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.
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