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