1973 American League

It was the first year of the DH, an experiment to put more offense in the game. It has worked, although purists (like me) still rail against it. Ron Blomberg of New York was the first DH, and many veterans spent the year as a DH, most notably Frank Robinson. Tommy Davis also managed to get in a couple of full years that way.

Oakland's A's continued their dominance, winning their second straight World Series and third straight division title. Reggie Jackson and crew had their way with the league, tallying 94 wins, a six-game margin over improving Kansas City. Minnesota was third in the West, followed by California, Chicago, and 105-loss Texas. The East was won by resurging Baltimore, which sported 97 victories. Boston finished 8 games back and Detroit 12 off the pace. New York was 4th, Milwaukee 5th and Cleveland last in the East. The A's then put their differences behind them enough to beat the Orioles in five games in the ALCS, and the Mets in a 7-game Series.
Oakland led the league in scoring, even playing in a pitcher's park. They were 3rd in ERA.

Jackson won the MVP as he led in HR, RBI, and OPS. Rod Carew won the batting title easily at .350 over George Scott and Tommy Davis at .306. Jackson had 32 homers, Jeff Burroughs and F. Robinson 30. Jackson had 117 RBI, George Scott 107 and John Mayberry 100. Carew had 203 hits, Jackson scored 99 runs, Pedro Garcia and Sal Bando had 32 doubles, Carew and Al Bumbry 11 triples. Tommy Harper led in steals with 54 while Bill North had 53.

Wilbur Wood led in wins, Nolan Ryan in strikeouts, but the Cy Young winner was ERA leader Jim Palmer. Wood won 24, Joe Coleman 23, Palmer 22. Ryan set a record with 383 strikeouts, Bert Blyleven was second with 258. Palmer had a 2.40 ERA, Blyleven 2.52, Bill Lee 2.75. John Hiller was recovered enough from cancer to lead in saves with 38.

Win Shares leaders, players; Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 32, John Mayberry (Kansas City) and Sal Bando (Oakland) 31, Amos Otis (Kansas City) 29, Bobby Grich (Baltimore) and Rod Carew (Minnesota) 28, Frank Robinson (California) and Gene Tenace (Oakland) 26, Thurman Munson and Bobby Murcer (New York) and Billy North (Oakland) 25, Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) and Dave May and George Scott (Milwaukee) 24, Reggie Smith (Boston) and Jeff Burroughs (Texas) 23, Bill Melton (Chicago) 22, Tommy Harper (Boston) and Buddy Bell (Cleveland) 21, Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 20.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; John Hiller (Detroit) 31, Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 29, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) and Nolan Ryan (California) 28, Bill Lee (Boston) and Gaylord Perry (Cleveland) 24, Bill Singer (California) and Wilbur Wood (Chicago) 23, Luis Tiant (Boston) and Joe Coleman (Detroit) 21, Jim Colborn (Milwaukee) 20, Mickey Lolich (Detroit) and Ken Holtzman (Oakland) 19.

WARP3 leaders, players: Grich 12.5, Carew 9.5, Jackson 9.0, Munson 8.1, North 7.8, Scott 7.5, Bando 7.0, Melton and Tenace 6.5, Smith 6.0, Robinson 5.9, Campaneris 5.8, Yastrzemski 5.5, May and Carlton Fisk (Boston) 5.3, Mayberry and Graig Nettles (New York) 4.6.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Hiller and Perry 8.5, Ryan 6.6, Coleman 6.1, Blyleven 5.6, Palmer and Tiant 5.1, Jim Bibby (Texas) 4.9, Lee 4.8, Singer 4.6, Wood and Cy Acosta (Chicago) 4.5, Lolich and Stan Bahnsen (Chicago) 4.1.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Grich 8.1, Jackson 7.3, Munson 6.8, Bando 6.6, Carew 6.5, North 6.4, Scott 6.3, Nettles and Yastrzemski 5.6, Mayberry 5.2, Murcer 4.8, Tenace 4.7, Blair 4.6, Campaneris 4.5, F. Robinson 4.4. Pitchers (bWAR): Blyleven 9.2, Ryan 7.9, Perry 7.4, Wood 7.0, Hiller 6.9, Singer 6.6, Lee 6.3, Palmer 6.1, Bahnsen 5.9, Coleman 5.4, Tiant 5.3, Forster 5.0, Colborn 4.8.

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 Reggie Jackson OAK 24 336 336 1.00 | 539 158 32 .293 .914 22
2 Jim Palmer BAL 0 172 336 0.51 | | 22-9 296 2.40 1.141 158 1
3 Amos Otis KCR 0 112 336 0.33 | 583 175 26 .300 .851 13
4 Sal Bando OAK 0 83 336 0.25 | 592 170 29 .287 .873 4
4 Rod Carew MIN 0 83 336 0.25 | 580 203 6 .350 .881 41
4 John Hiller DET 0 83 336 0.25 | | 10-5 125 1.44 1.022 124 38
7 John Mayberry KCR 0 76 336 0.23 | 510 142 26 .278 .895 3
8 Dave May MIL 0 65 336 0.19 | 624 189 25 .303 .824 6
9 Bobby Murcer NYY 0 53 336 0.16 | 616 187 22 .304 .821 6
10 Tommy Davis BAL 0 47 336 0.14 | 552 169 7 .306 .732 11
10 Catfish Hunter OAK 0 47 336 0.14 | 1 1 0 1.000 2.000 0| 21-5 256 3.34 1.135 124
12 Thurman Munson NYY 0 43 336 0.13 | 519 156 20 .301 .849 4
13 Tommy Harper BOS 0 33 336 0.10 | 566 159 17 .281 .774 54
14 George Scott MIL 0 25 336 0.07 | 604 185 24 .306 .858 9
15 Orlando Cepeda BOS 0 21 336 0.06 | 550 159 20 .289 .793 0
15 Frank Robinson CAL 0 21 336 0.06 | 534 142 30 .266 .861 1
17 Nolan Ryan CAL 0 20 336 0.06 | | 21-16 326 2.87 1.227 383 1
18 Carlton Fisk BOS 0 16 336 0.05 | 508 125 26 .246 .750 7
19 Bobby Grich BAL 0 9 336 0.03 | 581 146 12 .251 .760 17
19 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 9 336 0.03 | 540 160 19 .296 .870 9
Jackson was the unanimous winner.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Jim Palmer BAL 14 88 120 0.73 | 22-9 296 2.40 1.141 158 1
2 Nolan Ryan CAL 9 62 120 0.52 | 21-16 326 2.87 1.227 383 1
3 Catfish Hunter OAK 1 52 120 0.43 | 21-5 256 3.34 1.135 124
4 John Hiller DET 0 6 120 0.05 | 10-5 125 1.44 1.022 124 38
5 Wilbur Wood CHW 0 3 120 0.02 | 24-20 359 3.46 1.314 199
6 Jim Colborn MIL 0 2 120 0.02 | 20-12 314 3.18 1.222 135 1
7 Vida Blue OAK 0 1 120 0.01 | 20-9 264 3.28 1.210 158
7 Bert Blyleven MIN 0 1 120 0.01 | 20-17 325 2.52 1.117 258
7 Gaylord Perry CLE 0 1 120 0.01 | 19-19 344 3.37 1.250 238

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 Al Bumbry BAL 13 13 24 0.54 | 356 120 7 .337 .898 23
2 Pedro Garcia MIL 3 3 24 0.12 | 580 142 15 .245 .691 11
3 Steve Busby KCR 2 2 24 0.08 | | 16-15 238 4.23 1.473 174
3 Doc Medich NYY 2 2 24 0.08 | | 14-9 235 2.95 1.238 145
3 Darrell Porter MIL 2 2 24 0.08 | 350 89 16 .254 .820 5
6 Rich Coggins BAL 1 1 24 0.04 | 389 124 7 .319 .831 17|

Top player: Reggie Jackson. The meta-stats split wildly here, with WS going Jackson's way and WARP liking Grich. I'll go with the OPS leader and writers' choice in Reggie.
#1 Reggie Jackson, #2 Sal Bando, #3 Rod Carew, #4 Bobby Grich, #5 Thurman Munson, #6 George Scott

Top pitcher: Bert Blyleven, not a serious candidate for the Cy Young with a 20-17 record, was the best pitcher of the year.
#1 Bert Blyleven, #2 John Hiller, #3 Nolan Ryan, #4 Jim Palmer, #5 Luis Tiant.

Top rookie: Al Bumbry, the writers' pick, is probably the best pick over Medich and Porter.

Top manager: Earl Weaver retooled and got the Orioles back on top.

1972 National League

The Reds returned to the top of the West Division with 95 victories, while the Pirates repeated in the East with 96 triumphs. Both teams won easily, with the Reds 10.5 games ahead of the newly sound Astros and the Dodgers, with Atlanta 4th, defending West champs San Francisco falling to 5th, and San Diego bringing up the rear. The Pirates won by 11 games over Chicago, with New York 3rd. St. Louis was 4th, Montreal crept up to 5th, and Philadelphia finished last despite an incredible performance by Steve Carlton, who was credited with 27 of the team's 59 victories.
The Reds won the NLCS, then lost the World Series. San Francisco traded Willie Mays back to New York, to the Mets. And after the season was over, on New Year's Eve, Pittsburgh star outfielder Roberto Clemente died in a plane crash, delivering relief supplies to the needy. Baseball suffered a great loss with his passing.

Johnny Bench led the league in HR and RBI, and won his second MVP. Billy Williams led in batting average, slugging, and OPS. Joe Morgan led in on-base and runs, while Lou Brock led in steals. Williams batted .333, Ralph Garr .325, Dusty Baker .321, and Cesar Cedeno .320. Bench hit 40 home runs, Nate Colbert 38, and Williams 37. Bench drove in 125 runs, Williams 122. Pete Rose had 198 hits, Cedeno and Willie Montanez 39 doubles, Larry Bowa 13 triples, Joe Morgan 122 runs, Lou Brock 63 steals.

Carlton led in wins, of course, and also strikeouts and ERA, to take the pitching Triple Crown. Carlton's 27 wins were trailed by Tom Seaver with 21 and Fergie Jenkins and Claude Osteen with 20. Carlton struck out 310, Seaver 249. Carlton had a 1.97 ERA, Gary Nolan 1.99, Don Sutton 2.08. Clay Carroll led in saves with 37.

Win Shares leaders, players; Joe Morgan (Cincinnati) 39, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 37, Cesar Cedeno (Houston) 33, Billy Williams (Chicago) and Pete Rose (Cincinnati) 32, Jim Wynn (Houston) and Nate Colbert (San Diego) 28, Bob Watson (Houston) and Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) 26, Tony Perez (Cincinnati), Willie Davis (Los Angeles), and Chris Speier (San Francisco) 25, Dusty Baker (Atlanta), Al Oliver (Pittsburgh), Bobby Bonds (San Francisco) and Ted Simmons (St. Louis) 23, Bobby Tolan (Cincinnati) and Richie Hebner (Pittsburgh) 22, Hank Aaron (Atlanta), Ron Santo (Chicago) and Lou Brock (St. Louis) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Steve Carlton (Philadelphia) 40, Bob Gibson (St. Louis) 29, Don Sutton (Los Angeles) 24, Phil Niekro (Atlanta), Fergie Jenkins (Chicago), Claude Osteen (Los Angeles), Mike Marshall (Montreal), and Jon Matlack, Tug McGraw and Tom Seaver (New York) 22, Rick Wise (St. Louis) 20.

WARP3 leaders, players: Bench 13.7, Morgan 12.9, Cedeno 10.4, Wynn 8.3, Rose 7.8, Hebner 7.7, Speier 7.3, Oliver 7.0, Stargell 6.7, Colbert 6.6, Tolan 6.4, Davis 6.3, Dave Cash (Pittsburgh) 6.1, Santo 6.0, Williams and Lee May (Houston) 5.8, Baker 5.5, Bonds 5.3, Simmons 5.2.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Carlton 15.3, Gibson 8.4, Marshall 8.0, Niekro 7.7, Sutton 7.2, Jenkins 7.1, Seaver, Osteen and Mike Torrez (Montreal) 6.4, Matlack 6.2, Bill Stoneman (Montreal) 6.1, Milt Pappas (Chicago) 5.5, McGraw and Wise 5.4.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Bench 10.2, Morgan 9.8, Cedeno 8.8, Williams 7.5, Rose 7.3, Speier 7.0, Davis 6.5, Hebner 6.4, Wynn 6.2, Santo 6.1, Bonds and Colbert 5.9, Simmons 5.8, Stargell 5.7, Baker 5.5, Perez and Tolan 5.4, Aaron and Evans 5.1. Pitchers (bWAR): Carlton 12.2, Gibson 7.6, Matlack 6.7, Sutton 6.4, Jenkins 6.3, Niekro 6.2, Seaver 5.8, Hooton, Osteen, and Wise 5.5, Kirby 5.3, Wilson 5.2.

Actual award voting:
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 Johnny Bench CIN 11 263 336 0.78 | 538 145 40 .270 .920 6
2 Billy Williams CHC 5 211 336 0.63 | 574 191 37 .333 1.005 3
3 Willie Stargell PIT 2 201 336 0.60 | 495 145 33 .293 .930 1
4 Joe Morgan CIN 5 197 336 0.59 | 552 161 16 .292 .851 58
5 Steve Carlton PHI 1 124 336 0.37 | 117 23 1 .197 .501 0| 27-10 346 1.98 0.993 310
6 Cesar Cedeno HOU 0 112 336 0.33 | 559 179 22 .320 .921 55
7 Al Oliver PIT 0 52 336 0.15 | 565 176 12 .312 .789 2
8 Nate Colbert SDP 0 45 336 0.13 | 563 141 38 .250 .841 15
9 Lee May HOU 0 30 336 0.09 | 592 168 29 .284 .833 3
10 Mike Marshall MON 0 22 336 0.07 | 22 3 0 .136 .390 0| 14-8 116 1.78 1.112 95 18
10 Ted Simmons STL 0 22 336 0.07 | 594 180 16 .303 .801 1
12 Pete Rose CIN 0 19 336 0.06 | 645 198 6 .307 .799 10
13 Clay Carroll CIN 0 16 336 0.05 | 11 2 0 .182 .364 0| 6-4 96 2.25 1.260 51 37
13 Roberto Clemente PIT 0 16 336 0.05 | 378 118 10 .312 .835 0
15 Lou Brock STL 0 13 336 0.04 | 621 193 3 .311 .752 63
16 Hank Aaron ATL 0 12 336 0.04 | 449 119 34 .265 .904 4
16 Manny Sanguillen PIT 0 12 336 0.04 | 520 155 7 .298 .726 1
18 Steve Blass PIT 0 9 336 0.03 | 82 15 0 .183 .410 0| 19-8 250 2.49 1.245 117
19 Ralph Garr ATL 0 7 336 0.02 | 554 180 12 .325 .788 25
20 Gene Clines PIT 0 6 336 0.02 | 311 104 0 .334 .790 12
20 Bobby Tolan CIN 0 6 336 0.02 | 604 171 8 .283 .720 42
22 Dusty Baker ATL 0 5 336 0.01 | 446 143 17 .321 .888 4
23 Manny Mota LAD 0 4 336 0.01 | 371 120 5 .323 .809 4
24 Dave Kingman SFG 0 3 336 0.01 | 472 106 29 .225 .765 16
25 Tug McGraw NYM 0 2 336 0.01 | 20 2 0 .100 .282 0| 8-6 106 1.70 1.047 92 27
25 Tom Seaver NYM 0 2 336 0.01 | 89 13 3 .146 .495 0| 21-12 262 2.92 1.115 249
25 Rusty Staub NYM 0 2 336 0.01 | 239 70 9 .293 .824 0
28 Jose Cardenal CHC 0 1 336 0.00 | 533 155 17 .291 .810 25
28 Fergie Jenkins CHC 0 1 336 0.00 | 109 20 1 .183 .458 0| 20-12 289 3.20 1.089 184
28 Chris Speier SFG 0 1 336 0.00 | 562 151 15 .269 .761 9|
Bench won his second by a clear margin with divided voting.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+--
1 Steve Carlton PHI 24 120 120 1.00 | 27-10 346 1.98 0.993 310
2 Steve Blass PIT 0 35 120 0.29 | 19-8 250 2.49 1.245 117
3 Fergie Jenkins CHC 0 23 120 0.19 | 20-12 289 3.20 1.089 184
4 Mike Marshall MON 0 8 120 0.07 | 14-8 116 1.78 1.112 95 18
5 Clay Carroll CIN 0 6 120 0.05 | 6-4 96 2.25 1.260 51 37
5 Gary Nolan CIN 0 6 120 0.05 | 15-5 176 1.99 1.006 90
5 Tom Seaver NYM 0 6 120 0.05 | 21-12 262 2.92 1.115 249
5 Don Sutton LAD 0 6 120 0.05 | 19-9 273 2.08 0.913 207
9 Bob Gibson STL 0 3 120 0.02 | 19-11 278 2.46 1.129 208
9 Milt Pappas CHC 0 3 120 0.02 | 17-7 195 2.77 1.108 80
Well, that was easy. At least the #1 part.

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 Jon Matlack NYM 19 19 24 0.79 | 78 10 0 .128 .368 0| 15-10 244 2.32 1.172 169
2 Dave Rader SFG 4 4 24 0.17 | 459 119 6 .259 .640 1
3 John Milner NYM 1 1 24 0.04 | 362 86 17 .238 .762 2

Top player: Johnny Bench. Joe Morgan was also great, but I'll side with WARP and the writers over Win Shares this time. Morgan will have some awards coming his way anyway.
#1 Johnny Bench, #2 Joe Morgan, #3 Cesar Cedeno, #4 Billy Williams, #5 Pete Rose, #6 Chris Speier.

Top pitcher: Steve Carlton. Duh.
#1 Steve Carlton, #2 Bob Gibson, #3 Jon Matlack, #4 Don Sutton, #5 Claude Osteen.

Top rookie: Jon Matlack, pretty clearly. Dusty Baker had a good first full year but had played too much to be eligible.

Top manager: Sparky Anderson gets the Reds back to the top spot with a new offensive philosophy, not always an easy thing to do.

1972 American League

The A's won their first of three straight pennants and World Series, after a good race with the White Sox in the West Division. The East was a knock-down, drag-out event, with the Tigers and a team of grizzled veterans (mostly left over from their 1960s teams) managed by Billy Martin winning by a mere half-game over the Red Sox. Such a small margin was made possible by a player strike at the beginning of the season, knocking out the first week of games, and those contests were not rescheduled. As a result, some teams played more games than others. Another bad decision by MLB.

In the West, Minnesota finished 3rd and at .500, with Kansas City and California close behind. The former Senators moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth area and became the Texas Rangers, and managed to lose 100 games in spite of having only 154 to work with. In the East, Baltimore fell from its three straight pennants and finished 3rd, just above .500, which left the division wide open. New York was 4th in that race, with Cleveland and Milwaukee the also-rans. It was a strong defensive year, with low offense. The Red Sox led the league with just 4.13 runs per game. The best offense was probably Oakland's, right behind the Bosox in a tougher hitting park. Oakland was second in preventing runs, to the Orioles.

Rod Carew won the batting title (with a mere .318) followed by Lou Piniella at .312 and Dick Allen and Carlos May at .308. Joe Rudi at .305 and Richie Schienblum at .300 rounded out the .300 hitters. Allen took charge in his first year with the White Sox and led the league in homers, RBI and OPS. Allen's 37 homers were followed by Bobby Murcer with 33. Allen's 113 RBI led John Mayberry's 100. He won the MVP. Bobby Murcer led in runs with 102, Bert Campaneris in stolen bases with 52. Piniella had 33 doubles, Rudi 181 hits.

Gaylord Perry and Wilbur Wood tied for the lead with 24 victories, Mickey Lolich 22. Perry was just .01 behind Luis Tiant's 1.91 in the ERA race. Catfish Hunter was third at 2.04. Nolan Ryan led in strikeouts with 329 for his new team, the Angels, while Sparky Lyle led in saves (35) in his Yankee debut.

Win Shares leaders, players; Dick Allen (Chicago) 40, Bobby Murcer (New York) 36, Carlton Fisk (Boston) 33, Carlos May (Chicago) and Joe Rudi (Oakland) 29, John Mayberry (Kansas City) and Mike Epstein (Oakland) 27, Reggie Smith (Boston), Roy White (New York) and Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 26, Tommy Harper (Boston) 24, Bobby Grich (Baltimore) and Sal Bando (Oakland) 23, Ken Berry (California), Amos Otis (Kansas City) and Rod Carew (Minnesota) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Gaylord Perry (Cleveland) 39, Wilbur Wood (Chicago) 29, Mickey Lolich (Detroit) 26, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 25, Nolan Ryan (California) and Catfish Hunter (Oakland) 24, Luis Tiant (Boston), Terry Forster (Chicago), Joe Coleman (Detroit) and Bert Blyleven (Minnesota) 19, Sparky Lyle (New York) 18.

WARP3 scores, players: Murcer and Allen 9.0, Fisk 8.8, Grich 7.3, Mayberry 6.7, Rudi 6.3, Jackson 6.2, Thurman Munson (New York) 6.1, Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 5.9, Carew 5.8, Epstein and Lou Piniella (Kansas City) 5.4, White 5.3, Johnny Briggs (Milwaukee) 5.2, Berry, Otis, and Ellie Rodriguez (Kansas City) 4.7.

Pitchers: Perry 11.7, Wood 9.5, Lolich 6.8, Hunter 6.7, Tiant 5.9, Roger Nelson (Kansas City) 5.5, Palmer 5.0, Coleman 4.9, Ryan 4.5, Tom Bradley (Chicago) 4.3, Dick Tidrow (Cleveland) 4.2, Lyle 4.1.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Allen 8.5, Murcer 8.1, Fisk 7.1, Grich and Rudi 6.0, White 5.8, Mayberry 5.5, Epstein 5.4, Jackson 5.3, Bando 5.2, Campaneris and Carew 4.9, Scott 4.8, Nettles 4.7, B. Robinson 4.4, May and Piniella 4.3. Pitchers (bWAR): Perry 10.5, Wood 9.7, Lolich 6.8, Ryan 6.3, Hunter and Tiant 5.7, Nelson 5.0, Bradley and Palmer 4.9, Blyleven 4.5, Coleman 4.0, Kline and Pattin 3.5.

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 Dick Allen CHW 21 321 336 0.96 | 506 156 37 .308 1.023 19
2 Joe Rudi OAK 1 164 336 0.49 | 593 181 19 .305 .830 3
3 Sparky Lyle NYY 1 158 336 0.47 | 21 4 0 .190 .465 0| 9-5 108 1.92 1.049 75 35
4 Carlton Fisk BOS 0 96 336 0.29 | 457 134 22 .293 .909 5
5 Bobby Murcer NYY 0 89 336 0.26 | 585 171 33 .292 .898 11
6 Gaylord Perry CLE 0 88 336 0.26 | 110 17 1 .155 .397 0| 24-16 343 1.92 0.978 234 1
7 Wilbur Wood CHW 0 78 336 0.23 | 125 17 0 .136 .312 0| 24-17 377 2.51 1.059 193
8 Luis Tiant BOS 0 70 336 0.21 | 56 6 0 .107 .263 0| 15-6 179 1.91 1.078 123 3
9 Ed Brinkman DET 0 62 336 0.18 | 516 105 6 .203 .538 0
10 Mickey Lolich DET 1 60 336 0.18 | 89 6 0 .067 .313 0| 22-14 327 2.50 1.088 250
11 Catfish Hunter OAK 0 57 336 0.17 | 105 23 0 .219 .434 0| 21-7 295 2.04 0.914 191
12 John Mayberry KCR 0 27 336 0.08 | 503 150 25 .298 .900 0
13 Jim Palmer BAL 0 21 336 0.06 | 98 22 0 .224 .516 0| 21-10 274 2.07 1.054 184
14 Rod Carew MIN 0 16 336 0.05 | 535 170 0 .318 .749 12
14 Bobby Grich BAL 0 16 336 0.05 | 460 128 12 .278 .773 13
16 Bert Campaneris OAK 0 11 336 0.03 | 625 150 8 .240 .603 52
16 Mike Epstein OAK 0 11 336 0.03 | 455 123 26 .270 .866 0
18 Luis Aparicio BOS 0 9 336 0.03 | 436 112 3 .257 .649 3
18 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 9 336 0.03 | 499 132 25 .265 .823 9
18 Rico Petrocelli BOS 0 9 336 0.03 | 521 125 15 .240 .702 0
Allen was a clear winner. The other guy who might have had a case was Perry, but his Indians did very poorly and robbed him of any chance at the MVP.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+---
1 Gaylord Perry CLE 9 64 120 0.53 | 24-16 343 1.92 0.978 234 1
2 Wilbur Wood CHW 7 58 120 0.48 | 24-17 377 2.51 1.059 193
3 Mickey Lolich DET 3 27 120 0.22 | 22-14 327 2.50 1.088 250
4 Catfish Hunter OAK 2 26 120 0.22 | 21-7 295 2.04 0.914 191
5 Jim Palmer BAL 2 20 120 0.17 | 21-10 274 2.07 1.054 184
6 Luis Tiant BOS 1 16 120 0.13 | 15-6 179 1.91 1.078 123 3
7 Sparky Lyle NYY 0 3 120 0.02 | 9-5 108 1.92 1.049 75 35
8 Nolan Ryan CAL 0 2 120 0.02 | 19-16 284 2.28 1.137 329
Perry in a close race. Probably some holdover for Wood, who was deserving in 1971, plus his White Sox were contenders.

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 Carlton Fisk BOS 24 24 24 1.00 | 457 134 22 .293 .909 5|
No question about the winner here.

Top player: Dick Allen. The White Sox hadn't finished above .500 since 1967, and hadn't won a pennant since 1959. They got the first, and were not far off the second. Allen was a big part of that, with his big bat.
#1 Dick Allen, #2 Bobby Murcer, #3 Carlton Fisk, #4 Joe Rudi, #5 John Mayberry, #6 Bobby Grich.

Top pitcher: Gaylord Perry was great for a lousy team. Best use of a spitball since the 1920s.
#1 Gaylord Perry, #2 Wilbur Wood, #3 Mickey Lolich, #4 Catfish Hunter, #5 Jim Palmer.

Top rookie: Carlton Fisk sweeps this field.

Top manager: Billy Martin urged home a team practically on Social Security, with the 1968 championship veterans like Al Kaline and Norm Cash, and one regular under 29 in Aurelio Rodriguez, 24. It was a superb managerial performance.

1971 National League

The Pittsburgh Pirates ruled the league, with 97 wins plus seven more in the postseason. The Buccos bludgeoned their opposition with the top offense in the league, and average pitching. The Reds, bullies the year before, receded to 4th in the West as Bobby Tolan missed all season with a torn Achilles tendon, and the pitching problems that accumulated during 1970 continued. St. Louis was second in the East behind Joe Torre's MVP season, with Chicago and New York tied for 3rd. Montreal was 5th and Philadelphia last. The Giants claimed first in the West by one game over the Dodgers in another excellent pennant race, somewhat less inspiring because it wasn't for the flag of the whole league, just a division. Atlanta was 3rd, Cincy and Houston tied for 4th, and San Diego last. The Pirates started the first MLB all-black lineup on September 1.

Joe Torre won the batting title and led in RBI, while Willie Stargell led in homers and Lou Brock in steals. Torre batted .363, with Ralph Garr at .343, Glenn Beckert at .342, and Roberto Clemente at .341. Stargell had 48 homers and Hank Aaron 47. Torre had 137 RBI, Stargell 125, Aaron 118. Lou Brock had 126 runs, Torre 230 hits, Cesar Cedeno 40 doubles, Brock 64 steals. Aaron had the top OPS.

Fergie Jenkins led in winswith 24. Steve Carlton, Al Downing, and Tom Seaver each won 20. Seaver took honors in ERA and strikeouts. His 1.76 ERA was followed by Dave Roberts at 2.10 and Don Wilson at 2.45. Seaver's 289 strikeouts were trailed by Jenkins at 263. Dave Giusti led in saves with 30.

Win Shares leaders, players; Joe Torre (St. Louis) 41, Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) 35, Hank Aaron (Atlanta) 33, Rusty Staub (Montreal) and Bobby Bonds (San Francisco) 32, Lou Brock (St. Louis) 30, Joe Morgan (Houston) and Dick Allen (Los Angeles) 29, Pete Rose (Cincinnati) 28, Willie Mays (San Francisco) 27, Billy Williams (Chicago) and Ron Hunt (Montreal) 26, Ralph Garr (Atlanta) and Willie Davis (Los Angeles) 25, Lee May (Cincinnati), Cleon Jones (New York), Roberto Clemente and Manny Sanguillen (Pittsburgh) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Fergie Jenkins (Chicago) 37, Tom Seaver (New York) 32, Dave Roberts (San Diego) 24, Rick Wise (Philadelphia) 23, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Don Wilson (Houston) 22, Don Sutton (Los Angeles) 21, Milt Pappas (Chicago) and Bill Stoneman (Montreal) 20, Al Downing (Los Angeles) 19.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Stargell 9.7, Torre 9.3, Mays 7.3, Maury Wills (Los Angeles) 7.2, Aaron and Bonds 7.0, Morgan 6.6, Sanguillen 6.4, Jones 6.3, Allen 6.2, Clemente 6.1, May, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) and Richie Hebner (Pittsburgh) 6.0, Davis 5.6.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Jenkins 11.7, Seaver 10.6, Roberts 10.1, Pappas 7.4, Stoneman 7.0, Niekro 6.8, Wilson and Wise 6.7, Clay Kirby (San Diego) 5.7, Bill Hands (Chicago) 5.6, Tug McGraw (New York) 5.3.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Stargell 8.8, Torre 7.7, Aaron 7.6, Clemente 7.1, Bonds 6.9, Mays and Staub 6.4, Morgan 6.1, Allen 5.8, May 5.7, Perez and Sanguillen 5.6, Garr 5.5, Davis 5.3, Hunt, Jones, and Rose 5.2, Williams 5.1. Pitchers (bWAR): Jenkins and Seaver 9.2, Roberts 8.5, Wilson 6.4, Pappas 5.7, Stoneman 5.4, Niekro 5.1, Kirby and Sutton 5.0, Gibson 4.7, Blass 4.5, Carlton 4.3, Downing and McGraw 4.0.


Actual award winners:
MVP (top 15): | 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 Joe Torre STL 21 318 336 0.95 | 634 230 24 .363 .976 4
2 Willie Stargell PIT 3 222 336 0.66 | 511 151 48 .295 1.026 0
3 Hank Aaron ATL 0 180 336 0.54 | 495 162 47 .327 1.079 1
4 Bobby Bonds SFG 0 139 336 0.41 | 619 178 33 .288 .867 26
5 Roberto Clemente PIT 0 87 336 0.26 | 522 178 13 .341 .871 1
6 Maury Wills LAD 0 74 336 0.22 | 601 169 3 .281 .652 15
7 Fergie Jenkins CHC 0 71 336 0.21 | 115 28 6 .243 .761 0| 24-13 325 2.77 1.049 263
8 Manny Sanguillen PIT 0 49 336 0.15 | 533 170 7 .319 .771 6
9 Tom Seaver NYM 0 46 336 0.14 | 92 18 1 .196 .506 0| 20-10 286 1.76 0.947 289
10 Al Downing LAD 0 36 336 0.11 | 92 16 0 .174 .420 0| 20-9 262 2.68 1.254 136
11 Glenn Beckert CHC 0 35 336 0.10 | 530 181 2 .342 .773 3
12 Lee May CIN 0 28 336 0.08 | 553 154 39 .278 .864 3
13 Lou Brock STL 0 20 336 0.06 | 640 200 7 .312 .810 64
14 Dave Giusti PIT 0 16 336 0.05 | 17 1 0 .059 .170 0| 5-6 86 2.93 1.279 55 30
15 Willie McCovey SFG 0 15 336 0.04 | 329 91 18 .277 .876 0

Torre's RBI lead and impressive batting average got him the award over Stargell playing with the winners. If Stargell had led in RBI, he would have won. This actually would have been a sensible year for Jenkins or Seaver to win, as they were at least as valuable, but their teams didn't win.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Fergie Jenkins CHC 17 97 120 0.81 | 24-13 325 2.77 1.049 263
2 Tom Seaver NYM 6 61 120 0.51 | 20-10 286 1.76 0.947 289
3 Al Downing LAD 1 40 120 0.33 | 20-9 262 2.68 1.254 136
4 Dock Ellis PIT 0 9 120 0.08 | 19-9 227 3.06 1.191 137
5 Bob Gibson STL 0 3 120 0.02 | 16-13 246 3.04 1.184 185
6 Jerry Johnson SFG 0 2 120 0.02 | 12-9 109 2.97 1.294 85 18
6 Dave Roberts SDP 0 2 120 0.02 | 14-17 270 2.10 1.109 135
8 Juan Marichal SFG 0 1 120 0.01 | 18-11 279 2.94 1.075 159
8 Bill Stoneman MON 0 1 120 0.01 | 17-16 295 3.15 1.320 251
Jenkins' wins lead trumped ERA and strikeouts leader Seaver, who also had already won. They didn't worry about park effects, but that plays into it as well. Downing got a weird vote in his sole 20-win season.

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 Earl Williams ATL 18 18 24 0.75 | 497 129 33 .260 .815 0
2 Willie Montanez PHI 6 6 24 0.25 | 599 153 30 .255 .798 4|
Neither of these guys came to much, although both lasted for some years. They both hit a bunch of homers as rookies.

Top player: Willie Stargell. It's a tough choice, but I am giving Stargell some props for his team winning. Torre was impressive as well, but this is one of those times when the WS and WARP split, and I usually give the tie-breaker to the guy on the winning team. That means Stargell.
#1 Willie Stargell, #2 Joe Torre, #3 Hank Aaron, #4 Roberto Clemente, #5 Bobby Bonds, #6 Willie Mays.

Top pitcher: Fergie Jenkins. Another tough call, as Seaver was so good with a lesser team. But the meta-stats both go for Jenkins. With hindsight saying that Seaver will get more shots, it's easier to go with Fergie.
#1 Fergie Jenkins, #2 Tom Seaver, #3 Dave Roberts, #4 Don Wilson, #5 Phil Niekro.

Top rookie: Earl Williams, who would never be so good again.

Top manager: Danny Murtaugh, with another winner for Pittsburgh.

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.

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.

1970 American League

The second year of divisional play brought repeats by Baltimore and Oakland, and a repeat by Baltimore in winning the LCS. It was a happier ending for Orioles' fans, as the Birds won the World Series in 5 games on a tremendous performance by Brooks Robinson. Seattle, on the verge of bankruptcy, was bought by a group of Milwaukee businessmen headed by Bud Selig and moved to the City of Beer on the very eve of the season. Court fights over this eventually brought baseball back to Seattle in 1977.
Expansion teams Kansas City and Milwaukee each lost 97 games, but were tied for fourth as the White Sox lost 106. This left Oakland and California 2nd and 3rd respectively. Baltimore easily outdistanced New York and Boston, with Detroit, Cleveland and Washington as also-rans. The East was much stronger than the West.

Alex Johnson led in batting average with his .329 mark edging Carl Yastremski's by a fraction of a point. Yaz led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. Tony Oliva was third at .325. Frank Howard led in HR with 44 and RBI with 126. Harmon Killebrew was second in homers with 41, followed by Yaz at 40. Tony Conigliaro was second in RBI with 116. Yaz had 125 runs, Cesar Tovar had 13 triples, and Tover, Oliva, and Amos Otis each had 36 doubles. Bert Campaneris had 42 steals. Boog Powell won an unlikely MVP award. Boog was 5th in homers, 3rd in RBI, and 3rd in OPS.

Diego Segui led in ERA with a 2.56 mark, followed by Jim Palmer at 2.71. Sam McDowell led in strikeouts with 304, followed by Mickey Lolich at 230. Ron Perranoski had 34 saves, and there was a three-way tie for wins between Dave McNally, Mike Cuellar, and Jim Perry with 24. Clyde Wright won 22. McDowell and Palmer led with 305 innings, Cuellar had 21 complete games. Perry took the Cy Young.

Win Shares leaders, players; Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) 36, Roy White (New York) 34, Jim Fregosi (California) and Tommy Harper (Milwaukee) 33, Boog Powell (Baltimore) 31, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva (Minnesota) and Frank Howard (Washington) 30, Alex Johnson (California) and Cesar Tovar (Minnesota) 28, Bobby Murcer (New York) 27, Don Buford and Frank Robinson (Baltimore), Thurman Munson (New York) and Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 26, Reggie Smith (Boston) and Amos Otis (Kansas City) 25, Sal Bando (Oakland) 24, Dave Johnson (Baltimore) and Rico Petrocelli (Boston) 23, Paul Blair (Baltimore) 22, Brooks Robinson (Baltimore) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Sam McDowell (Cleveland) 30, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) 25, Dave McNally (Baltimore) 22, Jim Perry (Minnesota) 21, Clyde Wright (California) and Mudcat Grant (Oakland) 20, Lindy McDaniel and Fritz Peterson (New York) 19, Mike Cuellar (Baltimore) and Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 18, Ray Culp (Boston), Tommy John (Chicago) and Mickey Lolich (Detroit) 17.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Fregosi 9.3, Yastrzemski 7.5, Oliva 7.4, Munson 6.5, Harper 6.4, Bando 5.8, Petrocelli 5.5, White 5.4, Powell and Killebrew 5.3, Campaneris 5.2, Otis, Howard, and A. Johnson 5.1.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: McDowell 7.4, Palmer 6.8, John 6.7, Dick Bosman (Washington) 5.4, Culp 5.2, McNally, Lolich, and Steve Hargan (Cleveland) 5.0, Marty Pattin (Kansas City) 4.9.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Yastrzemski 9.4, Fregosi 7.4, Harper 7.3, Oliva 7.0, Smith 6.8, Powell and White 6.3, Bando 6.2, Campaneris, Killebrew, and Rodriguez 6.1, Blair 5.9, Howard 5.5, Munson 5.4, Nettles 5.3, F. Robinson 5.2, Petrocelli 5.1. Pitchers (bWAR): McDowell 8.2, Palmer 6.4, John 5.7, Pattin 5.2, Culp 4.8, Lolich 4.7, Bosman 4.4, Johnson 4.1, Grant and Hargan 3.9, McNally and Perry 3.8.

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 Boog Powell BAL 11 234 336 0.70 | 526 156 35 .297 .962 1
2 Tony Oliva MIN 5 157 336 0.47 | 628 204 23 .325 .878 5
3 Harmon Killebrew MIN 1 152 336 0.45 | 527 143 41 .271 .957 0
4 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 2 136 336 0.40 | 566 186 40 .329 1.044 23
5 Frank Howard WSA 1 91 336 0.27 | 566 160 44 .283 .962 1
6 Tommy Harper MIL 1 78 336 0.23 | 604 179 31 .296 .899 38
7 Brooks Robinson BAL 2 75 336 0.22 | 608 168 18 .276 .764 1
8 Alex Johnson CAL 0 70 336 0.21 | 614 202 14 .329 .830 17
9 Jim Perry MIN 0 63 336 0.19 | 97 24 1 .247 .572 0| 24-12 279 3.04 1.130 168
10 Frank Robinson BAL 0 60 336 0.18 | 471 144 25 .306 .918 2
11 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 45 336 0.13 | 112 10 2 .089 .257 0| 24-8 298 3.48 1.149 190
12 Luis Aparicio CHW 0 35 336 0.10 | 552 173 5 .313 .776 8
12 Jim Fregosi CAL 0 35 336 0.10 | 601 167 22 .278 .812 0
12 Ron Perranoski MIN 1 35 336 0.10 | 24 1 0 .042 .083 0| 7-8 111 2.43 1.351 55 34
15 Roy White NYY 0 25 336 0.07 | 609 180 22 .296 .860 24
16 Sam McDowell CLE 0 22 336 0.07 | 105 13 1 .124 .293 0| 20-12 305 2.92 1.203 304
16 Dave McNally BAL 0 22 336 0.07 | 105 14 1 .133 .461 0| 24-9 296 3.22 1.199 185
18 Cesar Tovar MIN 0 16 336 0.05 | 650 195 10 .300 .798 30
19 Thurman Munson NYY 0 15 336 0.04 | 453 137 6 .302 .801 5
20 Don Buford BAL 0 12 336 0.04 | 504 137 17 .272 .816 16

Powell was a clear winner of a very divided vote. No one was sure who was the MVP. 8 guys got first-place votes. You gotta love the guy who cast a first-place vote for Ron Perranoski.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Jim Perry MIN 6 55 120 0.46 | 24-12 279 3.04 1.130 168
2 Dave McNally BAL 5 47 120 0.39 | 24-9 296 3.22 1.199 185
3 Sam McDowell CLE 4 45 120 0.38 | 20-12 305 2.92 1.203 304
4 Mike Cuellar BAL 6 44 120 0.37 | 24-8 298 3.48 1.149 190
5 Jim Palmer BAL 1 11 120 0.09 | 20-10 305 2.71 1.190 199
6 Clyde Wright CAL 1 9 120 0.08 | 22-12 261 2.83 1.204 110
7 Ron Perranoski MIN 1 5 120 0.04 | 7-8 111 2.43 1.351 55 34
The first year for 1-2-3 balloting, and again a very divided ballot. All seven pitchers named got at least one first-place vote.

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 Thurman Munson NYY 23 23 24 0.96 | 453 137 6 .302 .801 5
2 Roy Foster CLE 1 1 24 0.04 | 477 128 23 .268 .824 3
This voting, at least, was clear.

Top player: Carl Yastrzemski. Clearly the best player in the league, with the OPS lead and good defense.
#1 Carl Yastrzemski, #2 Jim Fregosi, #3 Tommy Harper, #4 Boog Powell, #5 Roy White, #6 Harmon Killebrew.

Top pitcher: Sam McDowell, one of four in the running for the writers' award. Sudden Sam should have gotten the call in this, his last big season.
#1 Sam McDowell, #2 Jim Palmer, #3 Jim Perry, #4 Dave McNally, #5 Ray Culp.

Top rookie: Thurman Munson, pretty easily.

Top manager: Earl Weaver won an awful lot of games.

1969 National League

Expansion swelled the league to 12 teams and 2 divisions. San Diego was added, as was Montreal, making this a truly international league. Atlanta won a strong West Division, with San Franciso 3 games out, Cincinnati four back, Los Angeles 8 behind, and Houston 12 back with their first .500 finish ever. San Diego was last, of course, with 110 losses. In the East, a big surprise as the Mets took first place with 100 victories. The best the now 8-year-old franchise had managed before was 73 wins. Chicago led for the first half but fell off to 8 games out. Pittsburgh finished 12 out and St. Louis was 13 back. Philadelphia lost 99 games and was the only returning team below .500. Montreal lost 110 games, the same as their sister Padres franchise did. The Mets had more surprises up their jersey sleeves, as they upset the Braves in the inaugural League Championship Series, then toppled the mighty Orioles in the World Series.

Pete Rose won his second straight batting title with a .348 average, edging Roberto Clemente's .345. Cleon Jones was third at .340. Lou Brock led in steals with 53, edging Joe Morgan at 49. Willie McCovey led in HR, RBI, and OPS, and won the MVP. McCovey's 45 HR was just ahead of Hank Aaron at 44, while Mac's 126 RBI edged Ron Santo at 123 and Tony Perez at 122. Bobby Bonds and Rose each scored 120 runs. Matty Alou had 231 hits. Alou had 41 doubles and Clemente 12 triples.

Tom Seaver led in wins with 25 and got the Cy Young. Phil Niekro was second with 23 victories. Seven others won 20 or more. Fergie Jenkins led in strikeouts with 273, edging Bob Gibson at 269. Juan Marichal led in ERA with a 2.10 mark, followed by Steve Carlton at 2.17, Gibson at 2.18, and Seaver at 2.21. Fred Gladding led in saves with 29, followed by Wayne Granger and Cecil Upshaw at 27.

Win Shares leaders, players; Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 39, Hank Aaron (Milwaukee) 38, Pete Rose (Cincinnati) 37, Jim Wynn (Houston) 36, Tony Perez (Cincinnati) and Bobby Bonds (San Francisco) 31, Cleon Jones (New York) 30, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati), Tommie Agee (New York) and Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 28, Bobby Tolan (Cincinnati), Rusty Staub (Montreal), Matty Alou and Willie Stargell (Pittsburgh) 27, Ron Santo (Chicago) and Lee May (Cincinnati) 26, Billy Williams (Chicago) and Joe Morgan (Houston) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Gibson (St. Louis) 33, Tom Seaver (New York) 32, Juan Marichal (San Francisco) 29, Phil Niekro (Atlanta) and Bill Hands (Chicago) 28, Claude Osteen and Bill Singer (Los Angeles) and Gaylord Perry (San Francisco) 26, Fergie Jenkins (Chicago), Larry Dierker (Houston) and Jerry Koosman (New York) 25, Steve Carlton (St. Louis) 24.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Bench 9.9, Rose 9.7, McCovey 9.2, Staub 8.7, Jones and Bonds 7.7, Wynn 7.5, Tolan 6.8, Stargell 6.5, Perez 6.4, Richie Hebner (Pittsburgh) 5.9, M. Alou 5.5, Santo and Don Kessinger (Chicago) 5.4, Agee and Felix Millan (Atlanta) 5.2.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Dierker 10.6, Niekro 9.1, Gibson 8.6, Marichal 8.3, Hands 8.0, Seaver 7.5, Carlton, Perry, and Denny Lemaster (Houston) 6.5, Jenkins 6.2, Osteen 5.9, Singer 5.8, Koosman 5.1.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): McCovey 8.4, Aaron 8.1, Clemente 7.5, Wynn 7.2, Perez 6.9, Bonds, Jones, and Rose 6.7, Staub 6.6, Santo 6.4, Agee 5.9, Bench 5.8, Stargell and Tolan 5.6, M. Alou 5.0, Davis 4.9. Pitchers (bWAR): Gibson 11.0, Dierker 9.0, Hands 8.8, Marichal 8.5, Perry 7.8, Jenkins and Seaver 7.6, Singer 7.3, Carlton 7.2, Koosman 6.7, Niekro 6.6, Osteen 6.2, Lemaster 5.7.

Actual award winners:
MVP (top 20: 38 players received at least one vote) | 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 Willie McCovey SFG 11 265 336 0.79 | 491 157 45 .320 1.108 0
2 Tom Seaver NYM 11 243 336 0.72 | 91 11 0 .121 .354 1| 25-7 273 2.21 1.039 208
3 Hank Aaron ATL 2 188 336 0.56 | 547 164 44 .300 1.003 9
4 Pete Rose CIN 0 127 336 0.38 | 627 218 16 .348 .940 7
5 Ron Santo CHC 0 124 336 0.37 | 575 166 29 .289 .869 1
6 Tommie Agee NYM 0 89 336 0.26 | 565 153 26 .271 .806 12
7 Cleon Jones NYM 0 82 336 0.24 | 483 164 12 .340 .904 16
8 Roberto Clemente PIT 0 51 336 0.15 | 507 175 19 .345 .955 4
9 Phil Niekro ATL 0 47 336 0.14 | 95 20 0 .211 .479 0| 23-13 284 2.56 1.027 193 1
10 Tony Perez CIN 0 28 336 0.08 | 629 185 37 .294 .883 4
11 Maury Wills TOT 0 17 336 0.05 | +623 171 4 .274 .673 40
12 Ernie Banks CHC 0 15 336 0.04 | 565 143 23 .253 .725 0
13 Johnny Bench CIN 0 12 336 0.04 | 532 156 26 .293 .840 6
13 Rico Carty ATL 0 12 336 0.04 | 304 104 16 .342 .951 0
15 Tony Gonzalez TOT 0 8 336 0.02 | +502 135 12 .269 .724 4
15 Wayne Granger CIN 0 8 336 0.02 | 21 2 0 .095 .304 0| 9-6 145 2.80 1.265 68 27
15 Ron Hunt SFG 0 8 336 0.02 | 478 125 3 .262 .702 9
15 Don Kessinger CHC 0 8 336 0.02 | 664 181 4 .273 .698 11
15 Denis Menke HOU 0 8 336 0.02 | 553 149 10 .269 .756 2
15 Jimmy Wynn HOU 0 8 336 0.02 | 495 133 33 .269 .943 23
McCovey and Seaver got the same number of first-place votes, but Big Mac got more overall support.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Tom Seaver NYM 23 23 24 0.96 | 25-7 273 2.21 1.039 208
2 Phil Niekro ATL 1 1 24 0.04 | 23-13 284 2.56 1.027 193 1
Niekro actually got a vote!

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 Ted Sizemore LAD 14 14 24 0.58 | 590 160 4 .271 .670 5
2 Coco Laboy MON 3 3 24 0.12 | 562 145 18 .258 .717 0
2 Al Oliver PIT 3 3 24 0.12 | 463 132 17 .285 .778 8
4 Bob Didier ATL 2 2 24 0.08 | 352 90 0 .256 .628 1
4 Larry Hisle PHI 2 2 24 0.08 | 482 128 20 .266 .797 18

Top player: Willie McCovey. Other arguments can be made, but McCovey led Win Shares, as well as the writers' vote. That's a good argument.
#1 Willie McCovey, #2 Hank Aaron, #3 Roberto Clemente, #4 Pete Rose, #5 Jimmy Wynn, #6 Tony Perez.

Top pitcher: Bob Gibson. Seaver got all the attention, but Gibson had a better year. He wasn't as good as in 1968, so he didn't get the notice.
#1 Bob Gibson, #2 Juan Marichal, #3 Tom Seaver, #4 Phil Niekro, #5 Larry Dierker, #6 Bill Hands.

Top rookie: Al Oliver. Oliver, Hisle, and Richie Hebner are all viable candidates. Not sure how Sizemore snuck in there.

Top manager: Gil Hodges turned in one of the great all-time managing jobs.

1969 American League

Expansion came, giving the AL 12 teams and 2 divisions. Seattle received the Pilots (who would fly to a new home in Milwaukee during spring training 1970) and the AL returned to Kansas City with the Royals franchise. Both new teams inhabited the West division along with Minnesota, Oakland, Chicago and California. The East included six established teams, with Boston, New York, Baltimore, Cleveland, Washington, and defending champs Detroit. Baltimore proved to be a powerhouse, with 109 wins and a 19-game margin over the Tigers in the East. Minnesota took the West by 9 games over surging Oakland. Cleveland ended up with the worst record in the league, at 99 losses.

Rod Carew won his first (of many) batting title by posting a .332 average, Tommy Harper led in steals with 73, and Reggie Jackson led in slugging and OPS. Harmon Killebrew led in on-base, HR and RBI and took the MVP award. Killebrew had 49 HR and 140 RBI. Frank Howard was second with 48 HR, Boog Powell second with 121 RBI. Jackson scored 123 runs. Tony Oliva had 197 hits and 39 doubles. Del Unser had 8 triples.

Denny McLain led in wins again but was down to a "mere" 24, and tied for the Cy Young with 23-game winner Mike Cuellar. Dick Bosman led in ERA with a 2.19 mark, followed by Jim Palmer at 2.34. Sam McDowell led in strikeouts with 279, Mickey Lolich was second with 271. Ron Perranoski led in saves with 31. McLain had 325 innings and 9 shutouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 41, Rico Petrocelli (Boston) 37, Sal Bando (Oakland) 36, Harmon Killebrew (Minnesota) and Frank Howard (Washington) 34, Frank Robinson (Baltimore) 32, Paul Blair (Baltimore) 28, Boog Powell (Baltimore) and Jim Northrup (Detroit) 27, Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) and Jim Fregosi (California) 26, Tony Oliva (Minnesota) 25, Don Buford (Baltimore), Mike Andrews and Reggie Smith (Boston), and Mike Epstein and Ken McMullen (Washington) 24, Leo Cardenas (Minnesota) and Horace Clarke (New York) 23, Roy White (New York) and Dick Green (Oakland) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Denny McLain (Detroit) 29, Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 26, Mike Cuellar (Baltimore) 24, Fritz Peterson (New York) 23, Andy Messersmith (California) 22, Ken Tatum (California), Sam McDowell (Cleveland), Mickey Lolich (Detroit), Ron Perranoski and Jim Perry (Minnesota) 20, Jim Palmer (Baltimore) and Blue Moon Odom (Oakland) 18.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Jackson 10.1, Petrocelli 9.0, Killebrew and Bando 8.7, Cardenas 8.4, Green 7.6, F. Robinson and Powell 7.1, Oliva 6.8, McMullen 6.6, Dave Johnson (Baltimore) 6.5, Blair 6.3, Howard 5.9.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: McLain 8.3, Messersmith 7.5, McDowell 7.1, Tatum 6.3, Stottlemyre 6.1, Wally Bunker (Kansas City) 5.0, Peterson and Tommy John (Chicago) 4.9.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Petrocelli 10.6, Jackson 9.9, Bando 8.7, F. Robinson 8.3, Blair and Killebrew 8.2, Powell 7.4, Yastrzemski 6.8, Howard 6.6, McMullen 6.3, Northrup 6.1, Cardenas 6.0, Smith 5.9, Oliva 5.8, Buford and Carew 5.7. Pitchers (bWAR): McLain 7.5, McDowell 6.3, Perry and Stottlemyre 5.3, John 5.2, Messersmith 5.1, Cuellar and Lolich 4.3, Peterson 4.1, Perranoski 4.0, Bosman and Tatum 3.9.

Actual award winners:

MVP: (top 25)| 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 Harmon Killebrew MIN 16 294 336 0.88 | 555 153 49 .276 1.011 8
2 Boog Powell BAL 6 227 336 0.68 | 533 162 37 .304 .942 1
3 Frank Robinson BAL 2 162 336 0.48 | 539 166 32 .308 .955 9
4 Frank Howard WSA 0 115 336 0.34 | 592 175 48 .296 .976 1
5 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 110 336 0.33 | 549 151 47 .275 1.018 13
6 Denny McLain DET 0 85 336 0.25 | 106 17 0 .160 .348 0| 24-9 325 2.80 1.092 181
7 Rico Petrocelli BOS 0 71 336 0.21 | 535 159 40 .297 .992 3
8 Mike Cuellar BAL 0 55 336 0.16 | 103 12 0 .117 .279 0| 23-11 291 2.38 1.004 182
9 Jim Perry MIN 0 40 336 0.12 | 93 16 0 .172 .430 0| 20-6 262 2.82 1.185 153
10 Rod Carew MIN 0 30 336 0.09 | 458 152 8 .332 .853 19
11 Paul Blair BAL 0 28 336 0.08 | 625 178 26 .285 .804 20
12 Leo Cardenas MIN 0 27 336 0.08 | 578 162 10 .280 .741 5
13 Dave McNally BAL 0 25 336 0.07 | 94 8 1 .085 .295 0| 20-7 269 3.22 1.176 166
13 Ron Perranoski MIN 0 25 336 0.07 | 24 2 0 .083 .237 0| 9-10 120 2.11 1.145 62 31
15 Tony Oliva MIN 0 21 336 0.06 | 637 197 24 .309 .851 10
16 Sal Bando OAK 0 18 336 0.05 | 609 171 31 .281 .885 1
17 Cesar Tovar MIN 0 9 336 0.03 | 535 154 11 .288 .757 45
18 Mel Stottlemyre NYY 0 8 336 0.02 | 101 18 1 .178 .498 0| 20-14 303 2.82 1.201 113
18 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 8 336 0.02 | 603 154 40 .255 .870 15
20 Ed Brinkman WSA 0 7 336 0.02 | 576 153 2 .266 .653 2
20 Jim Fregosi CAL 0 7 336 0.02 | 580 151 12 .260 .742 9
22 Reggie Smith BOS 0 6 336 0.02 | 543 168 25 .309 .895 7
23 Brooks Robinson BAL 0 5 336 0.01 | 598 140 23 .234 .693 2
23 Del Unser WSA 0 5 336 0.01 | 581 166 7 .286 .731 8
25 Mike Epstein WSA 0 4 336 0.01 | 403 112 30 .278 .965 2
It was a power hitters' year with Killebrew and Powell running 1-2.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Mike Cuellar BAL 10 10 24 0.42 | 23-11 291 2.38 1.004 182
1 Denny McLain DET 10 10 24 0.42 | 24-9 325 2.80 1.092 181
3 Jim Perry MIN 3 3 24 0.12 | 20-6 262 2.82 1.185 153
4 Dave McNally BAL 1 1 24 0.04 | 20-7 269 3.22 1.176 166

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 Lou Piniella KCR 9 9 24 0.38 | 493 139 11 .282 .741 2
2 Mike Nagy BOS 6 6 24 0.25 | 65 5 0 .077 .259 1| 12-2 197 3.11 1.469 84
3 Carlos May CHW 5 5 24 0.21 | 367 103 18 .281 .873 1
4 Ken Tatum CAL 4 4 24 0.17 | 21 6 2 .286 .937 0| 7-2 86 1.36 1.043 65 22

With the two-division setup, the normal voting habits were disturbed. It caused some confusion, having two "winners" at the end of the regular season.

Top player: Reggie Jackson. The best players in the league were Jackson and Petrocelli, and Jackson was much closer to the pennant race. So, in a close race, the edge goes to the contender.
#1 Reggie Jackson, #2 Rico Petrocelli, #3 Frank Robinson, #4 Harmon Killebrew, #5 Sal Bando, #6 Paul Blair.

Top pitcher: Denny McLain. The second year in a row at the top for McLain, and the last. His troubles, legal and otherwise, began soon after.
#1 Denny McLain, #2 Mike Cuellar, #3 Andy Messersmith, #4 Sam McDowell, #5 Ron Perranoski.

Top rookie: Lou Piniella. Tatum had the better year, but Piniella had more long-term potential.

Top manager: Earl Weaver pushed the right buttons for the Orioles.

1968 National League

The 97-win Cardinals won the pennant easily, by nine games over the Giants. Chicago was third, Cincinnati 4th and Atlanta 5th. Pittsburgh was 6th, LA and Philly tied for 7th, the Mets 9th (their second time of not being last) and the Astros last with 90 losses.

Pete Rose won his first batting title by three points, .335 to .332, over Matty Alou. Rose also led in OBP. Willie McCovey led in HR with 36, RBI with 105, slugging, and OPS. McCovey was the league's only 100-RBI guy, as Ron Santo and Billy Williams tied for second with 98. Richie Allen was second with 33 HR. Rose and Felipe Alou each had 210 hits. Lou Brock led in doubles with 46, triples with 14, and steals with 62.

"The year of the pitcher" was evident in the National League. Don Drysdale hurled 58 consecutive shutout innings while Bob Gibson tossed 13 shutouts and posted a 1.12 ERA for the season. Gibson started 34 games, and completed 28 of them. In the other six, he was removed for a pinch-hitter. That may be a modern record, over 30 starts and never relieved in the middle of an inning. Gibson won the MVP for his performance. Juan Marichal led in wins with 26, followed by Gibson at 22, while Gibson of course led in ERA as well as strikeouts with 268. Fergie Jenkins was second in strikeouts with 260, and third in wins with 20. Bob Bolin was second in ERA with a 1.99 mark. Marichal had 326 innings and 30 complete games. Phil Regan led in saves with 25.

Win Shares leaders, players; Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 34, Hank Aaron (Atlanta), Pete Rose (Cincinnati), Jim Wynn (Houston) and Dick Allen (Philadelphia) 32, Felipe Alou (Atlanta) and Lou Brock (St. Louis) 31, Billy Williams (Chicago) and Willie Mays (San Francisco) 30, Ron Santo (Chicago) and Rusty Staub (Houston) 28, Tom Haller (Los Angeles) and Curt Flood (St. Louis) 27, Tony Perez (Cincinnati) and Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 25, Johnny Bench (Cincinnati) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Gibson (St. Louis) 36, Fergie Jenkins (Chicago) 25, Juan Marichal (San Francisco) 24, Jerry Koosman and Tom Seaver (New York) 23, Phil Regan (LA/Chicago) 20, Pat Jarvis (Atlanta) and Gaylord Perry (San Francisco) 19, Phil Niekro (Atlanta), Bill Hands (Chicago), Don Drysdale (Los Angeles) and Chris Short (Philadelphia) 18.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Perez 8.3, Mays and Aaron 8.2, McCovey 7.7, Wynn 7.6, Haller 7.5, Rose 7.4, Brock and Bench 7.3, Alou 7.0, Flood and Santo 6.2, Allen 5.8, Matty Alou (Pittsburgh) 5.7, Clemente 5.4.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Gibson 11.0, Jenkins 8.7, Jarvis 6.7, Seaver 6.6, Marichal 6.3, Short and Larry Jackson (Philadelphia) 6.2, Perry 6.1, Niekro 5.9, Koosman 5.8, Hands 5.2, Regan 5.0.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Aaron 7.9, McCovey 7.6, Mays 7.3, Clemente 7.2, F. Alou 7.0, Santo 6.8, Rose 6.2, Brock 6.1, Wynn 6.0, Perez 5.9, Williams 5.7, Haller 5.5, M. Alou and Bench 5.1, Alley 5.0, Allen 4.7, Beckert 4.6, Clendenon 4.5. Pitchers (bWAR): Gibson 11.9, Seaver 7.5, Jenkins 6.9, Koosman 6.8, Perry 6.2, Marichal 6.1, Drysdale 5.9, Lemaster 5.3, Giusti 5.2, Bolin and Short 5.1, Jarvis 5.0, Niekro 4.9, Jackson 4.8.

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 Bob Gibson STL 14 242 280 0.86 | 94 16 0 .170 .456 1| 22-9 305 1.12 0.853 268
2 Pete Rose CIN 6 205 280 0.73 | 626 210 10 .335 .861 3
3 Willie McCovey SFG 0 135 280 0.48 | 523 153 36 .293 .923 4
4 Curt Flood STL 0 116 280 0.41 | 618 186 5 .301 .705 11
5 Juan Marichal SFG 0 93 280 0.33 | 123 20 0 .163 .376 0| 26-9 326 2.43 1.046 218
6 Lou Brock STL 0 73 280 0.26 | 660 184 6 .279 .746 62
7 Mike Shannon STL 0 55 280 0.20 | 576 153 15 .266 .710 1
8 Billy Williams CHC 0 48 280 0.17 | 642 185 30 .288 .836 4
9 Glenn Beckert CHC 0 40 280 0.14 | 643 189 4 .294 .695 8
10 Felipe Alou ATL 0 33 280 0.12 | 662 210 11 .317 .803 12
11 Matty Alou PIT 0 32 280 0.11 | 558 185 0 .332 .758 18
12 Hank Aaron ATL 0 19 280 0.07 | 606 174 29 .287 .852 28
13 Ernie Banks CHC 0 14 280 0.05 | 552 136 32 .246 .756 2
13 Jerry Koosman NYM 0 14 280 0.05 | 91 7 1 .077 .227 0| 19-12 264 2.08 1.100 178
13 Willie Mays SFG 0 14 280 0.05 | 498 144 23 .289 .860 12
16 Johnny Bench CIN 0 11 280 0.04 | 564 155 15 .275 .743 1
17 Phil Regan TOT 0 7 280 0.02 | + 21 3 0 .143 .372 0|+12-5 135 2.27 1.069 67 25
18 Fergie Jenkins CHC 0 6 280 0.02 | 100 16 1 .160 .438 0| 20-15 308 2.63 1.039 260
19 Tony Perez CIN 0 5 280 0.02 | 625 176 18 .282 .769 3
20 Nelson Briles STL 0 4 280 0.01 | 80 11 0 .138 .349 0| 19-11 244 2.81 1.256 141
20 Dal Maxvill STL 0 4 280 0.01 | 459 116 1 .253 .627 0
22 Steve Blass PIT 0 3 280 0.01 | 80 11 0 .138 .305 0| 18-6 220 2.12 1.126 132
22 Tom Haller LAD 0 3 280 0.01 | 474 135 4 .285 .733 1
24 Ron Santo CHC 0 2 280 0.01 | 577 142 26 .246 .775 3
25 Clay Carroll TOT 0 1 280 0.00 | + 29 6 0 .207 .440 0|+ 7-8 144 2.69 1.153 71 17
25 Tommy Helms CIN 0 1 280 0.00 | 507 146 2 .288 .668 5|
Gibson and Rose were the contenders, and Gibson won. Deservedly so.

Cy Young: Gibson was a unanimous pick.

Rookie: 1st Max | Season Results
Rk Name Team Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+----+---+--+
1 Johnny Bench CIN 10 10 20 0.50 | 564 155 15 .275 .743 1
2 Jerry Koosman NYM 9 9 20 0.45 | 91 7 1 .077 .227 0| 19-12 264 2.08 1.100 178
A close one between two outstanding rookies.

Top player: Hank Aaron. Aaron wins for his combination of solid hitting and solid defense. Rose was a bit behind him offensively, McCovey was not his equal with the glove.
#1 Hank Aaron, #2 Willie McCovey, #3 Pete Rose, #4 Jim Wynn, #5 Willie Mays, #6 Ron Santo.

Top pitcher: Bob Gibson. There can be no other answer to this question in 1968.
#1 Bob Gibson, #2 Fergie Jenkins, #3 Juan Marichal, #4 Tom Seaver, #5 Jerry Koosman.

Top rookie: Johnny Bench. Not by a large margin over Koosman, but by enough.

Top manager: Red Schoendienst won the pennant again.

1968 American League

"The Year of the Pitcher" saw only one AL .300 hitter, Carl Yastrzemski winning the batting title at a mere .301. After this season, the strike zone was shrunk and the mound lowered to bring back offense. Detroit's Denny McLain won 31 games, the first 30-game winner in years and possibly the last we'll ever see. The Tigers won 103 games and the pennant pretty easily, with a 12-game margin over 1966 winners Baltimore, as McLain won the MVP. Cleveland was 3rd, Boston fell from the pennant to 4th, New York was back up to 5th, and Oakland (formerly Kansas City) 6th, while below .500 were Minnesota 7th, California and Chicago (tied) and Washington last.

Yaz also led in walks, on-base, and OPS, Frank Howard in home runs with 44, Ken Harrelson in RBI with 109. Howard, at 106, was the only other guy to drive in 100 runs. Bert Campaneris had 177 hits and 62 steals, Dick McAuliffe had 95 runs, Reggie Smith hit 37 doubles and Jim Fregosi 13 triples. Willie Horton was second in homers with 36. Second place in batting average was Danny Cater, at .290. So not only was there only one .300 hitter, it wasn't really even close.

Luis Tiant led in ERA with a 1.60 mark. It wasn't out of line with others: Sam McDowell posted a 1.81 mark, Dave McNally 1.95, McLain 1.96, Tommy John 1.98. It was a ridiculous year for pitching. McDowell led in strikeouts with 283, followed by McLain with 280. McLain's 31 wins and 28 complete games were well ahead of the pack: McNally was second in wins with 22. Mel Stottlemyre and Tiant each won 21. Al Worthington led in saves with 18. 45-year-old Hoyt Wilhelm tied for fourth in saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) 39, Frank Howard (Washington) 38, Bill Freehan (Detroit) 35, Roy White (New York) and Bert Campaneris (Oakland) 29, Ken Harrelson (Boston), Willie Horton and Dick McAuliffe (Detroit) 28, Rick Monday (Oakland) 26, Don Buford and Brooks Robinson (Baltimore), Reggie Smith (Boston) and Reggie Jackson (Oakland) 25, Frank Robinson (Baltimore), Mike Andrews (Boston), Jim Northrup (Detroit), Mickey Mantle (New York) 24 and Ken McMullen (Washington) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Denny McLain (Detroit) 33, Luis Tiant (Cleveland) 28, Dave McNally (Baltimore) 26, Sam McDowell (Cleveland) and Stan Bahnsen (New York) 23, Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 22, Dean Chance (Minnesota) 21, Wilbur Wood (Chicago) 19, Earl Wilson (Detroit) and Blue Moon Odom (Oakland) 17.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Yastrzemski 10.2, Freehan 9.0, Campaneris 8.5, Howard 6.8, McAuliffe and B. Robinson 6.6, Monday 6.5, Harrelson and Buford 6.2, Rick Reichardt (California) 5.6, Horton 5.5, Jackson and Tony Oliva (Minnesota) 5.4, Jim Fregosi (California) 5.1, F. Robinson and Cesar Tovar (Minnesota) 5.0, Joe Azcue (Cleveland) 4.8, Northrup 4.6.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: McLain 9.1, McNally 8.7, Stottlemyre 8.4, Bahnsen 8.3, Tiant 7.7, Wood 7.2, Tommy John (Chicago) 5.8, Camilo Pascual (Washington) 5.0, Joe Horlen (Chicago) 4.7, Chance 4.5.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Yaz 10.5, B. Robinson 8.4, Freehan 8.2, Campaneris 7.3, Northrup 6.6, McAuliffe 6.4, Horton and Howard 6.3, Harrelson 6.0, Jackson 5.8, Smith 5.4, Tovar 5.3, White 5.0, McMullen, Reichardt, F. Robinson 4.9. Pitchers (bWAR): Tiant 7.2, McLain 5.9, Bahnsen 5.7, Chance 5.4, McDowell 4.9, John 4.8, McNally 4.7, Stottlemyre 4.6, Nash 3.9, Wood 3.8, Horlen and Pascual 3.5.

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 Denny McLain DET 20 280 280 1.00 | 111 18 0 .162 .359 0| 31-6 336 1.96 0.905 280
2 Bill Freehan DET 0 161 280 0.58 | 540 142 25 .263 .819 0
3 Ken Harrelson BOS 0 103 280 0.37 | 535 147 35 .275 .874 2
4 Willie Horton DET 0 102 280 0.36 | 512 146 36 .285 .895 0
5 Dave McNally BAL 0 78 280 0.28 | 86 11 3 .128 .453 0| 22-10 273 1.95 0.842 202
5 Luis Tiant CLE 0 78 280 0.28 | 87 7 0 .080 .172 0| 21-9 258 1.60 0.871 264
7 Dick McAuliffe DET 0 71 280 0.25 | 570 142 16 .249 .755 8
8 Frank Howard WSA 0 63 280 0.22 | 598 164 44 .274 .890 0
9 Carl Yastrzemski BOS 0 50 280 0.18 | 539 162 23 .301 .922 13
10 Mel Stottlemyre NYY 0 43 280 0.15 | 91 13 0 .143 .386 0| 21-12 279 2.45 1.105 140
11 Bert Campaneris OAK 0 39 280 0.14 | 642 177 4 .276 .692 62
12 Roy White NYY 0 17 280 0.06 | 577 154 17 .267 .764 20
13 Jim Northrup DET 0 15 280 0.05 | 580 153 21 .264 .770 4
14 Luis Aparicio CHW 0 13 280 0.05 | 622 164 4 .264 .636 17
15 Don Buford BAL 0 11 280 0.04 | 426 120 15 .282 .804 27
15 Jim Fregosi CAL 0 11 280 0.04 | 614 150 9 .244 .680 9
17 Reggie Jackson OAK 0 8 280 0.03 | 553 138 29 .250 .768 14
17 Brooks Robinson BAL 0 8 280 0.03 | 608 154 17 .253 .720 1
19 Danny Cater OAK 0 5 280 0.02 | 504 146 6 .290 .729 8
19 Tony Oliva MIN 0 5 280 0.02 | 470 136 18 .289 .833 10
McLain won unanimously, and was not a bad pick. I think I would have chosen Freehan, though.

Cy Young: McLain was a unanimous pick again.

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 Stan Bahnsen NYY 17 17 20 0.85 | 81 4 0 .049 .163 0| 17-12 267 2.05 1.062 162
2 Del Unser WSA 3 3 20 0.15 | 635 146 1 .230 .560 11|
Bahnsen won but Unser received support, which was odd because Unser didn't have nearly the year Bahnsen had.

Top player: Bill Freehan. It's a toss-up between him and Yaz, but Freehan's team won this time, and Yaz got it last year. Freehan is deserving, and could have won MVP in a more normal year.
#1 Bill Freehan, #2 Carl Yastrzemski, #3 Bert Campaneris, #4 Frank Howard, #5 Ken Harrelson, #6 Dick McAuliffe.

Top pitcher: Denny McLain, for sure. The 31 wins were flashy, but it was also a good season for the hard-living pitcher.
#1 Denny McLain, #2 Luis Tiant, #3 Dave McNally, #4 Sam McDowell, #5 Mel Stottlemyre.

Top rookie: Stan Bahnsen, who was just out of the top five pitchers.

Top manager: Mayo Smith by default. Nobody did a great job this season. It could be Bob Kennedy for nursing the A's to .500.

1967 National League

The St. Louis Cardinals won 101 games and their second World Series of the decade in spite of ace Bob Gibson missing six weeks with a broken leg. Orlando Cepeda won the MVP in his first full year with the Cards as he led the league in RBI. St. Louis won handily over San Francisco, 10.5 games back in second. Chicago was putting together a pitching staff and surged to 3rd, with Cincinnati 4th, Philadelphia 5th, Pittsburgh 6th at exactly .500, Atlanta 7th, a Koufax-less Dodger team 8th, Houston 9th, and the Mets last with 101 losses.

Roberto Clemente won the batting title at .357, well ahead of Tony Gonzalez at .339 or Matty Alou at .338. Clemente also led with 209 hits. Hank Aaron led in homers with 39 as well as in slugging. Lou Brock led in steals with 52. Dick Allen led in on-base and OPS. Rusty Staub had 44 doubles, Vada Pinson 13 triples. Aaron and Brock tied with 113 runs. Second to Aaron in homers with Jimmy Wynn with 37. The RBI leaders went Cepeda with 111, Clemente with 110, Aaron with 109, Wynn with 107.

Mike McCormick led in wins with 22, and Fergie Jenkins won 20. Phil Niekro led in ERA with a 1.87 mark, followed by Jim Bunning at 2.29 and Chris Short at 2.39. Bunning led in strikeouts with 253, followed by Jenkins at 236. Ted Abernathy led in saves with 28.

Doin' the Win Shares thing...

Players; Ron Santo (Chicago) 38, Roberto Clemente (Pittsburgh) 35, Hank Aaron (Atlanta) and Orlando Cepeda (St. Louis) 34, Lou Brock and Tim McCarver (both St. Louis) 30, Dick Allen (Philadelphia) and Jim Ray Hart (San Francisco) 29, Billy Williams (Chicago), Rusty Staub and Jim Wynn (Houston) 28 each, Adolpho Phillips (Chicago), Joe Morgan (Houston), Tony Gonzalez (Philadelphia) and Curt Flood (St. Louis) 26, Vada Pinson and Pete Rose (Cincinnati) and Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 24. No Willie Mays!

Pitchers: Jim Bunning (Philadelphia) 25, Ted Abernathy (Cincinnati) 24, Phil Niekro (Atlanta), Fergie Jenkins (Chicago), and Tom Seaver (New York) 21 each, Mike McCormick and Gaylord Perry (San Francisco) 20, Gary Nolan (Cincinnati) 19, Don Drysdale (Los Angeles) and Dick Hughes (St. Louis) 18, Mel Queen (Cincinnati) 17.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Santo 9.4, McCarver and Cepeda 8.9, Clemente and Aaron 8.2, Wynn 8.0, Hart 7.3, Brock and Flood 7.2, Gonzalez and Maury Wills (Pittsburgh) 7.0, Allen and Morgan 6.7, Staub 6.5, Gene Alley (Pittsburgh) 6.3, Rose 5.9, Phillips and Joe Torre (Atlanta) 5.8.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Bunning 9.1, Seaver 7.5, Niekro 7.1, Jankins 6.9, Chris Short (Philadelphia) 6.3, McCormick and Perry 6.0, Ken Johnson (Atlanta) 5.9, Nolan 5.8, Abernathy and Claude Osteen (Los Angeles) 5.7, Drysdale 5.6.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Santo 10.2, Clemente 8.5, Aaron 8.1, Cepeda 7.6, Allen 6.8, McCarver 6.6, Hart 6.3, Brock and Gonzalez 6.1, Phillips 5.8, Wynn 5.7, Torre 5.6, Alley and McCovey 5.5, Flood and Staub 5.4, Williams 5.3, Morgan 5.2. Pitchers (bWAR): Bunning 8.4, Nolan 6.8, Short 6.6, Seaver 6.4, Perry 6.3, Abernathy 5.8, Niekro 5.7, Drysdale 5.5, Jenkins 5.4, McCormick 5.0, Queen 4.9, Maloney and Singer 4.7.

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 Orlando Cepeda STL 20 280 280 1.00 | 563 183 25 .325 .923 11
2 Tim McCarver STL 0 136 280 0.49 | 471 139 14 .295 .822 8
3 Roberto Clemente PIT 0 129 280 0.46 | 585 209 23 .357 .954 9
4 Ron Santo CHC 0 103 280 0.37 | 586 176 31 .300 .906 1
5 Hank Aaron ATL 0 79 280 0.28 | 600 184 39 .307 .943 17
6 Mike McCormick SFG 0 73 280 0.26 | 84 10 1 .119 .336 0| 22-10 262 2.85 1.148 150
7 Lou Brock STL 0 49 280 0.18 | 689 206 21 .299 .799 52
8 Tony Perez CIN 0 43 280 0.15 | 600 174 26 .290 .818 0
9 Julian Javier STL 0 41 280 0.15 | 520 146 14 .281 .718 6
10 Pete Rose CIN 0 40 280 0.14 | 585 176 12 .301 .808 11
11 Jimmy Wynn HOU 0 29 280 0.10 | 594 148 37 .249 .826 16
12 Fergie Jenkins CHC 0 26 280 0.09 | 93 14 0 .151 .404 0| 20-13 289 2.80 1.082 236
13 Curt Flood STL 0 24 280 0.09 | 514 172 5 .335 .793 2
14 Ernie Banks CHC 0 22 280 0.08 | 573 158 23 .276 .765 2
15 Nelson Briles STL 0 20 280 0.07 | 40 6 0 .150 .359 0| 14-5 155 2.43 1.153 94 6
16 Rusty Staub HOU 0 12 280 0.04 | 546 182 10 .333 .871 0
17 Jim Ray Hart SFG 0 10 280 0.04 | 578 167 29 .289 .882 1
17 Dick Hughes STL 0 10 280 0.04 | 78 10 0 .128 .278 0| 16-6 222 2.67 0.954 161 3
19 Dick Allen PHI 0 9 280 0.03 | 463 142 23 .307 .970 20
20 Ted Abernathy CIN 0 8 280 0.03 | 17 1 0 .059 .118 0| 6-3 106 1.27 0.978 88 28
Cepeda was a unanimous selection.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Mike McCormick SFG 18 18 20 0.90 | 22-10 262 2.85 1.148 150
2 Jim Bunning PHI 1 1 20 0.05 | 17-15 302 2.29 1.039 253
2 Fergie Jenkins CHC 1 1 20 0.05 | 20-13 289 2.80 1.082 236
McCormick's gaudy win total got him the award.

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 Tom Seaver NYM 11 11 20 0.55 | 77 11 0 .143 .399 2| 16-13 251 2.76 1.203 170
2 Dick Hughes STL 6 6 20 0.30 | 78 10 0 .128 .278 0| 16-6 222 2.67 0.954 161 3
3 Gary Nolan CIN 3 3 20 0.15 | 67 7 0 .104 .297 0| 14-8 227 2.58 1.125 206
Seaver takes a fairly close vote split among three successful pitchers.

Top player: Ron Santo. He didn't lead the league in any flashy categories, but he was a force in the Cubs rising to 3rd place. This went ignored as Cepeda got what was partly a career achievement award for sparking the Cards to the pennant with a big RBI year. Santo was a significantly better player in 1967, though.
#1 Ron Santo, #2 Roberto Clemente, #3 Hank Aaron, #4 Orlando Cepeda, #5 Tim McCarver, #6 Tony Gonzalez.

Top pitcher: Jim Bunning, at age 35, was the best pitcher in the league. In the first year of the post-Koufax era, there was no real dominant pitcher. Bunning was certainly the best one, and gets my vote. Bunning was 2nd in ERA, tied for 3rd in wins, first in innings and strikeouts, but had a record just above .500 at 17-15. Therefore, the voters mostly ignored him. Niekro was better per inning, but started the year in the bullpen and didn't throw as many innings.
#1 Jim Bunning, #2 Fergie Jenkins, #3 Tom Seaver, #4 Phil Niekro, #5 Ted Abernathy.

Top rookie was Seaver. Much as I would love to pick Gary Nolan, it was Tom Terrific all the way.

Top manager: Red Schoendienst kept the Birds together even when Gibson was out.

1967 American League

It was the year of "The Impossible Dream," and an impossible pennant race. Four teams went to the wire, as 1966 winners the Orioles faded to 6th with Frank Robinson hurting. There was the Twins, 1965 pennant winners, with their balanced team; the White Sox, sporting the best pitching; Detroit, building a pitching staff to make a run; and the surprise Red Sox, after finishing 9th in 1966 and a non-factor in the race for years, since before Ted Williams retired. Carl Yastrzemski won the Triple Crown with a magical season, and a roster of youngsters and castoffs around him won on the last day, finishing one game ahead of Minnesota and Detroit and three ahead of Chicago. California was 5th, Washington tied the Orioles for 6th, and Cleveland, New York, and Kansas City rounded out the standings.

Nobody wins the Triple Crown since Mantle, then two guys win it consecutive years. Yaz won the Triple Crown with a .321 average, 44 HR, and 121 RBI, tying Harmon Killebrew for the home run lead. Frank Robinson was second in average with a .311 mark. Yaz led in runs with 112 and hits with 189. Tony Oliva led with 34 doubles and Paul Blair with 12 triples. Killebrew was second in RBI with 113. Bert Campaneris led in steals again with 55.

Jim Lonborg and Earl Wilson tied for the lead in wins with 22, and Dean Chance won 20. Joe Horlen lead in ERA at 2.06 followed by Gary Peters at 2.28. Lonborg led in strikeouts with 246, followed by Sam McDowell at 236. Minnie Rojas took the saves lead at 27. Chance led in complete games and innings.

Win Shares numbers:
Carl Yastrzemski (Boston) 42, Harmon Killebrew (Minnesota) 38, Frank Robinson (Baltimore), Bill Freehan and Al Kaline (both Detroit) 30 each, Jim Fregosi and Don Mincher (California) and Frank Howard (Washington) 28 each, Dick McAuliffe (Detroit) 27, Tony Oliva (Minnesota) and Mickey Mantle (New York) 25, Paul Blair and Brooks Robinson (Baltimore) and Bob Allison (Minnesota) 24, Rico Petrocelli and George Scott (Boston) 23, Horace Clarke (New York) 22, Norm Cash (Detroit) and Cesar Tovar (Minnesota) 21.

For pitchers, Joel Horlen (Chicago) 23, Gary Peters (Chicago) 21, Dean Chance (Minnesota) 20, Jim Lonborg (Boston) and Jim Merritt (Minnesota) 19, Earl Wilson (Detroit) 18, Luis Tiant (Cleveland), Catfish Hunter (Kansas City) and Jim Kaat (Minnesota) 17, Minnie Rojas (California), Bob Locker (Chicago), Steve Hargan (Cleveland), Al Downing and Mel Stottlemyre (New York) 16.

WARP3 leaders, position players: Yastrzemski 11.1, Killebrew 8.5, Kaline 8.4, B. Robinson 7.7, F. Robinson 7.5, Freehan 7.3, Blair 6.9, Fregosi 5.9, McAuliffe 5.8, Oliva and Petrocelli 5.6, Mincher and Scott 5.5, Howard 4.7.

WARP3 leaders, pitchers: Horlen 8.8, Peters 6.8, Downing 6.7, Sonny Siebert (Cleveland) 6.2, Merritt 6.1, Stottlemyre 5.6, Hargan and Dave Boswell (Minnesota) 5.4, Hunter and Phil Ortega (Washington) 5.0, Tiant 4.8, Wilson 4.7, Lonborg and Bill Monbouquette (New York) 4.5.

WAR leaders, position players (fWAR): Yaz 12.1, B. Robinson 8.6, Killebrew 8.0, Kaline 7.8, Blair 7.7, Freehan 6.6, F. Robinson 6.5, Fregosi 6.1, MacAuliffe 5.8, Scott 5.3, McMullen and Mincher 5.1, Petrocelli 4.9, Agee and Oliva 4.8. Pitchers (bWAR): Merritt 5.4, Chance 4.9, Horlen 4.6, Downing 4.4, Hargan and Siebert 4.2, Boswell and Hunter 4.0, Tiant 3.9, Lonborg and Stottlemyre 3.7, Kaat 3.3, Peters 3.2.

Actual award winners:

MVP (top 15): | 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 Yastrzemski BOS 19 275 280 0.98 | 579 189 44 .326 1.040 10
2 Harmon Killebrew MIN 0 161 280 0.58 | 547 147 44 .269 .965 1
3 Bill Freehan DET 0 137 280 0.49 | 517 146 20 .282 .835 1
4 Joe Horlen CHW 0 91 280 0.32 | 83 14 0 .169 .367 0| 19-7 258 2.06 0.953 103
5 Al Kaline DET 0 88 280 0.31 | 458 141 25 .308 .952 8
6 Jim Lonborg BOS 0 82 280 0.29 | 99 14 0 .141 .346 1| 22-9 273 3.16 1.138 246
7 Jim Fregosi CAL 0 70 280 0.25 | 590 171 9 .290 .744 9
7 Cesar Tovar MIN 1 70 280 0.25 | 649 173 6 .267 .691 19
9 Gary Peters CHW 0 37 280 0.13 | 99 21 2 .212 .556 0| 16-11 260 2.28 1.069 215
10 George Scott BOS 0 33 280 0.12 | 565 171 19 .303 .839 10
11 Frank Robinson BAL 0 31 280 0.11 | 479 149 30 .311 .979 2
12 Earl Wilson DET 0 20 280 0.07 | 108 20 4 .185 .563 0| 22-11 264 3.27 1.167 184
13 Dean Chance MIN 0 19 280 0.07 | 92 3 0 .033 .151 0| 20-14 284 2.73 1.100 220 1
14 Ron Hansen CHW 0 13 280 0.05 | 498 116 8 .233 .638 0
15 Jerry Adair TOT 0 11 280 0.04 | +414 112 3 .271 .640 1

Yaz was not quite unanimous. Tovar snuck in a first-place vote. The guy who cast the vote should have been drummed out of the union.

Cy Young: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Jim Lonborg BOS 18 18 20 0.90 | 22-9 273 3.16 1.138 246
2 Joe Horlen CHW 2 2 20 0.10 | 19-7 258 2.06 0.953 103
First time for each league to award a Cy.

Rookie: | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+---+-----+---+--+
1 Rod Carew MIN 19 19 20 0.95 | 514 150 8 .292 .750 5
2 Reggie Smith BOS 1 1 20 0.05 | 565 139 15 .246 .704 16

Top player: Yaz was without a doubt the best. He was also clutch down the stretch, with 22 hits in his last 44 ABs when the Red Sox simply had to win. It was an all-time great season.
#1 Carl Yastrzemski, #2 Harmon Killebrew, #3 Al Kaline, #4 Bill Freehan, #5 Brooks Robinson, #6 Frank Robinson.

Top pitcher: Joel Horlen. Cy Young winner Lonborg got the press as the Bosox won, but was not the best pitcher. ERA leader Horlen, a not-too-shabby 19-7 himself, was the best pitcher this year.
#1 Joel Horlen, #2 Gary Peters, #3 Jim Merritt, #4 Jim Lonborg, #5 Dean Chance.

Top rookie to Rod Carew, with honorable mention to a contribution to the winners from Reggie Smith. But the Twins were in it to the wire, too.

Top manager: Dick Williams for bringing the Bosox to their first pennant in 23 years.