Brooklyn took the pennant after blowing the lead the year before, and losing at the end in 1950. This was the beginning of a run of four pennants in five years. The Dodgers would do it with offense, and pitching that was good enough. The World Series was a 7-game loss to the Yankees. The Giants finished second, 4.5 games back, losing Willie Mays for most of the year to the military. St. Louis was third, Philadelphia 4th and the Cubs 5th with a .500 record, Cincinnati sixth, and the Braves finished 7th in their last year in Boston, while Pittsburgh finished last with 112 losses and one of the worst teams of the 20th century. The Cubs' Hank Sauer won an MVP by leading the league in RBI and tying in HRs, in one of the all-time odd selections over 28-game winner Robin Roberts, or even batting titlist Stan Musial.
Musial posted a .336 average, besting Frankie Baumholtz at .325. Jackie Robinson led in on-base, while Musial led in slugging and OPS. Musial led in hits with 194, doubles with 42, and tied Solly Hemus for the runs lead with 105. Bobby Thomson led with 14 triples. Ralph Kiner and Hank Sauer had 37 homers, and Sauer had 121 RBI. Pee Wee Reese had 30 steals.
Robin Roberts had 28 wins, and next best was Sal Maglie with 18. No idea why that didn't impress MVP voters. Roberts led with 330 innings and 30 complete games. He was a workhorse. Warren Spahn led with 183 strikeouts. 29-year old rookie knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm pitched only in relief, but had enough innings to qualify for the ERA title, and won it with a 2.43 mark. He would pitch 21 years in the majors in spite of his late start. Al Brazle had 16 saves while rookie Joe Black had 15.
Win Shares leaders, players; Stan Musial (St. Louis) 37, Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) 34, Hank Sauer (Chicago) and Al Dark (New York) 28, Solly Hemus (St. Louis) 27, Gil Hodges (Brooklyn) 26, Sid Gordon (Boston), Duke Snider (Brooklyn), Bobby Thomson (New York), and Red Schoendienst (St. Louis) 25, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn), Ted Kluszewski (Cincinnati), Whitey Lockman (New York) and Enos Slaughter (St. Louis) 23, Roy Campanella (Brooklyn) 22.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 32, Bob Rush (Chicago) 23, Warren Spahn (Boston) and Ken Raffensberger (Cincinnati) 22, Joe Black (Brooklyn) 20, Warren Hacker (Chicago), Hoyt Wilhelm (New York) and Karl Drews (Philadelphia) 18, Carl Erskine (Brooklyn), Sal Maglie (New York), Curt Simmons (Philadelphia) and Murry Dickson (Pittsburgh) 17.
WARP3 scores: Robinson 8.7, Musial 7.7, Hemus 6.4, Hodges 5.6, Sauer and Dark 5.3, Reese 4.9, Snider 4.8, Gordon and Schoendienst 4.6, Thomson 4.3, Slaughter 4.2, Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 4.1, Campanella and Granny Hamner (Philadelphia) 3.8, Kluszewski 3.7, Lockman 3.6.
Pitchers, Roberts 7.9, Raffensberger 5.9, Spahn 5.8, Hacker 5.2, Drews 4.7 (career year), Rush 4.5, Erskine 4.3, Billy Loes (Brooklyn) 4.2, Dickson 4.1, Black (rookie, career year) and Maglie 4.0, Simmons 3.9 (back from service).
WAR, position players (fWAR): Robinson and Musial 8.4, Hemus 7.1, Sauer 6.1, Dark 5.8, Hodges 5.7, Gordon 5.4, Schoendienst 5.2, Reese and Thomson 5.1, Snider 5.0, Kiner 4.8, Hamner and Campanella 4.7, Slaughter 4.6. Pitchers (bWAR): Roberts 7.9, Raffensberger 5.9, Spahn 5.8, Hacker 5.2, Drews 4.7, Rush 4.5, Erskine 4.3, Loes 4.2, Dickson 4.1, Black and Maglie 4.0.
Actual award voting, MVP (top 30): | 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 Hank Sauer CHC 8 226 336 0.67 | 567 153 37 .270 .892 1|
2 Robin Roberts PHI 7 211 336 0.63 | 112 14 0 .125 .406 0| 28-7 330 2.59 1.021 148 2
3 Joe Black BRO 8 208 336 0.62 | 36 5 0 .139 .278 0| 15-4 142 2.15 1.005 85 15
4 Hoyt Wilhelm NYG 0 133 336 0.40 | 38 6 1 .158 .416 0| 15-3 159 2.43 1.155 108 11
5 Stan Musial STL 0 127 336 0.38 | 578 194 21 .336 .970 7|
6 Enos Slaughter STL 0 92 336 0.27 | 510 153 11 .300 .831 6|
7 Jackie Robinson BRO 0 31 336 0.09 | 510 157 19 .308 .904 24|
8 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 29 336 0.09 | 559 152 6 .272 .734 30|
8 Duke Snider BRO 1 29 336 0.09 | 534 162 21 .303 .863 7|
10 Roy Campanella BRO 0 25 336 0.07 | 468 126 22 .269 .805 8|
10 Red Schoendienst STL 0 25 336 0.07 | 620 188 7 .303 .772 9|
12 Alvin Dark NYG 0 24 336 0.07 | 589 177 14 .301 .788 6|
13 Murry Dickson PIT 0 22 336 0.07 | 107 24 0 .224 .493 0| 14-21 278 3.56 1.275 112 2
14 Del Ennis PHI 0 18 336 0.05 | 592 171 20 .289 .816 6|
14 Whitey Lockman NYG 0 18 336 0.05 | 606 176 13 .290 .759 2|
16 Bobby Thomson NYG 0 17 336 0.05 | 608 164 24 .270 .813 5|
17 Frank Baumholtz CHC 0 16 336 0.05 | 409 133 4 .325 .787 5|
17 Ted Kluszewski CIN 0 16 336 0.05 | 497 159 16 .320 .892 3|
19 Gil Hodges BRO 0 15 336 0.04 | 508 129 32 .254 .886 2|
19 Roy McMillan CIN 0 15 336 0.04 | 540 132 7 .244 .656 4|
21 Eddie Mathews BSN 0 13 336 0.04 | 528 128 25 .242 .767 6|
22 Bobby Adams CIN 0 9 336 0.03 | 637 180 6 .283 .696 11|
23 Billy Cox BRO 0 8 336 0.02 | 455 118 6 .259 .639 10|
23 Warren Hacker CHC 0 8 336 0.02 | 58 7 0 .121 .256 1| 15-9 185 2.58 0.946 84 1
23 Ralph Kiner PIT 0 8 336 0.02 | 516 126 37 .244 .884 3|
23 Sal Maglie NYG 0 8 336 0.02 | 69 5 0 .072 .208 0| 18-8 216 2.92 1.269 112 1
23 Ken Raffensberger CIN 0 8 336 0.02 | 75 8 1 .107 .290 0| 17-13 247 2.81 1.182 93 1
23 Warren Spahn BSN 0 8 336 0.02 | 112 18 2 .161 .440 1| 14-19 290 2.98 1.159 183 3
29 Preacher Roe BRO 0 7 336 0.02 | 57 4 0 .070 .187 0| 11-2 159 3.12 1.273 83
30 Sid Gordon BSN 0 6 336 0.02 | 522 151 25 .289 .866 0|
A very odd departure from the usual procedure, which would have been to elect Roberts. A split vote snuck through the veteran Sauer. Jackie Robinson got astonishingly little support. 40 players received 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 Joe Black BRO 19 19 24 0.79 | 36 5 0 .139 .278 0| 15-4 142 2.15 1.005 85 15
2 Hoyt Wilhelm NYG 3 3 24 0.12 | 38 6 1 .158 .416 0| 15-3 159 2.43 1.155 108 11
3 Dick Groat PIT 1 1 24 0.04 | 384 109 1 .284 .632 2|
3 Eddie Mathews BSN 1 1 24 0.04 | 528 128 25 .242 .767 6|
The top rookie seasons were by 28-year old pitchers Black and Wilhelm. Black had a slightly more impressive year, and his team won the pennant. Oddly, all three of the other guys who got votes had better careers than Black, who never had another good year.
Top player: Jackie Robinson. A four-year run as a dominant player yielded Jackie only one MVP. It should have been more. He deserved this one.
#1 Jackie Robinson, #2 Stan Musial, #3 Hank Sauer, #4 Solly Hemus, #5 Gil Hodges, #6 Al Dark.
Top pitcher: Robin Roberts. Unfortunately, his dominant years were before Cy Young Awards. He would have probably won a couple, including this one, with his 28-victory season.
#1 Robin Roberts, #2 Bob Rush, #3 Ken Raffensberger, #4 Warren Spahn, #5 Joe Black.
Top rookie: Joe Black, really, even though he never did anything else. Wilhelm, Mathews, and Groat would carry the ball for the Class of 1952, NL version.
Top manager: Charlie Dressen got the Dodgers back to the top.
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