26 December 2008

1964 American League

The Yankees won their fifth straight pennant with a 99-win season, although no one knew at the time it would be their last pennant for several years. It was a wild pennant race, with Baltimore and Chicago in it right to the final day. Chicago finished one game out, the Orioles just two. Detroit was 4th and Los Angeles 5th, and the second division had Cleveland and Minnesota tied for 6th, trailed by Boston in 8th with 90 losses, Washington 9th with 100 losses, and Kansas City last with 105 losses.

The Yankees battled adversity in the form of injuries and dissension as Yogi Berra took over as manager. Ralph Houk moved from the manager's chair to the GM slot. Berra made many unorthodox moves, and his players either resented him or still thought of him as a teammate, hardly an ideal situation. The Phil Linz harmonica incident typified the season. Still, Mickey Mantle fueled a late push that took the team back to the top spot.

Mantle led the league in OPS, while Tony Oliva won the batting title at .323, Luis Aparicio led in steals with 57, Harmon Killebrew led in HR with 49, and Brooks Robinson led in RBI with 118 and won the MVP. Robinson was also second in batting average with a .317 mark. Boog Powell was second with 39 homers, and Dick Stuart was second in RBI with 114. Oliva also led with 209 hits and 43 doubles. Rich Rollins and Zoilo Versalles had 10 triples each.

Dean Chance and Gary Peters tied for the wins lead with 20, and Wally Bunker, Juan Pizarro, and Dave Wickersham each won 19. Chance led in ERA with a 1.65 mark, follwed by Joel Horlen's 1.88. Al Downing led in strikeouts with 217, followed closely by Camilo Pascual at 213. Dick Radatz led in saves with 29, edging Hoyt Wilhelm at 27. Chance led in innings, complete games, and with 11 shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Mickey Mantle (New York) 34, Brooks Robinson (Baltimore) 33, Elston Howard (New York) 32, Ron Hansen (Chicago) 30, Boog Powell (Baltimore) 29, Jim Fregosi (Los Angeles) 28, Pete Ward (Chicago) and Tony Oliva (Minnesota) 27, Ed Bressoud (Boston), Floyd Robinson (Chicago), Bill Freehan (Detroit), Bob Allison (Minnesota) and Roger Maris (New York) 25, Al Kaline (Detroit) and Harmon Killebrew (Minnesota) 24, Rocky Colavito (Kansas City) and Don Lock (Washington) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Dean Chance (Los Angeles) 32, Dick Radatz (Boston) and Whitey Ford (New York) 24, Gary Peters (Chicago) 22, Hoyt Wilhelm (Chicago) 21, Bob Lee (Los Angeles) 20, Wally Bunker (Baltimore), Joel Horlen and Juan Pizarro (Chicago) 19, Milt Pappas (Baltimore), Mickey Lolich (Detroit) and Jim Bouton (New York) 18.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Hansen 10.6, Howard 8.0, Freehan 7.3, B. Robinson 6.9, Powell 6.8, Allison and Ward 6.3, Mantle 6.0, Oliva and Dick McAuliffe (Detroit) 5.8, Fregosi 5.5, Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) 5.1, Killebrew 4.9, Kaline 4.5.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Chance 11.5, Radatz 10.5, Ford 6.1, Horlen 5.5, Lee 5.4, Bill Monbouquette (Boston) 5.1, Bunker, Claude Osteen (Washington) and Wes Stock (Kansas City) 5.0.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): B. Robinson 9.4, Hansen 8.5, Fregosi 8.1, Oliva 7.5, Allison and Ward 7.3, Howard 7.1, Powell 6.9, Mantle 6.6, Kaline 6.2, Freehan 6.1, Bressoud and Killebrew 6.0, Yastrzemski 5.7, Aparicio 5.6. Pitchers (bWAR): Chance 8.9, Ford 6.3, Radatz 5.2, Horlen and McDowell 4.6, Peters 4.1, Lee 3.7, Bouton 3.6, Osteen and Tiant 3.5, Roberts 3.4, Kralick and Stock 3.3, Pappas 3.2.

Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20): | 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 Brooks Robinson BAL 18 269 280 0.96 | 612 194 28 .317 .889 1
2 Mickey Mantle NYY 2 171 280 0.61 | 465 141 35 .303 1.015 6
3 Elston Howard NYY 0 124 280 0.44 | 550 172 15 .313 .825 1
4 Tony Oliva MIN 0 99 280 0.35 | 672 217 32 .323 .916 12
5 Dean Chance LAA 0 97 280 0.35 | 89 7 0 .079 .187 0| 20-9 278 1.65 1.006 207 4
6 Pete Ward CHW 0 67 280 0.24 | 539 152 23 .282 .821 1
7 Bill Freehan DET 0 44 280 0.16 | 520 156 18 .300 .812 5
7 Gary Peters CHW 0 44 280 0.16 | 120 25 4 .208 .594 0| 20-8 274 2.50 1.173 205
9 Dick Radatz BOS 0 37 280 0.13 | 37 6 0 .162 .373 0| 16-9 157 2.29 1.025 181 29
10 Harmon Killebrew MIN 0 31 280 0.11 | 577 156 49 .270 .925
11 Boog Powell BAL 0 28 280 0.10 | 424 123 39 .290 1.005 0
12 Wally Bunker BAL 0 23 280 0.08 | 72 5 0 .069 .280 0| 19-5 214 2.69 1.042 96
13 Jim Fregosi LAA 0 21 280 0.08 | 505 140 18 .277 .833 8
14 Al Kaline DET 0 17 280 0.06 | 525 154 17 .293 .851 4
15 Floyd Robinson CHW 0 14 280 0.05 | 525 158 11 .301 .795 9
16 Ron Hansen CHW 0 10 280 0.04 | 575 150 20 .261 .766 1
17 Bobby Richardson NYY 0 9 280 0.03 | 679 181 4 .267 .626 11
17 Leon Wagner CLE 0 9 280 0.03 | 641 162 31 .253 .750 14
19 Juan Pizarro CHW 0 8 280 0.03 | 90 19 3 .211 .540 0| 19-9 239 2.56 1.038 162
19 Hoyt Wilhelm CHW 0 8 280 0.03 | 21 3 0 .143 .325 0| 12-9 131 1.99 0.944 95 27
The voters quickly identified the three best players in the league; Mantle, Robinson, and Howard. Dean Chance, who would also have been a good selection, comes in 5th.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Dean Chance LAA 17 17 20 0.85 | 20-9 278 1.65 1.006 207 4
2 Larry Jackson CHC 2 2 20 0.10 | 24-11 298 3.14 1.085 148
3 Sandy Koufax LAD 1 1 20 0.05 | 19-5 223 1.74 0.928 223 1
Chance manhandles this category, with Koufax missing significant time.

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 Tony Oliva MIN 19 19 20 0.95 | 672 217 32 .323 .916 12
2 Wally Bunker BAL 1 1 20 0.05 | 72 5 0 .069 .280 0| 19-5 214 2.69 1.042 96
Bob Lee goes unnoticed here.

Top player: Brooks Robinson. I'll go along with the writers here, as Mantle and Brooksy are pretty close with Howard not far behind. They go one way in WS, the opposite in WARP. I'll let the voters of the time break the tie for me.
#1 Brooks Robinson, #2 Mickey Mantle, #3 Elston Howard, #4 Ron Hansen, #5 Jim Fregosi, #6 Bob Allison.

Top pitcher: Dean Chance leads the field here, Dick Radatz also has a strong season.
#1 Dean Chance, #2 Dick Radatz, #3 Whitey Ford, #4 Gary Peters, #5 Hoyt Wilhelm.

Top rookie: Tony Oliva tops a strong field.

Top manager: Yogi Berra went through an awful lot for this pennant, and got fired for his trouble. I'll cast a vote for him here.

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