1990 American League

Oakland won its third straight pennant with a tremendous season from Rickey Henderson, acquired at midseason the previous year. The A's took 103 victories, 9 more than the White Sox. The rest of the West was Texas, California, Seattle, Kansas City, and Minnesota last with 88 losses. The East division was won by Boston for the second time in three years, but they managed only 88 victories, just ahead of Toronto with 86. Everyone else was under .500. Detroit was 3rd, followed by Cleveland, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and New York in last with 95 losses. The A's swept the Red Sox in the ALCS, then got swept in an upset by Cincinnati in the World Series. George Brett won the batting title with a .329 average, followed by Rickey Henderson at .325 and Rafael Palmeiro at .319. Palmeiro led in hits with 191, Brett tied Jody Reed with 45 doubles. Tony Fernandez had 17 triples. Cecil Fielder led with 51 HR and 132 RBI, with Mark McGwire second in HR with 39 and Kelly Gruber second in RBI with 118. Henderson led the league in steals with 65, runs with 119, and in on-base average and OPS. Bob Welch led the league with an impressive 27 wins, the most by a major league pitcher since Denny McLain's 31 in 1968. Dave Stewart won 22 and Roger Clemens 21. Clemens led in ERA with a 1.93 mark, second going to Chuck Finley at 2.40. Nolan Ryan's 232 strikeouts beat Mike Witt at 221. Stewart led with 267 innings. Bobby Thigpen set a new record with 57 saves. Win Shares leaders, players: Rickey Henderson (Oakland) 39, Cecil Fielder and Alan Trammell (Detroit) 29, Mark McGwire (Oakland) and Julio Franco (Texas) 27, George Brett (Kansas City), Jose Canseco (Oakland) and Fred McGriff (Toronto) 26, Tony Fernandez and Kelly Gruber (Toronto) 25, Wade Boggs (Boston), Lance Parrish (California) and Ken Griffey Jr. (Seattle) 24, Jody Reed (Boston), Ivan Calderon and Carlton Fisk (Chicago), Tony Phillips (Detroit), Kirby Puckett (Minnesota), Jesse Barfield (New York) and Rafael Palmeiro (Texas) 22. WS leaders, pitchers: Roger Clemens (Boston) 28, Chuck Finley (California) 23, Bobby Thigpen (Chicago) and Dave Stewart (Oakland) 21, Mike Boddicker (Boston) and Dennis Eckersley (Oakland) 19, Bob Welch (Oakland), Erik Hanson (Seattle) and Dave Stieb (Toronto) 18. WARP3 scores: R. Henderson 12.0, Fernandez 7.8 (peak season), McGriff 6.8 (peak season), Trammell 6.6, Fielder and Canseco 6.1, McGwire 6.0, Parrish (last big season) and Cal Ripken (Baltimore) 5.7, Fisk 5.6, Brett 5.3 (last big year), Gruber and Randy Milligan (Baltimore) 5.1, Phillips 5.0, Dave Henderson (Oakland) 4.9, Franco and Barfield (last big year) 4.6, Lou Whitaker (Detroit) and Walt Weiss (Oakland) 4.4, Reed 4.3 (peak season), Kevin Seitzer (Kansas City) 4.2, Brook Jacoby (Cleveland) 4.0, Griffey 3.9. Pitchers, Clemens 10.4, Finley 7.9 (peak season), Eckersley 7.2, Steve Farr (Kansas City) 7.0, Thigpen 6.8 (career year), Boddicker 5.8, Kevin Appier (Kansas City) 5.6, Hanson 5.5 (peak season), Stieb 5.0, Stewart 4.8 (peak season), Gregg Olson (Baltimore) 4.7, Doug Jones (Cleveland) 4.6, Tom Henke (Toronto) 4.3, Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) 4.0. Welch was at 2.6. WAR leaders, position players: Henderson 10.5, Fielder 6.8, Ripken and Trammell 6.5, Franco 6.2, McGwire 6.0, Martinez and McGriff 5.8, Kelly 5.7, Canseco 5.4, Griffey 5.3, Fernandez and Fisk 5.2, Barfield and Parrish 4.9, Phillips 4.7, Gruber and Palmeiro 4.6, Brett 4.5. WAR leaders, pitchers: Clemens 8.7, Hanson 6.9, Ryan 5.4, Witt 5.3, Stewart 4.8, Boddicker and Finley 4.7, Langston 4.5, Stieb 4.3, Hibbard and Young 3.9, Perez and Wells 3.8, Appier 3.7, McDowell 3.3, Eckersley and Swindell 3.2. Actual award voting: MVP (top 14) Place Name Team 1st Place Points 1 Rickey Henderson OAK 14 317 2 Cecil Fielder DET 10 286 3 Roger Clemens BOS 3 212 4 Kelly Gruber TOR 0 175 5 Bobby Thigpen CHW 0 170 6 Dennis Eckersley OAK 1 112 7 George Brett KCR 0 60 8 Dave Stewart OAK 0 56 9 Bob Welch OAK 0 54 10 Fred McGriff TOR 0 30 11 Mark McGwire OAK 0 29 12 Jose Canseco OAK 0 26 13 Ellis Burks BOS 0 25 14 Rafael Palmeiro TEX 0 22 Cy Young (top 4) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Bob Welch OAK 15 107 2 Roger Clemens BOS 8 77 3 Dave Stewart OAK 3 43 4 Bobby Thigpen CHW 2 20 What's funny is, Clemens did better than Welch in the MVP, but lost to him in the Cy Young vote. Rookie (top 4) Place Name Team 1st place Points 1 Sandy Alomar Jr. CLE 28 140 2 Kevin Maas NYY 0 47 3 Kevin Appier KCR 0 31 4 John Olerud TOR 0 13 Best player: Rickey Henderson, and it's not close. 1990 in the AL was all Rickey, all the time. The BBWAA came close to swooning over Cecil's 51 homers, but cooler heads prevailed. #1 Rickey Henderson, #2 Cecil Fielder, #3 Alan Trammell, #4 Fred McGriff, #5 Mark McGwire, #6 Julio Franco. Best pitcher: Roger Clemens, and it's not close, but the glare of Bob Welch's 27 wins blinded the voters. #1 Roger Clemens, #2 Chuck Finley, #3 Bobby Thigpen, #4 Dave Stewart, #5 Dennis Eckersley. Best rookie: Sandy Alomar Jr. had the best season, though John Olerud would have the best career. Best manager: Jeff Torborg managed Chicago to a 33-win improvement.