17 January 2009

1966 National League

The Dodgers won their third pennant in four years, then got swept in the World Series in a classic upset. Sandy Koufax retired after the season, and the Dodgers took eight years to win another pennant. The 1966 race was another good one, with San Francisco finishing just a game and a half back, and Pittsburgh only three games out. Philadelphia was a solid 4th, Atlanta was 5th in its new home, and St. Louis 6th. Below .500 were the fading Reds, expansion Astros, excited Mets (first finish out of the cellar) and the Cubs in last with 103 losses in spite of a talented team.

Roberto Clemente won the MVP even though he did not win the batting title. He was 2nd in RBI with 119 and the Pirates were in the race to the final week. Matty Alou won the batting title at .342, followed by brother Felipe at .327. Felipe led in runs with 122, hits with 218, and total bases. Johnny Callison had 40 doubles, Tim McCarver 13 triples. Hank Aaron led in HR and RBI with 44 and 127. Ron Santo led in on-base, Dick Allen led in slugging and OPS, and was second in homers with 40. Lou Brock led in steals with 74.

Sandy Koufax won another Triple Crown, leading in wins with 27, ERA with a 1.73 mark, and strikeouts with 317, his best season ever as well as his last. Juan Marichal was second in wins with 25, Bob Gibson and Jim Perry had 21 each. Mike Cuellar was second in ERA at 2.22, with Marichal right behind at 2.23. Jim Bunning had 252 strikeouts. Phil Regan led in saves with 21.

Win Shares leaders, players; Willie Mays (San Francisco) 37, Dick Allen (Philadelphia) 35, Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 34, Ron Santo (Chicago) 30, Joe Torre (Atlanta) and Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 29, Felipe Alou (Atlanta) 28, Hank Aaron (Atlanta) and Jim Ray Hart (San Francisco) 27, Pete Rose (Cincinnati), Jim Lefebvre (Los Angeles) and Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) 25, Bill White (Philadelphia) 24, Donn Clendenon (Pittsburgh) 23, Gene Alley (Pittsburgh) and Tom Haller (San Francisco) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles) 35, Juan Marichal (San Francisco) 33, Jim Bunning (Philadelphia) 30, Bob Gibson (St. Louis) 26, Phil Regan (Los Angeles) 23, Jim Maloney (Cincinnati) and Gaylord Perry (San Francisco) 21, Mike Cuellar (Houston), Larry Jackson (Chicago/Philadelphia) and Al Jackson (St. Louis) 19.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Santo 10.5, Torre 10.3, Mays 9.4, Allen 8.9, Alou 8.1, Clemente and Stargell 7.6, Aaron 7.4, McCovey 7.0, White 6.3, Clendenon, Alley, and Rico Carty (Atlanta) 6.1.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Marichal 12.2, Koufax 9.9, Bunning 9.0, Gibson 8.2, Maloney 8.0, Cuellar 6.3, Bobby Bolin (San Francisco) 6.0, Perry 5.9, Regan and A. Jackson 5.6.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Mays and Santo 9.2, Allen 8.2, Clemente 8.0, Aaron 7.8, Torre 7.6, F. Alou and Hart 6.9, McCovey 6.7, Lefebvre 5.8, Alley 5.7, Carty and Stargell 5.5, White 5.2, Clendenon and Rose 4.6, Williams 4.1. Pitchers (bWAR): Koufax 10.8, Marichal 9.0, Bunning 8.7, Maloney 6.6, Cuellar 6.5, Gibson 6.4, Perry 5.8, Veale 5.3, Bolin 4.6, Jackson 4.5, Sutton 4.3, Regan 4.1, Dierker 4.0.

Actual award voting:
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 Roberto Clemente PIT 8 218 280 0.78 | 638 202 29 .317 .896 7
2 Sandy Koufax LAD 9 208 280 0.74 | 118 9 0 .076 .215 0| 27-9 323 1.73 0.985 317
3 Willie Mays SFG 0 111 280 0.40 | 552 159 37 .288 .924 5
4 Dick Allen PHI 1 107 280 0.38 | 524 166 40 .317 1.027 10
5 Felipe Alou ATL 2 83 280 0.30 | 666 218 31 .327 .894 5
6 Juan Marichal SFG 0 74 280 0.26 | 112 28 1 .250 .585 0| 25-6 307 2.23 0.859 222
7 Phil Regan LAD 0 66 280 0.24 | 21 3 0 .143 .393 0| 14-1 117 1.62 0.934 88 21
8 Hank Aaron ATL 0 57 280 0.20 | 603 168 44 .279 .895 21
9 Matty Alou PIT 0 36 280 0.13 | 535 183 2 .342 .793 23
10 Pete Rose CIN 0 31 280 0.11 | 654 205 16 .313 .811 4
11 Gene Alley PIT 0 24 280 0.09 | 579 173 7 .299 .752 8
12 Ron Santo CHC 0 23 280 0.08 | 561 175 30 .312 .950 4
13 Orlando Cepeda TOT 0 22 280 0.08 | +501 151 20 .301 .834 9
13 Johnny Roseboro LAD 0 22 280 0.08 | 445 123 9 .276 .740 3
15 Willie Stargell PIT 0 19 280 0.07 | 485 153 33 .315 .962 2
16 Joe Torre ATL 0 18 280 0.06 | 546 172 36 .315 .943 0
17 Willie McCovey SFG 0 12 280 0.04 | 502 148 36 .295 .977 2
18 Jim Lefebvre LAD 0 8 280 0.03 | 544 149 24 .274 .793 1
18 Gaylord Perry SFG 0 8 280 0.03 | 86 16 0 .186 .393 0| 21-8 256 2.99 1.103 201
20 Curt Flood STL 0 7 280 0.02 | 626 167 10 .267 .663 14

A virtual dead heat in the voting between Clemente and Koufax. This would have been a good year for Koufax to win it, but Clemente pulled out a points victory.

Cy Young: Koufax was a unanimous choice, again.

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 Tommy Helms CIN 12 12 20 0.60 | 542 154 9 .284 .695 3
2 Sonny Jackson HOU 3 3 20 0.15 | 596 174 3 .292 .674 49
3 Tito Fuentes SFG 2 2 20 0.10 | 541 141 9 .261 .637 6
4 Randy Hundley CHC 1 1 20 0.05 | 526 124 19 .236 .682 1
4 Larry Jaster STL 1 1 20 0.05 | 45 8 1 .178 .453 0| 11-5 152 3.26 1.114 92
4 Cleon Jones NYM 1 1 20 0.05 | 495 136 8 .275 .689 16|

Top player: At the end of the day, it's Mays again. You could vote for Ron Santo, who may have had a better year, but the Cubs lost 103 games. Maybe that shouldn't matter, but it does.
#1 Willie Mays, #2 Ron Santo, #3 Roberto Clemente, #4 Dick Allen, #5 Joe Torre, #6 Hank Aaron.

Top pitcher: Sandy Koufax. Again, Marichal has an argument, but the Triple Crown is hard to argue with, even if it was park-aided.
#1 Sandy Koufax, #2 Juan Marichal, #3 Jim Bunning, #4 Bob Gibson, #5 Jim Maloney.

Top rookie: Sonny Jackson's numbers were about the same as the others, but when you add in the park effects for the Astrodome he comes out way ahead. He was still below average, and never had another year nearly as good.

Top manager: Walt Alston won another close pennant race over better-looking talent.

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