19 August 2008

1951 National League

It is often remembered as the greatest pennant race of all time: the Dodgers built a big lead, and in August the Giants were down by 13 games. Then the New Yorkers came roaring down the stretch, catching the Brooklyn team and forcing a playoff, which the Giants won on Bobby Thomson's home run into the left field stands. Those two teams were the only real contenders, as the Cardinals faded to a weak third, Boston and Philadelphia were just under .500, and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Chicago were never a factor. None of those clubs was terrible, but none was any good. Willie Mays came up and started 0-for-21, but once he got going helped ignite the Giants. Roy Campanella won the MVP with a solid year as the Dodgers' catcher. Mays and Nichols both went to the service (the Korean War was going on) soon after the season.

Stan Musial won the batting title with a .355 mark, followed by Richie Ashburn at .344. Ralph Kiner led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. Kiner and Musial tied in runs at 124. Ashburn led in hits with 221. Al Dark had 41 doubles. Musial tied Gus Bell with 12 triples. Kiner led with 42 homers. Monte Irvin had 121 RBI. Sam Jethroe had 35 steals.

Larry Jansen and Sal Maglie both won 23 games. Don Newcombe and Warren Spahn tied at 164 strikeouts. Chet Nichols had a 2.88 ERA, followed by Maglie at 2.93 and Spahn at 2.98. Robin Roberts led with 315 innings. Spahn had 26 complete games and 7 shutouts. Ted Wilks had 13 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Stan Musial (St. Louis) 39, Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) 38, Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 35, Roy Campanella (Brooklyn) 33, Monte Irvin (New York) 29, Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia) 28, Al Dark (New York) 27, Gil Hodges (Brooklyn) and Bobby Thomson (New York) 26, Eddie Stanky (New York) 24, Sam Jethroe (Boston) 23, Sid Gordon (Boston), Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider (Brooklyn) and Willie Jones (Philadelphia) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Sal Maglie (Brooklyn) and Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 28, Warren Spahn (Boston) 26, Larry Jansen (New York) 24, Don Newcombe and Preacher Roe (Brooklyn) 21, Ewell Blackwell (Cincinnati) 19, Ken Raffensberger (Cincinnati), Bubba Church (Philadelphia) and Murry Dickson (Pittsburgh) 18.

WAR scores: Robinson 9.8, Musial 8.7, Kiner 7.6, Campanella 7.0, Irvin 6.3, Ashburn 5.6, Gordon 5.5, Hodges 5.4, Dark 5.2, Thomson and Stanky 4.8, Jethroe 4.7, Reese 4.6, Earl Torgeson (Boston) 4.1. Willie Mays had 19 Win Shares and a 3.5 WAR.

Pitchers, Spahn 7.1, Roberts 6.9, Maglie 6.1 (career year), Jansen 5.8, Roe 5.6 (last big year), Raffensberger 4.3, Newcombe 3.9 (then to Korea for two years), Church 3.6 (last good year), Ralph Branca (Brooklyn) 3.5, Dickson and Howie Fox (Cincinnati) 3.3, Max Lanier (St. Louis) 3.2, Blackwell 3.1 (last good year),

Actual award voting, MVP: | 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 Roy Campanella BRO 11 243 336 0.72 | 505 164 33 .325 .983 1|
2 Stan Musial STL 2 191 336 0.57 | 578 205 32 .355 1.063 4|
3 Monte Irvin NYG 5 166 336 0.49 | 558 174 24 .312 .929 12|
4 Sal Maglie NYG 1 153 336 0.46 | 112 17 1 .152 .347 0| 23-6 298 2.93 1.141 146 4
5 Preacher Roe BRO 2 138 336 0.41 | 89 10 0 .112 .244 0| 22-3 258 3.04 1.207 113
6 Jackie Robinson BRO 1 92 336 0.27 | 548 185 19 .338 .957 25|
7 Richie Ashburn PHI 0 69 336 0.21 | 643 221 4 .344 .819 29|
8 Bobby Thomson NYG 1 62 336 0.18 | 518 152 32 .293 .947 5|
9 Murry Dickson PIT 1 59 336 0.18 | 110 30 1 .273 .616 0| 20-16 289 4.02 1.368 112 2
10 Ralph Kiner PIT 0 49 336 0.15 | 531 164 42 .309 1.079 2|
11 Warren Spahn BSN 0 45 336 0.13 | 116 22 1 .190 .514 0| 22-14 311 2.98 1.246 164
12 Alvin Dark NYG 0 30 336 0.09 | 646 196 14 .303 .805 12|
13 Robin Roberts PHI 0 27 336 0.08 | 87 15 0 .172 .529 2| 21-15 315 3.03 1.105 127 2
14 Larry Jansen NYG 0 26 336 0.08 | 96 9 0 .094 .249 0| 23-11 279 3.04 1.112 145
15 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 15 336 0.04 | 616 176 10 .286 .763 20|
16 Sid Gordon BSN 0 10 336 0.03 | 550 158 29 .287 .883 2|
16 Gil Hodges BRO 0 10 336 0.03 | 582 156 40 .268 .901 9|
18 Ken Raffensberger CIN 0 8 336 0.02 | 82 10 0 .122 .309 0| 16-17 249 3.44 1.086 81 5
19 Ewell Blackwell CIN 0 6 336 0.02 | 82 24 1 .293 .724 0| 16-15 233 3.44 1.294 120 2
19 Carl Furillo BRO 0 6 336 0.02 | 667 197 16 .295 .772 8|
19 Johnny Wyrostek CIN 0 6 336 0.02 | 537 167 2 .311 .767 2|
22 Don Newcombe BRO 0 3 336 0.01 | 103 23 0 .223 .558 0| 20-9 272 3.28 1.199 164
23 Phil Cavarretta CHC 0 1 336 0.00 | 206 64 6 .311 .835 0|
23 Hank Sauer CHC 0 1 336 0.00 | 525 138 30 .263 .810 2|
A divided vote, but a pretty solid victory for Campanella. Like in the AL, eight guys got first-place votes.

Rookie: | 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 Willie Mays NYG 18 18 24 0.75 | 464 127 20 .274 .828 7|
2 Chet Nichols BSN 4 4 24 0.17 | 51 7 0 .137 .275 0| 11-8 156 2.88 1.353 71 2
3 Clem Labine BRO 2 2 24 0.08 | 21 3 0 .143 .325 0| 5-1 65 2.21 1.103 39

A little surprising the vote was divided, but we have the benefit of hindsight.

Top player: Jackie Robinson. Since Kiner was no fielder, the best players in the league were Musial, Robinson, and Campanella. A strong case could be made for either of the three. I view Robinson as the more dominating force of this group, so I will select Jackie. I do not fault the writers for choosing Campanella, as that is a defensible choice.
#1 Jackie Robinson, #2 Stan Musial, #3 Roy Campanella, #4 Ralph Kiner, #5 Monte Irvin, #6 Richie Ashburn.

Top pitcher: Robin Roberts. Roberts and Spahn were the top NL pitchers through the 1950s, with others occasionally joining them. Roberts' quality was sometimes hidden on mediocre teams.
#1 Robin Roberts, #2 Warren Spahn, #3 Sal Maglie, #4 Larry Jansen, #5 Preacher Roe.

Top rookie: Willie Mays. It's obvious now, perhaps not as much then. It has to be Mays, if for no other reason than how he was the difference-maker in the pennant race.

Top manager: Leo Durocher spurred his team to a furious comeback.

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