The Yankees took their third straight pennant relatively easily, beating out Cleveland by 5 games. Boston finished third with the top offense but middle-of-the-pack pitching. A park tilted toward hitters had something to do with that. Chicago was 4th, followed by Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington. St. Louis lost 102 games to finish last, but still featured 20-game winner Ned Garver.
Saul Rogovin won a surprise ERA title in a career year split between Detroit and Chicago. Bob Feller led the league in wins. Ted Williams was the best hitter in his return to the lineup, but didn't win the batting title. Mickey Mantle debuted, Joe DiMaggio retired after the season, Yogi Berra won his first MVP and Gil McDougald won the Rookie award. It was a busy year capped by a Yankee World Series victory.
Ferris Fain won the batting title with a .344 average, but Ted Williams led in the other percentage categories; on-base, slugging, and OPS. They paid a lot less attention to those categories then. Dom DiMaggio led with 113 runs, George Kell with 191 hits, Kell, Sam Mele, and Eddie Yost with 36 doubles, Minnie Minoso with 14 triples and 31 steals, and Gus Zernial with 33 HR and 129 RBI.
Bob Feller won 22 games, while Ed Lopat and Vic Raschi won 21. Raschi topped the loop with 164 strikeouts. Saul Rogovin led with a 2.78 ERA, while Lopat was at 2.91. Ellis Kinder had 14 saves.
Win Shares leaders, players; Ted Williams (Boston) 34, Yogi Berra (New York) 31, Larry Doby (Cleveland) 29, Ed Yost (Washington) 27, Al Rosen (Cleveland), Minnie Minoso (Cleveland/Chicago) and Ed Joost (Philadelphia) 25, Bobby Avila (Cleveland) 24, Gil McDougald and Phil Rizzuto (New York) 23, Nellie Fox (Chicago), George Kell and Vic Wertz (Detroit) 22, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky (Boston) 21.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Early Wynn (Cleveland) 24, Mel Parnell (Boston), Mike Garcia (Cleveland) and Ned Garver (St. Louis) 22, Billy Pierce (Chicago), Bob Lemon (Cleveland), Ed Lopat and Allie Reynolds (New York) 19, Ellis Kinder (Boston), Saul Rogovin (Detroit/Cleveland) and Bob Feller (Cleveland) 18.
WAR leaders: Williams 6.5, Doby 5.9, Joost 5.7, Minoso 5.4 (rookie by today's standards), Berra 5.1, McDougald 4.7 (rookie), Fox 4.4, Avila 4.2 (first full year), Rizzuto, Wertz, and Ferris Fain (Philadelphia) 4.1, Pesky 4.0 (last regular year), Yost 3.7, Gene Woodling (New York) and Elmer Valo (Philadelphia) 3.4, Rosen and Kell 3.1.
Pitchers, Wynn 5.4, Garver and Rogovin 5.0, Pierce 4.8, Lopat 4.7, Garcia 4.3, Parnell 4.2, Reynolds 4.1, Kinder (as a full-time reliever--2 starts) and Mickey McDermott (Boston) 3.8, Feller 3.6 (last good year), Vic Raschi (New York) 3.5.
Actual award voting, MVP: top 25
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-------
1 Yogi Berra NYY 6 184 336 0.55 | 547 161 27 .294 .842 5|
2 Ned Garver SLB 6 157 336 0.47 | 95 29 1 .305 .786 0| 20-12 246 3.73 1.354 84
3 Allie Reynolds NYY 6 125 336 0.37 | 76 14 0 .184 .494 1| 17-8 221 3.05 1.226 126 7
4 Minnie Minoso TOT 1 120 336 0.36 | +530 173 10 .326 .922 31|
5 Bob Feller CLE 0 118 336 0.35 | 81 10 0 .123 .338 0| 22-8 250 3.50 1.338 111
6 Ferris Fain PHA 1 103 336 0.31 | 425 146 6 .344 .921 0|
7 Ellis Kinder BOS 2 66 336 0.20 | 34 4 0 .118 .290 0| 11-2 127 2.55 1.213 84 14
8 Vic Raschi NYY 0 64 336 0.19 | 85 15 0 .176 .431 0| 21-10 258 3.28 1.301 164
9 Gil McDougald NYY 0 63 336 0.19 | 402 123 14 .306 .884 14|
10 Bobby Avila CLE 0 49 336 0.15 | 542 165 10 .304 .783 14|
11 Phil Rizzuto NYY 1 47 336 0.14 | 540 148 2 .274 .696 18|
12 Ed Lopat NYY 1 44 336 0.13 | 84 15 3 .179 .539 0| 21-9 235 2.91 1.193 93
13 Ted Williams BOS 0 35 336 0.10 | 531 169 30 .318 1.019 1|
14 Eddie Joost PHA 0 32 336 0.10 | 553 160 19 .289 .870 10|
15 George Kell DET 0 30 336 0.09 | 598 191 2 .319 .786 10|
16 Early Wynn CLE 0 29 336 0.09 | 108 20 1 .185 .540 0| 20-13 274 3.02 1.218 133 1
17 Nellie Fox CHW 0 25 336 0.07 | 604 189 4 .313 .798 9|
18 Billy Goodman BOS 0 21 336 0.06 | 546 162 0 .297 .761 7|
19 Dom DiMaggio BOS 0 16 336 0.05 | 639 189 12 .296 .788 4|
20 Gus Zernial TOT 0 15 336 0.04 | +571 153 33 .268 .856 2|
21 Bobby Shantz PHA 0 14 336 0.04 | 72 18 0 .250 .613 1| 18-10 205 3.95 1.378 77
22 Mike Garcia CLE 0 11 336 0.03 | 85 18 1 .212 .556 0| 20-13 254 3.15 1.264 118 6
23 Gil Coan WSH 0 8 336 0.02 | 538 163 9 .303 .782 8|
24 Mel Parnell BOS 0 7 336 0.02 | 81 25 0 .309 .709 0| 18-11 221 3.26 1.385 77 2
24 Eddie Robinson CHW 0 7 336 0.02 | 564 159 29 .282 .866 2|
Berra won a close MVP vote, but Williams was not a factor. Eight guys drew first-place votes.
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 Gil McDougald NYY 13 13 24 0.54 | 402 123 14 .306 .884 14|
2 Minnie Minoso TOT 11 11 24 0.46 | +530 173 10 .326 .922 31|
Top player: Ted Williams. The choice comes down to Williams vs. Berra, and the difference is how much importance you attach to being on the winning team. Williams was first in OPS+ with a 164, Berra 10th at 130. Berra was a much better defensive player, but not that much. Williams was low in the MVP voting, probably because he didn't lead the league in any of the attractive counting stat categories. What he was, was the most effective player in the league. Again.
#1 Ted Williams, #2 Yogi Berra, #3 Larry Doby, #4 Ed Joost, #5 Minnie Minoso, #6 Nellie Fox.
Top pitcher: Early Wynn takes the top spot in a year with no clear standout. Wynn led the league in innings and topped a fine Cleveland staff. Ned Garver, second in the MVP vote as a 20-game winner on an also-ran team, is second.
#1 Early Wynn, #2 Ned Garver, #3 Eddie Lopat, #4 Billy Pierce, #5 Mike Garcia.
Top rookie: Minnie Minoso finished ahead of Gil McDougald in MVP voting, then behind him in the Rookie ballot. That's weird. We'll correct it here. The Negro League veteran was the best new player in the AL, at .326. McDougald was great, too.
Top manager: Casey Stengel won his third straight pennant and World Series. It's hard to pick anyone else.
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