Willie Mays returned from the service, and the Giants returned to the top of the NL, and also swept the World Series. That kept the trophy in the city of New York for the 6th year in a row. Mays was beginning a 12-year run as the best player in the league. The Giants won by a five-game margin over Brooklyn, with Milwaukee third. The other teams were under .500, with Philadelphia 4th, then Cincinnati, St. Louis and Chicago. Pittsburgh finished last and lost 101 games. Makes Mays' comment (see 1954 AL entry) odd, since the Giants faced only two winning teams, and also never on the same trip.
Mays won the batting title at .345, ahead of teammate Don Mueller's .342, and led in OPS and slugging. Richie Ashburn led in on-base. Ted Kluszewski led in HR and RBI, with 49 and 141 respectively. Gil Hodges was second with 42 HR, while Hodges and Duke Snider tied with 130 RBI. Stan Musial and Snider tied at 120 runs scored. Mueller had 212 hits, Musial 41 doubles, and Mays 13 triples. Billy Bruton had 34 steals.
Robin Roberts led pitchers in wins with 23 and strikeouts with 185, while Johnny Antonelli led in ERA with 2.30. Antonelli and Warren Spahn each won 21. Harvey Haddix was a close second in strikeouts with 184. Lew Burdette was second in ERA with a 2.76 mark. Jim Hughes led with 24 saves and Frank Smith had 20. Roberts pitched 337 innings, while the next most was Spahn at 283. Fast fact: There were more teenagers (3) in the league than 40-year olds (1, Al Brazle).
Win Shares leaders, players; Willie Mays (New York) 40, Duke Snider (Brooklyn) 39, Ted Kluszewski (Cincinnati) and Eddie Mathews (Milwaukee) 33, Gil Hodges (Brooklyn) 29, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn), Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia) and Frank Thomas (Pittsburgh) 26, Al Dark (New York) 23, Hank Sauer (Chicago) 22, Joe Adcock (Milwaukee), Hank Thompson (New York) and Red Schoendienst (St. Louis) 21.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 31, Johnny Antonelli (New York) 28, Warren Spahn (Milwaukee) 23, Curt Simmons (Philadelphia) 21, Ruben Gomez (New York) 19, Lew Burdette (Milwaukee) and Sal Maglie (New York) 18, Marv Grissom (New York) 17, Carl Erskine (Brooklyn) and Bob Rush (Chicago) 16.
WARP3 Leaders, position players: Mays 12.2, Mathews 10.4, Snider 8.8, Stan Musial (St. Louis) 8.3, Kluszewski 7.6, Hodges and Granny Hamner (Philadelphia) 7.1, Ashburn 6.7, Carl Furillo (Brooklyn) 6.6, Schoendienst 6.4, Danny O'Connell and Johnny Logan (both Milwaukee) 5.4, Reese and Thompson 5.3, Thomas 5.1.
WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Roberts 9.9, Antonelli 9.0, Rush 8.0, Spahn 5.7, Simmons 5.4, Gomez 5.3, Grissom and Harvey Haddix (St. Louis) 5.1, Paul Minner (Chicago) 5.0, Hoyt Wilhelm (New York) 4.8.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Mays 11.4, Snider 9.4, Mathews 8.9, Kluszewski and Musial 8.5, Ashburn 7.5, Hodges 7.2, Reese 6.9, Schoendienst and Thompson 5.5, Hamner 5.4, Dark 4.8. Pitchers (bWAR): Roberts 8.8, Antonelli 7.5, Rush 6.0, Spahn 5.8, Burdette 5.6, Simmons 5.1, Haddix 5.0, Maglie 4.8, Gomez 4.7, Conley 4.5.
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 Willie Mays NYG 16 283 336 0.84 | 565 195 41 .345 1.078 8|
2 Ted Kluszewski CIN 7 217 336 0.65 | 573 187 49 .326 1.049 0|
3 Johnny Antonelli NYG 0 154 336 0.46 | 98 16 2 .163 .421 0| 21-7 259 2.30 1.171 152 2
4 Duke Snider BRO 0 135 336 0.40 | 584 199 40 .341 1.071 6|
5 Alvin Dark NYG 1 110 336 0.33 | 644 189 20 .293 .770 5|
6 Stan Musial STL 0 97 336 0.29 | 591 195 35 .330 1.036 1|
7 Robin Roberts PHI 0 70 336 0.21 | 122 15 0 .123 .344 0| 23-15 337 2.97 1.025 185 4
8 Joe Adcock MLN 0 60 336 0.18 | 500 154 23 .308 .885 1|
9 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 53 336 0.16 | 554 171 10 .309 .859 8|
10 Gil Hodges BRO 0 40 336 0.12 | 579 176 42 .304 .952 3|
11 Warren Spahn MLN 0 38 336 0.11 | 101 21 1 .208 .563 0| 21-12 283 3.15 1.228 136 3
12 Don Mueller NYG 0 30 336 0.09 | 619 212 4 .342 .807 2|
13 Red Schoendienst STL 0 24 336 0.07 | 610 192 5 .315 .794 4|
13 Frank Thomas PIT 0 24 336 0.07 | 577 172 23 .298 .856 3|
15 Hoyt Wilhelm NYG 0 17 336 0.05 | 21 1 0 .048 .095 0| 12-4 111 2.10 1.159 64 7
16 Ernie Banks CHC 0 14 336 0.04 | 593 163 19 .275 .753 6|
17 Del Crandall MLN 0 13 336 0.04 | 463 112 21 .242 .731 0|
18 Johnny Logan MLN 0 9 336 0.03 | 560 154 8 .275 .712 2|
19 Richie Ashburn PHI 0 5 336 0.01 | 559 175 1 .313 .817 11|
19 Granny Hamner PHI 0 5 336 0.01 | 596 178 13 .299 .818 1|
19 Eddie Mathews MLN 0 5 336 0.01 | 476 138 40 .290 1.026 10|
22 Sal Maglie NYG 0 4 336 0.01 | 63 8 0 .127 .318 0| 14-6 218 3.26 1.338 117 2
23 Gene Conley MLN 0 3 336 0.01 | 77 12 0 .156 .325 0| 14-9 194 2.96 1.287 113
24 Marv Grissom NYG 0 2 336 0.01 | 32 5 0 .156 .362 0| 10-7 122 2.35 1.226 64 19
24 Roy McMillan CIN 0 2 336 0.01 | 588 147 4 .250 .621 4|
26 Dusty Rhodes NYG 0 1 336 0.00 | 164 56 15 .341 1.105 1|
26 Hank Sauer CHC 0 1 336 0.00 | 520 150 41 .288 .938 2|
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 Wally Moon STL 17 17 24 0.71 | 635 193 12 .304 .806 18|
2 Ernie Banks CHC 4 4 24 0.17 | 593 163 19 .275 .753 6|
3 Gene Conley MLN 2 2 24 0.08 | 77 12 0 .156 .325 0| 14-9 194 2.96 1.287 113
4 Hank Aaron MLN 1 1 24 0.04 | 468 131 13 .280 .769 2|
Best player: Willie Mays. Mays was a clear though by no means unanimous winner in the MVP voting, but he was obviously the best player in the league and he played for the winning team. That fits the definition in my book.
#1 Willie Mays, #2 Duke Snider, #3 Eddie Mathews, #4 Ted Kluszewski, #5 Stan Musial, #6 Gil Hodges.
Best pitcher: Robin Roberts was the best, although Antonelli got a lot of accolades. Roberts pitched many more innings, and although given less support by his teammates won more games.
#1 Robin Roberts, #2 Johnny Antonelli, #3 Warren Spahn, #4 Curt Simmons, #5 Bob Rush.
Best rookie: Wally Moon had the best season and a good career, although Banks and Aaron would eclipse him.
Best manager: Leo Durocher rode his young star and good pitching to the World Championship.
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