The year opened with outfielder Curt Flood filing a lawsuit challenging the reserve clause, after disputing his trade from the Cardinals to the Phillies. Flood reportedly didn't want to go to Philadelphia because of prejudice against black players there. Flood would lose his case, but in just six years the reserve clause would be history.
Pittsburgh and Cincinnati took the division titles this year, as the flags changed hands (unlike the American League). Cincy won 102 games and easily outdistanced LA, 14.5 back. San Francisco was 3rd, Houston and defending champ Atlanta trailed, and San Diego lost 99 in their second year of existence. In the East, Pittsburgh won only 89 but outlasted the Cubs by a five-game margin, and the Mets by six games. St. Louis finished fourth, with Philadelphia fifth and Montreal last. The Reds then swept the Pirates in the LCS before falling to the Orioles in the World Series.
The Reds won despite a pitching collapse. Except for one day, April 11, the Reds were in first place all year. Longtime ace Jim Maloney tore his Achilles tendon on April 16 and went on the DL. He never won another big league game. Wayne Simpson started the year 14-3, including ten wins in a row, but went down in July with a torn rotator cuff. Jim Merritt won 20 games, but none after August 26 and only 6 the rest of his career. He did win a playoff game. The Reds performed all kinds of slugging feats all season, and opened Riverfront Stadium, but couldn't compete in the World Series with half their pitching staff hurt. By season's end they were down to Gary Nolan, Tony Cloninger, Jim McGlothin, and whatever rookies were available.
Hank Aaron collected his 3000th hit, and a month later Willie Mays did the same. Billy Williams' streak of 1117 consecutive games played ended, an NL record. Johnny Bench won the MVP award and led in HR and RBI with 45 and 148. Rico Carty won the batting title at .366, well ahead of Joe Torre's and Manny Sanguillen's .325. Willie McCovey led in OPS. Bobby Tolan led in steals with 57. Williams had 137 runs, Wes Parker 47 doubles, Willie Davis 16 triples. Williams had 42 homers and Tony Perez 40, both of them had 129 RBI.
Bob Gibson and Gaylord Perry tied for the lead in wins with 23, followed by Fergie Jenkins' 22. Tom Seaver led in strikeouts (283) and ERA (2.82). Jenkins and Gibson tied for second in strikeouts with 274. Wayne Simpson was second in ERA at 3.02 and Luke Walker third at 3.04. Wayne Granger led in saves.
Win Shares leaders, players; Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 34, Tony Perez (Cincinnati) and Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 33, Bobby Bonds (San Francisco) 32, Rusty Staub (Montreal) 30, Billy Williams (Chicago), Pete Rose and Bobby Tolan (Cincinnati), Billy Grabarkewitz and Wes Parker (Los Angeles) and Dick Dietz (San Francisco) 29, Rico Carty (Atlanta) and Jimmy Wynn (Houston) 27, Hank Aaron (Atlanta), Bernie Carbo (Cincinnati) and Joe Torre (St. Louis) 25, Jim Hickman (Chicago), Denis Menke and Joe Morgan (Houston), Willie Davis (Los Angeles), Cito Gaston (San Diego) and Ken Henderson and Willie Mays (San Francisco) 24.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Gibson (St. Louis) 28, Fergie Jenkins (Chicago) 26, Tom Seaver (New York) 25, Gaylord Perry (San Francisco) 24, Ken Holtzman (Chicago) 23, Bill Hands (Chicago), Carl Morton (Montreal) and Dick Selma (Philadelphia) 21, Pat Jarvis (Atlanta) and Gary Nolan (Cincinnati) 19.
WARP3 leaders, position players: Bench 10.0, Grabarkewitz 8.9, McCovey 8.1, Perez and Bonds 7.7, Parker 7.1, Davis 7.0, Torre 6.8, Wynn 6.6, Dietz 6.5, Carty and Rose 6.3, Gaston, Mays, and Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 5.9, Morgan and Doug Rader (Houston) 5.8, Henderson 5.7, Tolan 5.6, Staub and Tommie Agee (New York) 5.4, Menke 5.3.
WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Jenkins 10.6, Holtzman 8.4, Jarvis 8.3, Gibson 8.1, Hands 7.3, Perry 7.1, Morton 6.8, Milt Pappas (Chicago) 6.4, Seaver 6.2, Selma 6.0.
WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Perez 9.0, Bench 8.7, McCovey 7.6, Carty and Williams 7.3, Grabarkewitz, Tolan, and Torre 6.8, Staub 6.7, Bonds 6.4, Gaston 6.1, Parker 6.0, Aaron, Agee, and Rose 5.9, Dietz and Hickman 5.8, Mays 5.4. Pitchers (bWAR): Gibson 8.7, Perry 8.1, Jenkins 7.0, Holtzman 6.2, Seaver 6.0, Jarvis 5.3, Hands 5.2, Nolan 5.0, Selma 4.9, Morton 4.7, Carlton 4.6, Dierker 4.4.
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 Johnny Bench CIN 22 326 336 0.97 | 605 177 45 .293 .932 5
2 Billy Williams CHC 2 218 336 0.65 | 636 205 42 .322 .977 7
3 Tony Perez CIN 0 149 336 0.44 | 587 186 40 .317 .990 8
4 Bob Gibson STL 0 110 336 0.33 | 109 33 2 .303 .751 0| 23-7 294 3.12 1.190 274
5 Wes Parker LAD 0 91 336 0.27 | 614 196 10 .319 .850 8
6 Dave Giusti PIT 0 72 336 0.21 | 16 3 0 .188 .628 0| 9-3 103 3.06 1.330 85 26
7 Pete Rose CIN 0 54 336 0.16 | 649 205 15 .316 .855 12
8 Jim Hickman CHC 0 52 336 0.15 | 514 162 32 .315 1.001 0
9 Willie McCovey SFG 0 47 336 0.14 | 495 143 39 .289 1.056 0
10 Rico Carty ATL 0 43 336 0.13 | 478 175 25 .366 1.037 1
11 Manny Sanguillen PIT 0 36 336 0.11 | 486 158 7 .325 .788 2
12 Roberto Clemente PIT 0 33 336 0.10 | 412 145 14 .352 .963 3
13 Donn Clendenon NYM 0 26 336 0.08 | 396 114 22 .288 .863 4
14 Gaylord Perry SFG 0 24 336 0.07 | 120 14 1 .117 .290 0| 23-13 329 3.20 1.144 214
15 Willie Stargell PIT 0 20 336 0.06 | 474 125 31 .264 .839 0
16 Bobby Tolan CIN 0 17 336 0.05 | 589 186 16 .316 .860 57
17 Hank Aaron ATL 0 16 336 0.05 | 516 154 38 .298 .958 9
18 Joe Torre STL 0 15 336 0.04 | 624 203 21 .325 .896 2
19 Tommie Agee NYM 0 13 336 0.04 | 636 182 24 .286 .812 31
20 Bud Harrelson NYM 0 10 336 0.03 | 564 137 1 .243 .659 23
Bench won handily.
Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Bob Gibson STL 23 118 120 0.98 | 23-7 294 3.12 1.190 274
2 Gaylord Perry SFG 1 51 120 0.42 | 23-13 329 3.20 1.144 214
3 Fergie Jenkins CHC 0 16 120 0.13 | 22-16 313 3.39 1.038 274
4 Dave Giusti PIT 0 8 120 0.07 | 9-3 103 3.06 1.330 85 26
4 Jim Merritt CIN 0 8 120 0.07 | 20-12 234 4.08 1.286 136
6 Gary Nolan CIN 0 5 120 0.04 | 18-7 251 3.27 1.284 181
7 Tom Seaver NYM 0 4 120 0.03 | 18-12 291 2.82 1.077 283
8 Wayne Granger CIN 0 3 120 0.02 | 6-5 85 2.66 1.251 38 35
9 Carl Morton MON 0 2 120 0.02 | 18-11 285 3.60 1.426 154
10 Luke Walker PIT 0 1 120 0.01 | 15-6 163 3.04 1.337 124 3
Gibson also won easily.
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 Carl Morton MON 11 11 24 0.46 | 93 15 2 .161 .455 0| 18-11 285 3.60 1.426 154
2 Bernie Carbo CIN 8 8 24 0.33 | 365 113 21 .310 1.004 10
3 Larry Bowa PHI 3 3 24 0.12 | 547 137 0 .250 .580 24
4 Cesar Cedeno HOU 1 1 24 0.04 | 355 110 7 .310 .790 17
4 Wayne Simpson CIN 1 1 24 0.04 | 64 6 0 .094 .201 0| 14-3 176 3.02 1.170 119
Close vote here.
Top player: Johnny Bench. The leader in both meta-stats as well as the writers' vote. Excellent offense paired with incredible defense is a potent combination.
#1 Johnny Bench, #2 Willie McCovey, #3 Tony Perez, #4 Billy Williams, #5 Wes Parker, #6 Bobby Bonds. No middle infielders is unusual.
Top pitcher: Bob Gibson. Tops in Win Shares and the writers' poll.
#1 Bob Gibson, #2 Fergie Jenkins, #3 Tom Seaver, #4 Gaylord Perry, #5 Ken Holtzman.
Top rookie: Carl Morton had the best year. Cesar Cedeno would have the best career. Neither Morton nor Carbo could build on their rookie success.
Top manager: Sparky Anderson got the Reds over the top in his first season at the helm.
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