"The Year of the Pitcher" saw only one AL .300 hitter, Carl Yastrzemski winning the batting title at a mere .301. After this season, the strike zone was shrunk and the mound lowered to bring back offense. Detroit's Denny McLain won 31 games, the first 30-game winner in years and possibly the last we'll ever see. The Tigers won 103 games and the pennant pretty easily, with a 12-game margin over 1966 winners Baltimore, as McLain won the MVP. Cleveland was 3rd, Boston fell from the pennant to 4th, New York was back up to 5th, and Oakland (formerly Kansas City) 6th, while below .500 were Minnesota 7th, California and Chicago (tied) and Washington last.
Yaz also led in walks, on-base, and OPS, Frank Howard in home runs with 44, Ken Harrelson in RBI with 109. Howard, at 106, was the only other guy to drive in 100 runs. Bert Campaneris had 177 hits and 62 steals, Dick McAuliffe had 95 runs, Reggie Smith hit 37 doubles and Jim Fregosi 13 triples. Willie Horton was second in homers with 36. Second place in batting average was Danny Cater, at .290. So not only was there only one .300 hitter, it wasn't really even close.
Luis Tiant led in ERA with a 1.60 mark. It wasn't out of line with others: Sam McDowell posted a 1.81 mark, Dave McNally 1.95, McLain 1.96, Tommy John 1.98. It was a ridiculous year for pitching. McDowell led in strikeouts with 283, followed by McLain with 280. McLain's 31 wins and 28 complete games were well ahead of the pack: McNally was second in wins with 22. Mel Stottlemyre and Tiant each won 21. Al Worthington led in saves with 18. 45-year-old Hoyt Wilhelm tied for fourth in saves.
Win Shares leaders, players; Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) 39, Frank Howard (Washington) 38, Bill Freehan (Detroit) 35, Roy White (New York) and Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 29, Ken Harrelson (Boston), Willie Horton and Dick McAuliffe (Detroit) 28, Rick Monday (Oakland) 26, Don Buford and Brooks Robinson (Baltimore), Reggie Smith (Boston) and Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 25, Frank Robinson (Baltimore), Mike Andrews (Boston), Jim Northrup (Detroit), Mickey Mantle (New York) 24 and Ken McMullen (Washington) 24.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Denny McLain (Detroit) 33, Luis Tiant (Cleveland) 28, Dave McNally (Baltimore) 26, Sam McDowell (Cleveland) and Stan Bahnsen (New York) 23, Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 22, Dean Chance (Minnesota) 21, Wilbur Wood (Chicago) 19, Earl Wilson (Detroit) and Blue Moon Odom (Oakland) 17.
WARP3 leaders, position players: Yastrzemski 10.2, Freehan 9.0, Campaneris 8.5, Howard 6.8, McAuliffe and B. Robinson 6.6, Monday 6.5, Harrelson and Buford 6.2, Rick Reichardt (California) 5.6, Horton 5.5, Jackson and Tony Oliva (Minnesota) 5.4, Jim Fregosi (California) 5.1, F. Robinson and Cesar Tovar (Minnesota) 5.0, Joe Azcue (Cleveland) 4.8, Northrup 4.6.
WARP3 leaders, pitchers: McLain 9.1, McNally 8.7, Stottlemyre 8.4, Bahnsen 8.3, Tiant 7.7, Wood 7.2, Tommy John (Chicago) 5.8, Camilo Pascual (Washington) 5.0, Joe Horlen (Chicago) 4.7, Chance 4.5.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Yaz 10.5, B. Robinson 8.4, Freehan 8.2, Campaneris 7.3, Northrup 6.6, McAuliffe 6.4, Horton and Howard 6.3, Harrelson 6.0, Jackson 5.8, Smith 5.4, Tovar 5.3, White 5.0, McMullen, Reichardt, F. Robinson 4.9. Pitchers (bWAR): Tiant 7.2, McLain 5.9, Bahnsen 5.7, Chance 5.4, McDowell 4.9, John 4.8, McNally 4.7, Stottlemyre 4.6, Nash 3.9, Wood 3.8, Horlen and Pascual 3.5.
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 Denny McLain DET 20 280 280 1.00 | 111 18 0 .162 .359 0| 31-6 336 1.96 0.905 280
2 Bill Freehan DET 0 161 280 0.58 | 540 142 25 .263 .819 0
3 Ken Harrelson BOS 0 103 280 0.37 | 535 147 35 .275 .874 2
4 Willie Horton DET 0 102 280 0.36 | 512 146 36 .285 .895 0
5 Dave McNally BAL 0 78 280 0.28 | 86 11 3 .128 .453 0| 22-10 273 1.95 0.842 202
5 Luis Tiant CLE 0 78 280 0.28 | 87 7 0 .080 .172 0| 21-9 258 1.60 0.871 264
7 Dick McAuliffe DET 0 71 280 0.25 | 570 142 16 .249 .755 8
8 Frank Howard WSA 0 63 280 0.22 | 598 164 44 .274 .890 0
9 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 50 280 0.18 | 539 162 23 .301 .922 13
10 Mel Stottlemyre NYY 0 43 280 0.15 | 91 13 0 .143 .386 0| 21-12 279 2.45 1.105 140
11 Bert Campaneris OAK 0 39 280 0.14 | 642 177 4 .276 .692 62
12 Roy White NYY 0 17 280 0.06 | 577 154 17 .267 .764 20
13 Jim Northrup DET 0 15 280 0.05 | 580 153 21 .264 .770 4
14 Luis Aparicio CHW 0 13 280 0.05 | 622 164 4 .264 .636 17
15 Don Buford BAL 0 11 280 0.04 | 426 120 15 .282 .804 27
15 Jim Fregosi CAL 0 11 280 0.04 | 614 150 9 .244 .680 9
17 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 8 280 0.03 | 553 138 29 .250 .768 14
17 Brooks Robinson BAL 0 8 280 0.03 | 608 154 17 .253 .720 1
19 Danny Cater OAK 0 5 280 0.02 | 504 146 6 .290 .729 8
19 Tony Oliva MIN 0 5 280 0.02 | 470 136 18 .289 .833 10
McLain won unanimously, and was not a bad pick. I think I would have chosen Freehan, though.
Cy Young: McLain was a unanimous pick 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 Stan Bahnsen NYY 17 17 20 0.85 | 81 4 0 .049 .163 0| 17-12 267 2.05 1.062 162
2 Del Unser WSA 3 3 20 0.15 | 635 146 1 .230 .560 11|
Bahnsen won but Unser received support, which was odd because Unser didn't have nearly the year Bahnsen had.
Top player: Bill Freehan. It's a toss-up between him and Yaz, but Freehan's team won this time, and Yaz got it last year. Freehan is deserving, and could have won MVP in a more normal year.
#1 Bill Freehan, #2 Carl Yastrzemski, #3 Bert Campaneris, #4 Frank Howard, #5 Ken Harrelson, #6 Dick McAuliffe.
Top pitcher: Denny McLain, for sure. The 31 wins were flashy, but it was also a good season for the hard-living pitcher.
#1 Denny McLain, #2 Luis Tiant, #3 Dave McNally, #4 Sam McDowell, #5 Mel Stottlemyre.
Top rookie: Stan Bahnsen, who was just out of the top five pitchers.
Top manager: Mayo Smith by default. Nobody did a great job this season. It could be Bob Kennedy for nursing the A's to .500.
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