1980 National League

Two great division races ended in a year for the Phillies, with their first-ever World championship in their long existence. All the other teams dating back so far had won long before. The Phils didn't have it easy, outlasting Montreal by a single game, and defending champs Pittsburgh by eight. St. Louis, New York, and Chicago finished under .500. Houston got its first division title in the West, by a game over the Dodgers and 3.5 over the Reds. Atlanta, San Francisco, and San Diego trailed. Philadelphia then went the distance to beat Houston in the NLCS, and beat Kansas City in six to win the World Series. The Cardinals led the league in offense, and the Astros in pitching, but the Phillies gave up the fewest runs on the road. Mike Schmidt led the league in HR (48), RBI (121), total bases, slugging, and OPS. Bob Horner was second with 35 homers, George Hendrick with 109 RBI. Bill Buckner won the batting title with a .324 average, a bit ahead of Keith Hernandez's .321. Hernandez scored 111 runs. Steve Garvey had 200 hits. Pete Rose had 42 doubles, Omar Moreno and Tony Scott 13 triples. Ron LeFlore stole 97 bases to Omar Moreno's 96. Steve Carlton led the league in wins (24) and strikeouts (286), and was 2nd in ERA with 2.34 to Don Sutton's 2.20. Joe Niekro was the other 20-game winner with exactly that. Nolan Ryan was second with 200 strikeouts. Bruce Sutter led in saves with 28. Carlton led with 304 innings, Jerry Reuss had six shutouts, Steve Rogers 14 complete games. Win Shares leaders, players: Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 37, Gary Carter (Montreal) 30, Andre Dawson (Montreal) 29, Dale Murphy (Atlanta) and Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 28, Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 27, Cesar Cedeno (Houston) 26, Ken Griffey (Cincinnati) and Jose Cruz (Houston) 25, Dusty Baker (Los Angeles), Lee Mazzilli (New York) and Jack Clark (San Francisco) 24, George Foster (Cincinnati), Terry Puhl (Houston) and Ron Cey (Los Angeles) 23, Dave Collins (Cincinnati), Steve Garvey (Los Angeles), Mike Easler (Pittsburgh), Gene Richards and Dave Winfield (San Diego) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 22. WS leaders, pitchers: Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 29, Jerry Reuss (Los Angeles) 21, Rick Camp (Atlanta), Don Sutton (Los Angeles) and Steve Rogers (Montreal) 20, Tom Hume (Cincinnati) 19, Tug McGraw (Philadelphia) 18, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Jim Bibby (Pittsburgh) 17, Bruce Sutter (Chicago) and Vida Blue (San Francisco) 16, Rick Reuschel (Chicago), Vern Ruhle (Houston) and Rollie Fingers (San Diego) 15. WARP3: Schmidt 10.0 (best year), Carter 7.4, Hernandez 7.1, Dawson 6.7, Cey 6.6 (last big year), Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 6.3, Ozzie Smith (San Diego) 6.0, Evans 5.8, Murphy 5.7 (first big season), Simmons 5.6, Baker 5.4, Cruz 5.1, Foster and Puhl (best year) 4.9, Cedeno (last big season), Reggie Smith (Los Angeles) and Bob Horner (Atlanta) 4.6, Richards 4.5 (career year), Easler 4.4. Pitchers, Carlton 9.3, Rogers and Reuschel 6.0, McGraw 5.5, Blue 5.3, Camp and Hume (best year) 4.8, Sutter 4.6, Sutton 4.5, Scott Sanderson (Montreal) 4.3, Reuss and Bill Caudill (Chicago) 4.1, Ruhle (career year) 4.0. WAR, position players: Schmidt 9.1, Hernandez 7.1, Carter 6.2, Dawson 6.1, Murphy 6.0, Puhl 5.5, Cey 5.4, Simmons 5.3, Cedeno 5.0, Cruz 4.7, Baker 4.5, Evans and Foster 4.3, Clark, Morgan, Richards, and Smith 4.2, Hendrick 4.1, Templeton 3.9. Pitchers: Carlton 9.1, Reuschel 5.5, Reuss 4.5, Candelaria, Rogers, and Ryan 4.4, Blyleven 4.2, Forsch 4.1, Krukow 3.6, Niekro and Pastore 3.5, Blue and Whitson 3.4. Actual award voting: MVP (top 12) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Mike Schmidt PHI 24 336 2 Gary Carter MON 0 193 3 Jose Cruz HOU 0 166 4 Dusty Baker LAD 0 138 5 Steve Carlton PHI 0 134 6 Steve Garvey LAD 0 131 7 Andre Dawson MON 0 72 8 George Hendrick STL 0 50 9 Bob Horner ATL 0 42 10 Bake McBride PHI 0 32 11 Keith Hernandez STL 0 29 12 Dale Murphy ATL 0 23 Cy Young (top 4) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Steve Carlton PHI 23 118 2 Jerry Reuss LAD 1 55 3 Jim Bibby PIT 0 28 4 Joe Niekro HOU 0 11 Can we retroactively revoke the BBWAA membership of the guy who put Reuss 1st? Rookie (top 5) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Steve Howe LAD 12 80 2 Bill Gullickson MON 5 53 3 Lonnie Smith PHI 4 49 4 Ron Oester CIN 1 16 5 Dave Smith HOU 2 13 Top player: Mike Schmidt Top pitcher: Steve Carlton These are no-brainers. The Phillies won, and those two did most of the work. Players: #1 Mike Schmidt, #2 Gary Carter, #3 Andre Dawson, #4 Dale Murphy, #5 Keith Hernandez, #6 Darrell Evans. Pitchers: #1 Steve Carlton, #2 Jerry Reuss, #3 Steve Rogers, #4 Tug McGraw, #5 Tom Hume. Top rookie: Lonnie Smith. This one is tough. I think I would go for a Phillies clean sweep, as they won their first World Series. Jeff Reardon, Leon Durham, Al Holland, and Bob Walk also drew a vote each in the balloting. No clear winner. Top manager: Dallas Green, for guiding the Phillies to their very first World Series victory.

1980 American League

A magical season for George Brett and the Royals, as they won the West and then beat the Yankees in the ALCS, with Brett hitting .390 for the year (in 117 games, due to injury). The dream ended in a six-game World Series loss, but the sweep over the New York team that had beaten them in three playoff series 1977-79 was sweet. KC took an easy division win with 97 victories, 14 more than the surprise A's, who went from 54-108 to 83-79 in one year to place second. The rest were under .500, with Minnesota 3rd, Texas 4th, Chicago 5th, California slipping from 1st to 6th, and Seattle last with 103 losses. New York took the East title in a dogfight with Baltimore, 103 wins to 100. Milwaukee placed third with 86 victories, Boston 4th just ahead of Detroit, Cleveland 6th and Toronto last again. The Jays showed incremental improvement with 95 losses, their first season (of 4) with less than 100. Brett led hitters in the percentage categories like batting average and OPS. Teammate Willie Wilson led in runs with 133 and hits with 230. Reggie Jackson and Ben Oglivie tied with 41 HR. Cecil Cooper led in RBI with 122, and Rickey Henderson stole 100 bases. Brett and Oglivie tied for second in RBI with 118. Robin Yount had 49 doubles while Wilson and Alfredo Griffin had 15 triples. In spite of his limited playing time, Brett led the league in Runs Created. Steve Stone led in wins with 25, Rudy May had the ERA lead at 2.46, and Len Barker led in strikeouts with 187. Mike Norris was 2nd in all those categories with 22, 2.53, and 180 respectively. Goose Gossage and Dan Quisenberry tied for the saves lead with 33. Rick Langford had an astounding (for the era) 28 complete games and pitched 290 innings. Tommy John tossed six shutouts. Win Shares leaders, players: George Brett (Kansas City) 36, Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 34, Al Bumbry (Baltimore) 33, Willie Wilson (Kansas City), Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph (New York) 31, Ken Singleton (Baltimore), Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie (Milwaukee) and Dwayne Murphy (Oakland) 27, Eddie Murray (Baltimore) 26, Mike Hargrove (Cleveland) and Robin Yount (Milwaukee) 25, Chet Lemon (Chicago) 24, Toby Harrah (Cleveland) 23, Tony Armas (Oakland) 22, Miguel Dilone (Cleveland), Alan Trammell (Detroit), Rick Cerone (New York), Buddy Bell and Al Oliver (Texas) 21. WS leaders, pitchers: Mike Norris (Oakland) 25, Doug Corbett (Minnesota) 24, Larry Gura (Kansas City) 22, Britt Burns (Chicago) 21, Steve Stone (Baltimore) 20, Dan Quisenberry (Kansas City), Tommy John (New York), Rick Langford (Oakland) and Jim Clancy (Toronto) 19, Scott McGregor (Baltimore), Dennis Leonard (Kansas City), Goose Gossage (New York) and Matt Keough (Oakland) 18. WARP3: Brett 9.2, Bumbry 7.6 (a career year), Henderson 6.6 (first full year), Oglivie 5.9 (career year), Wilson and Yount 5.8, Bobby Grich (California) 5.7, Cooper 5.5, Randolph 5.4, Bell 5.2, Jackson 5.0, Rick Burleson (Boston) 4.9, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) 4.6, Murphy (best year) and Cerone 4.2 (career year), Lance Parrish (Detroit) 4.1, Bucky Dent (New York) 4.0, Trammell 3.9. Pitchers, Corbett 6.9 as a rookie, Burns 6.3 as a rookie, Norris 5.9 in his career year, Rudy May (New York) 5.0, Gura (best year) and Clancy 4.7, Dave Stieb (Toronto) 4.6, Moose Haas (Milwaukee) 4.5, Danny Darwin (Texas) 4.4, Tom Burgmeier (Boston) 4.3, John and Bob Stanley (Boston) 4.1, Quisenberry, Gossage, and Floyd Bannister (Seattle) 4.0, Fergie Jenkins (Texas) 3.9. WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Brett 9.5, Henderson 8.3, Wilson 7.6, Cooper 7.1, Oglivie 7.0, Randolph 6.9, Murphy 6.7, Bumbry and Yount 6.6, Bell 6.3, Armas 5.9, Jackson 5.4, Grich 4.8, Murray and Trammell 4.7, Singleton 4.6, Cerone 4.5, Lemon 4.4. Pitchers: Norris 6.0, Barker and Matlack 5.6, McGregor 5.2, Stieb 5.0, Gura and John 4.9, Burns 4.8, Koosman 4.7, Haas 4.5, Zahn 4.4, Bannister 4.3, Leonard and May 4.2, Guidry and Perry 4.0, Clancy and Erickson 3.9, Morris and Tanana 3.8. Actual award voting: MVP (top 14) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 George Brett KCR 17 335 2 Reggie Jackson NYY 5 234 3 Rich Gossage NYY 4 218 4 Willie Wilson KCR 1 169 5 Cecil Cooper MIL 0 160 6 Eddie Murray BAL 0 106 7 Rick Cerone NYY 1 77 8 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 70 9 Steve Stone BAL 0 53 10 Rickey Henderson OAK 0 51 11 Al Oliver TEX 0 31 12 Tony Armas OAK 0 29 13 Al Bumbry BAL 0 27 13 Ben Oglivie MIL 0 27 Cy Young Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Steve Stone BAL 13 100 2 Mike Norris OAK 13 91 3 Rich Gossage NYY 2 37 4 Tommy John NYY 0 14 5 Dan Quisenberry KCR 0 7 6 Larry Gura KCR 0 1 6 Scott McGregor BAL 0 1 Rookie Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Joe Charboneau CLE 15 102 2 Dave Stapleton BOS 3 40 3 Doug Corbett MIN 3 38 4 Damaso Garcia TOR 3 35 5 Britt Burns CHW 4 33 6 Rick Peters DET 0 3 7 Richard Dotson CHW 0 1 Best player: George Brett. Brett, Rickey and Bumbry are all deserving to some extent, but George's team won. Even with just 118 games played, it was George's year. #1 George Brett, #2 Rickey Henderson, #3 Willie Wilson, #4 Al Bumbry, #5 Ben Oglivie, #6 Cecil Cooper. Best pitcher: Mike Norris. Stone won a split BBWAA decision, but Norris was the best in 1980. Billy Martin overworked him, and he was never the same again. #1 Matt Norris, #2 Doug Corbett, #3 Britt Burns, #4 Larry Gura, #5 Dan Quisenberry. Best rookie: Doug Corbett. Charboneau won on the basis of press clippings, but Burns and Corbett both had better years. Neither lasted very long, either, but they did last a bit longer than "Super Joe." Best manager: Billy Martin. He blew out a pitcher's arm or two, but going from 108 losses to 79 is impressive

1979 National League

It was a "back to the future" year as the Pirates and Reds returned to the top of their respective divisions. Then, a reversal, as the Pirates won the NLCS and then the World Series. Both won in tight two-team races, as the Pirates outlasted the surprising Expos by 2 games, and the Reds beat out the Astros by 1.5. Pittsburgh won 98, Montreal 95, St. Louis 86, Philadelphia 84, and Chicago 80, while New York lost 99 games for last. In the West, the Reds won 90, Houston 89, and the Dodgers slipped below .500 to 79-83. San Francisco, San Diego, and Atlanta all trailed, losing at least 90.

Keith Hernandez led in batting average, doubles and runs, and won half the MVP. Hernandez had a .344 average to beat Pete Rose (now with Philadelphia) at .333. Ray Knight, Rose's replacement in Cincinnati, was third at .318. Hernandez had 48 doubles, followed by Warren Cromartie at 46, while at 116 runs Hernandez was followed by Omar Moreno at 110. Moreno led in steals with 77. Dave Kingman led in HR with 48,and also in slugging and OPS. Pete Rose led in on-base, edging Hernandez. Garry Templeton had 19 triples. Dave Winfield led in total bases, RBI and OPS+. Winfield's 118 RBI was followed by Kingman at 115 and Mike Schmidt at 114.

Brothers Phil and Joe Niekro tied for the lead in wins with 21. J.R. Richard led in ERA and strikeouts in his last full season. Richard had a 2.71 ERA, followed by Tom Hume at 2.76 and Dan Schatzeder at 2.83. Richard's 313 strikeouts outdistanced Steve Carlton's second-place 213. Bruce Sutter led in saves with 37, while Kent Tekulve kept busy pitching in 94 games. Phil Niekro had 44 starts and 23 complete games.

Win Shares leaders, players: Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) and Dave Winfield (San Diego) 33, Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 31, Keith Hernandez (St. Louis) 29, Larry Parrish (Montreal) 28, Jose Cruz (Houston), Davey Lopes (Los Angeles), Gary Carter (Montreal) and Pete Rose (Philadelphia) 27 each, Gary Mathews (Atlanta), Ron Cey (Los Angeles), Lee Mazzilli (New York) and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 25 each, Dave Kingman (Chicago), Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Andre Dawson (Montreal) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 24, Terry Puhl (Houston), Phil Garner and Omar Moreno (Pittsburgh), Jack Clark and Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 23. co-MVP Willie Stargell had 18.

WS leaders, pitchers: Phil Niekro (Atlanta) 24, J.R. Richard (Houston) 23, Bruce Sutter (Chicago) 22, Kent Tekulve (Pittsburgh) 20, Joe Niekro (Houston) 19, Tom Hume (Cincinnati), Joe Sambito (Houston) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 18, Rick Reuschel (Chicago) 17, Tom Seaver (Cincinnati), Rick Sutcliffe (Los Angeles), Bill Lee, Steve Rogers and Elias Sosa (Montreal) and Gaylord Perry (San Diego) 16.

WARP3: Winfield 9.3 (best year), Templeton 8.6 (best year), Schmidt 8.4, Concepcion 7.9, Hernandez 7.6, Cey 7.3, Tenace 6.6, Carter 6.5, Cruz and Bench (Cincinnati) 5.6, Lopes 5.3, Parrish 5.2 (career year), Parker 5.1, Kingman (best year) and Garner (best year) 4.8, George Foster (Cincinnati) 4.7, Rose, Ted Simmons (St. Louis), and Craig Reynolds (Houston) 4.7, Steve Garvey (Los Angeles) 4.4.

Pitchers, P. Niekro 7.7, Reuschel 6.2, Sutter 5.9, Sambito 5.7, Richard 4.7, Sosa 4.5 (career year), Hume and Gary Lavelle (St. Louis) 4.4, Tekulve 4.3, Craig Swan (New York) and Dick Tidrow (Chicago) 4.2.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Winfield 7.9, Schmidt 7.6, Hernandez 7.4, Carter 6.0, Parker 5.8, Cey and Tenace 5.5, Bench and Foster 5.3, Parrish 4.9, Cruz and Mazzilli 4.8, Concepcion and Lopes 4.7, Templeton 4.5.

Pitchers: Richard 8.8, Sutter 5.1, Reuschel 4.7, Carlton 4.6, Rogers 4.5, Hooton and Swan 4.3, Perry 4.2, Niekro 4.0, Lamp and Seaver 3.9, Vuckovich 3.7, Blyleven 3.6.

Actual award voting:
MVP
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Keith Hernandez STL 10 216
1 Willie Stargell PIT 4 216
3 Dave Winfield SDP 4 155
4 Larry Parrish MON 0 128
5 Ray Knight CIN 2 82
6 Joe Niekro HOU 1 75
7 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 69
8 Kent Tekulve PIT 1 64
9 Dave Concepcion CIN 0 63
10 Dave Parker PIT 0 56
11 Dave Kingman CHC 0 53
12 George Foster CIN 0 34
13 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 32
14 Steve Garvey LAD 0 30
15 Omar Moreno PIT 0 23
15 Pete Rose PHI 0 23
17 Gary Carter MON 1 15
18 Bill Madlock TOT 1 14
19 J.R. Richard HOU 0 12
20 Phil Niekro ATL 0 11
21 Joe Sambito HOU 0 9
21 Tom Seaver CIN 0 9
23 Johnny Bench CIN 0 7
24 Andre Dawson MON 0 6
25 Garry Templeton STL 0 5
26 Gary Matthews ATL 0 4
27 Dave Collins CIN 0 3
28 Bob Horner ATL 0 1

A very interesting year for MVP voting, as 8 different players received 1st place votes, including Bill Madlock whose only vote was a 1st place vote. Gary Carter got two votes: a first and a tenth. Wllie Stargell got named as a nice gesture on a lot of ballots, and snuck up to the top spot. Balloting was all over the place with no clear favorite. Hernandez had far more first-place votes, but Stargell more overall support.

Cy Young
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Bruce Sutter CHC 10 72
2 Joe Niekro HOU 9 66
3 J.R. Richard HOU 4 41
4 Tom Seaver CIN 0 20
5 Kent Tekulve PIT 1 14
6 Phil Niekro ATL 0 3

More of the same in the Cy Young, as four pitchers got 1st place votes. Phil Niekro should have sued.

Rookie
Place Name Team Points
1 Rick Sutcliffe LAD 20
2 Jeffrey Leonard HOU 3
3 Scot Thompson CHC 1

Best player: Dave Winfield. His best year, and he led in OPS+ by 10 points over George Foster. The Padres still lost 93 games, which is probably why he didn't win.
#1 Dave Winfield, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Keith Hernandez, #4 Gary Carter, #5 Dave Parker, #6 Ron Cey.

Best Pitcher; Phil Niekro. The knuckleballer both won and lost 20, but he was the most dependable pitcher in the league, and when you look at 2nd place J. R. Richard in the context of the Astrodome, while Niekro toiled in the Launching Pad, the ERA gap decreases substantially. Sutter and Tekulve both had great years in relief, but Niekro did more. Knucksie was robbed for the second year in a row.
#1 Phil Niekro, #2 Bruce Sutter, #3 J.R. Richard, #4 Steve Carlton, #5 Rick Reuschel.

Best rookie: Rick Sutcliffe. Wasn't really close, he was by far the best.

Best manager: Chuck Tanner on the best team in the league.

1979 American League

A change in the power structure, as the Yankees slipped to 4th in the East (but still won 89 games) and Baltimore took the division and the pennant. Kansas City finished 2nd to California in the West, even though the Angel's 88 wins were fewer than the 4th-place Yankees. Following the Angels were KC with 85 wins, Texas with 83, and Minnesota with 82, with Chicago 5th, Seattle 6th, and Oakland hitting bottom with 108 losses. The Orioles beat out Milwaukee by 8 games and Boston by 11.5. Detroit was 5th with 85 wins. Cleveland was 6th, one game over .500 at 81-80, while everyone beat up on Toronto as the Jays lost 109 times.

Fred Lynn won the batting title at .333, followed by George Brett at .329. The race had a lot of contenders, like Brian Downing third at .326 and Jim Rice fourth at .325. Brett led with 212 hits followed by Rice at 201. Buddy Bell had 200 exactly. Cecil Cooper and Chet Lemon tied with 44 doubles. Brett had 20 triples. Gorman Thomas led with 45 homers, followed by Rice and Lynn with 39. Willie Wilson led in steals with 83 followed by Ron LeFlore with 78. Jim Rice led in total bases, but Don Baylor won the MVP leading in runs with 120 and RBI with 139. I think the shiny RBI total distracted the voters. Brett scored 119 runs, Rice 117, Lynn 116. Rice had 130 RBI, Thomas 123 and Lynn 122. Lynn led in on-base, slugging, OPS, and runs created.

Ron Guidry led in ERA with a 2.78 mark, followed by Tommy John at 2.96 and Dennis Eckersley at 2.99. Nolan Ryan paced in strikeouts with 223 followed by Guidry at 201. Mike Marshall led in saves with 32 followed by Jim Kern at 29. Dennis Martinez led with 39 starts, 292 innings, and 18 complete games. Mike Flanagan took the Cy Young as the wins leader with 23. John won 21 and Jerry Koosman 20.

Win Shares leaders, players; Fred Lynn (Boston) 34, George Brett (Kansas City) 33, Ken Singleton (Baltimore) 32, Darrell Porter (Kansas City) 31, Don Baylor (California) 29, Jim Rice (Boston) and Bobby Grich (California) 28, Sixto Lezcano (Milwaukee) 27, Chet Lemon (Detroit), Paul Molitor and Gorman Thomas (Milwaukee) 26, Eddie Murray (Baltimore), Brian Downing (California) and Steve Kemp (Detroit) 25, Toby Harrah (Cleveland), Willie Wilson (Kansas City), Cecil Cooper (Milwaukee) and Roy Smalley (Minnesota) 24, Amos Otis (Kansas City), Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph (New York) 23.

WS leaders, pitchers; Jim Kern (Texas) 25, Dennis Eckersley (Boston) 24, Mike Flanagan (Baltimore), Jerry Koosman and Mike Marshall (Minnesota), and Tommy John (New York) 23 each, Ron Guidry (New York) 22, Sid Monge (Cleveland) 21, Mike Caldwell (Milwaukee) 20, Aurelio Lopez (Detroit) 19, Dennis Martinez (Baltimore) 18, Rick Wise (Cleveland), Jack Morris (Detroit) and Mike Parrott (Seattle) 17.

WARP3: Brett 7.9, Porter 7.8 (career year), Lynn 7.3 (best season), Molitor 6.3, Grich 6.2, Singleton 5.5, Wilson 5.2, Jackson and Buddy Bell (Texas) 5.0, Rick Burleson (Boston) 4.9, Lemon and Kemp 4.7, Lezcano and Smalley 4.4, Rice, Randolph and Gary Roenicke (Baltimore) 4.1, Murray 4.0, Baylor and Lance Parrish (Detroit) 3.8, Thomas and Ron LeFlore (Detroit) 3.7.

Pitchers, Marshall 7.4, Monge 7.3 (career year), Koosman 6.7, Eckersley 6.6, Kern 6.3 (career year), Guidry 5.8, John 5.6, Parrott (career year) and Lopez (also career year) 4.9, Wise 4.7 (last good year), Rick Langford (Oakland) 4.6, Caldwell 4.5, Morris 4.0, Dave Goltz and Geoff Zahn (Minnesota) 3.9. Still no Flanagan.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Lynn 9.0, Brett 8.8, Porter 8.0, Bell 7.1, Rice and Wilson 6.3, Lemon 6.2, Singleton 6.1, Grich 6.0, Randolph 5.8, Lezcano and Molitor 5.6, Downing and Thomas 5.4, Murray 5.2, Kemp 4.6, Parrish 4.5.

Pitchers: John 7.1, Koosman 6.4, Guidry 6.3, Flanagan 6.1, Goltz 5.5, Ryan 5.3, Eckersley and Kern 5.2, Caldwell 4.8, Stanley 4.7, Martinez 4.4, Parrott 4.2, Frost and Torrez 4.1.

Actual award voting-
MVP (top 15):
Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Don Baylor CAL 20 347
2 Ken Singleton BAL 3 241
3 George Brett KCR 2 226
4 Fred Lynn BOS 0 160
5 Jim Rice BOS 0 124
6 Mike Flanagan BAL 3 100
7 Gorman Thomas MIL 0 87
8 Bobby Grich CAL 0 58
9 Darrell Porter KCR 0 52
10 Buddy Bell TEX 0 48
11 Jim Kern TEX 0 25
11 Mike Marshall MIN 0 25
11 Eddie Murray BAL 0 25
14 Brian Downing CAL 0 24
15 Sixto Lezcano MIL 0 18
Baylor was the clear winner, for no other reason than that he led the league in RBI for a division-winning team. He's not the worst award winner in history, but this is nowhere near a good selection. Baylor was probably not even the best player on his team.

Cy Young:
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Mike Flanagan BAL 26 136
2 Tommy John NYY 1 51
3 Ron Guidry NYY 1 26
4 Jim Kern TEX 0 25
5 Mike Marshall MIN 0 7
6 Jerry Koosman MIN 0 5
7 Dennis Eckersley BOS 0 1
7 Aurelio Lopez DET 0 1
Flanagan was the clear winner, even though he got a lot of help from his team. This is a couple of very poor award selections, with voters distracted by RBI and by wins. Not very good ways to pick the best players.

Rookie:
Place Name Team Points
1 John Castino MIN 7
1 Alfredo Griffin TOR 7
3 Mark Clear CAL 5
4 Ross Baumgarten CHW 3
4 Ron Davis NYY 3
4 Pat Putnam TEX 3

Not much of a rookie field.

Best player: Fred Lynn. His team was 3rd, but won 91 games, 3 more than Baylor's Angels. As hitters, they were about even, but Lynn was much more valuable defensively. George Brett and even Darrell Porter has a case here, but the Royals missed the division after three years on top, so that's hard to award.
#1 Fred Lynn, #2 George Brett, #3 Darrell Porter, #4 Bobby Grich, #5 Ken Singleton, #6 Don Baylor.

Best pitcher: Jim Kern. He's a reliever, but pitched 143 innings with a 1.57 ERA, finishing second to Marshall with 29 saves and posting 13 wins. Marshall also had a good year, but his ERA was a run higher and he lost 15 games. Dennis Eckersley was the best overall starter.
#1 Jim Kern, #2 Dennis Eckersley, #3 Jerry Koosman, #4 Mike Flanagan, #5 Tommy John.

Best rookie: I'll take John Castino, but it's not much of a choice.

Best manager: Earl Weaver as the Orioles broke through the Yankee dynasty.

1978 National League

Mostly a rerun of 1977, as the Dodgers beat the Phillies in the NLCS, then lost to the Yankees in the World Series. The division races were both close, with the Phillies edging the Pirates by 1.5 games, and the Dodgers besting the Reds by 2.5 games. The Dodgers and Reds both won more games than the Phils, as LA won 95 and Cincy 92, while Philly won 90. LA led in both runs scored and fewest runs allowed. San Francisco was third in the West with 89 wins, and San Diego fourth with 84. Houston was 5th and Atlanta 6th. The East Division also-rans were Chicago, Montreal, St. Louis, and New York, in that order.

Dave Parker won the batting title at .334, followed by Steve Garvey at .316 and Jose Cruz at .315. Parker also led in OPS and total bases and was the MVP, while George Foster again led in HR (40) and RBI (120). Greg Luzinski was second with 35 HR and Parker second with 117 RBI. Garvey had 202 hits, Pete Rose 51 doubles, and Garry Templeton 13 triples. Omar Moreno led in steals with 71. Ivan DeJesus had 104 runs, followed by Rose with 103 and Parker with 102.

Gaylord Perry led in wins with 21 and took the Cy Young. Ross Grimsley was the other 20-game winner with exactly that. Craig Swan led in ERA with a 2.43 mark, followed by Steve Rogers at 2.46 and Pete Vuckovich at 2.54. J.R. Richard led in strikeouts with 303, followed by Phil Niekro at 248. Rollie Fingers led in saves with 37 followed by Kent Tekulve at 31. Niekro had 22 complete games and Bob Knepper six shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 37, George Foster (Cincinnati), Jack Clark (San Francisco) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 30, Dave Winfield (San Diego) 28, Jeff Burroughs (Atlanta), Pete Rose (Cincinnati) and Greg Luzinski (Philadelphia) 27, Jose Cruz (Houston), Dave Lopes (Los Angeles) and Darrell Evans (San Francisco) 26, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Ron Cey and Steve Garvey (Los Angeles) and Bill Madlock (San Francisco) 25, Reggie Smith (Los Angeles) and Gene Richards (San Diego) 24, Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 23, Ken Griffey (Cincinnati), Gary Carter and Ellis Valentine (Montreal), John Stearns (New York), Larry Bowa (Philadelphia), Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Phil Niekro (Atlanta) 30, Vida Blue and Bob Knepper (San Francisco) 22, Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) and Kent Tekulve (Pittsburgh) 20, Tom Seaver (Cincinnati), J.R. Richard (Houston) and Burt Hooton (Los Angeles) 19, Rick Reuschel (Chicago), Doug Bair (Cincinnati) and Gaylord Perry (San Diego) 18, Steve Rogers (Montreal), Craig Swan (New York) and Rollie Fingers (San Diego) 17.

WARP3 scores: Clark 6.9, Lopes and Madlock 6.4, Foster 6.3, Cey 6.2, Simmons and Smith (last regular year) 6.1, Carter 6.0, Parker 5.9, Winfield 5.4, Bowa (career year) and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 5.2, Concepcion, Garvey, and Schmidt 5.1, Ozzie Smith (San Diego) 5.0 in his rookie year, Stearns (career year), Tenace, Garry Maddox (Philadelphia), and Warren Cromartie (Montreal) 4.9, Burroughs (last good year), and Chris Speier (Montreal) 4.7, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 4.6, Cruz, Evans, and Bill Russell (Los Angeles) 4.5, Luzinski 4.4.

Pitchers, Niekro 10.3, Blue and Knepper (career year) 7.3, Hooton 7.0 (best year), Seaver and Bair (career year) 6.6, John Denny (St. Louis) 6.5, Reuschel 5.8, Swan 5.7, Pete Vuckovich (St. Louis) 5.5, Carlton and Tekulve 5.4, Richard and Rogers 5.3, Fingers 5.1, Bert Blyleven (Pittsburgh) 5.0, John Candelaria (Pittsburgh) 4.9, Dennis Lamp (Chicago) 4.7, Perry 4.6.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Parker 7.1, Simmons 6.1, Cey and Clark 6.0, Stearns 5.9, Foster and Schmidt 5.8, Luzinski 5.7, Valentine 5.6, Lopez 5.4, Carter 5.3, Burroughs 5.2, Cruz, Garvey, and Tenace 5.1, Bowa, Maddox, and Smith 4.9, Cromartie 4.8.

Pitchers: Niekro 9.4, Richard 6.6, Blue 6.2, Perry 5.8, Blyleven 5.6, Reuschel 5.4, Knepper 5.2, Christenson and Vuckovich 5.0, Seaver 4.8, John 4.4, Rogers 4.2, Jones 4.0.

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 Dave Parker PIT 21 320 336 0.95 | 581 194 30 .334 .979 20
2 Steve Garvey LAD 0 194 336 0.58 | 639 202 21 .316 .852 10
3 Larry Bowa PHI 3 189 336 0.56 | 654 192 3 .294 .689 27
4 Reggie Smith LAD 0 164 336 0.49 | 447 132 29 .295 .942 12
5 Jack Clark SFG 0 107 336 0.32 | 592 181 25 .306 .895 15
6 George Foster CIN 0 104 336 0.31 | 604 170 40 .281 .906 4
7 Greg Luzinski PHI 0 48 336 0.14 | 540 143 35 .265 .914 8
8 Gaylord Perry SDP 0 45 336 0.13 | 87 8 0 .092 .227 0| 21-6 261 2.73 1.178 154
9 Willie Stargell PIT 0 39 336 0.12 | 390 115 28 .295 .949 3
10 Dave Winfield SDP 0 37 336 0.11 | 587 181 24 .308 .866 21
11 Pete Rose CIN 0 35 336 0.10 | 655 198 7 .302 .783 13
12 Vida Blue SFG 0 33 336 0.10 | 79 6 1 .076 .366 0| 18-10 258 2.79 1.174 171
13 Kent Tekulve PIT 0 23 336 0.07 | 21 2 0 .095 .232 0| 8-7 135 2.33 1.259 77 31
14 Rollie Fingers SDP 0 16 336 0.05 | 12 2 0 .167 .333 0| 6-13 107 2.52 1.053 72 37
15 Burt Hooton LAD 0 15 336 0.04 | 67 10 0 .149 .394 0| 19-10 236 2.71 1.089 104
16 Davey Lopes LAD 0 12 336 0.04 | 587 163 17 .278 .776 45
17 Bill Buckner CHC 0 8 336 0.02 | 446 144 5 .323 .765 7
17 Phil Niekro ATL 0 8 336 0.02 | 120 27 0 .225 .506 0| 19-18 334 2.88 1.188 248 1
19 Jeff Burroughs ATL 0 7 336 0.02 | 488 147 23 .301 .961 1
20 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 5 336 0.01 | 13 1 0 .077 .277 0| 8-10 99 3.18 1.172 106 27
21 Garry Maddox PHI 0 4 336 0.01 | 598 172 11 .288 .741 33
22 Enos Cabell HOU 0 2 336 0.01 | 660 195 7 .295 .720 33
23 Bob Boone PHI 0 1 336 0.00 | 435 123 12 .283 .772 2|
Parker was a clear winner, although Bowa mustered surprising support. One of the most ridiculous things to happen in award voting ever was Bowa getting, not one rogue first-place vote, but THREE!

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Gaylord Perry SDP 22 116 120 0.97 | 21-6 261 2.73 1.178 154
2 Burt Hooton LAD 0 38 120 0.32 | 19-10 236 2.71 1.089 104
3 Vida Blue SFG 1 17 120 0.14 | 18-10 258 2.79 1.174 171
4 J.R. Richard HOU 1 13 120 0.11 | 18-11 275 3.11 1.210 303
5 Kent Tekulve PIT 0 12 120 0.10 | 8-7 135 2.33 1.259 77 31
6 Phil Niekro ATL 0 10 120 0.08 | 19-18 334 2.88 1.188 248 1
7 Ross Grimsley MON 0 7 120 0.06 | 20-11 263 3.05 1.156 84
8 Rollie Fingers SDP 0 1 120 0.01 | 6-13 107 2.52 1.053 72 37
8 Tommy John LAD 0 1 120 0.01 | 17-10 213 3.30 1.329 124 1
8 Don Robinson PIT 0 1 120 0.01 | 14-6 228 3.47 1.139 135 1
A true heist, as Perry was not nearly the best pitcher in the league, merely the biggest winner. One of the worst award selections ever.

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 Bob Horner ATL 12 12 24 0.50 | 323 86 23 .266 .852 0
2 Ozzie Smith SDP 8 8 24 0.33 | 590 152 1 .258 .623 40
3 Don Robinson PIT 3 3 24 0.12 | 85 20 0 .235 .494 0| 14-6 228 3.47 1.139 135 1
Power-hitter Horner edged glove man Ozzie.

Top player: Dave Parker. The clear winner in Win Shares, though WARP knocks him down on defense. At the time, he sure looked like the best player in the league.
#1 Dave Parker, #2 Jack Clark, #3 Ted Simmons, #4 George Foster, #5 Dave Winfield, #6 Davey Lopes.

Top pitcher: Phil Niekro, and not by a small margin. Pitching for the lowly Braves through his career cost Niekro some awards. His 19-18 record would have been much better with even a .500 team.
#1 Phil Niekro, #2 Vida Blue, #3 J.R. Richard, #4 Gaylord Perry, #5 Tom Seaver.

Top rookie: Bob Horner, I'd have to say at the time. Ozzie Smith had the Hall of Fame career.

Top manager: Tommy LaSorda had the best team in the league. And he played a part in that.

1978 American League

Yankees and Red Sox in a one-game playoff to determine the AL East winner---it was the climax of a great season. The Yankees won on Bucky Dent's homer, then took the ALCS in four games and the World Series in six. The Yankees won 100 games, the Bosox 99, Milwaukee 93, Baltimore 90, and Detroit 86, in a wild race. Cleveland was 6th, and second-year team Toronto lost 102 games for last. In the AL West, Kansas City won again with 92 victories, five games ahead of the Angels and Rangers. Minnsota, Chicago, and Oakland followed, with second-year Seattle last with 104 losses.

Jim Rice won the MVP with a terrific season, leading the league in hits (213), total bases (406), triples (15), homers (46), RBI (139), and OPS (970). Rod Carew won the batting title at .333, followed by Al Oliver at .324, and Ron LeFlore led in steals with 68 as well as runs with 126. George Brett led with 45 doubles.

Ron Guidry swept to the Cy Young leading in wins (25) and ERA (1.74) and finishing second in strikeouts (248). Nolan Ryan led in Ks with 260, as Goose Gossage did in saves with 27. Mike Caldwell had a fine year of his own with 22 wins (second place) and a 2.36 ERA (third) while leading the league with 23 complete games. Jon Matlack was second with a 2.27 ERA. Guidry tossed an amazing nine shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Jim Rice (Boston) 36, Carlton Fisk (Boston) 31, Amos Otis (Kansas City) 29, Eddie Murray and Ken Singleton (Baltimore) 28, Doug DeCinces (Baltimore) and Fred Lynn (Boston) 27, Graig Nettles (New York) 26, Andre Thornton (Cleveland) 25, Ron LeFlore (Detroit) 24, Don Baylor (California), George Brett and Darrell Porter (Kansas City), Sal Bando and Larry Hisle (Milwaukee) and Reggie Jackson and Willie Randolph (New York) 23 each, Jason Thompson (Detroit), Rod Carew and Roy Smalley (Minnesota) and Al Oliver (Texas) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Ron Guidry (New York) 31, Mike Caldwell (Milwaukee) 28, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 27, Jon Matlack (Texas) 25, Dennis Eckersley (Boston) 24, Fergie Jenkins (Texas) 21, Lary Sorensen (Milwaukee) and Goose Gossage (New York) 20, Larry Gura and Dennis Leonard (Kansas City), Dave Goltz (Minnesota) and Ed Figueroa (New York) 19.

WARP3 leaders: Rice and Otis 6.2, Smalley 6.1, Singleton 5.6, Nettles 5.5 (last big year), DeCinces and Brett 5.4, Randolph 5.3, LeFlore 5.2, Thornton 5.1 (best year), Fisk, Bando (last good year) and Chet Lemon (Chicago) 5.0, Hisle (last good year) and Carew 4.8, Murray and Robin Yount (Milwaukee) 4.7, Bobby Grich (California) 4.6, Jim Sundberg (Texas) 4.5.

Pitchers: Guidry 9.2, Caldwell 7.8, Matlack 7.2 (last big year), Palmer 6.9, Eckersley 6.8, Goltz 6.4, Jenkins 6.0, Mike Marshall (Minnesota) 5.6, Geoff Zahn (Minnesota) 5.3, Luis Tiant (Boston) and Goose Gossage (New York) 5.0, Bob Stanley (Boston) 4.9, Rick Waits (Cleveland) 4.8, Gura 4.6, Sorensen 4.5 (career year).

WAR leaders from Fangraphs, position players: Rice 8.1, Otis 7.5, DeCinces 6.9, Nettles 6.4, Fisk 6.1, Smalley 6.0, Bando 5.9, Randolph 5.6, Sundberg and Thornton 5.5, Thompson 5.4, Hisle 5.3, Brett 5.2, Bonds 4.9, Carew, Singleton, and Porter 4.8.

Pitchers: Guidry 9.2, Matlack 7.4, Caldwell 6.9, Jenkins 5.8, Sorenson 5.5, Leonard 5.3, Ryan 5.1, Goltz 4.9, Eckersley 4.8, Erickson and Flanagan 4.5, Palmer 4.3, Torrez 4.1, Zahn 4.0.

Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20): | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----
1 Jim Rice BOS 20 352 392 0.90 | 677 213 46 .315 .970 7
2 Ron Guidry NYY 8 291 392 0.74 | | 25-3 274 1.74 0.946 248
3 Larry Hisle MIL 0 201 392 0.51 | 520 151 34 .290 .906 10
4 Amos Otis KCR 0 90 392 0.23 | 486 145 22 .298 .905 32
5 Rusty Staub DET 0 88 392 0.22 | 642 175 24 .273 .782 3
6 Graig Nettles NYY 0 86 392 0.22 | 587 162 27 .276 .803 1
7 Don Baylor CAL 0 51 392 0.13 | 591 151 34 .255 .804 22
8 Eddie Murray BAL 0 50 392 0.13 | 610 174 27 .285 .836 6
9 Carlton Fisk BOS 0 49 392 0.12 | 571 162 20 .284 .841 7
10 Darrell Porter KCR 0 48 392 0.12 | 520 138 18 .265 .802 0
11 Rod Carew MIN 0 46 392 0.12 | 564 188 5 .333 .853 27
12 Mike Caldwell MIL 0 41 392 0.10 | | 22-9 293 2.36 1.064 131 1
13 Rich Gossage NYY 0 39 392 0.10 | | 10-11 134 2.01 1.087 122 27
14 Al Oliver TEX 0 26 392 0.07 | 525 170 14 .324 .848 8
15 Jim Sundberg TEX 0 24 392 0.06 | 518 144 6 .278 .739 2
16 Ron LeFlore DET 0 21 392 0.05 | 666 198 12 .297 .766 68
17 Reggie Jackson NYY 0 18 392 0.05 | 511 140 27 .274 .834 14
18 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 17 392 0.04 | 523 145 17 .277 .790 4
19 George Brett KCR 0 14 392 0.04 | 510 150 9 .294 .809 23
20 Andre Thornton CLE 0 12 392 0.03 | 508 133 33 .262 .893 4
There was some disagreement, but voters went for Rice over Guidry, with Hisle a strong third.

Cy Young (top five):| Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Ron Guidry NYY 28 140 140 1.00 | 25-3 274 1.74 0.946 248
2 Mike Caldwell MIL 0 76 140 0.54 | 22-9 293 2.36 1.064 131 1
3 Jim Palmer BAL 0 14 140 0.10 | 21-12 296 2.46 1.159 138
4 Dennis Eckersley BOS 0 10 140 0.07 | 20-8 268 2.99 1.226 162
5 Rich Gossage NYY 0 4 140 0.03 | 10-11 134 2.01 1.087 122 27
Guidry, then Caldwell, then a mash.

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 Lou Whitaker DET 21 21 28 0.75 | 484 138 3 .285 .718 7
2 Paul Molitor MIL 3 3 28 0.11 | 521 142 6 .273 .673 30
3 Carney Lansford CAL 2 2 28 0.07 | 453 133 8 .294 .746 20
4 Rich Gale KCR 1 1 28 0.04 | | 14-8 192 3.09 1.409 88
4 Alan Trammell DET 1 1 28 0.04 | 448 120 2 .268 .675 3|
Whitaker was a clear winner.

Top player: Jim Rice. It wasn't a complete slam dunk, as Rice had little defensive value, but it was an excellent season. The 15 triples were pretty cool.
#1 Jim Rice, #2 Amos Otis, #3 Ken Singleton, #4 Carlton Fisk, #5 Graig Nettles, #6 Doug DeCinces.

Top pitcher: Ron Guidry was excellent, nearly every time on the mound.
#1 Ron Guidry, #2 Mike Caldwell, #3 Jim Palmer, #4 Jon Matlack, #5 Dennis Eckersley.

Top rookie: Lou Whitaker leads a strong field.

Top manager: George Bamberger breathed life into the Brewers franchise.

1977 National League

The NL kept its lineup while the AL expanded. The Reds fell from the top spot, as the Dodgers returned to the top of the NL West with 98 victories. The Reds were second with 88. Houston went 81-81 to finish third, followed by San Francisco, San Diego, and finally Atlanta with 101 losses. Philadelphia won the East again with 101 wins, with Pittsburgh just behind at 96 victories. St. Louis was 3rd, Chicago 4th, Montreal 5th and the Mets last. The Dodgers then beat the Phillies in the NLCS.

Dave Parker won the batting title with a .338 average, just ahead of teammate Rennie Stennett at .336. However, Stennett played just 114 games before going down with a leg injury (which helped cost Pittsburgh the division) and was never the same player again. George Foster had a monster year with 52 HR, 149 RBI,led in slugging and OPS, and won the MVP. Parker had 44 doubles, Garry Templeton 18 triples, Frank Taveras led in steals with 70. Jeff Burroughs was second in homers with 41, Greg Luzinski third with 39. Luzinski had 130 RBI. Reggie Smith, playing in the pitchers' park of Dodger Stadium, led in on-base, was second in OPS, and had a small lead on Foster for OPS+.

Steve Carlton led in wins with 23, followed by Tom Seaver with 21. Bob Forsch, John Candelaria, Tommy John, and Rick Reuschel each won 20. Candelaria led in ERA with a 2.34 mark, followed by Seaver at 2.58. Phil Niekro had 262 strikeouts, followed by J.R. Richard at 214. Niekro led in innings, starts, and complete games. Rollie Fingers led in saves with 35, followed by Bruce Sutter at 31. Carlton won the Cy Young.

Win Shares leaders, NL, 1977:

Players, Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) and Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 33, George Foster (Cincinnati) 32, Greg Luzinski (Philadelphia) and Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 30 (Bull's were all offensive, I bet), Reggie Smith (Los Angeles) 29, George Hendrick (San Diego) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 28, Gary Carter (Montreal) and Gene Tenace (San Diego) 25, Jose Cruz (Houston), Davey Lopes (Los Angeles), Dave Winfield (San Diego) and Keith Hernandez and Garry Templeton (St. Louis) 24, Ken Griffey and Pete Rose (Cincinnati) and Cesar Cedeno and Bob Watson (Houston) 23, Jeff Burroughs (Atlanta) and Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 22.

For pitchers, it was Bruce Sutter (Chicago) 27, Rick Reuschel (Chicago), John Candelaria and Goose Gossage (Pitsburgh) and Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 26, Tom Seaver (New York/Cincinnati) 25, J.R. Richard (Houston) and Steve Rogers (Montreal) 21, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Ed Halicki (San Francisco) 20, Burt Hooton and Tommy John (Los Angeles) 19, Gary Lavelle (San Francisco) 18.

WARP3, players: Foster 9.1, Schmidt 8.7, Smith 8.2, Parker 8.0, Morgan 7.5, Carter 6.7, Simmons 6.5, Bench 6.3, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Lopes, and Tenace 5.9, Watson 5.2, Cedeno, Joe Ferguson (Los Angeles) and Lenny Randle (New York) 5.1, Hendrick and Rennie Stennett (Pittsburgh) 5.0, Phil Garner (Pittsburgh) 4.9, Winfield and Dusty Baker (Los Angeles) 4.8.

WARP3, pitchers: Reuschel 9.2, Niekro 8.5, Gossage 8.1, Carlton 8.0, Richard 7.1, Sutter 7.0, Halicki 6.9, Candelaria 6.8, Lavelle and Seaver 5.7, Hooton 5.2, Rogers and John 5.0, Rollie Fingers (San Diego) 4.7.

WAR leaders from Fangraphs: position players; Schmidt 9.6, Foster 9.3, Parker 8.1, Smith 6.8, Morgan 6.2, Simmons 6.0, Carter 5.7, Hendrick 5.5, Bench and Luzinski 5.3, Lopes and Watson 5.2, Cruz and Tenace 5.0, Cedeno and Ferguson 4.9, Cey and Griffey 4.7.

Pitchers, Rogers 7.6, Reuschel 7.1, Seaver 6.5, Niekro 6.4, Carlton and Sutter 5.4, Hooton 5.1, John 5.0, Richard 4.9, Bonham 4.7, Koosman 4.6, Gossage and Rau 4.3, Reuss 4.2.

Actual award voting:
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 George Foster CIN 15 291 336 0.87 | 615 197 52 .320 1.013 6
2 Greg Luzinski PHI 9 255 336 0.76 | 554 171 39 .309 .988 3
3 Dave Parker PIT 0 156 336 0.46 | 637 215 21 .338 .927 17
4 Reggie Smith LAD 0 112 336 0.33 | 488 150 32 .307 1.003 7
5 Steve Carlton PHI 0 100 336 0.30 | 97 26 3 .268 .684 0| 23-10 283 2.64 1.124 198
6 Steve Garvey LAD 0 98 336 0.29 | 646 192 33 .297 .834 9
7 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 68 336 0.20 | 20 3 0 .150 .377 0| 7-3 107 1.34 0.857 129 31
8 Ron Cey LAD 0 60 336 0.18 | 564 136 30 .241 .797 3
9 Ted Simmons STL 0 58 336 0.17 | 516 164 21 .318 .908 2
10 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 48 336 0.14 | 544 149 38 .274 .967 15
11 Bill Robinson PIT 0 34 336 0.10 | 507 154 26 .304 .862 12
12 Tommy John LAD 0 33 336 0.10 | 79 14 1 .177 .433 0| 20-7 220 2.78 1.248 123
13 Garry Templeton STL 0 20 336 0.06 | 621 200 8 .322 .786 28
14 Rollie Fingers SDP 0 17 336 0.05 | 20 1 0 .050 .100 0| 8-9 132 2.99 1.202 113 35
15 Pete Rose CIN 0 15 336 0.04 | 655 204 9 .311 .809 16
Foster by a fairly small margin over Luzinski. Parker ran a strong third, and the rest were also-rans.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Steve Carlton PHI 17 104 120 0.87 | 23-10 283 2.64 1.124 198
2 Tommy John LAD 3 54 120 0.45 | 20-7 220 2.78 1.248 123
3 Rick Reuschel CHC 1 18 120 0.15 | 20-10 252 2.79 1.218 166 1
3 Tom Seaver TOT 2 18 120 0.15 |+21-6 261 2.58 1.014 196
5 John Candelaria PIT 1 17 120 0.14 | 20-5 231 2.34 1.071 133
6 Bruce Sutter CHC 0 5 120 0.04 | 7-3 107 1.34 0.857 129 31
Carlton followed by a full comeback season by Tommy John from the surgery that now bears his name. Sutter and Gossage got little attention from their terrific years in relief.

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 Andre Dawson MON 10 10 24 0.42 | 525 148 19 .282 .800 21
2 Steve Henderson NYM 9 9 24 0.38 | 350 104 12 .297 .852 6
3 Gene Richards SDP 4 4 24 0.17 | 525 152 5 .290 .754 56
4 Floyd Bannister HOU 1 1 24 0.04 | 48 9 0 .188 .392 0| 8-9 143 4.04 1.444 112

Top player: George Foster. Foster had a year, with 52 HR and 149 RBI, that hadn't been seen in some years. He had by far the most impressive season.
#1 George Foster, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Dave Parker, #4 Reggie Smith, #5 Joe Morgan, #6 Ted Simmons.

Top pitcher: Rick Reuschel for a terrific year. He won 20, and was 2nd in ERA+ behind Candelaria, but Candy pitched for a much better team.
#1 Rick Reuschel, #2 Tom Seaver, #3 Bruce Sutter, #4 Steve Carlton, #5 Steve Rogers.

Top Rookie: with the benefit of hindsight, I'll choose Dawson.

Top manager: Tommy Lasorda was successful in his first year as skipper of the Dodgers.

1977 American League

New York's Yankees won their first World Series since 1962, and started a modern version of their dynasty. The Yanks first had to survive a dogfight in the East Division, besting Boston and Baltimore each by a mere 2.5 games in a race to the end. The Yankees won 100 games, the Red Sox and Orioles 97 each. The rest of the division was under .500, even with the presence of two expansions teams, as Toronto and Seattle entered the league. Detroit, Cleveland and Milwaukee were the also-rans, and Toronto brought up the rear in the East with 107 losses.

The West was won by Kansas City for the second straight year, as the Royals won 102 games. Texas was 2nd, eight back, while Chicago surged to 3rd after a disastrous season in 1976. Bill Veeck tried shorts, giveaways, and big hitters in their walk years to boost his team. It worked. Minnesota was 4th, California 5th, and Seattle edged Oakland, which looked like an expansion team after being riddled by free agency. Charlie Finley's high-handed tactics came back to haunt him.

Rod Carew led in average, on-base, OPS, and won the MVP as he hit .388, the highest average Ted Williams hit the same in 1957. No one had been higher since Williams' .406 in 1941. Second to Carew in average was teammate Lyman Bostock, all the way back at .336. Carew also led with 239 hits and 128 runs. He was even a surprising second in slugging. Jim Rice led in slugging, and in homers with 39, followed by Bobby Bonds and Graig Nettles at 37. Larry Hisle led in RBI with 119, followed closely by Bonds at 115 and Rice at 114. Hal McRae had 54 doubles and Carew 16 triples. Freddy Patek led in steals with 53, followed by Mitchell Page at 42.

Reliever Sparky Lyle won the Cy Young, while Frank Tanana led in ERA with a 2.54 mark, followed by Bert Blyleven at 2.72. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts with 341; second was Dennis Leonard with 244. Dave Campbell led in saves with 31, followed by Lyle at 26 and Larrin LaGrow at 25. Dave Goltz, Dennis Leonard and Jim Palmer tied with 20 wins. Tanana had seven shutouts while Palmer and Ryan each had 22 complete games.

The Win Shares leaderboard looks like this:

Players: Rod Carew (Minnesota) 37, Ken Singleton (Baltimore) 36, Carlton Fisk (Boston) and Mitchell Page (Oakland) 30, George Brett (Kansas City) 29, Al Cowens (Kansas City), Lyman Bostock (Minnesota) and Reggie Jackson (New York) 27, Jim Rice (Boston) and Hal McRae (Kansas City) 26, Graig Nettles (New York), Mike Hargrove and Toby Harrah (Texas) 25, Al Bumbry (Baltimore), Carl Yastrzemski (Boston), Bobby Bonds (California) and Larry Hisle (Minnesota) 24, Chet Lemon (Chicago) and Ron LeFlore (Detroit) 23.

Pitchers: Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 29, Dennis Leonard (Kansas City) 24, Bill Campbell (Boston) 23, Nolan Ryan (California) and Dave Goltz (Minnesota) 22, Bert Blyleven (Texas) 21, Frank Tanana (California) and Sparky Lyle (New York) 20, Dennis Eckersley (Cleveland), Dave Rozema (Detroit) and Ron Guidry (New York) 18.

WARP3 leaders, players: Carew 9.4, Singleton 9.0, Brett and Page 8.5, Fisk 8.2, Jim Sundberg (who was not much of a hitter, but a marvelous defensive catcher) 7.8, Nettles 7.0, Hargrove 6.7, Bump Wills (Texas) and Willie Randolph (New York) 6.5, Harrah, Bostock, and Bert Campaneris (Texas) 6.3, Don Money (Milwaukee) 5.9, Hisle 5.8, Andre Thornton (Cleveland) 5.7, Bonds and Jackson 5.6, Rice, Lemon, and Thurman Munson (New York) 5.5.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Tanana 7.5, Ryan 6.9, Campbell and Palmer 6.5, Eckersley 6.0, Leonard 5.7, Rozema 5.6, Wayne Garland (Cleveland) 5.0, Jerry Garvin (Toronto) 4.9, Blyleven and Larrin LaGrow (Chicago) 4.7.

WAR from Fangraphs, position players: Carew 8.6, Fisk 7.7, Brett 7.2, Page 6.3, Hargrove 5.8, Harrah and Singleton 5.7, Nettles 5.5, Bostock, Cowens, and Lemon 5.2, Bonds, Rice, and Yastrzemski 5.1, Jackson and Money 5.0, Sundberg and Wills 4.8.

Pitchers: Leonard 8.7, Ryan 6.8, Goltz 6.7, Tanana 6.0, Guidry and Perry 5.8, Blyleven and Palmer 5.4, Eckersley 4.7, Blue 4.6, Splittorff 4.4, Flanagan 4.3, Garland 4.2, Lemanczyk 4.0.

The actual voting results:

MVP (at least 10 points only):
Finish Name Team First-place Votes Total points
1 Rod Carew MIN 12 273
2 Al Cowens KCR 4 217
3 Ken Singleton BAL 3 200
4 Jim Rice BOS 1 163
5 Graig Nettles NYY 2 112
6 Sparky Lyle NYY 1 79
7 Thurman Munson NYY 1 70
8 Carlton Fisk BOS 1 67
8 Reggie Jackson NYY 1 67
10 Bill Campbell BOS 0 65
11 Mickey Rivers NYY 0 59
12 Larry Hisle MIN 1 54
13 George Brett KCR 0 51
14 Richie Zisk CHW 0 34
15 Jim Sundberg TEX 0 30
16 Bobby Bonds CAL 0 28
17 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 1 25
18 Ron Guidry NYY 0 11

The voting was much like 2003, as a player from an also-ran team won a split decision when no one from the top team stood out. The Series champ Yankees had six players listed here, but none higher than 5th.

Cy Young:
Place Name Team First-place votes Points
1 Sparky Lyle NYY 9 56
2 Jim Palmer BAL 6 48
3 Nolan Ryan CAL 6 46
4 Dennis Leonard KCR 5 45
5 Bill Campbell BOS 1 25
6 Dave Goltz MIN 1 19
7 Ron Guidry NYY 0 5
8 Dave Rozema DET 0 4
9 Frank Tanana CAL 0 3

The voters assuaged their non-winner MVP guilt by going for Yankees reliever Lyle. Lyle wasn't even the best reliever in the league, although he had a good year.

Rookie:
Place Name Team First-place votes Points
1 Eddie Murray BAL 12 12
2 Mitchell Page OAK 9 9
3 Bump Wills TEX 4 4
4 Dave Rozema DET 2 2

Top player: Rod Carew, in his best year. Fisk and Singleton were also terrific, but Carew was the best. The .388 average lost its place in folklore when George Brett hit .390 three years later, but it was a terrific season for the Panamanian.
#1 Rod Carew, #2 Ken Singleton, #3 Carlton Fisk, #4 George Brett, #5 Mitchell Page, #6 Lyman Bostock.

Top pitcher: Dennis Leonard had a terrific year leading the Royals staff. It's a close race, but I'll go with him.
#1 Dennis Leonard, #2 Nolan Ryan, #3 Jim Palmer, #4 Frank Tanana, #5 Ron Guidry.

Top rookie: Mitchell Page had a great year, although Eddie Murray would have the Hall of Fame career.

Top manager: Credit Billy Martin here, managing a real team without a big star through a tough pennant race.

1976 National League

Cincinnati repeated as World Series champs by going undefeated in the postseason, and Joe Morgan repeated as MVP. Philadelphia made the postseason for the first time since 1950, taking the East Division title. Neither division race was especially close. The Reds won 102 games and led the Dodgers by 10 at the end. The rest of the division was under .500, with Houston, San Francisco, San Diego, and Atlanta trailing behind. The Phillies beat out the Pirates by 9 games, 101 wins to 92, with New York 3rd at 86 wins. Chicago and St. Louis trailed, and Montreal lost 107 games.

Morgan led in OPS by a large margin, leading in both on-base and slugging. Bill Madlock won the batting title by three points over Ken Griffey (Senior) .339 to .336. Garry Maddox was third at .330. Mike Schmidt led in homers with 38 to Dave Kingman's 37, while George Foster led in RBI with 121 to Morgan's 111. Pete Rose scored 130 runs and had 215 hits and 42 doubles, and Davey Lopes led in steals with 63 to Morgan's 60.

Randy Jones led in wins with 22 and took the Cy Young Award. Don Sutton and Jerry Koosman won 21, while J.R. Richard and Steve Carlton won 20 apiece. John Denny led in ERA at 2.52 to Doug Rau's 2.57, Tom Seaver in strikeouts with 235, and Rawly Eastwick in saves with 26. Jones had 25 complete games.

Win Shares leaderboard:
Players; Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 37, Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 35, Bob Watson (Houston) 31, Pete Rose (Cincinnati) and Cesar Cedeno (Houston) 30, Ron Cey (Los Angeles) 27, Garry Maddox (Philadelphia) and Steve Garvey (Los Angeles) 26, Bill Madlock (Chicago), George Foster and Ken Griffey (Cincinnati) and Dave Winfield (San Diego) 25, Richie Zisk (Pittsburgh) and Gary Mathews (San Francisco) 24, Rick Monday (Chicago), Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Greg Luzinski (Philadelphia), and Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 23, Jose Cruz (Houston) and Al Oliver (Pittsburgh) 22.

Pitchers; Phil Niekro (Atlanta), Doug Rau (Los Angeles), Randy Jones (San Diego) and John Montefusco (San Francisco) 21 each, Charlie Hough and Don Sutton (Los Angeles), Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver (New York) and Jim Barr (San Francisco) 20 each, Ray Burris and Rick Reuschel (Chicago) 19, Jon Matlack (New York), Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) and John Denny (St. Louis) 18.

WARP3 leaders, players: Morgan 11.3, Schmidt 11.2, Concepcion 9.4, Rose 8.8, Foster 8.5, Cedeno 7.1, Maddox 6.7, Bench and Griffey 6.6, Watson 6.3, Cesar Geronimo (Cincinnati) 6.2, Garvey 5.8, Zisk 5.7, Cey 5.6, Winfield 5.4, Oliver 5.3, Cruz 5.2.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Montefusco 8.3, Niekro 7.8, Barr, Burris, and Jones 7.1, Messersmith 6.9, Koosman and Reuschel 6.2, Seaver 6.1, Woodie Fryman (Montreal) 5.8, Dick Ruthven (Philadelphia) 5.6, Rau 5.4, Matlack 5.0, Hough 4.7.

WAR leaders from Fangraphs: Position players; Morgan 10.1, Schmidt 8.9, Rose 8.1, Cey and Foster 6.9, Maddox 6.8, Cedeno 5.9, Bench and Madlock 5.3, Concepcion, Garvey, Winfield, and Zisk 5.2, Griffey 4.7, Monday 4.4, Buckner and Simmons 4.3, Parker 4.2.

Pitchers: Seaver 6.9, Montefusco 6.0, Carlton and Reuschel 5.5, Rogers 5.4, Koosman 5.0, Niekro 4.7, Jones 4.6, Matlack 4.5, Barr 4.4, Ruthven 4.2, Halicki, Messersmith, and Zachry 4.0.

Award voting:
MVP (top 15);
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Joe Morgan CIN 19 311
2 George Foster CIN 5 221
3 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 179
4 Pete Rose CIN 0 131
5 Garry Maddox PHI 0 98
6 Steve Garvey LAD 0 51
6 Bill Madlock CHC 0 51
8 Ken Griffey Sr. CIN 0 49
8 Greg Luzinski PHI 0 49
10 Randy Jones SDP 0 48
11 Bob Watson HOU 0 38
12 Al Oliver PIT 0 30
13 Rawly Eastwick CIN 0 26
14 Jerry Koosman NYM 0 20
15 Steve Carlton PHI 0 16

Cy Young;
Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Randy Jones SDP 15 96
2 Jerry Koosman NYM 7 69
3 Don Sutton LAD 1 25
4 Steve Carlton PHI 0 11
5 Rawly Eastwick CIN 0 6
6 Jon Matlack NYM 1 5
7 J.R. Richard HOU 0 2
8 Tom Seaver NYM 0 1

Rookie;

Place Name Team Points
1 Butch Metzger SDP 11
1 Pat Zachry CIN 11
3 Hector Cruz STL 2

Top player: Joe Morgan. It's pretty clear that Morgan is again the best player in the league, and his team won 108 games besides. An easy pick. Schmidt is a clear 2nd.
#1 Joe Morgan, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Pete Rose, #4 Cesar Cedeno, #5 Garry Maddox, #6 George Foster.

Top pitcher: Randy Jones. In DIPS, Jones is lousy in Ks of course. But he does well in the other two categories as he walked very few and kept the ball in the park. He also was working with a lousy team behind him, save Winfield. Well, Johnny Grubb was OK.
#1 Randy Jones, #2 John Montefusco, #3 Steve Carlton, #4 Tom Seaver, #5 Jerry Koosman.

Top rookie: Pat Zachry. Call me a homer, but I'll go for the Reds' guy. It was a thin group.

Top manager: Danny Ozark, for finally getting the Phillies to the endgame.

1976 American League

The Yankees won the pennant for the first time in 12 years, their longest drought since the dynasty began in 1921. The free agent era dawned, after an arbitrator ruled in the offseason that clubs could renew contracts for one season only, not in perpetuity. This led the A's stars to play out their option years en masse, and set off the preseason trade of Reggie Jackson and Ken Holtzman to Baltimore for Don Baylor and Mike Torrez. The Yankees then picked Holtzman up at midseason in a huge 10-player trade.

New York won 97 and outdistanced Baltimore by 10.5 games in the East, with Boston 3rd, Cleveland 4th, then Detroit and Milwaukee. The Royals broke the A's stranglehold in the West by a 2.5 game margin. Minnesota was 3rd, California and Texas tied for 4th. Chicago lost 97 games and were sold to Bill Veeck, his last team ownership. Veeck still made for an interesting story, and zany promotions.

George Brett won the batting title in a tight three-way race with Hal McRae and Rod Carew that ended in some controversy tinged with charges or racism, that Caucasian Brett was favored over his teammate, African-American McRae. Brett batted .333, McRae .332, and Carew .331 is an insanely tight race. McRae led the league in on-base and OPS. Jackson led in slugging, with Graig Nettles leading in homers with 32, and Lee May in RBI with 109 just ahead of Thurman Munson at 105. Roy White scored 104 runs, Amos Otis had 40 doubles, and Brett 14 triples. Bill North led in steals with 75. Jackson edged McRae in OPS+.

Jim Palmer led in wins with 22, one more than Luis Tiant, as Wayne Garland also won 20 and a big free agent payday. Rookie Mark (The Bird) Fidrych led in ERA by 0.01 over Vida Blue, 2.33 to 2.34. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts with 327 and Sparky Lyle in saves with 23 to Dave LaRoche's 21. Fidrych led with 24 complete games, Ryan with 7 shutouts.

Win Shares leaderboard:
Players; George Brett (Kansas City) 33, Bobby Grich (Baltimore) 31, Rod Carew (Minnesota) 30, Graig Nettles (New York) 28, Ron LeFlore and Rusty Staub (Detroit), Hal McRae (Kansas City) and Mickey Rivers and Roy White (New York) 26 each, Reggie Jackson (Baltimore) and Amos Otis (Kansas City) 25, Ken Singleton (Baltimore), Rico Carty (Cleveland), Thurman Munson (New York), Sal Bando (Oakland), Mike Hargrove and Toby Harrah (Texas) 24, Mark Belanger (Baltimore) 23, Fred Lynn (Boston) and Gene Tenace (Oakland) 22.

Pitchers; Jim Palmer (Baltimore), Frank Tanana (California) and Mark Fidrych (Detroit) 27 each, Vida Blue (Oakland) 25, Luis Tiant (Boston) 22, Wayne Garland (Baltimore), Bert Blyleven (Minnesota/Texas) and Mike Torrez (Oakland) 20, Nolan Ryan (California), John Hiller (Detroit), Bill Campbell (Minnesota), Rollie Fingers (Oakland) and Gaylord Perry (Texas) 17.

WARP3 leaders, players: Brett 10.8, Nettles 9.7, Grich 8.1, White 7.8, McRae 7.0, Carew and Jackson 6.8, Munson and Phil Garner (Oakland) 6.7, Rivers 6.6, Carlton Fisk (Boston) 6.4, LeFlore 6.0, Carty 5.7, Otis and Willie Randolph (New York) 5.4, Lynn 5.3, Bando and Harrah 5.2, Tenace, Freddie Patek (Kansas City) and Mark Belanger (Baltimore) 5.1.

WARP 3 leaders, pitchers: Tanana 9.7, Fidrych 9.0, Palmer 8.1, Blue 7.1, Bill Travers (Milwaukee) 5.4, Tiant 5.2, Torrez 5.1, Perry 5.0, Blyleven and Gary Ross (California) 4.8, Hiller 4.6, Ryan 4.5, Garland 4.2, Ken Brett (Chicago) 4.0, Fingers 3.9.

WAR leaders from Fangraphs: position players; Nettles 8.4, Brett 7.2, Carew 6.6, Grich 6.0, Belanger 5.9, Rivers 5.7, Bando and White 5.4, Jackson 5.1, Munson and Randolph 4.8, McRae 4.7, Fisk 4.4, Chambliss, LeFlore, and Harrah 4.3, Campaneris 4.2, Lynn and Tenace 4.1.

Pitchers: Blue 7.4, Blyleven 7.1, Tanana 6.1, Perry 5.5, Ryan 5.4, Fidrych 5.1, Slaton and Tiant 4.7, Leonard 4.5, Eckersley and Jenkins 4.4, Fitzmorris 4.3, Hunter 4.1, Wise 3.9, Brett, Goltz, Palmer, and Roberts 3.7.

Award Voting:
MVP (top 20);
Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Thurman Munson NYY 18 304
2 George Brett KCR 2 217
3 Mickey Rivers NYY 1 179
4 Hal McRae KCR 0 99
5 Rod Carew MIN 1 71
5 Chris Chambliss NYY 0 71
7 Amos Otis KCR 1 58
8 Bill Campbell MIN 0 56
9 Lee May BAL 0 51
10 Jim Palmer BAL 0 47
11 Mark Fidrych DET 1 41
12 Joe Rudi OAK 0 35
13 Sal Bando OAK 0 31
14 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 26
15 Frank Tanana CAL 0 19
16 Reggie Jackson BAL 0 17
16 Graig Nettles NYY 0 17
18 Gene Tenace OAK 0 13
19 Rollie Fingers OAK 0 12
20 Vida Blue OAK 0 10

Cy Young (top 7);
Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Jim Palmer BAL 19 108
2 Mark Fidrych DET 5 51
3 Frank Tanana CAL 0 18
4 Ed Figueroa NYY 0 12
5 Luis Tiant BOS 0 10
6 Vida Blue OAK 0 8
7 Bill Campbell MIN 0 7

Rookie:
Place Name Team Points
1 Mark Fidrych DET 22 22
2 Butch Wynegar MIN 2 2

Top player; George Brett, now the best player in the league. McRae was a better hitter, but Brett added good defense. Nettles, not Munson, was the top force on the Yankees.
#1 George Brett, #2 Graig Nettles, #3 Bobby Grich, #4 Rod Carew, #5 Hal McRae, #6 Thurman Munson.

Top pitcher; Mark Fidrych. A rookie for a bad team, The Bird was the biggest thing to hit baseball in years. Fans flocked to see the kooky kid, he was on TV all the time, and this before ESPN, and he was great! He may never have been destined for a Hall of Fame career, with a low strikeout rate, but he was amazing.
#1 Mark Fidrych, #2 Frank Tanana, #3 Jim Palmer, #4 Vida Blue, #5 Luis Tiant.

Top rookie: Mark Fidrych. He was not a good bet to last long with that K rate, but he was something to watch. And he was very good in 1976.

Top manager: Billy Martin got the Yankees their first win since 1964.

1975 National League

The Dodgers were hailed as the new dynasty over the winter and into May. Then the Reds moved Pete Rose to third base, installed George Foster in the lineup and kicked into high gear, not stopping until they won 108 games. They went on to win their first World Series since 1940. LA was left in the dust with 88 wins. San Francisco was 3rd, San Diego 4th, then Atlanta and Houston. Pittsburgh won the East, 6.5 games ahead of the renewed Phillies. The Mets and Cardinals tied for 3rd, with Chicago and Montreal tied for 5th.

Bill Madlock led the league in average with a .354 mark, Ted Simmons was second at .332, Manny Sanguillen checked in at .328, Joe Morgan .327, Bob Watson .324. Mike Schmidt hit 38 home runs, Dave Kingman 36, Greg Luzinski 34. Luzinski had 120 RBI, Johnny Bench 110, Tony Perez 109. Pete Rose scored 112 runs and hit 47 doubles, Dave Cash had 213 hits, Dave Lopes 77 steals. Joe Morgan led in on-base and OPS and won the MVP.

Tom Seaver led in wins (22) and strikeouts (243) and won the Cy Young. Randy Jones led in ERA with a 2.24 mark and was second in wins with 20. Andy Messersmith was second with a 2.29 ERA. John Montefusco was second with 215 strikeouts. Rawly Eastwick and Al Hrabosky tied in saves with 22.

Win Shares leaders, players; Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 44, Pete Rose (Cincinnati) 31, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 30, Darrell Evans (Atlanta), Greg Luzinski and Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 28 each, Ron Cey (Los Angeles) 27, Jose Cardenal and Bill Madlock (Chicago) and Dave Parker (Pittsburgh) 26, Steve Garvey and Dave Lopes (Los Angeles) and Rusty Staub (New York) 25, Dave Cash (Philadelphia) 24, Andre Thornton (Chicago) and Manny Sanguillen (Pittsburgh) 23, Rick Monday (Chicago), Willie Stargell and Richie Zisk (Pittsburgh) 22.

Pitchers; Andy Messersmith (Los Angeles) and Randy Jones (San Diego) 28, Tom Seaver (New York) 26, Bob Forsch (St. Louis) 21, Jerry Reuss (Pittsburgh) and John Montefusco (San Francisco) 20, Phil Niekro (Atlanta), Steve Rogers (Montreal) and Al Hrabosky (St. Louis) 19, Carl Morton (Atlanta), Burt Hooton (Chicago/Los Angeles), Don Sutton (Los Angeles) and Jim Barr (San Francisco) 17.

WARP3, players: Morgan 13.0 in a season for the ages; Bench 9.8, Schmidt 8.8, Lopes 7.9, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati) 7.6, Parker 7.4, Cey 7.1, Luzinski 7.0, Rose and George Foster (Cincinnati) 6.7, Cesar Cedeno (Houston) 6.2, Garvey 6.1, Cash 5.9, Jimmy Wynn (Los Angeles) 5.7, Simmons and Sanguillen 5.6, Staub 5.4, Bob Watson (Houston) 5.2, Rennie Stennett (Pittsburgh) 4.8, Chris Speier (San Francisco) 4.7.

WARP3, pitchers: Jones 10.7, Niekro and Morton 9.5, Seaver 8.4, Messersmith 6.8, Forsch 6.6, Montefusco 6.4, Barr 6.3, Reuss 5.4, Rick Reuschel (Chicago) 5.3, Hrabosky 5.2, Rogers 4.7, Steve Stone and Ray Burris (both Chicago) 4.6, Dan Warthen (Montreal) 4.4, Brent Strom (San Diego) 4.3, Bob Apodaca (New York) 4.1, Sutton, Hooton, and Woodie Fryman (Montreal) 3.7.

WAR from Fangraphs, position player leaders: Morgan 11.4, Schmidt 8.4, Bench 7.2, Cey 7.1, Parker 6.9, Simmons 6.1, Rose 5.8, Lopes 5.6, Foster 5.5, Wynn 5.4, Garvey 5.3, Sanguillen and Stennett 5.1, Cash 5.0, Zisk 4.9.

Pitchers: Seaver 8.0, Reed 7.5, Montefusco 7.0, Messersmith 5.8, Sutton 5.4, Reuschel 5.2, Rogers 4.9, Rau and Reuss 4.7, Matlack 4.5, Jones 4.3, Bonham 4.2, Carlton, Morton, and Niekro 4.0.

Actual award voting:
MVP (top 12)

Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Joe Morgan CIN 21 321
2 Greg Luzinski PHI 0 154
3 Dave Parker PIT 0 120
4 Johnny Bench CIN 0 117
5 Pete Rose CIN 2 114
6 Ted Simmons STL 0 103
7 Willie Stargell PIT 0 69
8 Al Hrabosky STL 0 66
9 Tom Seaver NYM 0 65
10 Randy Jones SDP 0 54
11 Steve Garvey LAD 0 50
12 Bill Madlock CHC 0 45

Cy Young

Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Tom Seaver NYM 15 98
2 Randy Jones SDP 7 80
3 Al Hrabosky STL 2 33
4 John Montefusco SFG 0 2
5 Don Gullett CIN 0 1
5 Andy Messersmith LAD 0 1
5 Don Sutton LAD 0 1

Rookie

Place Name Team Votes
1 John Montefusco SFG 12
2 Gary Carter MON 9
3 Rawly Eastwick CIN 1
3 Larry Parrish MON 1
3 Manny Trillo CHC 1

Best player: Joe Morgan is head and shoulders above the crowd. Rose got a couple of first-place votes based on his in-season move to 3B, but Morgan should have swept this award.
#1 Joe Morgan, #2 Johnny Bench, #3 Mike Schmidt, #4 Pete Rose, #5 Ron Cey, #6 Dave Parker.

Best Pitcher: Tom Seaver. It's between Seaver, Messersmith and Jones. No one else is close. Jones was a non-strikeouts sinkerballer who had a couple good years, Messersmith had a solid year, but Tom was terrific.
#1 Tom Seaver, #2 Randy Jones, #3 Andy Messersmith, #4 Jerry Reuss, #5 John Montefusco.

Best rookie: John Montefusco was the top rookie. He burned out, and Gary Carter would have the better career. But for one season, it was Montefusco.

Best manager: Sparky Anderson had the courage to move Rose to 3B, and it proved the catalyst for the team. He also nursemaided a mediocre pitching staff through the long season, and then the postseason.

1975 American League

Oakland won its fifth straight division title, even without the first free agent (on a contract violation technicality by A's owner Charlie Finley) of the modern era, Catfish Hunter. Hunter signed a multi-year contract with the Yankees. But the story of the year was the Red Sox, who produced two slugging rookies and won the East, then swept the A's in the ALCS. The Orioles were 2nd, 4.5 games back. The Yankees slipped to third, 12 out, even though Hunter tied for the league lead in victories. Cleveland was 4th with Milwaukee 5th and Detroit last, with 102 losses. Oakland took the West by 7 games over Kansas City, with Texas, Minnesota, Chicago and California closely grouped as also-rans.

Fred Lynn led in OPS and won the MVP and Rookie of the Year awards. Rod Carew led in batting average with a .359 mark followed by Lynn at .331. Thurman Munson was third at .318. Reggie Jackson and George Scott tied for the home run lead at 36, with John Mayberry at 34. Scott led in RBI with 109, Mayberry had 106, Lynn 105, Reggie Jackson 104. Lynn scored 103 runs and hit 47 doubles, George Brett had 195 hits and 13 triples, which tied Mickey Rivers who also led in steals with 70.

Jim Palmer tied Hunter for the wins lead at 23, Vida Blue won 22. Palmer led in ERA with a 2.09 mark, Hunter 2.58, Dennis Eckersley 2.60. Frank Tanana led in strikeouts with 269, Bert Blyleven and Gaylord Perry had 233. Goose Gossage saved 26. Palmer won the Cy Young.

And now, over to the Win Shares desk for this update:
Players; Ken Singleton (Baltimore), Fred Lynn (Boston) and John Mayberry (Kansas City) 33 each, Gene Tenace (Oakland) and Toby Harrah (Texas) 32, Rod Carew (Minnesota) 30, Bobby Grich (Baltimore) 29, Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 27, George Brett (Kansas City) 25, Don Baylor (Baltimore) and Bobby Bonds (New York) 24, Boog Powell (Cleveland), George Scott (Milwaukee) and Thurman Munson (New York) 23, Mickey Rivers (California), Billy North and Claudell Washington (Oakland) and Mike Hargrove (Texas) 22, Jorge Orta (Chicago), Graig Nettles and Roy White (New York) 21.

Pitchers; Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 31, Catfish Hunter (New York) 29, Goose Gossage (Chicago) 23, Frank Tanana (California), Jim Kaat (Chicago) and Steve Busby (Kansas City) 22 each, Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) and Gaylord Perry (Cleveland/Texas) 21, Mike Torrez (Baltimore) and Vida Blue (Oakland) 19, Bill Lee (Boston) and Ed Figueroa (California) 18, Luis Tiant and Rick Wise (Boston) and Dennis Eckersley (Cleveland) 17.

WARP3 position leaders: Grich 11.1, Harrah 9.9, Lynn 9.0, Tenace 8.8, Mayberry and Carew 8.7, Singleton 8.2, Munson 8.1, Jackson and Nettles 7.0, Bonds 6.8, North and White 6.2, Bucky Dent (Chicago) 6.0, Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 5.5, Brett 5.2, Scott 5.1, Rivers 4.9, Powell 4.8, Washington 4.7, Baylor and Darrell Porter (Kansas City) 4.6.

WARP3 pitching leaders: Hunter 7.8, Palmer 7.7, Gossage 7.6, Tanana 6.6, Busby 6.3, Kaat 6.2, Eckersley 5.7, Blyleven 5.4, Figueroa 5.0, Mickey Lolich (Detroit) 4.7, Gaylord Perry (Texas) and Al Fitzmorris (Kansas City) 4.3.

WAR leaders from Fangraphs...position players: Mayberry 7.6, Carew and Lynn 7.3, Harrah 7.2, Grich 7.1, Jackson 6.4, Munson 5.9, Tenace 5.8, Bonds and Brett 5.6, Singleton 5.4, North 5.3, Nettles 4.9, Belanger 4.5, Powell 4.2.

Pitchers: Perry 7.3, Tanana 7.2, Palmer 6.9, Blyleven 6.8, Hunter and Kaat 5.9, Busby 5.6, Lolich 5.3, Tiant 5.1, Goltz 4.6, Blue 4.5, Lee 4.4, Wood 4.2, Figueroa and May 4.1.

Actual Award voting, beginning with MVP (top 17):

Place Name Team 1st place Points
1 Fred Lynn BOS 22 326
2 John Mayberry KCR 0 157
3 Jim Rice BOS 0 154
4 Rollie Fingers OAK 2 129
5 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 118
6 Jim Palmer BAL 0 82
7 Thurman Munson NYY 0 69
8 George Scott MIL 0 64
9 Rod Carew MIN 0 54
10 Ken Singleton BAL 0 44
11 George Brett KCR 0 37
12 Catfish Hunter NYY 0 31
13 Rick Burleson BOS 0 28
14 Claudell Washingt OAK 0 22
15 Toby Harrah TEX 0 16
16 Mike Torrez BAL 0 12
17 Rich Gossage CHW 0 11

Cy Young:
Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Jim Palmer BAL 15 98
2 Catfish Hunter NYY 7 74
3 Rollie Fingers OAK 2 25
4 Jim Kaat CHW 0 7
4 Frank Tanana CAL 0 7
6 Vida Blue OAK 0 2
6 Rich Gossage CHW 0 2
8 Rick Wise BOS 0 1

Rookie:

Place Name Team 1st Place Points
1 Fred Lynn BOS 23 23
2 Jim Rice BOS 1 1

Addenda: Rollie Fingers (3rd in Cy voting) had 15 Win Shares and a WARP3 of 3.5.

Top player: Fred Lynn. You can make a case for Singleton, Mayberry, or Carew for MVP, even Munson or Tenace. Different metrics show them outperforming Lynn, depending on where you look. However, if you include the nebulous "impact," it's Fred Lynn for a landslide.
#1 Fred Lynn, #2 John Mayberry, #3 Rod Carew, #4 Toby Harrah, #5 Thurman Munson, #6 Gene Tenace.

Top pitcher: Jim Palmer was the best. Not really close there, although a number of hurlers had good years.
#1 Jim Palmer, #2 Catfish Hunter, #3 Goose Gossage, #4 Frank Tanana, #5 Gaylord Perry.

Top rookie: Fred Lynn, of course. Eckersley had a good rookie year, and Rice played well.

Top manager: Darrell Johnson got the Red Sox into the World Series. He did a nice job.

1974 National League

Lou Brock took aim at Ty Cobb's single-season steals record, and trashed it with 118 bags swiped. The Cards still finished 2nd to the Pirates in the East. The story of the year was the Dodgers, an emerging young team that won 102 games and the pennant with a 4-game NLCS triumph. The Reds were just 4 games behind the Dodgers. The Braves also had a solid year at 88 victories. Houston was 4th in the West at .500, while the Giants lost 90 and the Padres 102, again. The Pirates won 88 and the Cards were 1.5 back, and the Phillies were third and just under .500. Montreal was right behind them, while New York slipped back to 5th, and Chicago was last with 96 losses.

Ralph Garr led in batting average with a .353 mark, followed by Al Oliver at .321. Willie Stargell led in OPS, Johnny Bench in RBI with 129, Mike Schmidt in home runs with 36. Schmidt was second in RBI with 116 and Bench second in homers with 33. Pete Rose scored 110 runs, Garr had 214 hits, Rose 45 doubles, Garr 17 triples. Steve Garvey won the MVP.

Buzz Capra led the league in ERA with a 2.28 mark, followed by teammate Phil Niekro at 2.38 and Jon Matlack at 2.41. Andy Messersmith and Phil Niekro each won 20, with Jack Billingham and Don Sutton winning 119. Steve Carlton led in strikeouts with 240 and Andy Messersmith K'd 221. Mike Marshall led in saves with 21 and set a new record with 106 games pitched in relief, compiling 208 innings all out of the bullpen. This made enough of an impression to get him the Cy Young.

Win Shares leaders, players; Mike Schmidt (Philadelphia) 39, Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 37, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 34, Jimmy Wynn (Los Angeles) 32, Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) 29, Darrell Evans (Atlanta) 28, Ralph Garr (Atlanta), Pete Rose (Cincinnati), Cesar Cedeno (Houston) and Steve Garvey (Los Angeles) 27, Dave Cash (Philadelphia) and Al Oliver (Pittsburgh) 26, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati), Richie Zisk (Pittsburgh), Willie McCovey (San Diego) and Reggie Smith (St. Louis) 25, Ron Cey (Los Angeles) and Bobby Bonds (San Francisco) 23, Rick Monday (Chicago), Richie Hebner (Pittsburgh), Lou Brock and Bake McBride (St. Louis) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Phil Niekro (Atlanta) 28, Andy Messersmith (Los Angeles) 25, Jon Matlack (New York) 24, Jim Barr (San Francisco) 23, Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 22, Buzz Capra (Atlanta), Mike Marshall (Los Angeles), Jim Lonborg (Philadelphia), Jim Rooker (Pittsburgh) and Lynn McGlothen (St. Louis) 21, Don Gullett (Cincinnati) 18, Carl Morton (Atlanta), Larry Dierker (Houston) and Jerry Koosman (New York) 17.

WARP3 scores, players: Morgan 11.3, Bench 11.2, Schmidt 9.3, Wynn 9.1, Concepcion 8.9, Stargell 8.5, Davey Lopes (Los Angeles) 7.9, Cedeno and Smith 7.5, Oliver 7.2, Cey 7.1, Zisk 7.0, Hebner 6.7, Cash 6.2, Evans 6.1, Garvey 5.6, Rose and McBride 5.2, Greg Gross (Houston) 4.6.

WARP3 scores, pitchers: Matlack 11.1, Niekro 9.9, Barr, Capra, and Tom Seaver (New York) 7.1, Koosman 6.3, Carlton 5.9, Dave Freisleben (San Diego) 5.6, Messersmith, Lonborg, and McGlothen 5.5, Rooker 5.4, Dierker 5.0.

WAR from Fangraphs:

Position players; Schmidt 10.0, Morgan 9.2, Bench 8.6, Wynn 8.1, Evans 7.5, Stargell 6.6, Smith 6.5, Concepcion 6.4, Rose 6.3, Cedeno 6.2, Oliver 5.7, Cey 5.6, Garr 5.5, Zisk 5.4, Cash 5.2, Bonds 5.0.

Pitchers; Matlack 7.4, Niekro 7.1, Morton 5.8, Bonham and Carlton 5.5, Koosman 5.3, Rooker 5.1, Messersmith 5.0, Seaver 4.9, Reuschel and Rogers 4.8, Lonborg and McGlothen 4.6, Capra and Sutton 4.1.

Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20): | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+---+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Steve Garvey LAD 13 270 336 0.80 | 642 200 21 .312 .811 5
2 Lou Brock STL 8 233 336 0.69 | 635 194 3 .306 .749 118
3 Mike Marshall LAD 1 146 336 0.43 | 34 8 0 .235 .471 0| 15-12 208 2.42 1.186 143 21
4 Johnny Bench CIN 0 141 336 0.42 | 621 174 33 .280 .870 5
5 Jimmy Wynn LAD 0 137 336 0.41 | 535 145 32 .271 .884 18
6 Mike Schmidt PHI 0 136 336 0.40 | 568 160 36 .282 .941 23
7 Al Oliver PIT 0 87 336 0.26 | 617 198 11 .321 .832 10
8 Joe Morgan CIN 0 72 336 0.21 | 512 150 22 .293 .921 58
9 Richie Zisk PIT 0 54 336 0.16 | 536 168 17 .313 .862 1
10 Willie Stargell PIT 0 43 336 0.13 | 508 153 25 .301 .944 0
11 Reggie Smith STL 0 39 336 0.12 | 517 160 23 .309 .917 4
12 Ralph Garr ATL 0 11 336 0.03 | 606 214 11 .353 .886 26
13 Ted Simmons STL 0 7 336 0.02 | 599 163 20 .272 .774 0
14 Dave Cash PHI 0 6 336 0.02 | 687 206 2 .300 .729 20
15 Dave Concepcion CIN 0 5 336 0.01 | 594 167 14 .281 .732 41
16 Jack Billingham CIN 0 4 336 0.01 | 67 5 0 .075 .163 0| 19-11 212 3.94 1.399 103
16 Cesar Cedeno HOU 0 4 336 0.01 | 610 164 26 .269 .799 57
16 Al Hrabosky STL 0 4 336 0.01 | 13 4 0 .308 .769 0| 8-1 88 2.96 1.234 82 9
16 Andy Messersmith LAD 0 4 336 0.01 | 96 23 1 .240 .666 0| 20-6 292 2.59 1.098 221
20 Buzz Capra ATL 0 3 336 0.01 | 67 11 0 .164 .418 0| 16-8 217 2.28 1.138 137 1
Garvey vs. Brock, with Marshall, then the deserving players like Bench, Wynn and Schmidt. Garvey won with good triple crown stats, Brock impressed with the steals record, and Marshall with the 208 innings in relief. Others were better if less flashy.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Mike Marshall LAD 17 96 120 0.80 | 15-12 208 2.42 1.186 143 21
2 Andy Messersmith LAD 5 66 120 0.55 | 20-6 292 2.59 1.098 221
3 Phil Niekro ATL 1 15 120 0.12 | 20-13 302 2.38 1.115 195 1
4 Don Sutton LAD 1 12 120 0.10 | 19-9 276 3.23 1.163 179
5 Al Hrabosky STL 0 9 120 0.08 | 8-1 88 2.96 1.234 82 9
6 Jack Billingham CIN 0 8 120 0.07 | 19-11 212 3.94 1.399 103
7 Don Gullett CIN 0 5 120 0.04 | 17-11 243 3.04 1.189 183
8 Clay Carroll CIN 0 2 120 0.02 | 12-5 101 2.14 1.251 46 6
9 Buzz Capra ATL 0 1 120 0.01 | 16-8 217 2.28 1.138 137 1
9 Dave Giusti PIT 0 1 120 0.01 | 7-5 106 3.32 1.334 53 12
9 Lynn McGlothen STL 0 1 120 0.01 | 16-12 237 2.69 1.268 142
Marshall outpolled teammate Messersmith over the deserving Niekro.

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 Bake McBride STL 16 16 24 0.67 | 559 173 6 .309 .763 30
2 Greg Gross HOU 7 7 24 0.29 | 589 185 0 .314 .770 12
3 Bill Madlock CHC 1 1 24 0.04 | 453 142 9 .313 .815 11

Top Player: Johnny Bench. There are a number of good candidates, like Schmidt and Morgan, who would dominate the league over the next few years, and Wynn, the best player on the pennant winners. But none was any better than the greatest catcher ever.
#1 Johnny Bench, #2 Mike Schmidt, #3 Joe Morgan, #4 Jimmy Wynn, #5 Cesar Cedeno, #6 Willie Stargell.

Top pitcher: Phil Niekro, robbed in the award voting. Easily the best in the league, overshadowed by Mike Marshall's record (for the time) 106 games pitched.
#1 Phil Niekro, #2 Andy Messersmith, #3 Jon Matlack, #4 Mike Marshall, #5 Buzz Capra.

Top rookie: Bake McBride was a better all-around player than Greg Gross.

Top manager: Walter Alston returned to the top spot.

1974 American League

Oakland made it three World Championships in a row, a feat not managed since the Yankees took five in a row 1949-53. The A's had an underwhelming 90 regular season wins, but featured a balanced team with excellent hitting, pitching and defense. The A's held off upstart Texas in the West by 5 games, with Minnesota 3rd, Chicago 4th, Kansas City 5th and California last. The A's beat the East Division champion Orioles in the ALCS, after Baltimore had captured 91 regular season wins. New York was second in a close race, 2 games back. Boston was 3rd, Cleveland 4th, Milwaukee 5th and Detroit last.

Oakland had switched managers after Dick Williams resigned, frustrated over owner Charlie Finley's meddling. Al Dark took over the A's helm, but Finley dictated most managerial moves through his young assistant, who would become the artist known as M.C. Hammer. Williams would resurface as the Angels manager around mid-season.

Jeff Burroughs won the RBI title and the MVP, while Dick Allen led the loop in homers and OPS despite missing the month of September. Rod Carew won the batting title at .364 with Jorge Orta second at .316 and Hal McRae third at .310. Mike Hargrove hit .323 but did not have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Carl Yastrzemski scored 99 runs, Carew had 218 hits, Joe Rudi had 39 doubles, Mickey Rivers 11 triples. Allen had 32 homers, Reggie Jackson 29. Burroughs had 118 RBI, Sal Bando 103 for the other number in triple digits. Bill North led in steals.

Catfish Hunter led in ERA and tied for the lead in wins with Fergie Jenkins as both had 25. Hunter's 2.49 ERA was trailed by Gaylord Perry at 2.51. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts with 367 trailed by Bert Blyleven with 249. Terry Forster led in saves with 24. Gaylord Perry was the leader in ERA+.

Win Shares leaders, players; Jeff Burroughs (Texas) 33, Bobby Grich (Baltimore) and Rod Carew (Minnesota) 32, Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 30, Ken Henderson (Chicago) and Don Money (Milwaukee) 26, Carl Yastrzemski (Boston), Dick Allen (Chicago) and Joe Rudi (Oakland) 24, Brooks Robinson (Baltimore), Bill Freehan (Detroit) and Elliot Maddox (New York) 23, Jorge Orta (Chicago), Amos Otis (Kansas City), Graig Nettles (New York), Bert Campaneris and Gene Tenace (Oakland) and Cesar Tovar (Texas) 22, Paul Blair (Baltimore) and Sal Bando (Oakland) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Gaylord Perry (Cleveland) 30, Luis Tiant (Boston) 29, Catfish Hunter (Oakland) 27, Fergie Jenkins (Texas) 26, Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 23, Steve Busby (Kansas City) 22, Ross Grimsley (Baltimore), Nolan Ryan (California) and Jim Kaat (Chicago) 21, Jim Perry (Cleveland) and John Hiller (Detroit) 20, Mike Cuellar (Baltimore), Bill Lee (Boston), Wilbur Wood (Chicago), Tom Murphy (Milwaukee) and Pat Dobson (New York) 19.

WARP3 scores, players: Grich 9.3, Jackson 8.1, Carew 7.4, Tenace 6.1, Burroughs 6.0, Henderson 5.9, Billy North (Oakland) 5.8, Nettles 5.7, Campaneris 5.4, Bando 5.3, George Scott (Milwaukee) 5.2, Ellie Rodriguez (Milwaukee) and Amos Otis (Kansas City) 5.0, Bucky Dent (Chicago) and Hal McRae (Kansas City) 4.9.

WARP3 scores, pitchers: G. Perry 9.3, Tiant 8.0, Jenkins 6.7, Hunter and Murphy 6.4, Blyleven and Hiller 6.0, Kaat 5.9, Ryan 5.0, J. Perry and Wood 4.5, Busby and Bill Campbell (Minnesota) 4.0, Joe Decker (Minnesota) 3.9.

WAR leaders from Fangraphs:

Position players; Grich 7.1, Carew 6.8, Jackson 5.8, B. Robinson 5.2, Money 5.0, E. Maddox 4.9, Blair, Campaneris, and Henderson 4.8, Nettles, Rudi, Scott, and Tenace 4.6, Otis 4.4, Allen 4.3, Bando and McRae 4.2, Evans 4.1, Belanger 4.0.

Pitchers; Blyleven 8.7, Jenkins 7.8, Busby and Tiant 6.9, Ryan 6.1, Perry 5.9, Kaat 5.7, Wood 5.3, Hunter 5.1, Lolich 4.7, Holtzman 4.6, Blue 4.5, Dobson 4.2, Lee and Perry 4.0.

Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20): | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+---+-----+-----+
1 Jeff Burroughs TEX 10 248 336 0.74 | 554 167 25 .301 .901 2
2 Joe Rudi OAK 5 161 336 0.48 | 593 174 22 .293 .818 2
3 Sal Bando OAK 3 143 336 0.43 | 498 121 22 .243 .778 2
4 Reggie Jackson OAK 1 119 336 0.35 | 506 146 29 .289 .905 25
5 Fergie Jenkins TEX 3 118 336 0.35 | 2 1 0 .500 1.000 0| 25-12 328 2.82 1.008 225
6 Catfish Hunter OAK 1 107 336 0.32 | | 25-12 318 2.49 0.986 143
7 Rod Carew MIN 0 70 336 0.21 | 599 218 3 .364 .879 38
8 Elliott Maddox NYY 0 59 336 0.18 | 466 141 3 .303 .781 6
9 Bobby Grich BAL 0 49 336 0.15 | 582 153 19 .263 .807 17
10 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 42 336 0.12 | | 22-10 269 3.11 1.259 106
11 Luis Tiant BOS 0 41 336 0.12 | | 22-13 311 2.92 1.166 176
12 Brooks Robinson BAL 0 30 336 0.09 | 553 159 7 .288 .728 2
13 Paul Blair BAL 0 27 336 0.08 | 552 144 17 .261 .730 27
14 Nolan Ryan CAL 0 24 336 0.07 | | 22-16 333 2.89 1.271 367
15 Bert Campaneris OAK 0 23 336 0.07 | 527 153 2 .290 .713 34
16 Rollie Fingers OAK 0 21 336 0.06 | | 9-5 119 2.65 1.118 95 18
17 Gaylord Perry CLE 0 18 336 0.05 | | 21-13 322 2.51 1.021 216
18 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 14 336 0.04 | 515 155 15 .301 .859 12
19 Ken Henderson CHW 0 12 336 0.04 | 602 176 20 .292 .827 12
20 John Hiller DET 0 11 336 0.03 | | 17-14 150 2.64 1.260 134 13

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Catfish Hunter OAK 12 90 120 0.75 | 25-12 318 2.49 0.986 143
2 Fergie Jenkins TEX 10 75 120 0.62 | 25-12 328 2.82 1.008 225
3 Nolan Ryan CAL 1 28 120 0.23 | 22-16 333 2.89 1.271 367
4 Gaylord Perry CLE 1 8 120 0.07 | 21-13 322 2.51 1.021 216
4 Luis Tiant BOS 0 8 120 0.07 | 22-13 311 2.92 1.166 176
6 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 6 120 0.05 | 22-10 269 3.11 1.259 106
7 John Hiller DET 0 1 120 0.01 | 17-14 150 2.64 1.260 134 13

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 Mike Hargrove TEX 16 16 24 0.67 | 415 134 4 .323 .819 0
2 Bucky Dent CHW 3 3 24 0.12 | 496 136 5 .274 .662 3
3 George Brett KCR 2 2 24 0.08 | 457 129 2 .282 .676 8
4 Rick Burleson BOS 1 1 24 0.04 | 384 109 4 .284 .693 3
4 Jim Sundberg TEX 1 1 24 0.04 | 368 91 3 .247 .678 2

Top player: I think Jackson, Carew, and Grich were the three best players in the league this year. The writers went for RBI man Burroughs on the surprising Rangers, but Jackson was the leader on the three-time champs, Grich was the glue that held the Orioles together, and Carew was a singles-hitting machine. Burroughs was a good hitter but terrible defensively. Let's go with:
#1 Reggie Jackson, #2 Rod Carew, #3 Bobby Grich, #4 Jeff Burroughs, #5 Don Money, #6 Ken Henderson.

Top pitcher: Fergie Jenkins. Gaylord, Luis, Catfish and Fergie were all pretty close to even, and there's Bert Blyleven again pitching well for a poor team. A lot of ways this could go, but I'll go with:
#1 Fergie Jenkins, #2 Gaylord Perry, #3 Bert Blyleven, #4 Catfish Hunter, #5 Luis Tiant.

Top rookie: Mike Hargrove had the best rookie season. George Brett would be the superstar. Five good players in the voting.

Top manager: Billy Martin revived the Rangers from the dead.

1973 National League

The New York Mets came up with another miracle, just barely winning an NL East that nobody seemed to want to win by posting a mere 82-79 record with an injury-riddled team. The Mets then used their superior pitching to fend off the Cincinnati juggernaut that had won 99 games, just ahead of the 95-win Dodgers. With the Tug McGraw-coined motto "Ya Gotta Believe!" and players returning from the DL for the stretch drive, the September Mets were better than they had been all year. Only 2B Felix Millan and RF Rusty Staub managed to play 150 games.

While the East had only an 11.5 game span top-to-bottom, the West sported a more typical spread, with Cincy and LA at the top, San Francisco third and Houston fourth, Atlanta fifth, and San Diego last with 102 losses. The East went NY, St. Louis, Pittsburgh (suffering the tragic loss of Roberto Clemente), Montreal, Chicago, and Philadelphia.

Pete Rose won the batting title and the MVP, Lou Brock led in steals, and Willie Stargell led in homers, RBI, and OPS. Hank Aaron had a higher OPS, but not enough plate appearances to qualify. Rose batted .338 with Cesar Cedeno at .320 and Garry Maddox at .318. Stargell had 44 homers, Davey Johnson 43, Darrel Evans 41, and Aaron 40, bringing his career total to 713, one short of Babe Ruth. Stargell had 119 RBI, Lee May 105, Evans and Johnny Bench 104. Stargell had 43 doubles, Roger Metzger 14 triples, Rose 230 hits, Bobby Bonds scored 131 runs. Lou Brock stole 70 bases.

SF's Ron Bryant was the only 20-game winner, and he won 24. Jack Billingham and Tom Seaver won 19. Seaver led in ERA and strikeouts and won the Cy Young. His 2.08 ERA was trailed by Don Sutton at 2.42 and Wayne Twitchell at 2.50. Seaver's 251 strikeouts led Steve Carlton's 223. Mike Marshall led in saves with 31. Billingham threw seven shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 40, Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) 36, Pete Rose (Cincinnati) 34, Tony Perez (Cincinnati) 32, Darrell Evans (Atlanta) and Bobby Bonds (San Francisco) 31, Cesar Cedeno (Houston) 30, Joe Ferguson (Los Angeles) 29, Bob Watson (Houston), Ken Singleton (Montreal) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 28, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) and Lou Brock (St. Louis) 26, Willie Crawford (Los Angeles) 24, Willie Davis (Los Angeles), Rusty Staub (New York) and Garry Maddox (San Francisco) 23, Rick Monday (Chicago), Al Oliver (Pittsburgh), Willie McCovey (San Francisco) and Ted Sizemore (St. Louis) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Tom Seaver (New York) 29, Mike Marshall (Montreal) 23, Don Sutton (Los Angeles) and Steve Renko (Montreal) 22, Wayne Twitchell (Philadelphia) 21, Rick Reuschel (Chicago) and Dave Roberts (Houston) 20, Jack Billingham (Cincinnati) 19, Carl Morton (Atlanta), Andy Messersmith (Los Angeles)and Jerry Koosman (New York) 18, Phil Niekro (Atlanta), Bob Locker (Chicago), Don Wilson (Houston) and Ron Bryant (San Francisco) 17.

WARP3 leaders, players: Morgan 10.3, Stargell 9.7, Evans 9.6, Bonds 8.8, Bench 7.4, Ferguson 7.2, Cedeno 7.1, Watson 6.9, Rose 6.7, Simmons 6.4, Perez 6.3, Dave Concepcion (Cincinnati) 6.1, Singleton 5.9, Crawford and Bill Russell (Los Angeles) 5.8, Hank Aaron and Davey Johnson (both Atlanta) 5.4, McCovey 5.3.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Seaver 10.9, Renko 7.9, Reuschel 7.4, Twitchell 7.0, Steve Rogers (Montreal) 6.9, Burt Hooton (Chicago) 6.7, Sutton 6.4, Marshall 6.2, Koosman 5.8, Niekro 5.7, Morton and Ken Brett (Philadelphia) 5.4, Jon Matlack (New York) 5.3.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Evans 10.2, Morgan 10.0, Stargell 8.1, Bonds 8.0, Rose 7.9, Cedeno 7.5, Simmons 6.3, Perez and Singleton 6.2, Bailey 5.9, Johnson 5.8, Bench and Crawford 5.5, Ferguson 5.4, Watson 5.3. Pitchers (bWAR): Seaver 9.5, Twitchell 6.2, Koosman and Sutton 5.7, Reuschel 5.5, Roberts and Rogers 5.0, Matlack 4.6, Niekro and Renko 4.4, Wilson 4.1, Hooton and Morton 4.0.

Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20): | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---+
1 Pete Rose CIN 12 274 336 0.82 | 680 230 5 .338 .838 10
2 Willie Stargell PIT 10 250 336 0.74 | 522 156 44 .299 1.038 0
3 Bobby Bonds SFG 1 174 336 0.52 | 643 182 39 .283 .900 43
4 Joe Morgan CIN 1 102 336 0.30 | 576 167 26 .290 .899 67
5 Mike Marshall MON 0 93 336 0.28 | 33 8 0 .242 .528 0| 14-11 179 2.66 1.330 124 31
6 Lou Brock STL 0 65 336 0.19 | 650 193 7 .297 .762 70
7 Tony Perez CIN 0 59 336 0.18 | 564 177 27 .314 .919 3
8 Tom Seaver NYM 0 57 336 0.17 | 93 15 1 .161 .457 1| 19-10 290 2.08 0.976 251
9 Ken Singleton MON 0 52 336 0.15 | 560 169 23 .302 .904 2
10 Johnny Bench CIN 0 41 336 0.12 | 557 141 25 .253 .774 4
11 Cesar Cedeno HOU 0 39 336 0.12 | 525 168 25 .320 .913 56
12 Hank Aaron ATL 0 35 336 0.10 | 392 118 40 .301 1.045 1
13 Davey Johnson ATL 0 34 336 0.10 | 559 151 43 .270 .916 5
14 Ted Simmons STL 0 20 336 0.06 | 619 192 13 .310 .808 2
15 Tug McGraw NYM 0 17 336 0.05 | 24 4 0 .167 .426 0| 5-6 119 3.87 1.356 81 25
16 Willie Davis LAD 0 12 336 0.04 | 599 171 16 .285 .764 17
16 Felix Millan NYM 0 12 336 0.04 | 638 185 3 .290 .685 2
18 Darrell Evans ATL 0 11 336 0.03 | 595 167 41 .281 .959 6
19 Lee May HOU 0 9 336 0.03 | 545 147 28 .270 .789 1
20 Tito Fuentes SFG 0 8 336 0.02 | 656 182 6 .277 .686 12
Rose by a slim margin over Stargell, with average beating out power, and Bonds' near 40-40 season in third, and Morgan's tremendous year 4th.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Tom Seaver NYM 10 71 120 0.59 | 19-10 290 2.08 0.976 251
2 Mike Marshall MON 9 54 120 0.45 | 14-11 179 2.66 1.330 124 31
3 Ron Bryant SFG 3 50 120 0.42 | 24-12 270 3.53 1.315 143
4 Jack Billingham CIN 2 30 120 0.25 | 19-10 293 3.04 1.200 155
5 Don Sutton LAD 0 7 120 0.06 | 18-10 256 2.42 0.983 200
6 Fred Norman TOT 0 3 120 0.02 |+13-13 240 3.60 1.286 161
7 Dave Giusti PIT 0 1 120 0.01 | 9-2 99 2.37 1.277 64 20
Seaver in a race that was fairly close, but with a clear victor.

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 Gary Matthews SFG 11 11 24 0.46 | 540 162 12 .300 .812 17
2 Steve Rogers MON 3 3 24 0.12 | 41 4 0 .098 .318 0| 10-5 134 1.54 1.060 64
3 Bob Boone PHI 2 2 24 0.08 | 521 136 10 .261 .675 3
3 Dan Driessen CIN 2 2 24 0.08 | 366 110 4 .301 .731 8
3 Elias Sosa SFG 2 2 24 0.08 | 14 1 0 .071 .259 0| 10-4 107 3.28 1.271 70 18
6 Ron Cey LAD 1 1 24 0.04 | 507 124 15 .245 .723 1
6 Johnny Grubb SDP 1 1 24 0.04 | 389 121 8 .311 .818 9
6 Davey Lopes LAD 1 1 24 0.04 | 535 147 6 .275 .703 36
9 Richie Zisk PIT 0 0 24 0.00 | 333 108 10 .324 .890 0
The Sarge, trailed by a large pack.

Top player: Joe Morgan. Morgan broke out with a terrific year, but didn't draw a lot of votes because he didn't make it atop any offensive leaderboards. All-around, he was the best for the NL's winningest team.
#1 Joe Morgan, #2 Willie Stargell, #3 Darrell Evans, #4 Pete Rose, #5 Bobby Bonds, #6 Cesar Cedeno.

Top pitcher: Tom Seaver was far and away the best in the league.
#1 Tom Seaver, #2 Don Sutton, #3 Mike Marshall, #4 Rick Reuschel, #5 Jon Matlack.

Top rookie: Gary Matthews over a pretty good field.

Top manager: Yogi Berra kept the Mets close through their troubles, and they came up big at the right time.