1953 National League

Brooklyn won the pennant, their second straight, and a total of 105 games. This made the Dodgers feel it was their year in the World Series, but they lost in 6 games to the Yankees. The Braves moved to Milwaukee and jumped up to second, 13 games out. Philadelphia and St. Louis tied for third, well off the pace. New York, Cincinnati and Chicago were also-rans, and Pittsburgh was not quite as terrible as the year before but still lost 104 games.

Carl Furillo won the batting title with a .344 mark, edging Red Schoendienst at .342. Eddie Mathews became the first guy not named Ralph Kiner to lead in homers in some years (well, there was a tie in there)with 47, and Roy Campanella led in RBI with 142 and won the MVP for the second time. Duke Snider and Stan Musial tied for the OPS lead. Musial led in on-base, Snider in slugging. Snider led with 132 runs, Musial with 53 doubles. Richie Ashburn had 205 hits and Junior Gilliam 17 triples. Bill Bruton had 26 stolen bases.

Warren Spahn led in ERA by a safe margin with an astounding 2.10 mark, and tied Robin Roberts for the lead in wins at 23. Carl Erskine and Harvey Haddix won 20. Roberts led in strikeouts with 198, edging Erskine's 187. Roberts was way ahead in innings with 347. Al Brazle's 18 saves beat out Hoyt Wilhelm's 15.

Win Shares leaders, players; Eddie Mathews (Milwaukee) 39, Duke Snider (Brooklyn) 37, Roy Campanella (Brooklyn) and Stan Musial (St. Louis) 33, Red Schoendienst (St. Louis) 27, Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia) 26, Jim Gilliam, Gil Hodges and Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) 25 each, Gus Bell and Ted Kluszewski (Cincinnati) and Johnny Logan (Milwaukee) 24, Carl Furillo (Brooklyn) and Solly Hemus (St. Louis) 23.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 35, Warren Spahn (Milwaukee) 31, Harvey Haddix (St. Louis) 27, Carl Erskine (Brooklyn) 20, Curt Simmons (Philadelphia) 19, Wilmer Mizell (St. Louis) 17, Lew Burdette (Milwaukee) and Gerry Staley (St. Louis) 15.

WAR scores (bWAR): Snider 9.5, Mathews 8.9, Musial 7.6, Robinson 7.3, Campanella 7.2, Schoendienst 6.5, Ashburn 6.0, Kluszewski and Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn) 5.2, Hemus 5.1, Furillo (best year), Bell (best year), and Hank Thompson (New York) 4.7, Hodges and Al Dark (New York) 4.5, Monte Irvin (New York) 4.3, Gilliam 4.1 (rookie).

Pitchers, Roberts 9.6, Spahn 9.4, Haddix 7.0 (rookie, only 20-win season, and career year), Simmons 5.1, Mizell 4.7, Warren Hacker (Chicago) 4.3, Ruben Gomez (New York) 4.3, Erskine 4.1 (only 20-win season), Staley 4.0, Bob Buhl (Milwaukee) 3.8, Burdette and Paul Minner (Chicago) 3.2.

We reach the end of an era, as Musial and Robinson are no longer the dominant players. Musial would stick around for several more seasons, but Robinson was winding down.

Actual award winners, 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 Roy Campanella BRO 17 297 336 0.88 | 519 162 41 .312 1.006 4|
2 Eddie Mathews MLN 3 216 336 0.64 | 579 175 47 .302 1.033 1|
3 Duke Snider BRO 1 157 336 0.47 | 590 198 42 .336 1.046 16|
4 Red Schoendienst STL 2 155 336 0.46 | 564 193 15 .342 .907 3|
5 Warren Spahn MLN 0 120 336 0.36 | 105 23 2 .219 .550 0| 23-7 266 2.10 1.058 148 3
6 Robin Roberts PHI 1 106 336 0.32 | 123 22 1 .179 .489 0| 23-16 347 2.75 1.110 198 2
7 Ted Kluszewski CIN 0 69 336 0.21 | 570 180 40 .316 .950 2|
8 Stan Musial STL 0 62 336 0.18 | 593 200 30 .337 1.046 3|
9 Carl Erskine BRO 0 54 336 0.16 | 93 20 0 .215 .460 0| 20-6 247 3.54 1.248 187 3
9 Carl Furillo BRO 0 54 336 0.16 | 479 165 21 .344 .973 1|
11 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 27 336 0.08 | 524 142 13 .271 .794 22|
12 Jackie Robinson BRO 0 19 336 0.06 | 484 159 12 .329 .927 17|
13 Del Ennis PHI 0 14 336 0.04 | 578 165 29 .285 .839 1|
14 Gil Hodges BRO 0 13 336 0.04 | 520 157 31 .302 .943 1|
15 Monte Irvin NYG 0 11 336 0.03 | 444 146 21 .329 .947 2|
16 Danny O'Connell PIT 0 10 336 0.03 | 588 173 7 .294 .762 3|
17 Harvey Haddix STL 0 9 336 0.03 | 97 28 1 .289 .749 0| 20-9 253 3.06 1.142 163 1
18 Frank Thomas PIT 0 6 336 0.02 | 455 116 30 .255 .837 1|
19 Richie Ashburn PHI 0 5 336 0.01 | 622 205 2 .330 .802 14|
20 Gus Bell CIN 0 3 336 0.01 | 610 183 30 .300 .879 0|
20 Johnny Logan MLN 0 3 336 0.01 | 611 167 11 .273 .724 2|
22 Ruben Gomez NYG 0 2 336 0.01 | 72 15 0 .208 .441 0| 13-11 204 3.40 1.309 113
22 Granny Hamner PHI 0 2 336 0.01 | 609 168 21 .276 .768 2|
24 Del Crandall MLN 0 1 336 0.00 | 382 104 15 .272 .759 2|
24 Hank Thompson NYG 0 1 336 0.00 | 388 117 24 .302 .967 6|

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 Jim Gilliam BRO 11 11 24 0.46 | 605 168 6 .278 .798 21|
2 Harvey Haddix STL 4 4 24 0.17 | 97 28 1 .289 .749 0| 20-9 253 3.06 1.142 163 1
3 Ray Jablonski STL 3 3 24 0.12 | 604 162 21 .268 .735 2|
4 Bill Bruton MLN 2 2 24 0.08 | 613 153 1 .250 .636 26|
4 Rip Repulski STL 2 2 24 0.08 | 567 156 15 .275 .738 3|
6 Fred Baczewski TOT 1 1 24 0.04 | + 47 9 1 .191 .464 0|+11-4 148 3.64 1.369 61 1
6 Jim Greengrass CIN 1 1 24 0.04 | 606 173 20 .285 .784 6|

Top player: Roy Campanella. Eddie Mathews and Duke Snider provide strong competition, along with perennial favorite Stan Musial, but Campy was the best of 1953. 4th in OPS, 1st in RBI, and strong defense behind the plate clinch this for the Dodger catcher.
#1 Roy Campanella, #2 Eddie Mathews, #3 Duke Snider, #4 Stan Musial, #5 Red Schoendienst, #6 Jackie Robinson.

Top pitcher: Robin Roberts in a close call over Warren Spahn. Spahnie had the ERA lead, but also a better team, and Roberts leads in WARP and Win Shares.
#1 Robin Roberts, #2 Warren Spahn, #3 Harvey Haddix, #4 Curt Simmons, #5 Carl Erskine.

Top rookie: Harvey Haddix. Jim Gilliam's win was a bit strange, since he received no MVP votes while 20-game winner Haddix did. Perhaps Haddix' 1952 debut of 42 innings threw things Gilliam's way.

Top manager: Charlie Grimm piloted the transplanted Braves into 2nd place, from 7th the year before.

1953 American League

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.

1952 National League

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.

1952 American League

New York won its fourth straight pennant, and then the fourth straight World Series (to tie the 36-39 team's record) but had to outlast the Indians by 2 games. Chicago was a distant third, Philadelphia finished above .500 and fourth on the strength of a career year and MVP performance by Bobby Shantz, who won 24 games. The A's also had the Rookie of the Year, Harry Byrd. Washington finished 5th, Boston 6th with Ted Williams in Korea, and St. Louis was 7th with Detroit and its 104 losses bringing up the rear.

Mickey Mantle stepped forward with a strong year in his first full season. Ferris Fain also bolstered the A's by winning the batting title at .327. Fain led in on-base, Larry Doby in slugging, and Mantle in OPS. Larry Doby and Luke Easter powered Cleveland and finished 1-2 in homers with 32 and 31 respectively, while teammate Al Rosen led in RBI with 105, edging Doby's 104. Doby led in runs with 104. Nellie Fox had 192 hits, Fain had 43 doubles, Bobby Avila had 11 triples, and Minnie Minoso had 22 steals.

Shantz led pitchers with his 24 wins. Early Wynn was second with 23, and Mike Garcia and Bob Lemon tied at 22. The Yankees' Allie Reynolds led in ERA with a 2.06 mark, and strikeouts with 160. Garcia was second in ERA with a 2.37 mark. Shantz was third. He was also third in strikeouts with 152. Wynn had 153. Lemon led the league in innings with 310. Harry Dorish had 11 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Larry Doby (Cleveland) 34, Mickey Mantle (New York) 32, Al Rosen (Cleveland) 31, Yogi Berra (New York) 29, Ferris Fain (Philadelphia) 28, Eddie Joost (Philadelphia) 26, Eddie Robinson (Chicago) 25, Bobby Avila (Cleveland) 24, Eddie Yost (Washington) 23, Nellie Fox (Chicago) and Pete Runnels (Washington) 22, Minnie Minoso (Chicago), Dale Mitchell (Cleveland), Hank Bauer, Phil Rizzuto, and Gene Woodling (New York), Gus Zernial (Philadelphia) and Jackie Jensen (Washington) all 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bobby Shantz (Philadelphia) 33, Bob Lemon (Cleveland) 25, Allie Reynolds (New York) 24, Billy Pierce (Chicago) and Mike Garcia (Cleveland) 23, Early Wynn (Cleveland) 21, Bob Porterfield (Washington) 20, Joe Dobson (Chicago) and Harry Byrd (Philadelphia) 18, Vic Raschi (New York) 17.

WAR scores: Doby 7.3, Rosen 6.8, Mantle 6.6, Berra 5.5, Avila 5.0, Rizzuto 4.9, Fain 4.5, Woodling 4.1 (best year), Bauer 3.9, Mitchell 3.8, Minoso and Joe Collins (New York) 3.7, Joost (last full year), Gil McDougald (New York), Billy Goodman (Boston), and Luke Easter (Cleveland) 3.5, Robinson 3.3.

Pitchers, Shantz 8.2 (career year), Pierce 6.7, Garcia 6.3 (best year), Lemon 6.0, Reynolds 5.3 (best year, at age 37), Porterfield 5.1, Wynn 4.7, Dobson 4.6 (last good year), Byrd 3.7 (rookie, career year), Connie Marrero (Washington) 3.6.

Actual award winners, MVP (top 25): | 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 Bobby Shantz PHA 16 280 336 0.83 | 96 19 0 .198 .513 0| 24-7 280 2.48 1.048 152
2 Allie Reynolds NYY 4 183 336 0.54 | 85 13 0 .153 .376 0| 20-8 244 2.06 1.191 160 6
3 Mickey Mantle NYY 3 143 336 0.43 | 549 171 23 .311 .924 4|
4 Yogi Berra NYY 0 104 336 0.31 | 534 146 30 .273 .835 2|
5 Early Wynn CLE 0 99 336 0.29 | 99 22 0 .222 .529 0| 23-12 286 2.90 1.299 153 3
6 Ferris Fain PHA 0 66 336 0.20 | 538 176 2 .327 .867 3|
7 Nellie Fox CHW 1 59 336 0.18 | 648 192 0 .296 .700 5|
8 Bob Lemon CLE 0 58 336 0.17 | 124 28 2 .226 .565 0| 22-11 310 2.50 1.101 131 4
9 Mike Garcia CLE 0 52 336 0.15 | 95 13 0 .137 .348 0| 22-11 292 2.37 1.269 143 4
10 Al Rosen CLE 0 51 336 0.15 | 567 171 28 .302 .911 8|
11 Eddie Robinson CHW 0 47 336 0.14 | 594 176 22 .296 .848 2|
12 Larry Doby CLE 0 46 336 0.14 | 519 143 32 .276 .924 5|
13 Luke Easter CLE 0 40 336 0.12 | 437 115 31 .263 .850 1|
14 Phil Rizzuto NYY 0 33 336 0.10 | 578 147 2 .254 .678 17|
15 Eddie Joost PHA 0 20 336 0.06 | 540 132 20 .244 .803 5|
16 Billy Goodman BOS 0 18 336 0.05 | 513 157 4 .306 .764 8|
17 Jackie Jensen TOT 0 12 336 0.04 | +589 165 10 .280 .759 18|
17 Satchel Paige SLB 0 12 336 0.04 | 39 5 0 .128 .278 0| 12-10 138 3.07 1.254 91 10
17 Vic Raschi NYY 0 12 336 0.04 | 69 13 0 .188 .490 0| 16-6 223 2.78 1.188 127
20 Dale Mitchell CLE 0 11 336 0.03 | 511 165 5 .323 .801 6|
21 Hank Bauer NYY 0 10 336 0.03 | 553 162 17 .293 .818 6|
21 Gene Woodling NYY 0 10 336 0.03 | 408 126 12 .309 .870 1|
23 Pete Runnels WSH 0 8 336 0.02 | 555 158 1 .285 .701 0|
24 Clint Courtney SLB 0 7 336 0.02 | 413 118 5 .286 .743 0|
25 Dick Gernert BOS 0 6 336 0.02 | 367 89 19 .243 .780 4|

An interesting voting year, as pitchers took the top two spots, five of the top nine, and 12 of the 35 named on at least one ballot. Shantz, the most valuable single commodity in the league in 1952, was a deserving winner.

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 Harry Byrd PHA 9 9 24 0.38 | 75 10 0 .133 .327 0| 15-15 228 3.31 1.498 116 2
2 Clint Courtney SLB 8 8 24 0.33 | 413 118 5 .286 .743 0|
3 Sammy White BOS 7 7 24 0.29 | 381 107 10 .281 .732 2|

Top player: Larry Doby, by a nose over Mantle. Doby only finished 12th in the voting, but led the league in runs, homers, and slugging, and was 2nd in RBI. Played a solid CF too. No real spectacular players in the AL this year, with Ted Williams in the service.
#1 Larry Doby, #2 Mickey Mantle, #3 Al Rosen, #4 Yogi Berra, #5 Ferris Fain, #6 Phil Rizzuto.

Top pitcher: Bobby Shantz had the year of a lifetime, going 24-7 and lifting a mediocre team over .500. Leader in wins and WHIP, 3rd in ERA, 4th in strikeouts.
#1 Bobby Shantz, #2 Allie Reynolds, #3 Bob Lemon, #4 Mike Garcia, #5 Billy Pierce.

Top rookie: Harry Byrd was the best of a weak field. Two journeymen catchers finished behind him in the voting.

Top manager: Casey Stengel did it again.

1951 National League

It is often remembered as the greatest pennant race of all time: the Dodgers built a big lead, and in August the Giants were down by 13 games. Then the New Yorkers came roaring down the stretch, catching the Brooklyn team and forcing a playoff, which the Giants won on Bobby Thomson's home run into the left field stands. Those two teams were the only real contenders, as the Cardinals faded to a weak third, Boston and Philadelphia were just under .500, and Cincinnati, Pittsburgh and Chicago were never a factor. None of those clubs was terrible, but none was any good. Willie Mays came up and started 0-for-21, but once he got going helped ignite the Giants. Roy Campanella won the MVP with a solid year as the Dodgers' catcher. Mays and Nichols both went to the service (the Korean War was going on) soon after the season.

Stan Musial won the batting title with a .355 mark, followed by Richie Ashburn at .344. Ralph Kiner led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. Kiner and Musial tied in runs at 124. Ashburn led in hits with 221. Al Dark had 41 doubles. Musial tied Gus Bell with 12 triples. Kiner led with 42 homers. Monte Irvin had 121 RBI. Sam Jethroe had 35 steals.

Larry Jansen and Sal Maglie both won 23 games. Don Newcombe and Warren Spahn tied at 164 strikeouts. Chet Nichols had a 2.88 ERA, followed by Maglie at 2.93 and Spahn at 2.98. Robin Roberts led with 315 innings. Spahn had 26 complete games and 7 shutouts. Ted Wilks had 13 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Stan Musial (St. Louis) 39, Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) 38, Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 35, Roy Campanella (Brooklyn) 33, Monte Irvin (New York) 29, Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia) 28, Al Dark (New York) 27, Gil Hodges (Brooklyn) and Bobby Thomson (New York) 26, Eddie Stanky (New York) 24, Sam Jethroe (Boston) 23, Sid Gordon (Boston), Pee Wee Reese and Duke Snider (Brooklyn) and Willie Jones (Philadelphia) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Sal Maglie (Brooklyn) and Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 28, Warren Spahn (Boston) 26, Larry Jansen (New York) 24, Don Newcombe and Preacher Roe (Brooklyn) 21, Ewell Blackwell (Cincinnati) 19, Ken Raffensberger (Cincinnati), Bubba Church (Philadelphia) and Murry Dickson (Pittsburgh) 18.

WAR scores: Robinson 9.8, Musial 8.7, Kiner 7.6, Campanella 7.0, Irvin 6.3, Ashburn 5.6, Gordon 5.5, Hodges 5.4, Dark 5.2, Thomson and Stanky 4.8, Jethroe 4.7, Reese 4.6, Earl Torgeson (Boston) 4.1. Willie Mays had 19 Win Shares and a 3.5 WAR.

Pitchers, Spahn 7.1, Roberts 6.9, Maglie 6.1 (career year), Jansen 5.8, Roe 5.6 (last big year), Raffensberger 4.3, Newcombe 3.9 (then to Korea for two years), Church 3.6 (last good year), Ralph Branca (Brooklyn) 3.5, Dickson and Howie Fox (Cincinnati) 3.3, Max Lanier (St. Louis) 3.2, Blackwell 3.1 (last good year),

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 Roy Campanella BRO 11 243 336 0.72 | 505 164 33 .325 .983 1|
2 Stan Musial STL 2 191 336 0.57 | 578 205 32 .355 1.063 4|
3 Monte Irvin NYG 5 166 336 0.49 | 558 174 24 .312 .929 12|
4 Sal Maglie NYG 1 153 336 0.46 | 112 17 1 .152 .347 0| 23-6 298 2.93 1.141 146 4
5 Preacher Roe BRO 2 138 336 0.41 | 89 10 0 .112 .244 0| 22-3 258 3.04 1.207 113
6 Jackie Robinson BRO 1 92 336 0.27 | 548 185 19 .338 .957 25|
7 Richie Ashburn PHI 0 69 336 0.21 | 643 221 4 .344 .819 29|
8 Bobby Thomson NYG 1 62 336 0.18 | 518 152 32 .293 .947 5|
9 Murry Dickson PIT 1 59 336 0.18 | 110 30 1 .273 .616 0| 20-16 289 4.02 1.368 112 2
10 Ralph Kiner PIT 0 49 336 0.15 | 531 164 42 .309 1.079 2|
11 Warren Spahn BSN 0 45 336 0.13 | 116 22 1 .190 .514 0| 22-14 311 2.98 1.246 164
12 Alvin Dark NYG 0 30 336 0.09 | 646 196 14 .303 .805 12|
13 Robin Roberts PHI 0 27 336 0.08 | 87 15 0 .172 .529 2| 21-15 315 3.03 1.105 127 2
14 Larry Jansen NYG 0 26 336 0.08 | 96 9 0 .094 .249 0| 23-11 279 3.04 1.112 145
15 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 15 336 0.04 | 616 176 10 .286 .763 20|
16 Sid Gordon BSN 0 10 336 0.03 | 550 158 29 .287 .883 2|
16 Gil Hodges BRO 0 10 336 0.03 | 582 156 40 .268 .901 9|
18 Ken Raffensberger CIN 0 8 336 0.02 | 82 10 0 .122 .309 0| 16-17 249 3.44 1.086 81 5
19 Ewell Blackwell CIN 0 6 336 0.02 | 82 24 1 .293 .724 0| 16-15 233 3.44 1.294 120 2
19 Carl Furillo BRO 0 6 336 0.02 | 667 197 16 .295 .772 8|
19 Johnny Wyrostek CIN 0 6 336 0.02 | 537 167 2 .311 .767 2|
22 Don Newcombe BRO 0 3 336 0.01 | 103 23 0 .223 .558 0| 20-9 272 3.28 1.199 164
23 Phil Cavarretta CHC 0 1 336 0.00 | 206 64 6 .311 .835 0|
23 Hank Sauer CHC 0 1 336 0.00 | 525 138 30 .263 .810 2|
A divided vote, but a pretty solid victory for Campanella. Like in the AL, eight guys got first-place votes.

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 Willie Mays NYG 18 18 24 0.75 | 464 127 20 .274 .828 7|
2 Chet Nichols BSN 4 4 24 0.17 | 51 7 0 .137 .275 0| 11-8 156 2.88 1.353 71 2
3 Clem Labine BRO 2 2 24 0.08 | 21 3 0 .143 .325 0| 5-1 65 2.21 1.103 39

A little surprising the vote was divided, but we have the benefit of hindsight.

Top player: Jackie Robinson. Since Kiner was no fielder, the best players in the league were Musial, Robinson, and Campanella. A strong case could be made for either of the three. I view Robinson as the more dominating force of this group, so I will select Jackie. I do not fault the writers for choosing Campanella, as that is a defensible choice.
#1 Jackie Robinson, #2 Stan Musial, #3 Roy Campanella, #4 Ralph Kiner, #5 Monte Irvin, #6 Richie Ashburn.

Top pitcher: Robin Roberts. Roberts and Spahn were the top NL pitchers through the 1950s, with others occasionally joining them. Roberts' quality was sometimes hidden on mediocre teams.
#1 Robin Roberts, #2 Warren Spahn, #3 Sal Maglie, #4 Larry Jansen, #5 Preacher Roe.

Top rookie: Willie Mays. It's obvious now, perhaps not as much then. It has to be Mays, if for no other reason than how he was the difference-maker in the pennant race.

Top manager: Leo Durocher spurred his team to a furious comeback.

1951 American League

The Yankees took their third straight pennant relatively easily, beating out Cleveland by 5 games. Boston finished third with the top offense but middle-of-the-pack pitching. A park tilted toward hitters had something to do with that. Chicago was 4th, followed by Detroit, Philadelphia and Washington. St. Louis lost 102 games to finish last, but still featured 20-game winner Ned Garver.

Saul Rogovin won a surprise ERA title in a career year split between Detroit and Chicago. Bob Feller led the league in wins. Ted Williams was the best hitter in his return to the lineup, but didn't win the batting title. Mickey Mantle debuted, Joe DiMaggio retired after the season, Yogi Berra won his first MVP and Gil McDougald won the Rookie award. It was a busy year capped by a Yankee World Series victory.

Ferris Fain won the batting title with a .344 average, but Ted Williams led in the other percentage categories; on-base, slugging, and OPS. They paid a lot less attention to those categories then. Dom DiMaggio led with 113 runs, George Kell with 191 hits, Kell, Sam Mele, and Eddie Yost with 36 doubles, Minnie Minoso with 14 triples and 31 steals, and Gus Zernial with 33 HR and 129 RBI.

Bob Feller won 22 games, while Ed Lopat and Vic Raschi won 21. Raschi topped the loop with 164 strikeouts. Saul Rogovin led with a 2.78 ERA, while Lopat was at 2.91. Ellis Kinder had 14 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Ted Williams (Boston) 34, Yogi Berra (New York) 31, Larry Doby (Cleveland) 29, Ed Yost (Washington) 27, Al Rosen (Cleveland), Minnie Minoso (Cleveland/Chicago) and Ed Joost (Philadelphia) 25, Bobby Avila (Cleveland) 24, Gil McDougald and Phil Rizzuto (New York) 23, Nellie Fox (Chicago), George Kell and Vic Wertz (Detroit) 22, Dom DiMaggio and Johnny Pesky (Boston) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Early Wynn (Cleveland) 24, Mel Parnell (Boston), Mike Garcia (Cleveland) and Ned Garver (St. Louis) 22, Billy Pierce (Chicago), Bob Lemon (Cleveland), Ed Lopat and Allie Reynolds (New York) 19, Ellis Kinder (Boston), Saul Rogovin (Detroit/Cleveland) and Bob Feller (Cleveland) 18.

WAR leaders: Williams 6.5, Doby 5.9, Joost 5.7, Minoso 5.4 (rookie by today's standards), Berra 5.1, McDougald 4.7 (rookie), Fox 4.4, Avila 4.2 (first full year), Rizzuto, Wertz, and Ferris Fain (Philadelphia) 4.1, Pesky 4.0 (last regular year), Yost 3.7, Gene Woodling (New York) and Elmer Valo (Philadelphia) 3.4, Rosen and Kell 3.1.

Pitchers, Wynn 5.4, Garver and Rogovin 5.0, Pierce 4.8, Lopat 4.7, Garcia 4.3, Parnell 4.2, Reynolds 4.1, Kinder (as a full-time reliever--2 starts) and Mickey McDermott (Boston) 3.8, Feller 3.6 (last good year), Vic Raschi (New York) 3.5.

Actual award voting, MVP: top 25
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-------
1 Yogi Berra NYY 6 184 336 0.55 | 547 161 27 .294 .842 5|
2 Ned Garver SLB 6 157 336 0.47 | 95 29 1 .305 .786 0| 20-12 246 3.73 1.354 84
3 Allie Reynolds NYY 6 125 336 0.37 | 76 14 0 .184 .494 1| 17-8 221 3.05 1.226 126 7
4 Minnie Minoso TOT 1 120 336 0.36 | +530 173 10 .326 .922 31|
5 Bob Feller CLE 0 118 336 0.35 | 81 10 0 .123 .338 0| 22-8 250 3.50 1.338 111
6 Ferris Fain PHA 1 103 336 0.31 | 425 146 6 .344 .921 0|
7 Ellis Kinder BOS 2 66 336 0.20 | 34 4 0 .118 .290 0| 11-2 127 2.55 1.213 84 14
8 Vic Raschi NYY 0 64 336 0.19 | 85 15 0 .176 .431 0| 21-10 258 3.28 1.301 164
9 Gil McDougald NYY 0 63 336 0.19 | 402 123 14 .306 .884 14|
10 Bobby Avila CLE 0 49 336 0.15 | 542 165 10 .304 .783 14|
11 Phil Rizzuto NYY 1 47 336 0.14 | 540 148 2 .274 .696 18|
12 Ed Lopat NYY 1 44 336 0.13 | 84 15 3 .179 .539 0| 21-9 235 2.91 1.193 93
13 Ted Williams BOS 0 35 336 0.10 | 531 169 30 .318 1.019 1|
14 Eddie Joost PHA 0 32 336 0.10 | 553 160 19 .289 .870 10|
15 George Kell DET 0 30 336 0.09 | 598 191 2 .319 .786 10|
16 Early Wynn CLE 0 29 336 0.09 | 108 20 1 .185 .540 0| 20-13 274 3.02 1.218 133 1
17 Nellie Fox CHW 0 25 336 0.07 | 604 189 4 .313 .798 9|
18 Billy Goodman BOS 0 21 336 0.06 | 546 162 0 .297 .761 7|
19 Dom DiMaggio BOS 0 16 336 0.05 | 639 189 12 .296 .788 4|
20 Gus Zernial TOT 0 15 336 0.04 | +571 153 33 .268 .856 2|
21 Bobby Shantz PHA 0 14 336 0.04 | 72 18 0 .250 .613 1| 18-10 205 3.95 1.378 77
22 Mike Garcia CLE 0 11 336 0.03 | 85 18 1 .212 .556 0| 20-13 254 3.15 1.264 118 6
23 Gil Coan WSH 0 8 336 0.02 | 538 163 9 .303 .782 8|
24 Mel Parnell BOS 0 7 336 0.02 | 81 25 0 .309 .709 0| 18-11 221 3.26 1.385 77 2
24 Eddie Robinson CHW 0 7 336 0.02 | 564 159 29 .282 .866 2|

Berra won a close MVP vote, but Williams was not a factor. Eight guys drew first-place 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 Gil McDougald NYY 13 13 24 0.54 | 402 123 14 .306 .884 14|
2 Minnie Minoso TOT 11 11 24 0.46 | +530 173 10 .326 .922 31|

Top player: Ted Williams. The choice comes down to Williams vs. Berra, and the difference is how much importance you attach to being on the winning team. Williams was first in OPS+ with a 164, Berra 10th at 130. Berra was a much better defensive player, but not that much. Williams was low in the MVP voting, probably because he didn't lead the league in any of the attractive counting stat categories. What he was, was the most effective player in the league. Again.
#1 Ted Williams, #2 Yogi Berra, #3 Larry Doby, #4 Ed Joost, #5 Minnie Minoso, #6 Nellie Fox.

Top pitcher: Early Wynn takes the top spot in a year with no clear standout. Wynn led the league in innings and topped a fine Cleveland staff. Ned Garver, second in the MVP vote as a 20-game winner on an also-ran team, is second.
#1 Early Wynn, #2 Ned Garver, #3 Eddie Lopat, #4 Billy Pierce, #5 Mike Garcia.

Top rookie: Minnie Minoso finished ahead of Gil McDougald in MVP voting, then behind him in the Rookie ballot. That's weird. We'll correct it here. The Negro League veteran was the best new player in the AL, at .326. McDougald was great, too.

Top manager: Casey Stengel won his third straight pennant and World Series. It's hard to pick anyone else.

1950 National League

The pennant was won by a surprise from the Whiz Kids of Philadelphia, as the Phillies took their first pennant in 35 years. It was disappointing that young team could not put together a longer run of success. The Phils and that young core of talent slipped under .500 in 1951, and stayed around the middle of the league for the rest of the decade, unable to break out.

The Phils beat out the Dodgers by two games in a great pennant race, with New York 3rd, Boston 4th and St. Louis 5th. Cincinnati and Chicago followed, while Pittsburgh slipped to last as the Pirates were going into one of their worst phases. Dynasties were forming and wilting as the 1950s began. Jim Konstanty won an MVP as a reliever, since he was the big surprise with 16 wins and 22 saves.

Stan Musial won another batting title at .346 and also led in slugging and OPS. Eddie Stanky led in on-base. Earl Torgeson led with 120 runs, Duke Snider had 199 hits, Red Schoendienst had 43 doubles, Richie Ashburn 14 triples, Ralph Kiner 47 home runs, Del Ennis 126 RBI, and Sam Jethroe 35 steals.

Warren Spahn won 21, while Robin Roberts and Johnny Sain won 20. Spahn had 191 strikeouts to edge Ewell Blackwell at 188. Sal Maglie had a 2.71 ERA that bettered Blackwell's 2.97. Konstanty had 22 saves. Vern Bickford tossed 27 complete games.

Win Shares leaders, players; Earl Torgeson (Boston) and Stan Musial (St. Louis) 32, Eddie Stanky (New York) 30, Sid Gordon (Boston), Jackie Robinson and Duke Snider (Brooklyn) 29, Bob Elliott (Boston) and Andy Pafko (Chicago) 27, Del Ennis (Philadelphia) 26, Hank Thompson (New York), Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia) and Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 23, Sam Jethroe (Boston, 32-year-old rookie), Roy Campanella (Brooklyn), Wes Westrum (New York), Willie Jones and Andy Seminick (Philadelphia) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Ewell Blackwell (Cincinnati) and Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 26, Larry Jansen (New York) 25, Jim Konstanty (Philadelphia) 23, Don Newcombe (Brooklyn) 22, Warren Spahn (Boston), Preacher Roe (Brooklyn) and Sal Maglie (New York) 21, Howie Pollet (St. Louis) 19, Vern Bickford (Boston) 18.

WAR scores: Stanky 8.0, Robinson 7.5, Torgeson 6.4, Musial and Gordon 6.3, Pafko 6.2, Snider 5.6, Elliott 5.2, Ennis 5.1, Thompson 5.0 (career year), Kiner and Al Dark (New York) 4.7, Campanella 4.4, Seminick 4.3, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn) 3.9, Westrum 3.7 (career year).

Pitchers, Roberts 7.0, Blackwell 6.3, Roe 5.5, Jansen 5.4, Spahn 5.2, Bickford 5.1 (career year), Maglie (first full year at 33) 4.9, Pollet (last good year) and Max Lanier St. Louis) 4.4, Murry Dickson (Pittsburgh) 4.3, Newcombe 4.1, Konstanty 4.0 (career year).

Actual award voting: MVP:
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Jim Konstanty PHI 18 286 336 0.85 | 37 4 0 .108 .216 0| 16-7 152 2.66 1.039 56 22
2 Stan Musial STL 1 158 336 0.47 | 555 192 28 .346 1.034 5|
3 Eddie Stanky NYG 2 144 336 0.43 | 527 158 8 .300 .872 9|
4 Del Ennis PHI 0 104 336 0.31 | 595 185 31 .311 .923 2|
5 Ralph Kiner PIT 1 91 336 0.27 | 547 149 47 .272 .998 2|
6 Granny Hamner PHI 2 79 336 0.24 | 637 172 11 .270 .694 2|
7 Robin Roberts PHI 0 68 336 0.20 | 102 12 0 .118 .299 0| 20-11 304 3.02 1.180 146 1
8 Gil Hodges BRO 0 55 336 0.16 | 561 159 32 .283 .875 6|
9 Duke Snider BRO 0 53 336 0.16 | 620 199 31 .321 .932 16|
10 Sal Maglie NYG 0 51 336 0.15 | 66 8 0 .121 .353 1| 18-4 206 2.71 1.238 96 1
11 Ewell Blackwell CIN 0 41 336 0.12 | 89 13 0 .146 .349 0| 17-15 261 2.97 1.207 188 4
12 Andy Pafko CHC 0 38 336 0.11 | 514 156 36 .304 .989 4|
13 Roy Campanella BRO 0 29 336 0.09 | 437 123 31 .281 .916 1|
14 Andy Seminick PHI 0 25 336 0.07 | 393 113 24 .288 .925 0|
15 Jackie Robinson BRO 0 23 336 0.07 | 518 170 14 .328 .923 12|
16 Curt Simmons PHI 0 22 336 0.07 | 77 12 0 .156 .373 0| 17-8 215 3.40 1.239 146 1
17 Preacher Roe BRO 0 15 336 0.04 | 91 14 0 .154 .337 0| 19-11 251 3.30 1.241 125 1
18 Ted Kluszewski CIN 0 14 336 0.04 | 538 165 25 .307 .863 3|
18 Don Newcombe BRO 0 14 336 0.04 | 97 24 1 .247 .648 0| 19-11 267 3.70 1.246 130 3
18 Warren Spahn BSN 0 14 336 0.04 | 106 23 1 .217 .511 1| 21-17 293 3.16 1.225 191 1
21 Johnny Sain BSN 0 12 336 0.04 | 102 21 1 .206 .512 0| 20-13 278 3.95 1.308 96
22 Sid Gordon BSN 0 11 336 0.03 | 481 146 27 .304 .960 2|
23 Jim Hearn TOT 0 10 336 0.03 | + 45 7 0 .156 .418 1|+11-4 134 2.49 0.955 58
24 Bob Elliott BSN 0 8 336 0.02 | 531 162 24 .305 .898 2|
24 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 8 336 0.02 | 531 138 11 .260 .750 17|
24 Eddie Waitkus PHI 0 8 336 0.02 | 641 182 2 .284 .700 3|
27 Sam Jethroe BSN 0 6 336 0.02 | 582 159 18 .273 .780 35|
27 Earl Torgeson BSN 0 6 336 0.02 | 576 167 23 .290 .885 15|
29 Hank Sauer CHC 0 5 336 0.01 | 540 148 32 .274 .868 1|
30 Vern Bickford BSN 0 4 336 0.01 | 116 16 0 .138 .298 0| 19-14 312 3.46 1.331 126
30 Carl Furillo BRO 0 4 336 0.01 | 620 189 18 .305 .813 8|
32 Wes Westrum NYG 0 3 336 0.01 | 437 103 23 .236 .808 2|
33 Larry Jansen NYG 0 2 336 0.01 | 96 16 1 .167 .411 0| 19-13 275 3.01 1.065 161 3
33 Dick Sisler PHI 0 2 336 0.01 | 523 155 13 .296 .815 1|
33 Hank Thompson NYG 0 2 336 0.01 | 512 148 20 .289 .854 8|
36 Willie Jones PHI 0 1 336 0.00 | 610 163 25 .267 .793 5|

Rookie of the Year:
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+----+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Sam Jethroe BSN 11 11 24 0.46 | 582 159 18 .273 .780 35|
2 Bob Miller PHI 5 5 24 0.21 | 61 11 0 .180 .390 0| 11-6 174 3.57 1.420 44 1
3 Danny O'Connell PIT 4 4 24 0.17 | 315 92 8 .292 .768 7|
4 Bubba Church PHI 2 2 24 0.08 | 44 8 0 .182 .427 0| 8-6 142 2.73 1.190 50 1
5 Bill Serena CHC 1 1 24 0.04 | 435 104 17 .239 .760 1|

Top player: Jackie Robinson. I'll go with the best all-around player in the league over the loop's best hitter. There's a lot of ways to go with this. Musial, Robinson, best leadoff man Eddie Stanky, HR leader Kiner, RBI leader Ennis for the pennant winners, runs leader Torgeson, but Jackie was the best.
#1 Jackie Robinson, #2 Stan Musial, #3 Eddie Stanky, #4 Earl Torgeson, #5 Andy Pafko, #6 Duke Snider.

Top pitcher: Robin Roberts for the pennant winners, in another tough pick. Warren Spahn led in wins and strikeouts, Sal Maglie in ERA, Ewell Blackwell may have been most effective, Konstanty was outstanding, but Roberts presents the best overall case; 2nd in wins, 4th in ERA and strikeouts.
#1 Robin Roberts, #2 Ewell Blackwell, #3 Warren Spahn, #4 Larry Jansen, #5 Jim Konstanty.

Top rookie: Negro League veteran Sam Jethroe in a slack year for rookies. At .273 with 18 HR and 35 SB, Jethroe is the only viable candidate. Already approaching his mid-30s, Jethroe didn't last long.

Top manager: Eddie Sawyer got the Phillies to the Series.

1950 American League

The Yankees won another pennant as Phil Rizzuto had his career year, a monster season. It was a season of haves and have-nots, with a four-team pennant race between New York, Detroit (3 out), Boston (4 out) and Cleveland (6 out) all winning at least 92 games, and a second division starting with Washington at 87 losses. Chicago, St, Louis, and Philadelphia followed. Not much middle ground here. Berra and DiMaggio provided the Yankee power. Detroit had a nice surprise season. Boston had to deal with Ted Williams' missing much of the season after an All-Star Game injury but still rolled up the offense. Cleveland featured power and the league's best pitching.

Billy Goodman won the batting title at .354. Joe DiMaggio led in slugging, and Larry Doby in on-base and OPS. Dom DiMaggio led with 131 runs, 15 stolen bases, and tied Bobby Doerr and Hoot Evers with 11 triples. George Kell had 218 hits and 56 doubles. Al Rosen had 37 home runs, and Walt Dropo tied Vern Stephens with 144 RBI.

Bob Lemon had 23 wins, followed by Vic Raschi with 21. Lemon had 170 strikeouts to pace Allie Reynolds at 160. Early Wynn had a 3.20 ERA, followed by Ned Garver at 3.39. Mickey Harris had 15 saves to pace the loop.

Win Shares leaders, players; Phil Rizzuto (New York) 35, Yogi Berra (New York) 32, Larry Doby (Cleveland) 30, Al Rosen (Cleveland) and Joe DiMaggio (New York) 29, Hoot Evers, George Kell, and Vic Wertz (all Detroit) 26 each, Dom DiMaggio (Boston), Jerry Priddy (Detroit) and Ed Yost (Washington) 24, Bobby Doerr (Boston) 23, Vern Stephens (Boston), Johnny Groth (Detroit) and Irv Noren (Washington) 22, Walt Dropo (Boston) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Lemon (Cleveland), Art Houtteman (Detroit) and Ned Garver (St. Louis) 25, Mel Parnell (Boston) 22, Early Wynn (Cleveland) and Fred Hutchinson (Detroit) 21, Ed Lopat (New York) 20, Bob Feller (Cleveland) 19, Vic Raschi (New York) 18.

WAR scores: Rizzuto 7.1 (career year), Doby 6.3, Rosen 6.0 (first full year), Berra and J. DiMaggio 5.9, D. DiMaggio 4.5, Evers (career year) and Kell (best year) 4.4, Wertz, Priddy, and Ted Williams (Boston) 4.1, Stephens 4.0, Doerr 3.9, Johnny Pesky (Boston) 3.8, Yost 3.2. Billy Goodman, second in the MVP balloting, had 16 Win Shares and a 2.8 WAR.

Pitchers, Garver 7.1, Houtteman 6.6 (career year), Parnell 5.6, Feller 4.9, Wynn 4.5, Bill Wight (Chicago) 4.2, Allie Reynolds (New York) and Joe Dobson (Boston) 4.1, Raschi and Ellis Kinder (Boston) 3.9, Lopat 3.7, Lemon, Dizzy Trout (Detroit) and Lou Brissie (Philadelphia) 3.6, Hutchinson 3.3.

Actual award voting, MVP:
1 Phil Rizzuto NYY 16 284 336 0.85 | 617 200 7 .324 .857 12|
2 Billy Goodman BOS 4 180 336 0.54 | 424 150 4 .354 .882 2|
3 Yogi Berra NYY 3 146 336 0.43 | 597 192 28 .322 .915 4|
4 George Kell DET 0 127 336 0.38 | 641 218 8 .340 .886 3|
5 Bob Lemon CLE 0 102 336 0.30 | 136 37 6 .272 .825 0| 23-11 288 3.84 1.483 170 3
6 Walt Dropo BOS 0 75 336 0.22 | 559 180 34 .322 .961 0|
7 Vic Raschi NYY 0 63 336 0.19 | 86 17 1 .198 .514 0| 21-8 257 4.00 1.356 155 1
8 Larry Doby CLE 0 57 336 0.17 | 503 164 25 .326 .986 8|
9 Joe DiMaggio NYY 0 54 336 0.16 | 525 158 32 .301 .979 0|
10 Vic Wertz DET 0 50 336 0.15 | 559 172 27 .308 .941 0|
11 Hoot Evers DET 0 38 336 0.11 | 526 170 21 .323 .959 5|
12 Chico Carrasquel CHW 0 21 336 0.06 | 524 148 4 .282 .733 0|
12 Dizzy Trout DET 0 21 336 0.06 | 63 12 1 .190 .547 0| 13-5 185 3.75 1.375 88 4
14 Dom DiMaggio BOS 0 17 336 0.05 | 588 193 7 .328 .866 15|
15 Irv Noren WSH 0 16 336 0.05 | 542 160 14 .295 .834 5|
16 Bobby Doerr BOS 0 15 336 0.04 | 586 172 27 .294 .886 3|
17 Johnny Mize NYY 0 11 336 0.03 | 274 76 25 .277 .946 0|
17 Jerry Priddy DET 0 11 336 0.03 | 618 171 13 .277 .777 2|
17 Al Rosen CLE 0 11 336 0.03 | 554 159 37 .287 .948 5|
20 Eddie Yost WSH 0 8 336 0.02 | 573 169 11 .295 .845 6|
21 Whitey Ford NYY 0 7 336 0.02 | 36 7 0 .194 .469 0| 9-1 112 2.81 1.241 59 1
21 Mel Parnell BOS 0 7 336 0.02 | 98 19 0 .194 .485 0| 18-10 249 3.61 1.406 93 3
21 Ted Williams BOS 0 7 336 0.02 | 334 106 28 .317 1.099 3|
24 Ned Garver SLB 0 6 336 0.02 | 91 26 1 .286 .706 0| 13-18 260 3.39 1.431 85
24 Art Houtteman DET 0 6 336 0.02 | 93 14 0 .151 .409 0| 19-12 275 3.54 1.296 88 4
24 Vern Stephens BOS 0 6 336 0.02 | 628 185 30 .295 .872 1|
27 Sherm Lollar SLB 0 4 336 0.01 | 396 111 13 .280 .841 2|
28 Ed Lopat NYY 0 3 336 0.01 | 82 19 0 .232 .693 0| 18-8 236 3.47 1.308 72 1
29 Ken Wood SLB 0 2 336 0.01 | 369 83 13 .225 .695 0|
30 Sam Dente WSH 0 1 336 0.00 | 603 144 2 .239 .585 1|
30 Dave Philley CHW 0 1 336 0.00 | 619 150 14 .242 .662 6|


Rookie of the Year:
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---++
1 Walt Dropo BOS 15 15 24 0.62 | 559 180 34 .322 .961 0|
2 Whitey Ford NYY 6 6 24 0.25 | 36 7 0 .194 .469 0| 9-1 112 2.81 1.241 59 1
3 Chico Carrasquel CHW 2 2 24 0.08 | 524 148 4 .282 .733 0|

Top Player: Really a five-man race with Rizzuto, Berra, Rosen, Doby, and DiMaggio all having an argument, and tough to choose between. If you stick with the winning team, you still have Rizzuto, or Berra, or DiMaggio. I will choose Rizzuto, although there isn't much difference here.
#1 Phil Rizzuto, #2 Yogi Berra, #3 Al Rosen, #4 Larry Doby, #5 Joe DiMaggio, #6 George Kell.

Top pitcher: Bob Lemon, 23-game winner, over the better ERA of Ned Garver, who even drew some MVP votes despite a 13-18 record. Garver was 2nd in ERA with almost no help from his teammates.
#1 Bob Lemon, #2 Ned Garver, #3 Art Houtteman, #4 Mel Parnell, #5 Early Wynn.

Top rookie: Irv Noren didn't get any votes, but was a better player than the showier Dropo, tied for the league lead in RBI. Noren would become a valuable part for the Yankees, while Dropo would fall out of the league as his poor defense became too much for his power to overcome.

Top manager: Casey Stengel brought the Yankees home again.

1949 National League

Brooklyn beat St. Louis for the pennant by one game, as Jackie Robinson's year trumped Stan Musial's. The Phillies served notice, finishing third with a burgeoning young team. Everyone else was below .500, though no one was so bad as to lose 100 games. Boston, New York, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and Chicago finished in that order. Ralph Kiner kept the Pittsburgh fans interested by taking a run at Ruth's record, finishing with 54 homers. A dynasty was beginning to emerge in Brooklyn, as Duke Snider and Roy Campanella had their first full seasons as regulars, and Don Newcombe was in his rookie year.

Robinson edged Musial for the batting title .342 to .338. Musial led in on-base, Kiner in slugging and OPS. Pee Wee Reese led with 132 runs, Musial with 207 hits and 41 doubles, Musial and Enos Slaughter tied with 13 triples, Kiner had 54 home runs and 127 RBI, Robinson had 37 steals.

Warren Spahn paced the league with 21 wins, followed by Howie Pollet with 20. Dave Koslo led the league with a 2.50 ERA. Spahn had 151 strikeouts to edge Don Newcombe's 149. Ted Wilks led with 9 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Stan Musial (St. Louis) 40, Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 37, Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) 36, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn) 32, Enos Slaughter (St. Louis) 29, Del Ennis (Philadelphia) 27, Bobby Thomson (New York) 26, Roy Campanella and Duke Snider (Brooklyn) 24, Bob Elliott (Boston) and Carl Furillo (Brooklyn) 23, Eddie Stanky (Boston) and Gil Hodges (Brooklyn) 21, Red Schoendienst (St. Louis) 20.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Warren Spahn (Boston) and Howie Pollet (St. Louis) 24, Ken Heintzelman (Philadelphia) 23, Don Newcombe (Brooklyn) 21, Ken Raffensberger (Cincinnati) and Russ Meyer (Philadelphia) 20, Preacher Roe (Brooklyn), Dave Koslo (New York) and Murry Dickson (Pittsburgh) 19, Harry Brecheen (St. Louis) 18.

WAR scores: Robinson 10.3, Musial 8.7, Kiner 8.1, Reese 7.3, Thomson 5.8, Slaughter and Snider 5.4, Elliott 5.1, Ennis, Furillo, and Sid Gordon (New York) 4.9, Campanella 4.6, Willard Marshall (New York) 4.0, Stanky, Hodges, and Whitey Lockman (New York) 3.5.

Pitchers, Pollet 5.9, Roe 5.6, Newcombe 5.5 (rookie), Heintzelman 5.4 (career year), Koslo 5.3 (career year), Spahn 5.2, Raffensberger 4.8, Meyer 4.3, Dickson 4.2, Al Brazle (St. Louis) 4.0, Gerry Staley (St. Louis) 3.9, Brecheen and Robin Roberts (Philadelphia) 3.4.

Actual award winners; MVP (top 15)| 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 Jackie Robinson BRO 12 264 336 0.79 | 593 203 16 .342 .960 37|
2 Stan Musial STL 5 226 336 0.67 | 612 207 36 .338 1.062 3|
3 Enos Slaughter STL 2 181 336 0.54 | 568 191 13 .336 .929 3|
4 Ralph Kiner PIT 0 133 336 0.40 | 549 170 54 .310 1.089 6|
5 Pee Wee Reese BRO 2 118 336 0.35 | 617 172 16 .279 .806 26|
6 Carl Furillo BRO 2 68 336 0.20 | 549 177 18 .322 .875 4|
7 Warren Spahn BSN 0 60 336 0.18 | 111 18 2 .162 .408 1| 21-14 302 3.07 1.221 151
8 Don Newcombe BRO 0 55 336 0.16 | 96 22 0 .229 .538 0| 17-8 244 3.17 1.212 149 1
9 Ken Heintzelman PHI 1 48 336 0.14 | 83 13 0 .157 .382 0| 17-10 250 3.02 1.328 65
10 Red Schoendienst STL 0 30 336 0.09 | 640 190 3 .297 .707 8|
11 Gil Hodges BRO 0 29 336 0.09 | 596 170 23 .285 .813 10|
11 Howie Pollet STL 0 29 336 0.09 | 82 16 0 .195 .474 0| 20-9 231 2.77 1.244 108 1
13 Del Ennis PHI 0 28 336 0.08 | 610 184 25 .302 .892 2|
14 Bobby Thomson NYG 0 25 336 0.07 | 641 198 27 .309 .873 10|
15 Roy Campanella BRO 0 22 336 0.07 | 436 125 22 .287 .883 3|

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 Don Newcombe BRO 21 21 24 0.88 | 96 22 0 .229 .538 0| 17-8 244 3.17 1.212 149 1
2 Del Crandall BSN 3 3 24 0.12 | 228 60 4 .263 .660 2|

Top player: Jackie Robinson. It's a close call between Robinson and Musial, but I will go with Robinson on the pennant-winning team since Musial's lead in WS is well within the error margins and Robinson has a slight edge in WAR. Musial led in hits, total bases, doubles, triples, and on base, with Robinson ahead in average and steals. Robinson rates a good-sized defensive edge, so I'll go with him.
#1 Jackie Robinson, #2 Stan Musial, #3 Ralph Kiner, #4 Pee Wee Reese, #5 Enos Slaughter, #6 Bobby Thomson.

Top pitcher: Howie Pollet, 2nd in wins and 3rd in ERA. Just ahead of Warren Spahn, the wins and strikeouts leader. A very close call, again.
#1 Howie Pollet, #2 Warren Spahn, #3 Dave Koslo (ERA leader), #4 Ken Heintzelman, #5 Don Newcombe.

Top rookie: Don Newcombe runs away with this. 17-8 for the pennant winners in his debut.

Top manager: Burt Shotton brought a young Dodger team home.

1949 American League

Casey Stengel was hired to manage in New York, and the Yankees began a streak of five straight World Championships, unequaled before or since. It topped the 1936-39 Yankees' streak. This was also the year that began the run of 14 pennants in 16 years. It seemed the Yankees would win forever, and many fans came to accept this level of success as their birthright. The Yankees won without a true standout player, as DiMaggio was hurt much of the year. The races would be tough, though, as the Red Sox finished but one game behind on a tremendous year by Ted Williams and a scary offense. Cleveland was a strong 3rd with Detroit 4th, and Philadelphia a surprise plus-.500 5th. Chicago was 6th, while St. Louis and Washington both lost 100 games.

George Kell edged Ted Williams for the batting title. Both hit .343, but Kell was ahead by a fraction of a point that disappears with rounding. Williams led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. He also led with 150 runs, 39 doubles, 43 home runs, and tied teammate Vern Stephens with 159 RBI. Dale Mitchell had 23 triples, and Bob Dillinger had 20 steals.

Mel Parnell led the league with 25 wins, and teammate Ellis Kinder was second with 23. Mike Garcia led with a 2.36 ERA, and Parnell was second with a 2.77 mark. Virgil Trucks led with 153 strikeouts, and his teammate Hal Newhouser was second with 144. Joe Page lapped the field with 27 saves, as second place was Al Benton at 10, and third place was a total of 6. The 27 established a new single-season record, surpassing Fred Marberry's mark of 22 from 1926. No one knew this at the time, as the save was not officially established until 1960.

Win Shares leaders, players; Ted Williams 40, Eddie Joost (Philadelphia) 35, Vern Stephens (Boston) 32, Bobby Doerr (Boston) 25, Dom DiMaggio (Boston), Larry Doby (Cleveland), George Kell (Detroit), Tommy Henrich (New York) and Elmer Valo and Sam Chapman (Philadelphia) 24, Johnny Pesky (Boston), Dale Mitchell (Cleveland) and Vic Wertz (Detroit) 23, Cass Michaels (Chicago) and Phil Rizzuto (New York) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Mel Parnell (Boston) and Bob Lemon (Cleveland) 31, Virgil Trucks (Detroit) 27, Hal Newhouser (Detroit) 25, Ellis Kinder (Boston) 22, Mike Garcia (Cleveland) 21, Fred Hutchinson (Detroit), Vic Raschi and Joe Page (New York) 19.

WAR scores: Williams 9.5, Joost 7.0 (career year), Stephens 6.8 (best year), Doerr 5.5, Kell and Joe DiMaggio (New York) 5.0, Michaels 4.9 (career year), Henrich 4.7, Luke Appling (Chicago) 4.6, Valo 4.2 (career year), Rizzuto 3.8, Joe Gordon (Cleveland) 3.6, D. DiMaggio 3.5, Doby, Chapman, Pesky, Wertz, and Mickey Vernon (Cleveland) 3.4.

Pitchers, Parnell 8.0 (career year), Trucks 7.2 (career year), Newhouser 5.9 (last big year), Lemon 5.7, Kinder 5.3, Garcia 4.9 (rookie), Al Benton (Cleveland) 4.5, Hutchinson 4.4, Bill Wight (Chicago) 4.1, Raschi 4.0, Page and Ted Gray (Detroit) 3.5.

Actual award winners: MVP--
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+--
1 Ted Williams BOS 13 272 336 0.81 | 566 194 43 .343 1.141 1|
2 Phil Rizzuto NYY 5 175 336 0.52 | 614 169 5 .275 .711 18|
3 Joe Page NYY 3 166 336 0.49 | 40 7 0 .175 .370 0| 13-8 135 2.59 1.316 99 27
4 Mel Parnell BOS 1 151 336 0.45 | 114 29 0 .254 .554 0| 25-7 295 2.77 1.327 122 2
5 Ellis Kinder BOS 0 122 336 0.36 | 92 12 0 .130 .336 0| 23-6 252 3.36 1.389 138 4
6 Tommy Henrich NYY 1 121 336 0.36 | 411 118 24 .287 .942 2|
7 Vern Stephens BOS 1 100 336 0.30 | 610 177 39 .290 .930 2|
8 George Kell DET 0 80 336 0.24 | 522 179 3 .343 .892 7|
9 Bob Lemon CLE 0 57 336 0.17 | 108 29 7 .269 .886 0| 22-10 280 2.99 1.244 138 1
10 Vic Wertz DET 0 51 336 0.15 | 608 185 20 .304 .851 2|
11 Vic Raschi NYY 0 19 336 0.06 | 83 13 0 .157 .464 0| 21-10 275 3.34 1.402 124
12 Joe DiMaggio NYY 0 18 336 0.05 | 272 94 14 .346 1.055 0|
13 Eddie Joost PHA 0 11 336 0.03 | 525 138 23 .263 .883 2|
14 Lou Boudreau CLE 0 10 336 0.03 | 475 135 4 .284 .745 0|
15 Yogi Berra NYY 0 9 336 0.03 | 415 115 20 .277 .802 2|
16 Dom DiMaggio BOS 0 7 336 0.02 | 605 186 8 .307 .824 9|
16 Bobby Doerr BOS 0 7 336 0.02 | 541 167 18 .309 .890 2|
18 Alex Kellner PHA 0 6 336 0.02 | 92 20 0 .217 .501 0| 20-12 245 3.75 1.518 94 1
18 Eddie Robinson WSH 0 6 336 0.02 | 527 155 18 .294 .840 3|
18 Roy Sievers SLB 0 6 336 0.02 | 471 144 16 .306 .869 1|
18 Birdie Tebbetts BOS 0 6 336 0.02 | 403 109 5 .270 .712 8|
22 Luke Appling CHW 0 3 336 0.01 | 492 148 5 .301 .833 7|
22 Art Houtteman DET 0 3 336 0.01 | 78 19 0 .244 .522 0| 15-10 204 3.71 1.404 85
22 Jerry Priddy SLB 0 3 336 0.01 | 544 158 11 .290 .796 5|
22 Virgil Trucks DET 0 3 336 0.01 | 100 12 0 .120 .277 0| 19-11 275 2.81 1.211 153 4
26 Dale Mitchell CLE 0 2 336 0.01 | 640 203 3 .317 .788 10|
26 Allie Reynolds NYY 0 2 336 0.01 | 78 17 0 .218 .637 0| 17-6 214 4.00 1.511 105 1

Rookie of the Year--
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+--
1 Roy Sievers SLB 10 10 24 0.42 | 471 144 16 .306 .869 1|
2 Alex Kellner PHA 5 5 24 0.21 | 92 20 0 .217 .501 0| 20-12 245 3.75 1.518 94 1
3 Jerry Coleman NYY 4 4 24 0.17 | 447 123 2 .275 .725 8|
4 Mike Garcia CLE 1 1 24 0.04 | 51 12 1 .235 .611 0| 14-5 176 2.36 1.218 94 2
4 Johnny Groth DET 1 1 24 0.04 | 348 102 11 .293 .878 3|
4 Bob Kuzava CHW 1 1 24 0.04 | 56 2 0 .036 .120 0| 10-6 157 4.02 1.468 83

Top player: Ted Williams. Williams' team came up just one game short, and he was by far the best hitter in the league, leading in on-base, slugging, runs, total bases, doubles, homers, tied in RBI, and a fraction of a point behind in average. Just that much short of another Triple Crown. 1949 was a last hurrah for this edition of the Red Sox, as Williams was hurt in 1950, and the core of the team began to age and decline.
#1 Ted Williams, #2 Eddie Joost, #3 Vern Stephens, #4 Bobby Doerr, #5 George Kell, #6 Cass Michaels.

Top pitcher: Mel Parnell had his career year, leading the league with 25 wins and finishing 2nd in ERA. Ellis Kinder also had a career year, and Bob Lemon was great, while Joe Page was the top reliever in the league. None was as good as Parnell.
#1 Mel Parnell, #2 Bob Lemon, #3 Virgil Trucks, #4 Hal Newhouser, #5 Ellis Kinder.

Top rookie: Mike Garcia, the ERA leader. Sievers had a nice year, but Garcia was better.

Top manager: Casey Stengel survived the injury to his star player to win in his first year in the Bronx.

1948 National League

The Boston Braves staff of "Spahn and Sain and pray for rain" got enough rain, apparently, to win the pennant. Actually, Bill Voiselle and Vern Bickford helped out on the mound, and Tommy Holmes, Al Dark and Bob Elliott led the offense as the Braves won their first pennant since the 1914 "miracle" team. They would not win another until they moved to Milwaukee. The Braves beat the Cardinals, Dodgers, Pirates, and Giants to win the flag. Philadelphia, Cincinnati, and Chicago filled out the bottom of the standings. Stan Musial came back from an off year to nearly win the Triple Crown and lead the league in just about every batting category.

Musial was just one home run short of a Triple Crown. He led the league with a .376 average (Richie Ashburn was second at a mere .333) and 131 RBI (Johnny Mize was second at 125). He also led in on-base, slugging, and OPS, had 135 runs, 230 hits, 46 doubles, and 18 triples, all leading figures. His 39 homers were just short of Ralph Kiner and Mize at 40. Ashburn led with 32 steals.

Johnny Sain's 24 wins paced the loop. Harry Brecheen led with 149 strikeouts and a 2.24 ERA. Brecheen also led with 7 shutouts and was second with 20 wins. Dutch Leonard was second in ERA with a 2.51 mark. Harry Gumbert had 17 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Stan Musial (St. Louis) 46, Johnny Mize (New York) and Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 30, Bob Elliott (Boston) 27, Enos Slaughter (St. Louis) 26, Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) and Sid Gordon (New York) 25, Del Ennis (Philadelphia) 24, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn), Andy Pafko (Chicago) and Whitey Lockman (St. Louis) 23, Richie Ashburn (Philadelphia) and Stan Rojek (Pittsburgh) 21, Al Dark and Jeff Heath (Boston) 20.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Johnny Sain (Boston) 28, Harry Brecheen (St. Louis) 27, Johnny Schmitz (Chicago) 22, Johnny Vander Meer (Cincinnati) 20, Dutch Leonard (Philadelphia) 19, Rex Barney (Brooklyn) 18, Larry Jansen (New York) and Ted Wilks (St. Louis) 17, Preacher Roe (Brooklyn) and Bob Chesnes (Pittsburgh) 16.

WAR scores: Musial 11.5 (his peak), Mize 6.9 (last big year), Kiner 6.1, Elliott and Gordon 6.0, Robinson 5.5, Pafko 5.3, Slaughter 5.0, Reese 4.8, Lockman 4.7 (not quite a rookie--played too much in 1945), Heath 4.6, Gene Hermanski (Brooklyn) 4.2, Ashburn (rookie), Rojek (best year), and Dark (rookie) 3.8.

Pitchers, Brecheen 8.0 (career year), Sain 7.5, Leonard 5.4, Schmitz 5.0 (career year), Roe 4.5, Barney 4.4 (career year), Vander Meer 4.3 (last good year), Wilks 4.0, Jansen 3.9, Ralph Branca (Brooklyn) 3.3.

Actual award voting—MVP Top 20.
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+----+---
1 Stan Musial STL 18 303 336 0.90 | 611 230 39 .376 1.152 7|
2 Johnny Sain BSN 5 223 336 0.66 | 115 25 0 .217 .485 0| 24-15 315 2.60 1.207 137 1
3 Alvin Dark BSN 1 174 336 0.52 | 543 175 3 .322 .786 4|
4 Sid Gordon NYG 0 72 336 0.21 | 521 156 30 .299 .927 8|
5 Harry Brecheen STL 0 61 336 0.18 | 82 12 0 .146 .387 0| 20-7 233 2.24 1.037 149 1
6 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 60 336 0.18 | 566 155 9 .274 .753 25|
7 Ralph Kiner PIT 0 55 336 0.16 | 555 147 40 .265 .924 1|
7 Enos Slaughter STL 0 55 336 0.16 | 549 176 11 .321 .879 4|
9 Danny Murtaugh PIT 0 52 336 0.15 | 514 149 1 .290 .721 10|
10 Stan Rojek PIT 0 51 336 0.15 | 641 186 4 .290 .721 24|
11 Richie Ashburn PHI 0 48 336 0.14 | 463 154 2 .333 .810 32|
12 Johnny Schmitz CHC 0 37 336 0.11 | 84 11 0 .131 .328 0| 18-13 242 2.64 1.169 100 1
13 Bob Elliott BSN 0 33 336 0.10 | 540 153 23 .283 .897 6|
14 Warren Spahn BSN 0 31 336 0.09 | 90 15 1 .167 .452 0| 15-12 257 3.71 1.222 114 1
15 Jackie Robinson BRO 0 30 336 0.09 | 574 170 12 .296 .820 22|
16 Andy Pafko CHC 0 25 336 0.07 | 548 171 26 .312 .891 3|
17 Johnny Mize NYG 0 22 336 0.07 | 560 162 40 .289 .959 4|
18 Rex Barney BRO 0 15 336 0.04 | 84 14 0 .167 .353 0| 15-13 247 3.10 1.277 138
19 Johnny Vander Meer CIN 0 13 336 0.04 | 78 11 1 .141 .417 0| 17-14 232 3.41 1.414 120
20 Johnny Wyrostek CIN 0 9 336 0.03 | 512 140 17 .273 .799 7|

and 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 Alvin Dark BSN 27 27 48 0.56 | 543 175 3 .322 .786 4|
2 Gene Bearden CLE 8 8 48 0.17 | 90 23 2 .256 .650 0| 20-7 230 2.43 1.276 80 1
3 Richie Ashburn PHI 7 7 48 0.15 | 463 154 2 .333 .810 32|
4 Lou Brissie PHA 3 3 48 0.06 | 76 18 0 .237 .506 0| 14-10 194 4.13 1.531 127 5
4 Billy Goodman BOS 3 3 48 0.06 | 445 138 1 .310 .801 5|

Top player: Stan Musial by a wide margin. Stan the Man fell one HR short of a Triple Crown, and was on a second-place team, but the voters got this right. Bob Elliott got surprisingly little support, probably because he won the award the year before. If he hadn't, he might have won for the pennant-winning year.
#1 Stan Musial, #2 Bob Elliott, #3 Johnny Mize, #4 Ralph Kiner, #5 Jackie Robinson, #6 Andy Pafko.

Top pitcher: Johnny Sain and his 24 wins dominate here. He was also 3rd in ERA and strikeouts. Brecheen was 2nd in wins and first in ERA and strikeouts, but didn't have quite the innings of Sain.
#1 Johnny Sain, #2 Harry Brecheen, #3 Johnny Schmitz, #4 Johnny Vander Meer, #5 Dutch Leonard.

Top rookie: Richie Ashburn. Voters went for Al Dark on the pennant winners, but Dark was 26, and Ashburn played better.

Top manager: Billy Southworth, managing that rotation and delicate offense.

1948 American League

The Cleveland Indians won their first pennant and World Series since 1920, also their last World Championship to date. Lou Boudreau was the best .355-hitting manager ever, and rookie Gene Bearden teamed with Bob Lemon and Bob Feller to give the Indians three outstanding pitchers. The Indians outlasted Boston by one game and the Yankees by 2.5, with Philadelphia 4th and Detroit 5th. St. Louis, Washington and Chicago each lost at least 90 games. Ted Williams won the batting title while Joe DiMaggio led in HR and RBI, but Cleveland took home the hardware.

Williams had a .369 average to Boudreau's .355. Teddy Ballgame also led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. Tommy Henrich led with 138 runs and 14 triples. Bob Dillinger led with 207 hits and 28 steals. DiMaggio had 39 HR and 155 RBI. Williams had 44 doubles.

Hal Newhouser led the league in wins with 21. Bob Feller led with 164 strikeouts, and teammate rookie Gene Bearden led with a 2.43 ERA. Fellow Clevelander Russ Christopher edged Joe Page in saves, 17 to 16. Bob Lemon had 10 shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Ted Williams (Boston) 39, Lou Boudreau (Cleveland) and Joe DiMaggio (New York) 34, Tommy Henrich (New York) 29, Bobby Doerr (Boston) 27, Dom DiMaggio (Boston) and Eddie Joost (Philadelphia) 26, Vern Stephens (Boston), Ken Keltner (Cleveland) and Hank Majeski (Philadelphia) 25, Joe Gordon (Cleveland) 24, Pat Mullin (Detroit) 22, Ferris Fain (Philadelphia) 21, Johnny Pesky (Boston), Dale Mitchell (Cleveland), Hoot Evers (Detroit) and Jerry Priddy (St. Louis) 20.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Hal Newhouser (Detroit) 27, Bob Lemon (Cleveland) 26, Gene Bearden (Cleveland) 22, Joe Dobson (Boston) and Carl Scheib (Philadelphia) 20, Mel Parnell (Boston) and Ned Garver (St. Louis) 18, Dick Fowler (Philadelphia) 17, Virgil Trucks (Detroit) and Allie Reynolds (New York) 16.

WAR scores: Boudreau 10.5 (career year), Williams 8.9, J. DiMaggio 7.4, Gordon 6.4, Keltner 6.2 (last good year), Henrich 6.0, Doerr 5.2, Stephens 4.9, Larry Doby (Cleveland) 3.9, D. DiMaggio 3.7, Joost, Majeski, and Priddy 3.6, Fain and Pesky 3.2, Mullin 3.1 (career year).

Pitchers, Newhouser 6.3, Lemon 6.0, Bearden 5.7 (rookie, only good year), Ray Scarborough (Washington) 4.8, Parnell 4.2, Garver 4.0 (rookie), Trucks and Cliff Fannin (St. Louis) 3.7, Dobson 3.5, Fowler and Walt Masterson (Washington) 3.3, Scheib (career year) and Bob Feller (Cleveland) 3.2, Reynolds 3.1, Dizzy Trout (Detroit) 3.0.

Actual award winners: MVP Top 21.
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---+-+
1 Lou Boudreau CLE 22 324 336 0.96 | 560 199 18 .355 .987 3
2 Joe DiMaggio NYY 2 213 336 0.63 | 594 190 39 .320 .994 1
3 Ted Williams BOS 0 171 336 0.51 | 509 188 25 .369 1.112 4
4 Vern Stephens BOS 0 121 336 0.36 | 635 171 29 .269 .821 1
5 Bob Lemon CLE 0 101 336 0.30 | 119 34 5 .286 .818 0| 20-14 294 2.82 1.226 147 2
6 Joe Gordon CLE 0 63 336 0.19 | 550 154 32 .280 .879 5
6 Tommy Henrich NYY 0 63 336 0.19 | 588 181 25 .308 .945 2
8 Gene Bearden CLE 0 52 336 0.15 | 90 23 2 .256 .650 0| 20-7 230 2.43 1.276 80 1
9 Hal Newhouser DET 0 48 336 0.14 | 92 19 0 .207 .513 0| 21-12 272 3.01 1.278 143 1
10 Eddie Joost PHA 0 39 336 0.12 | 509 127 16 .250 .788 2
11 Hank Majeski PHA 0 23 336 0.07 | 590 183 12 .310 .822 2
11 Vic Raschi NYY 0 23 336 0.07 | 81 19 0 .235 .563 0| 19-8 223 3.84 1.266 124 1
11 Birdie Tebbetts BOS 0 23 336 0.07 | 446 125 5 .280 .752 5
14 Ken Keltner CLE 0 18 336 0.05 | 558 166 31 .297 .917 2
15 Jerry Priddy SLB 0 16 336 0.05 | 560 166 8 .296 .834 6
16 George Kell DET 0 14 336 0.04 | 368 112 2 .304 .772 2
17 Hoot Evers DET 0 13 336 0.04 | 538 169 10 .314 .831 3
18 Al Zarilla SLB 0 11 336 0.03 | 529 174 12 .329 .871 11
19 Bob Dillinger SLB 0 10 336 0.03 | 644 207 2 .321 .799 28
19 Bobby Doerr BOS 0 10 336 0.03 | 527 150 27 .285 .891 3
19 Jim Hegan CLE 0 10 336 0.03 | 472 117 14 .248 .724 6

Top player: Lou Boudreau. WAR is right and Win Shares is wrong: Boudreau was the man in 1948. Williams and DiMaggio had worthy seasons, but no one has ever had a better campaign than the Year of Boudreau.
#1 Lou Boudreau, #2 Ted Williams, #3 Joe DiMaggio, #4 Ken Keltner, #5 Joe Gordon, #6 Tommy Henrich.

Top pitcher: Bob Lemon. Hal Newhouser had one more win, but Lemon had a better ERA and helped pitch his team to the pennant.
#1 Bob Lemon, #2 Hal Newhouser, #3 Gene Bearden, #4 Joe Dobson, #5 Mel Parnell.

Top rookie: Gene Bearden was a one-year wonder, as batters learned to lay off his dipping knuckleball. But his 20-win season was invaluable to the Indians' efforts.

Top manager: Everything Lou Boudreau did went right this year.

1947 National League

It was an historic year, and the beginning of an era. 1947 was Jackie Robinson's rookie year with Brooklyn. It meant the breaking of the color line, the start of a Dodger dynasty, and the beginning of a tidal turn from the AL being the better league to NL dominance, all things that would continue for years to come. Brooklyn won the pennant with their controversial rookie 1B (who would switch to 2B the next year) while St. Louis finished 5 games back, with Boston 3rd at 8 games behind and New York 4th, 13 off the pace. Cincinnati, Chicago, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh made up the second division.

Harry (The Hat) Walker won the batting title with a .363 average, Johnny Mize and Ralph Kiner were the big sluggers with 51 HR each, and around the league it was a year of transition. Hank Greenberg played his only NL season this year, with Pittsburgh. Mize led with 138 RBI and 137 runs. Walker led in on-base, Kiner in slugging and OPS. Tommy Holmes led with 191 hits. Eddie Miller led with 38 doubles, Walker with 13 triples. Jackie Robinson stole 29 bases.

Warren Spahn established himself as a star pitcher, and was the ERA leader at 2.33. Ewell Blackwell, the sidearming "Whip," had a terrific year, leading the league with 22 wins and 193 strikeouts, and Hugh Casey came up big out of the bullpen for Brooklyn as relief pitching continued to evolve. Casey had 18 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players: Johnny Mize (New York) 32, Ralph Kiner (Pittsburgh) 30, Bob Elliott (Boston) 29, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn) and Whitey Kurowski (St. Louis) 26, Stan Musial (St. Louis) 25, Willard Marshall (New York) and Harry Walker (St. Louis/Philadelphia) 24, Dixie Walker (Brooklyn) and Walker Cooper (New York) 23, Grady Hatton and Eddie Miller (Cincinnati) 22, Tommy Holmes (Boston), Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn) and Augie Galan (Cincinnati) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Warren Spahn (Boston) 32, Ewell Blackwell (Cincinnati) 28, Ralph Branca (Brooklyn) 26, Johnny Sain (Boston) 24, Dutch Leonard (Philadelphia) 23, Larry Jansen (New York) 20, Harry Brecheen (St. Louis) 19, Johnny Schmitz (Chicago) and Murry Dickson and George Munger (St. Louis) 18.

WAR scores: Kiner 7.9, Mize 7.3, Elliott and Kurowski (last good year) 6.2, Reese 6.0, H. Walker 5.9, Marshall 5.4 (career year), Cooper 5.3, Musial 4.8 (an off-year for Stan the Man), Galan 3.9 (last good year), Enos Slaughter (St. Louis) 3.8, D. Walker, Earl Torgeson (Boston) and Bobby Thomson (New York) 3.5, Robinson (rookie) and Eddie Stanky (Brooklyn) 3.4.

Pitchers, Spahn 8.5, Blackwell 8.3 (career year), Branca 6.6 (career year), Leonard 5.8, Jansen 4.8 (rookie), Brecheen 4.5, Munger 4.4, Dickson 4.1, Sain, and Joe Hatten (Brooklyn) 3.9, Al Brazle (St. Louis) 3.8, Kirby Higbe (Brooklyn/Pittsburgh) 3.5.

Actual award voting:
1947 National League Most Valuable Player (top 21)
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Bob Elliott BSN 9 205 336 0.61 | 555 176 22 .317 .927 3
2 Ewell Blackwell CIN 2 175 336 0.52 | 106 13 0 .123 .272 0| 22-8 273 2.47 1.179 193
3 Johnny Mize NYG 2 144 336 0.43 | 586 177 51 .302 .998 2
4 Bruce Edwards BRO 3 140 336 0.42 | 471 139 9 .295 .782 2
5 Jackie Robinson BRO 1 106 336 0.32 | 590 175 12 .297 .810 29
6 Ralph Kiner PIT 0 101 336 0.30 | 565 177 51 .313 1.055 1
7 Larry Jansen NYG 1 91 336 0.27 | 86 16 0 .186 .423 0| 21-5 248 3.16 1.202 104 1
8 Pee Wee Reese BRO 2 80 336 0.24 | 476 135 12 .284 .841 7
9 Whitey Kurowski STL 0 45 336 0.13 | 513 159 27 .310 .964 4
9 Harry Walker TOT 0 45 336 0.13 | +513 186 1 .363 .924 13
11 Ralph Branca BRO 0 40 336 0.12 | 97 12 0 .124 .317 0| 21-12 280 2.67 1.246 148 1
12 Hugh Casey BRO 0 37 336 0.11 | 18 1 0 .056 .161 0| 10-4 77 3.99 1.356 40 18
13 Dutch Leonard PHI 1 32 336 0.10 | 80 14 0 .175 .392 0| 17-12 235 2.68 1.196 103
13 Eddie Stanky BRO 0 32 336 0.10 | 559 141 3 .252 .702 3
15 Warren Spahn BSN 0 26 336 0.08 | 98 16 0 .163 .416 0| 21-10 290 2.33 1.136 123 3
16 Willard Marshall NYG 1 20 336 0.06 | 587 171 36 .291 .894 3
16 Johnny Sain BSN 0 20 336 0.06 | 107 37 0 .346 .775 0| 21-12 266 3.52 1.293 132 1
18 Walker Cooper NYG 0 19 336 0.06 | 515 157 35 .305 .926 2
19 Dixie Walker BRO 1 14 336 0.04 | 529 162 9 .306 .842 6
20 Stan Musial STL 0 12 336 0.04 | 587 183 19 .312 .902 4
20 Enos Slaughter STL 0 12 336 0.04 | 551 162 10 .294 .818 4


1947 Major League Rookie of the Year (both leagues)
| 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 Jackie Robinson BRO 0 129 165 0.78 | 590 175 12 .297 .810 29
2 Larry Jansen NYG 0 105 165 0.64 | 86 16 0 .186 .423 0| 21-5 248 3.16 1.202 104 1
3 Spec Shea NYY 0 67 165 0.41 | 56 11 0 .196 .530 0| 14-5 179 3.07 1.209 89 1
4 Ferris Fain PHA 0 43 165 0.26 | 461 134 7 .291 .837 4
5 Frank Baumholtz CIN 0 42 165 0.25 | 643 182 5 .283 .726 6

Top player: Ralph Kiner. Elliot won the award as a sort of career achievement trophy, but Kiner had the most impressive year, even is it was for a last-place team.
#1 Ralph Kiner, #2 Bob Elliott, #3 Johnny Mize, #4 Whitey Kurowski, #5 Pee Wee Reese, #6 Harry Walker.

Top pitcher: Warren Spahn in his breakout season, a tough choice over The Whip's lead in wins and strikeouts. Spahnie led in ERA.
#1 Warren Spahn, #2 Ewell Blackwell, #3 Ralph Branca, #4 Dutch Leonard, #5 Larry Jansen.

Top rookie: Jackie Robinson. Larry Jansen may have had a better season superficially, but he wasn't carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders while doing it.

Top manager: Burt Shotton, thrust into the Dodgers job when Leo Durocher was suspended for the year, and dealing with the Robinson debut, and winning the pennant all at the same time.

1947 American League

The Yankees won by a twelve game margin, after a three-year pennant drought. Ted Williams won the Triple Crown but Joe DiMaggio won the MVP. DiMag was 2nd on OPS and OPS+, but this was one of those years where you get an argument. It was a year of statistical parity, with Williams the only 100-RBI man, and Bob Feller the only pitcher to win 20. Williams was also the only hitter with 30 HR. Detroit was 2nd, with Boston 3rd and Cleveland 4th, while Philadelphia climbed to 5th. Chicago, Washington, and St. Louis brought up the rear.

Ted Williams won the Triple Crown with a .343-32-114 line. Second in those categories were Barney McCosky with a .328 average, Joe Gordon with 29 HR, and Tommy Henrich with 98 RBI. Williams led in on-base, slugging, and OPS, and with 125 runs scored. Other leaders included Johnny Pesky at 207 hits, Lou Boudreau at 45 doubles, Henrich with 13 triples, and Bob Dillinger with 34 steals.

Bob Feller led the pitchers with 20 wins and 196 strikeouts, followed by Phil Marchildon and Allie Reynolds at 19 wins, and Hal Newhouser with 176 strikeouts. Joe Haynes led in ERA at 2.42, followed by Feller at 2.68. Ed Klieman and Joe Page tied with 17 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Ted Williams (Boston) 44, Joe DiMaggio (New York) 30, Lou Boudreau (Cleveland) 28, Tommy Henrich (New York) 27, Phil Rizzuto (New York) 26, Johnny Pesky (Boston), Joe Gordon (Cleveland) and Stan Spence (Washington) 25, George Kell (Detroit) and George McQuinn (New York) 24, Vern Stephens (St. Louis) 23.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Hal Newhouser (Detroit) 24, Bob Feller (Cleveland) 23, Fred Hutchinson (Detroit) 22, Ed Lopat (Cleveland), Phil Marchildon (Philadelphia), and Walt Masterson (Washington) 21, Joe Dobson (Boston) and Early Wynn (Washington) 20, Joe Haynes (Chicago) and Dick Fowler (Philadelphia) 18.

WAR scores: Williams 10.3, Boudreau 7.3, Gordon 6.9, DiMaggio 5.6, Henrich 5.3, McQuinn 4.7, Pesky 4.4, Rizzuto, Kell, and Roy Cullenbine (Detroit) 4.2, Snuffy Stirnweiss (New York), Ferris Fain (Philadelphia), and Luke Appling (Chicago) 3.8, Stephens and Bobby Doerr (Boston) 3.5.

Pitchers, Newhouser 5.9, Feller 5.4, Lopat 5.2, Masterson 5.0, Fowler 4.8, Dobson 4.7, Hutchinson 4.2, Marchildon 4.1 (career year), Haynes and Yankee reliever Joe Page 3.5, Allie Reynolds (New York) 3.2, Spec Shea (New York) 3.1, Wynn 2.9.

Actual award winner: MVP top 25
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----+---+-----+-----+-+
1 Joe DiMaggio NYY 8 202 336 0.60 | 534 168 20 .315 .913 3
2 Ted Williams BOS 3 201 336 0.60 | 528 181 32 .343 1.133 0
3 Lou Boudreau CLE 1 168 336 0.50 | 538 165 4 .307 .811 1
4 Joe Page NYY 7 167 336 0.50 | 46 10 1 .217 .533 0| 14-8 141 2.48 1.253 116 17
5 George Kell DET 0 132 336 0.39 | 588 188 5 .320 .798 9
6 George McQuinn NYY 3 77 336 0.23 | 517 157 13 .304 .832 0
7 Joe Gordon CLE 0 59 336 0.18 | 562 153 29 .272 .842 7
8 Bob Feller CLE 0 58 336 0.17 | 98 18 0 .184 .500 0| 20-11 299 2.68 1.194 196 3
9 Phil Marchildon PHA 0 47 336 0.14 | 98 15 1 .153 .408 0| 19-9 277 3.22 1.334 128
10 Luke Appling CHW 0 43 336 0.13 | 503 154 8 .306 .797 8
11 Eddie Joost PHA 0 35 336 0.10 | 540 111 13 .206 .678 6
11 Barney McCosky PHA 0 35 336 0.10 | 546 179 1 .328 .795 1
13 Tommy Henrich NYY 0 33 336 0.10 | 550 158 16 .287 .857 3
14 Spec Shea NYY 0 23 336 0.07 | 56 11 0 .196 .530 0| 14-5 179 3.07 1.209 89 1
15 Yogi Berra NYY 0 18 336 0.05 | 293 82 11 .280 .775 0
15 Allie Reynolds NYY 0 18 336 0.05 | 89 13 0 .146 .366 0| 19-8 242 3.20 1.365 129 2
17 Bob Dillinger SLB 0 13 336 0.04 | 571 168 3 .294 .733 34
18 Johnny Pesky BOS 0 11 336 0.03 | 638 207 0 .324 .785 12
19 Ferris Fain PHA 0 9 336 0.03 | 461 134 7 .291 .837 4
19 Billy Johnson NYY 0 9 336 0.03 | 494 141 10 .285 .768 1
19 Stan Spence WSH 0 9 336 0.03 | 506 141 16 .279 .819 2
22 Fred Hutchinson DET 0 8 336 0.02 | 106 32 2 .302 .783 2| 18-10 220 3.03 1.238 113 2
23 Early Wynn WSH 0 7 336 0.02 | 120 33 2 .275 .656 0| 17-15 247 3.64 1.381 73
24 Bobby Doerr BOS 0 6 336 0.02 | 561 145 17 .258 .755 3
24 Buddy Rosar PHA 0 6 336 0.02 | 359 93 1 .259 .669 1

Top player: Ted Williams, the Triple Crown winner. DiMaggio won the MVP by one point, but he wasn't close to Williams in this year. Joe Page drew 7 first-place votes for a strong season, but was also not in the class of Williams. This was picking a member of the pennant-winning team run amuck.
#1 Ted Williams, #2 Joe DiMaggio, #3 Lou Boudreau, #4 Tommy Henrich, #5 Joe Gordon.

Top pitcher: Bob Feller, leader in wins and strikeouts. Feller would never strike out 200 again, let alone 300, but he was still a top pitcher.
#1 Bob Feller, #2 Hal Newhouser, #3 Fred Hutchinson, #4 Ed Lopat, #5 Joe Dobson.

Top rookie: Ferris Fain of Philadelphia had 19 Win Shares to 14 for Spec Shea of the Yankees. Fain batted .291 while Shea was 14-5. See NL for voting results.

Top manager: Connie Mack, as no one else really deserved it. The A's were a surprising 5th, so Mack is a sentimental pick.

1946 National League

A return from war brought a flood of players, battle-tested and war-hardened, back to the game. A certain toughness permeated the air. The baseball played immediately postwar was a very exciting brand, but would soon descend during the 1950s into some of the dullest baseball ever seen. The St. Louis Cardinals, with their hordes of ballplayers collected before the war returning to the fold, returned to the pennant, but it would also be their last pennant and World Series win for 18 years. They finished just two games ahead of Brooklyn in a terrific pennant race. Former St. Louis GM Branch Rickey had moved to Brooklyn, and would soon be working his magic there. Chicago was third and Boston was 4th. Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, and New York made up the second division.

Stan Musial easily won the batting title with a .365 mark. Musial also led in slugging and OPS, although Eddie Stanky edged him in on-base. Musial led with 124 runs, 228 hits, 50 doubles, and 20 triples. Ralph Kiner edged Johnny Mize 23 homers to 22, and Enos Slaughter led with 130 RBI. Pete Reiser led with 34 steals.

Howie Pollet led with 21 wins, followed by Johnny Sain at 20. The same order prevailed at ERA, with Pollet at 2.10 and Sain at 2.21. Johnny Schmitz had 135 strikeouts to Kirby Higbe's 134. Ken Raffensberger led with 6 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Stan Musial (St. Louis) 44, Enos Slaughter (St. Louis) 29, Eddie Stanky (Brooklyn) 28, Dixie Walker (Brooklyn) 27, Pee Wee Reese (Brooklyn), Del Ennis (Philadelphia) and Whitey Kurowski (St. Louis) 26, Tommy Holmes (Boston) and Phil Cavarretta (Chicago) 25, Johnny Mize (New York) and Johnny Wyrostek (Philadelphia) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Howie Pollet (St. Louis) 27, Johnny Sain (Boston) 26, Harry Brecheen (St. Louis) 20, Fritz Ostermueller (Pittsburgh) 19, Joe Beggs (Cincinnati) 17, Johnny Schmitz and Hank Wyse (Chicago) and Murry Dickson (St. Louis) 16, Joe Hatten (Brooklyn) 15.

WARP3 scores: Musial 9.8, Stanky 6.0, Reese 5.9, Mize 5.8, Cavarretta 5.3, Kurowski 5.1, Slaughter 5.0, Walker 4.6, Holmes 4.5, Ennis 4.4 (rookie), Johnny Hopp (Boston) 4.3, Pete Reiser (Brooklyn) 4.0.

Pitchers, Sain 6.4, Pollet 5.8, Brecheen 5.0, Schmitz 4.2, Ostermueller 3.9 (best year), Schoolboy Rowe (Philadelphia) 3.8, Hatten 3.7 (rookie), Ewell Blackwell (Cincinnati) 3.5, Wyse 3.3, Beggs 3.1 (best year).

WAR (fWAR), position players: Musial 9.6, Stanky and Reese 6.3, Cavarretta 5.5, Kurowski 5.4, Slaughter 5.3, Ennis 5.1, Walker and Holmes 4.8, Hopp 4.5, Herman and Marion 4.1, Hatton 3.6, Blattner and Wyrostek 3.5. Pitchers (bWAR): Sain 6.4, Pollet 5.8, Brecheen 5.0, Schmitz 4.2, Ostermueller 3.9, Rowe 3.8, Hatten 3.7, Blackwell 3.5, Wyse 3.5, Beggs 3.1, Cooper 3.0.

Actual award winners, MVP top 19:
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+------+---+-----+------+
1 Stan Musial STL 22 319 336 0.95 | 624 228 16 .365 1.021 7
2 Dixie Walker BRO 0 159 336 0.47 | 576 184 9 .319 .839 14
3 Enos Slaughter STL 2 144 336 0.43 | 609 183 18 .300 .838 9
4 Howie Pollet STL 0 116 336 0.35 | 87 14 0 .161 .422 0| 21-10 266 2.10 1.180 107 5
5 Johnny Sain BSN 0 95 336 0.28 | 94 28 0 .298 .638 0| 20-14 265 2.21 1.177 129 2
6 Pee Wee Reese BRO 0 79 336 0.24 | 542 154 5 .284 .762 10
7 Eddie Stanky BRO 0 67 336 0.20 | 483 132 0 .273 .788 8
8 Del Ennis PHI 0 61 336 0.18 | 540 169 17 .313 .849 5
9 Pete Reiser BRO 0 58 336 0.17 | 423 117 11 .277 .789 34
10 Phil Cavarretta CHC 0 49 336 0.15 | 510 150 8 .294 .836 2
11 Buddy Kerr NYG 0 37 336 0.11 | 497 124 6 .249 .662 7
12 Johnny Hopp BSN 0 34 336 0.10 | 445 148 3 .333 .827 21
13 Eddie Waitkus CHC 0 21 336 0.06 | 441 134 4 .304 .748 3
14 Bruce Edwards BRO 0 20 336 0.06 | 292 78 1 .267 .704 1
15 Kirby Higbe BRO 0 18 336 0.05 | 77 10 0 .130 .286 0| 17-8 211 3.03 1.353 134 1
16 Harry Brecheen STL 0 14 336 0.04 | 83 11 0 .133 .307 0| 15-15 231 2.49 1.206 117 3
16 Johnny Mize NYG 0 14 336 0.04 | 377 127 22 .337 1.013 3
18 Grady Hatton CIN 0 12 336 0.04 | 436 118 14 .271 .791 6
19 Tommy Holmes BSN 0 11 336 0.03 | 568 176 6 .310 .801 7


Top player: Stan Musial, and the only surprise is that he did not get a unanimous vote. Slaughter snuck in their with two first-place votes. "Country" was good, but Musial led the league in average, runs, hits, doubles, triples, and total bases, and led in OPS with a 1021 to second-place Kurowski's 853. Or looked at another way, Musial's OPS+ was 183, while Del Ennis finished 2nd in that at 143. It was a dominant performance, but Slaughter led the league in RBI, foreshadowing the overreliance on that stat.
#1 Stan Musial, #2 Enos Slaughter, #3 Eddie Stanky, #4 Pee Wee Reese, #5 Whitey Kurowski, #6 Phil Cavarretta.

Top pitcher: Johnny Sain. Howie Pollet led in wins and ERA, but Sain was right behind him and pitched for a lesser team. The Cardinal defense helped Pollet immeasurably. Sain was third in strikeouts, Pollet out of the top five.
#1 Johnny Sain, #2 Howie Pollet, #3 Harry Brecheen, #4 Fritz Ostermueller, #5 Johnny Schmitz.

Top rookie: Del Ennis made a strong debut, laying the foundation for the Phillies' "Whiz Kids."

Top manager: Eddie Dyer took a crew of battle-hardened veterans to the pennant in his first year as skipper. He followed up with three straight seconds.

1946 American League

The war was over, the players were (mostly) back, and things got back to normal. The Red Sox stormed their way to a pennant, their first since 1918. The Sox won 104 games, while Detroit won 92 and New York won 87. Everyone else was under .500, Washington, Chicago, Cleveland and St. Louis, with Philadelphia losing 105 games. Rosters carried up to 29 players, to help catch the overflow of war heroes and sort things out.

Mickey Vernon won the batting title at .353, with Ted Williams at .342. Williams led in on-base, slugging, and of course OPS. He also led with 142 runs. Johnny Pesky had 208 hits to Vernon's 207. Vernon had 51 doubles to Stan Spence's 50. Hank Edwards had 16 triples. Hank Greenberg led with 44 homers and 127 RBI, with Williams second in both categories. George Case led with 28 steals.

Hal Newhouser led pitchers with a 1.94 ERA, followed by Spud Chandler at 2.10. Newhouser and Bob Feller tied with 26 wins. Dave "Boo" Ferris was right behind at 25. Feller led with 348 strikeouts, setting a modern record that would stand until Nolan Ryan came along. Bob Klinger led with 9 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Ted Williams (Boston) 49, Johnny Pesky (Boston) 34, Mickey Vernon (Washington) 33, Hank Greenberg (Detroit) and Charlie Keller (New York) 31, Stan Spence (Washington) 30, Bobby Doerr (Boston) 27, Dom DiMaggio (Boston) and Luke Appling (Chicago) 26, Roy Cullenbine (Detroit) 25, Lou Boudreau (Cleveland), Joe DiMaggio (New York) and Buddy Lewis (Washington) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Hal Newhouser (Detroit) 33, Bob Feller (Cleveland) 32, Dizzy Trout (Detroit) 27, Tex Hughson (Boston) and Spud Chandler (New York) 25, Boo Ferriss (Boston) 23, Bill Bevens (New York) 21, Ed Lopat (Chicago) and Fred Hutchinson (Detroit) 19, Mickey Haefner (Washington) 17.

WARP3 scores: Williams 11.8, Pesky 6.9, Greenberg 6.6 (last big year), Keller 5.8 (last year as regular), Vernon, Doerr, and Appling 5.3, Cullenbine 5.2, J. DiMaggio 4.8, Spence and D. DiMaggio 4.5, George Kell (Philadelphia/Detroit) 4.1.

Pitchers, Feller 10.1, Newhouser 9.0, Trout 7.2, Hughson 6.6, Chandler 6.5, Bevens 5.9, Ferriss and Bobo Newsom (Philadelphia/Washington) 4.3, Lopat 4.2, Haefner 4.1, Virgil Trucks (Detroit) and Jesse Flores (Philadelphia) 3.9, Hutchinson 3.8.

WAR (fWAR), position players: Williams 12.4, Greenberg 7.8, Pesky 7.6, Keller 7.3, Appling 6.6, Doerr 6.5, Vernon 6.4, J. DiMaggio 5.8, Spence 5.6, D. DiMaggio 5.3, Kell 4.8, Boudreau and Edwards 4.5. Pitchers (bWAR): Feller 10.1, Newhouser 9.0, Trout 7.2, Hughson 6.6, Chandler 6.5, Bevens 5.9, Ferriss and Newsom 4.3, Lopat 4.2, Haefner 4.1, Flores and Trucks 3.9.

Actual award voting: MVP (top 15):
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+----+---+-----+-----+
1 Ted Williams BOS 9 224 336 0.67 | 514 176 38 .342 1.164 0
2 Hal Newhouser DET 3 197 336 0.59 | 103 13 2 .126 .388 1| 26-9 293 1.94 1.069 275 1
3 Bobby Doerr BOS 5 158 336 0.47 | 583 158 18 .271 .799 5
4 Johnny Pesky BOS 2 141 336 0.42 | 621 208 2 .335 .827 9
5 Mickey Vernon WSH 1 134 336 0.40 | 587 207 8 .353 .910 14
6 Bob Feller CLE 1 105 336 0.31 | 124 16 0 .129 .341 0| 26-15 371 2.18 1.158 348 4
7 Dave Ferriss BOS 1 94 336 0.28 | 115 24 0 .209 .503 0| 25-6 274 3.25 1.259 106 3
8 Hank Greenberg DET 2 91 336 0.27 | 523 145 44 .277 .977 5
9 Dom DiMaggio BOS 0 56 336 0.17 | 534 169 7 .316 .820 10
10 Lou Boudreau CLE 0 37 336 0.11 | 515 151 6 .293 .755 6
11 Rudy York BOS 0 28 336 0.08 | 579 160 17 .276 .808 3
12 Luke Appling CHW 0 26 336 0.08 | 582 180 1 .309 .762 6
13 Tex Hughson BOS 0 19 336 0.06 | 91 12 0 .132 .345 0| 20-11 278 2.75 1.090 172 3
14 Earl Caldwell CHW 0 18 336 0.05 | 18 3 0 .167 .514 0| 13-4 91 2.08 0.981 42 8
15 Charlie Keller NYY 0 17 336 0.05 | 538 148 30 .275 .938 1

Top Player: Ted Williams. This one isn't really close, although Pesky, Doerr and DiMaggio had standout seasons as well for the Bosox. Joe D. was hurt part of the year, Vernon was the batting titlist, but none could match the contributions of the Splendid Splinter. The amazing thing is that he was not a unanimous choice. That only speaks to an irrational hatred on the part of several writers.
#1 Ted Williams, #2 Pesky, #3 Greenberg, #4 Keller, #5 Vernon, #6 Doerr.

Top pitcher: Bob Feller, setting a new single-season strikeout record. Hal Newhouser was also terrific, with the same number of wins and a slightly lower ERA, but Feller's 348 K set a new standard for excellence.
#1 Feller, #2 Newhouser, #3 Trout, #4 Hughson, #5 Chandler.

Top rookie: Ellis Kinder, 3-3, 3.32 ERA for St. Louis. Not a good year for rookies, with all the returning talent around.

Top manager: Joe Cronin brought the Red Sox home with one of their best pitching staffs ever, and a balanced offense led by Williams.