1991 American League

Minnesota did a worst-to-first turn, although it wasn't quite that spectacular. They had won the World Series in 1987, and their 1990 record was 74-88. They improved to 95-67 and broke Oakland's stranglehold on the top spot. Chicago finished second, 8 games back, with Texas third at 85 wins, Oakland with 84, Seattle 83, Kansas City 82, and California 81. Yes, everyone finished at least .500. In the East division, Toronto won its second title in three year with 91 wins, Boston and Detroit tied for second with 84, Milwaukee was fourth with 83, New York lost 91 for 5th, Baltimore lost 95, and Cleveland brought up the rear with 105 losses. Julio Franco took the batting title with a .341 average. Wade Boggs was second at .332. Paul Molitor led with 133 runs and 216 hits. Rafael Palmeiro had 44 doubles. Molitor and Lance Johnson had 13 triples each. Rickey Henderson stole 58 bases. Jose Canseco and Cecil Fielder tied for the lead with 44 homers, and Fielder led with 133 RBI, followed by Canseco at 122. Danny Tartabull led in slugging, while Frank (Big Hurt) Thomas led in on-base, OPS, and runs created. Scott Erickson and Bill Gullickson each won 20 games for the lead. Roger Clemens and his 2.62 ERA edged Tom Candiotti at 2.65 for the lead. Clemens struck out 241, ahead of Randy Johnson at 228. Clemens also led with 271 innings. Bryan Harvey and his 46 saves finished ahead of Dennis Eckersley at 43. Win Shares leaders, players; Cal Ripken (Baltimore) and Frank Thomas (Chicago) 34, Jose Canseco (Oakland) 31, Paul Molitor (Milwaukee) and Ken Griffey, Jr. (Seattle) 30, Danny Tartabull (Kansas City) and Julio Franco and Ruben Sierra (Texas) 28, Mickey Tettleton (Detroit) 27, Cecil Fielder and Lou Whitaker (Detroit) and Rafael Palmeiro (Texas) 26, Wade Boggs (Boston), Wally Joyner (California), Robin Ventura (Chicago), Dave and Rickey Henderson (Oakland) and Roberto Alomar (Toronto) 25 each, Steve Sax (New York) and Devon White (Toronto) 24, Tony Phillips (Detroit) and Joe Carter (Toronto) 23. Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Roger Clemens (Boston) 26, Kevin Tapani (Minnesota) 21, Jim Abbott and Mark Langston (California) 20, Duane Ward (Toronto) 19, Bryan Harvey (California), Jack McDowell (Chicago), Scott Erickson and Jack Morris (Minnesota) 18, Jimmy Key (Toronto) 17, Mike Moore (Oakland) 16. WARP3 scores: Ripken 12.5 (likely his best season), Thomas 9.5 (first full season), White 7.6 (best year), Ventura 7.5, Griffey 7.4, Palmeiro, R. Henderson, and Alomar 6.8, Tettleton 6.7 (best season), Molitor 6.6, Boggs 6.3, Canseco 6.0, Whitaker and Willie Randolph (New York) 5.8, Shane Mack (Minnesota) 5.6, Phillips 5.3, Greg Vaughn (Milwaukee) 5.2, Franco 5.0 (peak year), Sierra, D. Henderson, and Edgar Martinez (Seattle) 4.8, Joyner 4.7, Fielder 4.6. Pitchers, Clemens 7.7, Abbott 6.6 (peak season), Bret Saberhagen (Kansas City) 6.2, Langston 5.9, Moore and Greg Swindell (Cleveland) 5.5, Tapani 5.3 (peak season), Nolan Ryan (Texas) 5.2, Harvey 5.1, Steve Farr (New York) 5.0, Chris Bosio (Milwaukee) 4.8, Jose Guzman (Toronto) 4.7, Charles Nagy (Cleveland), Frank Tanana (Detroit), and Kevin Appier (Kansas City) 4.6. WAR leaders, position players: Ripken 11.1, Thomas 7.8, Griffey 7.4, D. White 6.9, Boggs and Whitaker 6.5, Franco and Palmeiro 6.4, E. Martinez 6.2, Tettleton and Ventura 6.0, Canseco and Molitor 5.8, D. Henderson, Phillips, and Sierra 5.3, Carter 5.1, Devereaux 5.0, Alomar and Tartabull 4.9. WAR leaders, pitchers: Clemens 9.4, Swindell 6.3, Candiotti 6.1, Abbott 5.6, Appier, Key, and Tapani 5.4, McDowell 5.2, Ryan 5.1, Morris and Saberhagen 5.0, Sanderson 4.4, Ward 4.1, Erickson 3.9, Hanson 3.8, Bosio and Nagy 3.5, Gullickson 3.4. 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 Cal Ripken BAL 15 318 392 0.81 | 650 210 34 .323 .940 6 2 Cecil Fielder DET 9 286 392 0.73 | 624 163 44 .261 .860 0 3 Frank Thomas CHW 1 181 392 0.46 | 559 178 32 .318 1.006 1 4 Jose Canseco OAK 0 145 392 0.37 | 572 152 44 .266 .915 26 5 Joe Carter TOR 1 136 392 0.35 | 638 174 33 .273 .833 20 6 Roberto Alomar TOR 2 128 392 0.33 | 637 188 9 .295 .791 53 7 Kirby Puckett MIN 0 78 392 0.20 | 611 195 15 .319 .812 11 8 Ruben Sierra TEX 0 63 392 0.16 | 661 203 25 .307 .859 16 9 Ken Griffey SEA 0 62 392 0.16 | 548 179 22 .327 .926 18 10 Roger Clemens BOS 0 57 392 0.15 | | 18-10 271 2.62 1.05 241 11 Paul Molitor MIL 0 51 392 0.13 | 665 216 17 .325 .888 19 12 Danny Tartabull KCR 0 32 392 0.08 | 484 153 31 .316 .990 6 13 Jack Morris MIN 0 29 392 0.07 | | 18-12 247 3.43 1.29 163 14 Chili Davis MIN 0 21 392 0.05 | 534 148 29 .277 .892 5 15 Julio Franco TEX 0 17 392 0.04 | 589 201 15 .341 .882 36 16 Devon White TOR 0 15 392 0.04 | 642 181 17 .282 .797 33 17 Scott Erickson MIN 0 12 392 0.03 | | 20-8 204 3.18 1.27 108 18 Rick Aguilera MIN 0 11 392 0.03 | | 4-5 69 2.35 1.07 61 42 19 Rafael Palmeiro TEX 0 6 392 0.02 | 631 203 26 .322 .922 4 20 Robin Ventura CHW 0 3 392 0.01 | 606 172 23 .284 .810 2 21 Dave Henderson OAK 0 1 392 0.00 | 572 158 25 .276 .811 6 Fielder was 2nd for the second year in a row. A lot of that was apparently carryover votes, as the Tigers did not win. Cy Young: | Season Results Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+ 1 Roger Clemens BOS 21 119 140 0.85 | 18-10 271 2.62 1.05 241 2 Scott Erickson MIN 3 56 140 0.40 | 20-8 204 3.18 1.27 108 3 Jim Abbott CAL 0 26 140 0.19 | 18-11 243 2.89 1.21 158 4 Jack Morris MIN 3 17 140 0.12 | 18-12 247 3.43 1.29 163 5 Bryan Harvey CAL 0 10 140 0.07 | 2-4 79 1.60 0.86 101 46 6 Mark Langston CAL 0 7 140 0.05 | 19-8 246 3.00 1.16 183 7 Kevin Tapani MIN 1 6 140 0.04 | 16-9 244 2.99 1.09 135 8 Bill Gullickson DET 0 5 140 0.04 | 20-9 226 3.90 1.33 91 9 Jack McDowell CHW 0 3 140 0.02 | 17-10 254 3.41 1.16 191 9 Duane Ward TOR 0 3 140 0.02 | 7-6 107 2.77 1.05 132 23 Clemens won handily despite not leading in wins, a victory for the good guys. Not that Clemens is one of the good guys. 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 Chuck Knoblauch MIN 26 136 140 0.97 | 565 159 1 .281 .701 25 2 Juan Guzman TOR 1 68 140 0.49 | | 10-3 139 2.99 1.18 123 3 Milt Cuyler DET 1 22 140 0.16 | 475 122 3 .257 .672 41 4 Ivan Rodriguez TEX 0 10 140 0.07 | 280 74 3 .264 .630 0 5 Rich DeLucia SEA 0 7 140 0.05 | | 12-13 182 5.09 1.40 98 6 Mike Timlin TOR 0 2 140 0.01 | | 11-6 108 3.16 1.33 85 6 Mark Whiten TOT 0 2 140 0.01 | +407 99 9 .243 .685 4 8 Leo Gomez BAL 0 1 140 0.01 | 391 91 16 .233 .711 1 8 Doug Henry MIL 0 1 140 0.01 | | 2-1 36 1.00 0.83 28 15 8 Brent Mayne KCR 0 1 140 0.01 | 231 58 3 .251 .640 2 8 Charles Nagy CLE 0 1 140 0.01 | | 10-15 211 4.13 1.39 109 8 Phil Plantier BOS 0 1 140 0.01 | 148 49 11 .331 1.034 1 No idea how someone could vote for Milt Cuyler over Chuck Knoblauch. Manager: Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share | W-L Rank +--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+-------- 1 Tom Kelly MIN 27 138 140 0.99 | 95-67 1 2 Sparky Anderson DET 1 50 140 0.36 | 84-78 2 3 Cito Gaston TOR 0 17 140 0.12 | 72-57 1 4 Jim Lefebvre SEA 0 16 140 0.11 | 83-79 5 4 Joe Morgan BOS 0 16 140 0.11 | 84-78 3 6 Jeff Torborg CHW 0 6 140 0.04 | 87-75 2 7 Hal McRae KCR 0 3 140 0.02 | 66-58 6 7 Bobby Valentine TEX 0 3 140 0.02 | 85-77 3 9 Tony LaRussa OAK 0 2 140 0.01 | 84-78 4 10 Stump Merrill NYY 0 1 140 0.01 | 71-91 5 Top player: Cal Ripken. It may have been the finest year of an exemplary career. The Orioles could never seem to put a good team around him at this point. #1 Cal Ripken, #2 Frank Thomas, #3 Ken Griffey, Jr., #4 Paul Molitor, #5 Julio Franco, #6 Rafael Palmeiro. Top pitcher: Roger Clemens. We'll get this a lot now. #1 Roger Clemens, #2 Jim Abbott, #3 Kevin Tapani, #4 Mark Langston, #5 Jack McDowell, #6 Tom Candiotti. Top rookie: Chuck Knoblauch had a fine season, in the middle of a pennant race. Top manager: Tom Kelly did it without a superstar.