News flash...the Yankees didn't win! After five straight World Championships, the Yankees won 103, more than they had in any of those winning years...and finished second to the Indians, who won 111. It was a strange year in the AL, as only three teams finished over .500, and 4th place was the Boston Red Sox, at 69-85. Following Cleveland and New York was the Chicago White Sox, at 94-60. Willie Mays later said he and the Giants were confident of World Series victory (the Giants swept the Indians in October) because Cleveland had not played any good teams back-to-back: they went west to face Chicago, east to face New York, and on the rest of the trip faced losing teams. Detroit and Washington were 5th and 6th.
The AL also had its first franchise move in over 50 years, as the St. Louis Browns moved east to Baltimore, leaving Chicago as the westernmost outpost of the league. That flying in the face of the nation's geographical population shift would not hold up for too long. The newly rechristened Orioles lost 100 games, but finished 7th ahead of Philadelphia, which lost 103.
Ted Williams returned from Korean combat and was the most fearsome hitter in the league again, with Minnie Minoso making an impression and Mickey Mantle coming into his prime. Bobby Avila won the batting title at .341, since Williams had not quite enough at bats in spite of a .345 average. Counting by plate appearances, the current rule, gives Ted the title. He has 386 at bats (the rule was 400) but 136 walks for more than enough plate trips. Williams also led in on-base and slugging. Larry Doby led in HR and RBI with 32 and 126 respectively, followed by Williams with 29 HR and Yogi Berra with 125 RBI. Mickey Mantle had 129 runs, Nellie Fox and Harvey Kuenn 201 hits each, Mickey Vernon 33 doubles, Minnie Minoso 18 triples, and Jackie Jensen 22 steals.
Bob Lemon and Early Wynn led the league in wins with 23 each, and Bob Grim had 20. Mike Garcia lead in ERA at 2.64 followed by Sandy Consuegra at 2.69, then Lemon at 2.72 and Wynn at 2.73. Baltimore's Bob Turley led in strikeouts with 185, followed by Wynn at 155. Wynn led with 271 innings followed by Virgil Trucks at 265. Johnny Sain led the way with 22 saves.
Win Shares leaders, players; Mickey Mantle (New York) 36, Bobby Avila (Cleveland) and Yogi Berra (New York) 34, Larry Doby (Cleveland) 33, Minnie Minoso (Chicago) 32, Ted Williams (Boston) 29, Al Rosen (Cleveland) 27, Nellie Fox (Chicago) 26, Al Smith (Cleveland) 25, Chico Carrasquel (Chicago) and Mickey Vernon (Washington) 24, Eddie Yost (Washington) 23, Ray Boone (Detroit) and Jim Busby (Washington) 22, Irv Noren (New York) and Jim Finigan (Philadelphia) 21.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers: Mike Garcia, Bob Lemon, and Early Wynn (Cleveland) and Steve Gromek (Detroit) 24, Virgil Trucks (Chicago) 22, Ned Garver (Detroit) 20, Bob Turley (Baltimore) and Whitey Ford (New York) 16, Frank Sullivan (Boston), Sandy Consuegra and Jack Harshman (Chicago) 15.
WARP3 leaders, position players: Minoso 8.5, Avila 8.4, Berra 8.2, Mantle and Williams 7.5, Doby 6.4, Fox 5.9, Rosen and Andy Carey (New York) 5.1, Carrasquel 5.0, Boone and McDougald 4.5, Yost 4.4, Vernon 4.3.
WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Gromek 7.7, Arnie Portocarrero (Philadelphia) 7.0, Sullivan 6.3, Trucks 6.0, Garver 5.8, Wynn 5.1, Garcia 4.8, Lemon 4.5, Turley and Johnny Schmitz (Washington) 4.4.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Williams 8.6, Minoso 8.2, Mantle 7.1, Avila 6.8, Doby 6.3, Berra 6.2, Carrasquel 5.5, Boone 5.3, Fox 5.2, Rosen 5.1, Yost 4.8, Jensen 4.5, Smith 4.3. Pitchers (bWAR): Gromek and Wynn 5.2, Garcia 5.1, Trucks 4.6, Schmitz, Sullivan, and Turley 4.5, Garver 4.3, Lemon 4.2, Ford 4.1, Portocarrero 3.6.
Actual award winners, MVP: 1st Max | Season Results
Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---+---
1 Yogi Berra NYY 7 230 336 0.68 | 584 179 22 .307 .855 0|
2 Larry Doby CLE 5 210 336 0.62 | 577 157 32 .272 .847 3|
3 Bobby Avila CLE 5 203 336 0.60 | 555 189 15 .341 .880 9|
4 Minnie Minoso CHW 2 186 336 0.55 | 568 182 19 .320 .946 18|
5 Bob Lemon CLE 5 179 336 0.53 | 98 21 2 .214 .594 0| 23-7 258 2.72 1.239 110
6 Early Wynn CLE 0 72 336 0.21 | 93 17 0 .183 .455 0| 23-11 271 2.73 1.138 155 2
7 Ted Williams BOS 0 65 336 0.19 | 386 133 29 .345 1.148 0|
8 Harvey Kuenn DET 0 37 336 0.11 | 656 201 5 .306 .725 9|
9 Nellie Fox CHW 0 30 336 0.09 | 631 201 2 .319 .763 16|
9 Mickey Vernon WSH 0 30 336 0.09 | 597 173 20 .290 .850 1|
11 Bob Grim NYY 0 25 336 0.07 | 70 10 1 .143 .352 0| 20-6 199 3.26 1.307 108
12 Jim Finigan PHA 0 19 336 0.06 | 487 147 7 .302 .802 2|
12 Virgil Trucks CHW 0 19 336 0.06 | 93 17 0 .183 .392 0| 19-12 265 2.79 1.205 152 3
14 Jackie Jensen BOS 0 17 336 0.05 | 580 160 25 .276 .831 22|
15 Mickey Mantle NYY 0 16 336 0.05 | 543 163 27 .300 .933 5|
15 Irv Noren NYY 0 16 336 0.05 | 426 136 12 .319 .859 4|
15 Al Rosen CLE 0 16 336 0.05 | 466 140 24 .300 .910 6|
18 Jim Busby WSH 0 7 336 0.02 | 628 187 7 .298 .731 17|
19 Joe Coleman BAL 0 6 336 0.02 | 74 13 2 .176 .505 1| 13-17 221 3.50 1.265 103
19 Mike Garcia CLE 0 6 336 0.02 | 81 11 0 .136 .329 0| 19-8 259 2.64 1.125 129 5
19 Billy Goodman BOS 0 6 336 0.02 | 489 148 1 .303 .746 3|
22 Jim Hegan CLE 0 5 336 0.01 | 423 99 11 .234 .662 0|
23 Hank Bauer NYY 0 4 336 0.01 | 377 111 12 .294 .818 4|
23 Al Kaline DET 0 4 336 0.01 | 504 139 4 .276 .652 9|
23 Bob Turley BAL 0 4 336 0.01 | 81 11 0 .136 .317 1| 14-15 247 3.46 1.452 185
26 Cal Abrams TOT 0 1 336 0.00 | 423 124 6 .293 .821 1|
26 Ray Boone DET 0 1 336 0.00 | 543 160 20 .295 .842 4|
26 Steve Gromek DET 0 1 336 0.00 | 79 15 0 .190 .463 0| 18-16 253 2.74 1.159 102 1
26 Roy Sievers WSH 0 1 336 0.00 | 514 119 24 .232 .777 2|
A very close MVP vote, with five candidates slugging it out, and Berra emerging with his 3rd award.
Rookie of the Year: 1st Max | Season Results
Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---
1 Bob Grim NYY 15 15 24 0.62 | 70 10 1 .143 .352 0| 20-6 199 3.26 1.307 108
2 Jim Finigan PHA 8 8 24 0.33 | 487 147 7 .302 .802 2|
3 Al Kaline DET 1 1 24 0.04 | 504 139 4 .276 .652 9|
Grim's 20-win season netted him only 13 Win Shares and a 4.1 WARP3. Kaline notched 7 WS and a 3.0 WARP3.
Top player: Bobby Avila. When there is a close race, there is a prejudice to go with the guy on the team that wins. There are very good reasons for doing this. Avila was a fine player having a career year, and is a deserving winner as the Indians took the title.
#1 Bobby Avila, #2 Yogi Berra, #3 Minnie Minoso, #4 Mickey Mantle, #5 Ted Williams, #6 Larry Doby.
Top pitcher: Early Wynn, in a close race. Wynn led in starts and innings, tied for the lead in wins, was 2nd in strikeouts and 4th in ERA.
#1 Early Wynn, #2 Steve Gromek, #3 Mike Garcia, #4 Bob Lemon, #5 Virgil Trucks.
Top rookie: Jim Finigan quickly disappeared from view, but he had a nice rookie season playing 3B in Philly.
Top manager: Al Lopez led the team that broke the Yankees' string.
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