30 August 2009

1971 American League

The Orioles won their third straight pennant by continuing to dominate on both offense and defense. Baltimore's 101 victories put them 12 games in front of Detroit and 18 in front of Boston, with New York 4th. Washington was 5th in the East, in their last season in the nation's capital, and Cleveland was last with 102 losses. Oakland won the West, also taking 101 victories, behind spectacular youngster Vida Blue, selected the league's MVP with his 24-8 record. Kansas City was 16 games back in second place, with Chicago third, California 4th, Minnesota falling to 5th, and Milwaukee last. Baltimore swept the A's in the LCS, but lost the Series to the Pirates in 7 games.

Tony Oliva won the batting title at .337, followed by Bobby Murcer at .331. Merv Rettenmund hit .318 and Cesar Tovar .311. Bill Melton led in HRs with 33, Norm Cash and Reggie Jackson hit 32 each. Harmon Killebrew was the AL's only 100-RBI guy at 119. Second place was Frank Robinson with 99. Amos Otis led in steals with 52, Tovar had 204 hits, Don Buford 99 runs, Reggie Smith 33 doubles, Freddie Patek 11 triples. Murcer led in OPS.

Mickey Lolich led in wins and strikeouts, while Blue had the ERA lead. Lolich won 25, Blue 24, Wilbur Wood 22. Blue had a 1.82 ERA, Wood 1.91, with Jim Palmer third at 2.68. Ken Sanders led in saves with 31. In other news, Tigers reliever John Hiller suffered a heart attack in January and missed the season. He would return and have his best seasons to date.

Win Shares leaders, players; Bobby Murcer (New York) 38, Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 32, Reggie Smith (Boston), Roy White (New York) and Sal Bando (Oakland) 29, Merv Rettenmund (Baltimore), Rico Petrocelli (Boston), Graig Nettles (Cleveland) and Amos Otis (Kansas City) 27, Don Buford (Baltimore) and Paul Schaal (Kansas City) 26, Bill Freehan (Detroit) 25, Norm Cash (Detroit) and Fred Patek (Kansas City) 24, Dave Johnson, Brooks and Frank Robinson (Baltimore), Bill Melton (Chicago), Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva (Minnesota) and Frank Howard (Washington) 23.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Wilbur Wood (Chicago) 33, Vida Blue (Oakland) 30, Mickey Lolich (Detroit) 29, Jim Palmer (Baltimore), Sonny Siebert (Boston) and Catfish Hunter (Oakland) 22, Ken Sanders (Milwaukee) 21, Tom Bradley (Chicago), Joe Coleman (Detroit) and Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 20, Pat Dobson and Dave McNally (Baltimore), Andy Messersmith (California), and Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 19.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Murcer 8.5, Mark Belanger (Baltimore) 8.4, Jackson 7.4, Nettles 7.2, White 6.4, Bando 6.3, Otis and Buford 6.2, Johnson 6.0, Rettunmund 5.9, Dick Green (Oakland) 5.6, Melton and Oliva 5.5, Thurman Munson (New York) 5.4, Cookie Rojas (Kansas City) 5.0, Freehan 4.9, Patek and Killebrew 4.8.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Wood 12.4, Lolich 7.4, Blue and Siebert 6.6, Sanders 5.9, Bradley 5.7, Bart Johnson (Chicago) 4.8, Bill Parsons (Milwaukee), Coleman, and Clyde Wright (California) 4.5, Blyleven, Sam McDowell (Cleveland), and Marty Pattin (Milwaukee) 4.4, McNally 4.2.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Nettles 8.3, Murcer 7.4, Bando and Jackson 7.1, B. Robinson and White 6.7, Melton and Rettunmund 6.5, Smith 6.4, Otis and Petrocelli 5.9, Buford 5.8, Freehan 5.7, Johnson and Schaal 5.1, Belanger 4.9, Killebrew 4.8. Pitchers (bWAR): Wood 10.7, Blue 8.8, Lolich 8.6, Blyleven 6.3, Bradley 5.9, Coleman 5.5, Siebert 5.2, Drago and Hedlund 4.4, Kaat and Stottlemyre 4.2, McDowell and Palmer 4.1.

Actual award winners:
MVP: | 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 Vida Blue OAK 14 268 336 0.80 | 102 12 0 .118 .294 0| 24-8 312 1.82 0.952 301
2 Sal Bando OAK 4 182 336 0.54 | 538 146 24 .271 .828 3
3 Frank Robinson BAL 2 170 336 0.51 | 455 128 28 .281 .894 3
4 Brooks Robinson BAL 3 163 336 0.49 | 589 160 20 .272 .754 0
5 Mickey Lolich DET 1 155 336 0.46 | 115 15 0 .130 .390 0| 25-14 376 2.92 1.138 308
6 Freddie Patek KCR 0 77 336 0.23 | 591 158 6 .267 .693 49
7 Bobby Murcer NYY 0 72 336 0.21 | 529 175 25 .331 .969 14
8 Amos Otis KCR 0 67 336 0.20 | 555 167 15 .301 .789 52
9 Wilbur Wood CHW 0 54 336 0.16 | 96 5 0 .052 .202 1| 22-13 334 1.91 1.000 210 1
10 Tony Oliva MIN 0 36 336 0.11 | 487 164 22 .337 .915 4
11 Dave McNally BAL 0 26 336 0.08 | 74 12 2 .162 .479 0| 21-5 224 2.89 1.097 91
12 Norm Cash DET 0 21 336 0.06 | 452 128 32 .283 .903 1
13 Bill Melton CHW 0 18 336 0.05 | 543 146 33 .269 .843 3
14 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 15 336 0.04 | 567 157 32 .277 .860 16
14 Cookie Rojas KCR 0 15 336 0.04 | 414 124 6 .300 .763 8
16 Ken Sanders MIL 0 13 336 0.04 | 14 0 0 .000 .067 0| 7-12 136 1.91 1.064 80 31
17 Pat Dobson BAL 0 9 336 0.03 | 91 10 0 .110 .248 0| 20-8 282 2.90 1.102 187 1
17 Reggie Smith BOS 0 9 336 0.03 | 618 175 30 .283 .840 11
19 Davey Johnson BAL 0 8 336 0.02 | 510 144 18 .282 .794 3
19 Merv Rettenmund BAL 0 8 336 0.02 | 491 156 11 .318 .870 15
21 Leo Cardenas MIN 0 5 336 0.01 | 554 146 18 .264 .741 3
21 Harmon Killebrew MIN 0 5 336 0.01 | 500 127 28 .254 .850 3
21 Jim Palmer BAL 0 5 336 0.01 | 102 20 0 .196 .425 1| 20-9 282 2.68 1.195 184
24 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 4 336 0.01 | 107 11 1 .103 .259 0| 20-9 292 3.08 1.122 124
24 Cesar Tovar MIN 0 4 336 0.01 | 657 204 1 .311 .725 18
26 George Scott BOS 0 3 336 0.01 | 537 141 24 .263 .758 0
27 Don Buford BAL 0 2 336 0.01 | 449 130 19 .290 .890 15
28 Catfish Hunter OAK 0 1 336 0.00 | 103 36 1 .350 .770 1| 21-11 274 2.96 1.114 181
28 Graig Nettles CLE 0 1 336 0.00 | 598 156 28 .261 .785 7|
Blue was a reasonable winner, and the only player arguably more valuable was Wood.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Vida Blue OAK 14 98 120 0.82 | 24-8 312 1.82 0.952 301
2 Mickey Lolich DET 9 85 120 0.71 | 25-14 376 2.92 1.138 308
3 Wilbur Wood CHW 1 23 120 0.19 | 22-13 334 1.91 1.000 210 1
4 Dave McNally BAL 0 8 120 0.07 | 21-5 224 2.89 1.097 91
5 Dick Drago KCR 0 1 120 0.01 | 17-11 241 2.98 1.231 109
5 Andy Messersmith CAL 0 1 120 0.01 | 20-13 277 2.99 1.247 179

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 Chris Chambliss CLE 11 11 24 0.46 | 415 114 9 .275 .749 2
2 Bill Parsons MIL 5 5 24 0.21 | 72 12 1 .167 .500 0| 13-17 245 3.20 1.275 139
3 Angel Mangual OAK 4 4 24 0.17 | 287 82 4 .286 .686 1
4 Doug Griffin BOS 3 3 24 0.12 | 483 118 3 .244 .610 11
5 Paul Splittorff KCR 1 1 24 0.04 | 48 5 0 .104 .282 0| 8-9 144 2.68 1.137 80

Top player: Bobby Murcer. You can make an argument for Graig Nettles, but he was on a last-place team, and the evidence is much better for Murcer. This is a year when the argument for a pitcher as MVP is very strong.
#1 Bobby Murcer, #2 Reggie Jackson, #3 Roy White, #4 Graig Nettles, #5 Sal Bando, #6 Merv Rettunmund.

Top pitcher: Wilbur Wood. Blue got the headlines and Lolich had more wins, but nobody pitched any better then the big knuckleballer.
#1 Wilbur Wood, #2 Vida Blue, #3 Mickey Lolich, #4 Ken Sanders, #5 Sonny Siebert.

Top rookie: Chris Chambliss is the best of a weak field.

Top manager: Dick Williams got the A's to the top with a surging young team.

26 August 2009

1970 National League

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.