konstanty had 22 saves. Vern Bickford tossed 27 complete games.

Win Shares leaders, players; Earl Torgeson (Boston) and Stan Musial (St. Louis) 32, Eddie Stanky (New York) 30, Sid Gordon (Boston), Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider (Brooklyn) 29, Bob Elliott (Boston) and Andy Pafko (Chicago) 27, Del Ennis (Philadelphia) 26, Hank Thompson (New York), Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia) and Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 23, Sam Jethroe (Boston, 32-year-old rookie), Roy Campanella (Brooklyn), Wes Westrum (New York), Willie Jones and Andy Seminick (Philadelphia) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Ewell Blackwell (Cincinnati) and Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 26, Larry Jansen (New York) 25, Jim Konstanty (Philadelphia) 23, Don Newcombe (Brooklyn) 22, Warren Spahn (Boston), Preacher Roe (Brooklyn) and Sal Maglie (New York) 21, Howie Pollet (St. Louis) 19, Vern Bickford (Boston) 18.

WAR scores: Stanky 8.0, Robinson 7.5, Torgeson 6.4, Musial and Gordon 6.3, Pafko 6.2, Snider 5.6, Elliott 5.2, Ennis 5.1, Thompson 5.0 (career year), Kiner and Al Dark (New York) 4.7, Campanella 4.4, Seminick 4.3, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn) 3.9, Westrum 3.7 (career year).

Pitchers, Roberts 7.0, Blackwell 6.3, Roe 5.5, Jansen 5.4, Spahn 5.2, Bickford 5.1 (career year), Maglie (first full year at 33) 4.9, Pollet (last good year) and Max Lanier St. Louis) 4.4, Murry Dickson (Pittsburgh) 4.3, Newcombe 4.1, Konstanty 4.0 (career year).

Actual award voting: MVP:
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Jim Konstanty PHI 18 286 336 0.85 | 37 4 0 .108 .216 0| 16-7 152 2.66 1.039 56 22
2 Stan Musial STL 1 158 336 0.47 | 555 192 28 .346 1.034 5|
3 Eddie Stanky NYG 2 144 336 0.43 | 527 158 8 .300 .872 9|
4 Del Ennis PHI 0 104 336 0.31 | 595 185 31 .311 .923 2|
5 Ralph Kiner PIT 1 91 336 0.27 | 547 149 47 .272 .998 2|
6 Granny Hamner PHI 2 79 336 0.24 | 637 172 11 .270 .694 2|
7 Robin Roberts PHI 0 68 336 0.20 | 102 12 0 .118 .299 0| 20-11 304 3.02 1.180 146 1
8 Gil Hodges BRO 0 55 336 0.16 | 561 159 32 .283 .875 6|
9 Duke Snider BRO 0 53 336 0.16 | 620 199 31 .321 .932 16|
10 Sal Maglie NYG 0 51 336 0.15 | 66 8 0 .121 .353 1| 18-4 206 2.71 1.238 96 1
11 Ewell Blackwell CIN 0 41 336 0.12 | 89 13 0 .146 .349 0| 17-15 261 2.97 1.207 188 4
12 Andy Pafko CHC 0 38 336 0.11 | 514 156 36 .304 .989 4|
13 Roy Campanella BRO 0 29 336 0.09 | 437 123 31 .281 .916 1|
14 Andy Seminick PHI 0 25 336 0.07 | 393 113 24 .288 .925 0|
15 Jackie Robinson BRO 0 23 336 0.07 | 518 170 14 .328 .923 12|
16 Curt Simmons PHI 0 22 336 0.07 | 77 12 0 .156 .373 0| 17-8 215 3.40 1.239 146 1
17 Preacher Roe BRO 0 15 336 0.04 | 91 14 0 .154 .337 0| 19-11 251 3.30 1.241 125 1
18 Ted Kluszewski CIN 0 14 336 0.04 | 538 165 25 .307 .863 3|
18 Don Newcombe BRO 0 14 336 0.04 | 97 24 1 .247 .648 0| 19-11 267 3.70 1.246 130 3
18 Warren Spahn BSN 0 14 336 0.04 | 106 23 1 .217 .511 1| 21-17 293 3.16 1.225 191 1
21 Johnny Sain BSN 0 12 336 0.04 | 102 21 1 .206 .512 0| 20-13 278 3.95 1.308 96
22 Sid Gordon BSN 0 11 336 0.03 | 481 146 27 .304 .960 2|
23 Jim Hearn TOT 0 10 336 0.03 | + 45 7 0 .156 .418 1|+11-4 134 2.49 0.955 58
24 Bob Elliott BSN 0 8 336 0.02 | 531 162 24 .305 .898 2|
24 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 8 336 0.02 | 531 138 11 .260 .750 17|
24 Eddie Waitkus PHI 0 8 336 0.02 | 641 182 2 .284 .700 3|
27 Sam Jethroe BSN 0 6 336 0.02 | 582 159 18 .273 .780 35|
27 Earl Torgeson BSN 0 6 336 0.02 | 576 167 23 .290 .885 15|
29 Hank Sauer CHC 0 5 336 0.01 | 540 148 32 .274 .868 1|
30 Vern Bickford BSN 0 4 336 0.01 | 116 16 0 .138 .298 0| 19-14 312 3.46 1.331 126
30 Carl Furillo BRO 0 4 336 0.01 | 620 189 18 .305 .813 8|
32 Wes Westrum NYG 0 3 336 0.01 | 437 103 23 .236 .808 2|
33 Larry Jansen NYG 0 2 336 0.01 | 96 16 1 .167 .411 0| 19-13 275 3.01 1.065 161 3
33 Dick Sisler PHI 0 2 336 0.01 | 523 155 13 .296 .815 1|
33 Hank Thompson NYG 0 2 336 0.01 | 512 148 20 .289 .854 8|
36 Willie Jones PHI 0 1 336 0.00 | 610 163 25 .267 .793 5|

Rookie of the Year:
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+----+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Sam Jethroe BSN 11 11 24 0.46 | 582 159 18 .273 .780 35|
2 Bob Miller PHI 5 5 24 0.21 | 61 11 0 .180 .390 0| 11-6 174 3.57 1.420 44 1
3 Danny O'Connell PIT 4 4 24 0.17 | 315 92 8 .292 .768 7|
4 Bubba Church PHI 2 2 24 0.08 | 44 8 0 .182 .427 0| 8-6 142 2.73 1.190 50 1
5 Bill Serena CHC 1 1 24 0.04 | 435 104 17 .239 .760 1|

Top player: Jackie Robinson. I'll go with the best all-around player in the league over the loop's best hitter. There's a lot of ways to go with this. Musial, Robinson, best leadoff man Eddie Stanky, HR leader Kiner, RBI leader Ennis for the pennant winners, runs leader Torgeson, but Jackie was the best.
#1 Jackie Robinson, #2 Stan Musial, #3 Eddie Stanky, #4 Earl Torgeson, #5 Andy Pafko, #6 Duke Snider.

Top pitcher: Robin Roberts for the pennant winners, in another tough pick. Warren Spahn led in wins and strikeouts, Sal Maglie in ERA, Ewell Blackwell may have been most effective, Konstanty was outstanding, but Roberts presents the best overall case; 2nd in wins, 4th in ERA and strikeouts.
#1 Robin Roberts, #2 Ewell Blackwell, #3 Warren Spahn, #4 Larry Jansen, #5 Jim Konstanty.

Top rookie: Negro League veteran Sam Jethroe in a slack year for rookies. At .273 with 18 HR and 35 SB, Jethroe is the only viable candidate. Already approaching his mid-30s, Jethroe didn't last long.

Top manager: Eddie Sawyer got the Phillies to the Series.

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