The Yankees won their fifth straight pennant, and then beat the Dodgers in the World Series for their 5th straight championship, setting a record that still stands. The 1949-53 Yankees are not usually included in discussions of the greatest teams ever, but they had more success than anyone ever did. One reason is that they didn't seem dominant while winning. This was their easiest pennant, an 8.5 game margin over the Indians, with Chicago 3rd, Boston 4th, and Washington 5th at exactly .500. Detroit and Philadelphia lost over 90 each, and St. Louis lost 100 games.
Al Rosen of Cleveland led the league in HR with 43 and RBI with 145, but lost the batting title to Mickey Vernon by one point, .337 to .336. The only one of those categories where anyone else was close was Gus Zernial's 42 home runs. Gene Woodling led in on-base, with Rosen ahead in slugging and OPS. Rosen also led with 115 runs. Rookie Harvey Kuenn led with 209 hits, Vernon with 43 doubles, Jim Rivera with 16 triples, and Minnie Minoso with 25 steals.
Ed Lopat led the league in ERA with a 2.42 mark, Billy Pierce in strikeouts with 186, and the Senators' Bob Porterfield in wins with 22. Pierce was second in ERA at 2.72. Bob Lemon and Mel Parnell won 21 each, Virgil Trucks 20. Ellis Kinder continued to define the role of relief ace, leading the league in games with 69 and saves with 27.
Win Shares leaders, players; Al Rosen (Cleveland) 42, Mickey Vernon (Washington) 29, Yogi Berra (New York) 28, Ray Boone (Cleveland/Detroit) 27, Minnie Minoso (Chicago), Larry Doby (Cleveland) and Mickey Mantle (New York) 26, Jim Busby (Washington) 25, Ed Yost (Washington) 24, Bobby Avila (Cleveland) 22, Nellie Fox (Chicago), Gil McDougald (New York) and Gus Zernial (Philadelphia) 21.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Virgil Trucks (St. Louis/Chicago) 25, Billy Pierce (Chicago) 24, Ellis Kinder and Mel Parnell (Boston) 23, Mickey McDermott (Boston) and Bob Lemon (Cleveland) 22, Mike Garcia (Cleveland) and Bob Porterfield (Washington) 21, Whitey Ford (New York) 17.
WAR scores: Rosen 9.7, Vernon 6.0, Mantle 5.3, Boone and Minoso 5.1, Berra 4.9, Avila 4.7, Doby 4.6, Gene Woodling (New York) 4.5, Yost and Phil Rizzuto (New York) 4.4, McDougald 4.1, George Strickland (Cleveland) 3.9, Busby 3.8 (career year).
Pitchers, Pierce 6.5, Trucks 6.3, Parnell 4.7, Porterfield 4.6, McDermott and Garcia 4.2, Ed Lopat (New York) 3.9, Lemon 3.6, Kinder, Ford, and Johnny Sain (New York) 3.4.
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 Al Rosen CLE 24 336 336 1.00 | 599 201 43 .336 1.034 8|
2 Yogi Berra NYY 0 167 336 0.50 | 503 149 27 .296 .886 0|
3 Mickey Vernon WSH 0 162 336 0.48 | 608 205 15 .337 .921 4|
4 Minnie Minoso CHW 0 100 336 0.30 | 556 174 15 .313 .875 25|
5 Virgil Trucks TOT 0 81 336 0.24 | + 88 19 1 .216 .520 0|+20-10 264 2.93 1.260 149 3
6 Phil Rizzuto NYY 0 76 336 0.23 | 413 112 2 .271 .734 4|
7 Bob Porterfield WSH 0 64 336 0.19 | 98 25 3 .255 .716 1| 22-10 255 3.35 1.239 77
8 Ray Boone TOT 0 59 336 0.18 | +497 147 26 .296 .909 3|
9 Jim Piersall BOS 0 56 336 0.17 | 585 159 3 .272 .683 11|
10 Billy Pierce CHW 0 55 336 0.16 | 87 11 0 .126 .300 0| 18-12 271 2.72 1.172 186 3
11 Ellis Kinder BOS 0 41 336 0.12 | 29 11 0 .379 .793 0| 10-6 107 1.85 1.140 39 27
12 Hank Bauer NYY 0 37 336 0.11 | 437 133 10 .304 .841 2|
12 Allie Reynolds NYY 0 37 336 0.11 | 41 5 0 .122 .436 0| 13-7 145 3.41 1.386 86 13
14 Mel Parnell BOS 0 27 336 0.08 | 94 21 0 .223 .521 1| 21-8 241 3.06 1.382 136
15 Harvey Kuenn DET 0 23 336 0.07 | 679 209 2 .308 .742 6|
16 Bob Lemon CLE 0 22 336 0.07 | 112 26 2 .232 .661 2| 21-15 287 3.36 1.371 98 1
17 Ed Lopat NYY 0 18 336 0.05 | 63 12 0 .190 .488 0| 16-4 178 2.42 1.127 50
18 Gus Zernial PHA 0 16 336 0.05 | 556 158 42 .284 .914 4|
19 Dave Philley PHA 0 11 336 0.03 | 620 188 9 .303 .782 13|
20 Whitey Ford NYY 0 8 336 0.02 | 75 20 0 .267 .639 0| 18-6 207 3.00 1.435 110
21 Billy Goodman BOS 0 5 336 0.01 | 514 161 2 .313 .793 1|
22 Mickey Mantle NYY 0 4 336 0.01 | 461 136 21 .295 .895 8|
23 Gene Woodling NYY 0 3 336 0.01 | 395 121 10 .306 .898 2|
23 Eddie Yost WSH 0 3 336 0.01 | 577 157 9 .272 .799 7|
25 Billy Martin NYY 0 2 336 0.01 | 587 151 15 .257 .710 6|
26 Chico Carrasquel CHW 0 1 336 0.00 | 552 154 2 .279 .689 5|
26 George Kell BOS 0 1 336 0.00 | 460 141 12 .307 .866 5|
26 Ted Williams BOS 0 1 336 0.00 | 91 37 13 .407 1.410 0|
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 Harvey Kuenn DET 23 23 24 0.96 | 679 209 2 .308 .742 6|
2 Tom Umphlett BOS 1 1 24 0.04 | 495 140 3 .283 .707 4|
Top Player: Al Rosen was far and away the best player in the AL in 1953, and there really wasn't any contest, as the voters of the time recognized. No one else had any kind of a standout year, pitcher or hitter. Rosen was one batting average point away from the Triple Crown, and led in RBI by 30. It was a true rout.
#1 Al Rosen, #2 Mickey Vernon, #3 Yogi Berra, #4 Ray Boone, #5 Mickey Mantle, #6 Larry Doby.
Top pitcher: Virgil Trucks in something less than a runaway. With two teams, Trucks was 4th in wins, 3rd in ERA, and 2nd in strikeouts. It's really a photo-finish with Trucks and Pierce. I'll go with Trucks based on a higher MVP finish with a meta-stats split.
#1 Virgil Trucks, #2 Billy Pierce, #3 Mel Parnell, #4 Bob Porterfield, #5 Ellis Kinder.
Top rookie: Harvey Kuenn had little competition, and hit .308. He spent five years as a regular shortstop before moving to the outfield, although he would occasionally move in to third base.
Top manager: Casey Stengel. He never met a lineup he couldn't change for tomorrow's game, but his team won by 8.5 games.
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