Baseball...numbers, stories and analysis: August 2017

1962...Speed, Records and evening the field

1962 will be remembered in the world for some historic events, such as John Glenn being the first American in orbit, and the Cuban Missile crisis.

1962 in the baseball world, will always be remembered (by baseball fans anyway) for three things:

Maury Wills breaking Ty Cobb's decades old stolen base record
The National League returning to New York via expansion
The dramatic end to the World Series

Not that those things have any relations to the other, just as points of reference. And since this is a baseball article, I won't delve into the geopolitical ramifications that those two seemingly unrelated events were actually related.

But, I digress.

Maurice Morning Wills, from Washington, DC, was the shortstop for the Los Angeles Dodgers. He was a pretty fair fielder, a good hitter, and a very speedy base runner. He had led the National League in stolen bases the two years prior to 1962. And then he literally ran away with that title in 1962, and the next three years beyond that.

His 1962 season, however, was one for the books, as he attacked the base paths like no other before him. When it was all said and done, he had garnered 104 stolen bases in 165 games. He easily broke the National League record of 80, set by Harry Beschler of the Reds in 1911. Then he set his sights on the Major League record of 96, Set by Tiger's legend Ty Cobb in 1915.

Now, with 1962 being the year immediately after Roger Maris' breaking of Babe Ruth's record, while playing an extended season, it should be noted that in 1962, the National League's season was also extended to 1962 games for the first time. And add to that the fact the Giants and Dodgers finished the season in a tie, which necessitated a three game playoff round to determine the National League crown, Wills played in an all-time record of 165 games in 1962.

Maris, for hitting one more homer in the eight extra games earned him an asterisk for all his trouble and effort. An asterisk which had since been removed from his record. To this day, Maris is still the American League single season home run leader.

So Wills is credited with 104 steals in 165 games, to Cobb's 95 in 156 games, but no mention of an asterisk.

Well, here's why.

Well, here's the simple reason why...well, two of the simple reasons why:

First, the stolen base record is no where near as glamorous as the home run record. In fact, in all of baseball, that home run record was always the one everyone knew. Not the RBI record, not the ERA record, not the strikeout record, but the home run record.

Stolen bases, while important, just wasn't as monumental as a homer. And still not. During a period from 1930 until 1955, no National Leaguer had stolen 40 bases in a season. While the American League drought wasn't as drastic, Dom DiMaggio did lead the league in steals in 1950 with just 15.

Louis Aparicio had been regularly registering fifty stolen bases a season for the White Sox, but he didn't get the recognition that Maury did. Not for his base stealing, anyway.

Wills, who was playing for the insanely pitching rich Dodgers, is credited with reviving the stolen base as a tactical instrument. In one game against the Mets, Wills was on first and drew twelve straight pick-off throws from pitcher Roger Craig. On Craig's next pitch to the plate, Wills stole second base.

The Dodgers were in a heated pennant race, and in one of the largest media centers in the country, albeit on the West Coast, and without getting into the West Coast bias, reality is that the Dodger game results were not ready for the East Coast papers by the time they reached their deadlines.

But the main underlying reason was this... while Cobb stole his 96^th in the Tiger's 156th game, Wills stole his 96^th and 97^th in the Dodger's 156^th game. So regardless of the amount of games their team was schedules, Wills did legitimately break the record in the allotted time.

And for his efforts, which also included a .299 batting average and 130 runs scored, Wills was named the National League Most Valuable Player by the Base Ball Writers Association of America. Wills received 209 points to Willie Mays' 207. Wills received one more first place vote than the “Say Hey Kid”.

But more on that shortly...

The expansion that happened in the American League in 1961, reached the National League for 1962.

With the addition of the Houston Colt .45's, for the first time major league baseball was played in the state of Texas. General Manager Paul Richards, and Manager Harry Craft, let the Colts to an eighth place finish. (Craft being the first manager to manage a team in its inaugural season, having the same initials at the team...yes, I went there)They finished ahead of the Cubs, and their expansion counterpart in New York.

The National League triumphantly returned to New York as the Mets began play (with a lot of Yankees ties). Manager Casey Stengel, and General manager George Weiss, both of whom were deemed 'too old' for the Yankees, set up shop in the Polo Grounds.

And they were awful. They lost 120 games (losing two games to rain-outs,or it could have been more) and finishing 60 ½ games behind the pennant winning Giants.

To have a team with a .250 winning percentage, in the same city where there was a defending World Champion, and coming off of a season when the most hallowed home run record was broken in that same town, and refer to that seemingly inept new team as triumphant...well, that's the Mets for you.

They brought with them a new breed of baseball fans, and at times it seemed their mission was to 'stick it' to the mighty team playing across the river from them.

(Point of fact, the Polo Grounds was the only stadium that had a view of a different team's stadium. Situated across the Harlem river from Yankee Stadium. With the Polo Grounds being slightly elevated on Coogan's Bluff, someone sitting in the upper deck could see out, over the river the mile or so over to the “House that Ruth Built”.)

The Yankees won the pennant in 1962, but in many ways, the Mets won New York. As Casey Stengel once said, “This team showed me ways to lose I never knew existed.”

From Harry Chiti being traded to the Mets for a player to be named later, (that player was later named Harry Chiti, yes...same guy), to pitcher Ken MacKenzie lamenting that he had the lowest salary of his graduating class at Yale, (to which Casey said, “yeah, but with the highest Earned Run Average”) to 'Marvelous Marv' Throneberry, a first baseman who was annoyed that no one threw him a party for his birthday, (to which Casey said, “We was gonna throw you a party, but we was afraid you would drop it”) the Mets may not have won ballgames, but the won inches in the New York papers. Which, for a new team, was more important.

The new breed of fans began making banners in homage to their new team ,and new players, and began hanging them from the rafters at the Polo Grounds. Defiance, since these banners and placards were forbidden to be hung, carried or shown across the river at Yankee Stadium.

Now commonplace, the Mets were the first team to really embrace these, and even encouraged the fans to bring them. So much so that they instituted a “Banner Day” celebration that season, and it carries on today.

Usually scheduled between games of a Sunday doubleheader, (not so anymore, but still celebrated) it allowed fans to parade on the field with their artwork and creativity on display. Some of the artwork was dubious, and some of the creativity was similar, with many variations on the 'Let's Go Mets' chant that can be heard at every Mets game.

My all-time favorite was a very simple one, and one that defines the Met fan philosophy:

“To err is human, to forgive is a Mets fan.”

The Mets also created and maintained the first costumed mascot in baseball, and maybe all professional sports, with Mr. Met. A person wearing a Mets jersey, with a giant baseball as a head, with a Mets cap on top for good measure.

Mr. Met (and later Mrs. Met) would walk through the stands, posing for pictures and glad handing as he or she went. Mr. Met was not very visible later through the Mets' lean years, but it is nice to see his triumphant return to the stadium, where he has his own area at Citi Field.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention legendary writer Jimmy Breslin's book, “Can't Anybody Here Play This Game” which recounts the 1962 Mets season. The title coming from a frustrated Casey Stengel watching his team implode on itself, and 'snatch defeat from the claws of victory'.

There was the story of youngster Rod “Hot Rod” Kanehl getting a key pinch hit late in a game to drive in a go ahead run, and Casey telling him to stay in the game on defense, and Rod not knowing where to play, leading to a huddle on the left side of the field, where it was decided he would play left field, which was what Casey had told him anyway.

Kanehl would endear himself further as hitting the first Grand Slam in Mets history.

Then there was Marv.

Marvin Eugene Throneberry, the only player in history to play in a team's inaugural season, having the same initials as team name (M.E.T. A stretch I know, but look it up)

Marv showed some promise at the plate, finishing second on the club with 16 homers. His defense, however, wasn't stellar. (He held the record for the lowest fielding percentage by a regular season first baseman of .981)

Nor was his base-running.

A story that legendary broadcaster Lindsey Nelson remembered as his favorite involved Throneberry hitting a triple against the Cubs, only to be called out on an appeal play that Marv missed second base.

On his way out of the Dugout to argue with the second base umpire, the first base umpire said to Casey Stengel “Forget about it, Casey. He actually missed first base too.”

Stengel stopped, looked and said “Well, I know he touched third base, cause he's standing on it”.

As luck would have it, Mets third baseman Charley Neal, who was the next batter, hit a home run, to which Casey came out of the dugout to point to each of the bases.

Throneberry, it should be noted, came up through the Yankees organization, and played with them for a couple of seasons. He was involved in the trade between the Yankees and Kansas City, where the Yankees acquired Roger Maris.

All that aside, comparing the Mets to the Colts, and their different philosophies, is intriguing.

Using the expansion draft, the Houston team went for the younger players, having their players age and mature with the franchise, with their fans doing the same. It was a strategy that worked for them, as in 1963, they would feature an all-rookie lineup in a game against these same Mets.

It also worked because major league baseball was new to the area. For a Colts fans, part of the allure was going to the game to see a Willie Mays, a Sandy Koufax, a Duke Snider.

New York fans had seen them already.

What the Mets did was draft the bigger name players, preferably someone who had played in New York before, and put as many fans in the seats as possible. And then build from the bottom up. Filling their farm system with players they knew were three to five years away, but buying time with the veterans until their day came.

At the end of the day (or actually, the decade) while the Colts/Astros may have had a more successful stretch, it was the Mets who won the first World Series for an expansion team.

It was their performance in their first couple of years that prompted people to say “They'll put a man on the moon before the Mets win a World Series.”

And they did.

And then they did.

While the American League pennant was never really in doubt, with the Yankees taking over the lead in late June and never looking back, the National League race was a different story.

The Pittsburgh Pirates got off to a quick start, and paced the league for the first month, before they stumbled and fell, finishing in fourth place. The Giants led through the month of May, but were caught by the Dodgers in June. From July on, the Dodgers were the leaders, but the Giants were right behind them.

The Dodgers lost ten of their last thirteen games, while the Giants won seven of their last eleven, to finish in a tie for the pennant. A three game playoff was needed to determine the winner. A coin toss was won by the Dodgers, who opted to start the series in San Francisco, giving them the final two games in Los Angeles.

Up to this point, there had been three previous pennant playoffs in the National League, and the Dodgers were involved in each of them. They lost to the Cardinals in baseball's first ever playoff series in 1946, then to the Giants in 1951 before edging out the Braves in 1959. And they were defeated once more by the Giants in 1962

Going the full three games, all relatively high scoring games, which was unusual because of the low scoring offense, the Giants won the first game 8-0, the Dodgers won the second 8-7, with Ron Fairly hitting a sacrifice fly that scored Maury Wills in the bottom of the ninth. Then the Giants won the deciding game 6-4, with four Giants runs coming in the top of the ninth against Ed Roebuck, who loaded the bases and then took a Willie Mays line drive off his pitching hand. Stan Williams came in and walked in the go ahead run, and then allowed another run for good measure.

The Giants won the series exactly eleven years to the day of Bobby Thomson's “Shot Heard Round The World” game, where the Giants beat the Dodgers in the 1951 playoff.

So the showdown was set, for the first time since the move, the Yankees would play a World Series. Not the first Series on the coast (that would be the 1959 Series) but the first featuring old adversaries from the Streets of New York. And what a battle it was.

Seven Games in all, Whitey Ford and the Yankees winning their first game in San Francisco, 6-2. Jack Sanford then shut out the Yankees on three hits in the second game, and the Series moved to the Bronx for the third game.

Bill Stafford pitched a complete game 3-2 victory to give the Yankees a two games to one advantage, but it was close. Stafford gave up a two-run homer to Giants catcher Ed Bailey (from Strawberry Plains, Tennessee) in the top of the ninth

Game Four featured Juan Marichal against Whitey Ford. Unfortunately, Marichal suffered a finger injury and left after pitching four innings. Ford was lifted for a pinch hitter, and replaced by Jim Coates, who gave up a Grand Slam homer to Chuck Hiller. That propelled the Giants to a 7-4 win, and tied the Series at two games each.

The fifth game, which was postponed for a day due to rain, had the Yankees earning a 5-3 victory, helped by a three-run homer hit by Tom Tresh.

With the Yankees leading the Series three games to two, the Giants faced elimination upon their return to Candlestick Park. More rain delays, combined with travel time, led to a five day layoff between games. Yankees ace Whitey Ford faced Billy Pierce. Orlando Cepeda had three hits, and drove in two runs, scoring a third as the Giants evened the Series at three games apiece, with a 5-2 win.

This set up an exciting Game Seven. Bill Terry of the Yankees against Jack Sanford...and it lived up to the expectations. Sanford allowed singles to Moose Skowron and Clete Boyer, then he walked the pitcher , Terry, to load the bases. He got Tony Kubek to hit into a double play, scoring Skowron for the first and only run the Yankees would score.

Allowing just two hits, Terry began the bottom of the ninth inning with a 1-0 lead, and the Championship in the balance.

Matty Alou pinch-hit and led off with a drag bunt. His brother Felipe struck out, as did Chuck Hiller. Willie Mays stepped to the plate and hit a double to right field, with Matty Alou stopping at third.

Two outs, bottom of the ninth, tying run on third, winning run on second, as big Willie “Stretch” McCovey due to bat, with Orlando Cepeda on deck. Terry decided to pitch to McCovey. Willie hit a “vicious liner” toward second, where Bobby Richardson took a step to his left, and reached up to snare the drive, ending the game...and the Series.

According to Fred Lieb, who provided a recap of the Series for The Sporting News Official Baseball Guide for 1963, “...had the drive been one foot to either side of Bobby Richardson instead of right at him, the Giants would have emerged as world's champions...”

Instead, it was the twentieth World Championship for the Yankees.

But other significant events from the 1962 season occurred as well.

The University of Michigan Wolverines won the College World Series.

The Los Angeles Angels acquired pitcher Dan Osinski from the Kansas City Athletics for $25,000 in cash, and a player to be named later. That player was rumored to be pitcher Bo Belinsky, who had to be cleared through waivers to facilitate the deal.

The Washington Senators placed a waiver claim on Belinsky, but the Angels rescinded the waivers on Belinsky, explaining to the Senators that Bo was a part of the trade with the A's, and that he was going to Kansas City, just not at that moment.

The Senators claimed foul, and Commissioner Ford Frick agreed with them, and voided that deal, and ordered the Angels to send another player, one whom had cleared waivers, to the A's to complete the deal. That player was pitcher Ted Bowsfield.

1962 was the last season in which two All-Star Games were played. The first of the two was played in District of Columbia Stadium (later RFK Stadium) and featured President John F. Kennedy throwing out the ceremonial first pitch. It was the first time that a sitting president threw out the first pitch at an All Star Game.

But for the Senators, another John Kennedy (not related) entered the record book as the first rookie to hit a pinch hit home run in his first at bat. In a bit of irony, John Kennedy the baseball player, and John Kennedy the President also shared the same birthday, May 29^th.

In St. Louis, Stan Musial finished the season hitting .330. That established the National League record for qualifying batting average by a player 40 years old or more. (since broken)

In Baltimore, third baseman Brooks Robinson became just the fifth player to hit Grand Slam home runs in consecutive games.

In Chicago, the Cubs moved Ernie Banks to first base full time. He had been a very productive shortstop, and is the only shortstop to win back to back Most Valuable Player Awards.

Rookie second baseman Ken Hubbs became to second consecutive Cubs Rookie of the Year winner, following outfielder Billy Williams. Hubbs would establish a record by playing 78 consecutive games without committing an error.

The Cubs also broke the color barrier n their own right, by hiring legendary Buck O'Neill as baseball's first African-American coach.

In Boston, pitcher Earl Wilson became the first African American to pitch a no-hitter in the American League. He also homered in the game, becoming just the third pitcher to do that. He is still the only American League pitcher to have accomplished that feat.

The biggest news in Boston, however, was the Gene Conley incident.

With the Red Sox in New York, Conley was hit very hard by the Yankees. Afterward, as the team bus was sitting in traffic in Manhattan on the way to Newark Airport, Conley, along with third baseman Pumpsie Green, decided to get off the bus to “look for a restroom”.

They never got back on the bus.

Instead, the two went out on the town.

Pumpsie returned to the team after forty-eight hours, but without Conley. And when asked about Conley, Green was vague as to his whereabouts.

Turns out, Conley, who also starred for the Boston Celtics of the NBA, had made his way to another airport, and attempted to fly to Israel. Lacking a passport or any other credentials, he was turned away, and rejoined the Red Sox a couple of days later.

He was fined an undisclosed amount by the team.

Detroit first baseman Norm Cash set a dubious record, for the biggest drop in batting average for a league leader the year before. Cash hit .361 in 1961, but fell to just .234 in 1962, a drop of .118 points.

On the bright side for the Tigers, Rocky Colavito did get seven hits in an extra inning game for the Tigers.

And Floyd Robinson got six hits in a nine inning game for the White Sox.

In Kansas City, Athletics pitcher Bill Fischer pitched 84 and 1/3^rd innings without issuing a walk.

And visionary owner Charles Finley hired Ms. Betty Cawood, becoming the first female in baseball broadcasting.

Meanwhile, in the A's minor leagues, infielder Bert Campaneris, who was playing for the Daytona Beach Islanders, was brought in to pitch in relief in a game against the Ft. Lauderdale Yankees. He pitch two innings, but did so ambidextrously. He pitched lefty to the left handed batters, and righty to the right handed batters. He allowed one run, one hit, two walks and struck out four batters in those two innings.

During the course of the season, Campy would eventually play all nine positions, a feat he would accomplish with the Oakland A's during one game in 1968.

Minnesota became the first American League team to hit two Grand Slams in the same inning, when Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew roughed up the Indians in July.

During the 1961, outfielder Tony Oliva hit .410 for the Wytheville Twins of the Appalachain League. That earned him a promotion from the Rookie League to the Class A Charlotte Hornets of the South Atlantic League (Sally League), where he hit .350. That, in turn, earned him a call up to the majors for the Twins, where he hit .444 in twelve plate appearances. He would go on to win the American League Rookie of the Year for 1964.

However...it wasn't really Tony Oliva. It was Tony's brother Pedro.

But wait, there's more...

Pedro Oliva used his brother Tony's name, because he thought he might have some difficulty with immigration. That, and Pedro was trying to appear a little bit younger by essentially becoming his younger brother.

For baseball purposes, Pedro remained Tony, eventually legally changing his name to Tony after his career had ended. But yes...Twins great Tony Oliva was actually Pedro Oliva.

Also, in the Twins minor leagues that season, technology made its way onto the baseball diamond for the first time.

With the approval of Twins owner Calvin Griffith, and Pacific Coast League President Dewey Soriano, the Vancouver Mounties began using radios to communicate to the pitcher.

"The whole thing was my idea.", Mounties manager Jack McKeon told me recently
The inspiration was a game against Preston Gomez and the Spokane Indians. In the ninth inning, with runners on second and third, McKeon detected a squeeze play, and called for a pitchout, but the pitcher threw a strike, but luckily, the squeeze missed. They changed pitchers, and the reliever was given the instructions of four straight pitch-outs. The second pitch was a strike, and a successful squeeze play.
After the game, during a press conference, McKeon asked two local writers if they knew a radio expert that could come up with a device for him. Jack Lee, who was a writer for the Vancouver Sun, said his neighbor was an electronics expert. They met and came up with a design that would work.
The actual device was made using a block of wood, "about the size of a pack of Camels". McKeon would have a transmitter in the dugout, while the pitcher (George Bamberger being the first to do so) had a receiver inside a pocket sewn into the front of his uniform, thus enabling the two to communicate during the inning with each other.
None of the other teams in the league would follow suit, because they "didn't have the vision" says McKeon.
As the Mounties traveled through the league, they would get plenty of attention.
"I had a broken helmet, and but an antenna in it that stuck out, and would sometimes coach third base with it on. The newspapers had a field day with that. They used to call us aliens."
McKeon wasn't sure if the other teams could pick up his transmissions, so he would sometimes just play his radio over the transmitter, mainly between innings. Eventually, he would use the radio among his coaches, rather than flashing signs from the dugout.
When McKeon moved to the International League with the Atlanta Crackers, the practice was not allowed, following a slight protest by Larry Sheppard. The thought was that the manager, by using the radio, was getting around the mound visit rule.
Then, as he moved on to the American Association with the Omaha Royals, he again used the radio system with his coaches, but it never did catch on beyond that.

In Milwaukee, pitcher Bob Buhl, who began his season with the Cubs, established a still standing record of going hitless the entire season. Over 70 at bats.

The Aaron brothers became the first brothers to homer in the same inning since the Waners did it in 1938. Tommie and Hank each homered in the bottom of the ninth, with Hank's being a game winning Grand Slam.

Speaking of homers, pitcher Warren Spahn became the National League's all-time home run leader, for pitchers, after hitting his 31^st.

Spahn also became the National League's all-time winning-est left handed pitcher.

And my beloved Mets...

The began a bizarre streak that resulted in sixteen consecutive losses on Thursdays.

Richie Ashburn became one of just seven players whit hit .300 or better in his first season, and his last season (provided the player played in five or more seasons)

The Mets began their season (and their franchise history) by losing nine consecutive games. Pitcher Jay Hook stopped the streak, winning their tenth game. As ironies go, how about this...the Mets win over the Pirates stopped their ten game winning streak.

Pitcher Craig Anderson somehow won both ends of a doubleheader for the Mets. But that was it. He would lose his next sixteen decisions. In fact, he would never win another game in the majors.

Playing their home games in the Polo Grounds, as a new stadium was being built at Flushing- Meadows. The Mets allowed a mammoth home run, into the center-field bleachers, to Lou Brock. Yes, speedster, not really known for his home run power Lou Brock.

But it's OK. All was right with the world when the next game, they allowed a blast to Hank Aaron that also reached the center-field bleachers. In the history of the stadium, only one other player reached the center-field bleachers...Joe Adcock in 1953.

The Miami franchise returned to the Florida State League, bringing that league back to eight teams. (It had played the 1961 season with seven teams).

The Marlins, now a Philadelphia Phillies affiliate, featured a twenty year-old shortstop named Ernesto de la Osa. During the season opener, de la Osa turned in an unassisted triple play.

Unfortunately, he struggled at the plate, and was out of baseball by the middle of the season.

In other minor league news, Bob Veale of the Columbus Jets , a Pirates affiliate, struck out twenty-two Buffalo Bisons in a nine inning game.

San Francisco Giants pitcher Jack Sanford won sixteen consecutive decisions.

In the minors, outfielder Jesus Alou (the third of the Alou brothers) was playing for the El Paso Sun Kings, when he hit safely in 48 of 49 games. He had a streak of 23 straight games, then was held hitless in the 24^th, and then began a 25 game streak.

By the season's end, with a .343 batting average, which finished second in the Texas League batting race, behind teammate Charlie Dees, who finished at .348.

I n Los Angeles, both the Angels and the Dodgers moved into 'Chavez Ravine Stadium”, later to be called Dodgers stadium. The Angels moved from Wrigley Field (not that one) and the Dodgers from the L.A. Coliseum.

For the Angels, pitcher Bo Belinsky (mentioned above) pitched the first major league no-hitter in the state of California, shutting down the Orioles on May 5^th. The Angels had actually drafted Belinsky from those same Orioles the previous winter for $25,000.

Belinsky would be the first rookie to pitch a no-hitter since Bobo Holloman in 1953.

Angels catcher Earl Averill, Jr. reached base in 17 consecutive at-bats, tying the record set by Piggy Ward for the longest such streak.

For the Dodgers, Maury Wills won the National League Most Valuable Player Award (more on that later) while Mickey Mantle of the Yankees did so in the American League. It is the only time that the MVP winners for both leagues were switch hitters.

Wills was the first Los Angeles Dodger to win the Most Valuable Player Award. He set the record for the least amount of extra base hits for a player with 200 or more hits in a season. He had just 29 extra base hits, 13 doubles, 10 triples and 6 homers.

Tommy Davis was the first to lead his league in both batting average and runs batted in since Stan Musial in 1948.

Pitcher Don Drysdale won the Cy Young Award, the first Californian to win that award. He won his twentieth game on August 3^rd, the earliest date since Hippo Vaughn won his twentieth on August 1^st, 1918.

Rookie pitcher Pet Richert tied a record by striking out the first six batters he faced. Coming in to pitch in relief in the second inning against the Reds on April 12^th, he struck out the first batter he faced for the third out, and then struck out for in the third inning. (a rarity, caused by a passed ball by Johnny Roseboro, allowing the batter to reach first). He then struck out the first batter he faced in the fourth inning.

Richert remains the only pitcher to record a four strikeout inning in his major league debut.

Lefty Sandy Koufax, who missed two months with a circulatory problem in his arm, causing hes fingers to go numb, pitched his first career no-hitter against the Mets. (He would eventually pitch four)

In doing so, he managed a 'perfect inning', meaning he struck out the side on nine pitches. This remains the only no-hitter to feature a perfect inning.

And then to the Bronx, where as I said above, Mickey Mantle won the Most Valuable Player Award, despite missing twenty games with knee problems. It was Mantle's third MVP award.

The Mick, at one point hit seven homers in twelve at bats, which tied a record set in 1947 by Ralph Kiner.

During the season, the Yankees were playing in Cleveland, and Mickey was called upon to pinch hit. He limped to the plate and blasted a home run, earning him a standing ovation from the Indians fans.

An interesting note about the Yankees here, or rather Yankee Stadium. The Stadium was actually owned by John W. Cox, who donated the building to his alma mater, Rice University, in 1962. The Yankees still had sixteen years left on their lease.

Now, on to the season at hand. The late surge by the Giants belie the power rankings, which show that they may not have been the best team overall, but rather the hottest team going into the post season.

To wit, here are the top offensively ranked teams in each league:

American League	National League
Yankees	Giants
Twins	Dodgers
A's	Reds

And pitching wise:

Yankees	Dodgers
Angels	Pirates
Twins	Reds

Which brings our top five teams overall to:

Dodgers	2^nd in NL
Giants	NL Champions
Yankees	World Series Champions
Reds	3^rd in NL
Pirates	4^th in NL

What this shows us is that the National League appears to be the dominant league, but some of those are a bit skewed because of the two National League expansion teams. So the leagues, statistically speaking, were essentially flat to each other, with the NL batters being 1.2% better than the AL, but the AL pitchers being 1.2% better than the NL. So that balances out.

We will start in the American League with the pitching. Our initial listing of top performers, featuring saves, brings us this list:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	Sv
Hank Aguirre	Tigers	16-8	2.21	3
Ralph Terry	Yankees	23-12	3.19	2
Camilo Pascual	Twins	20-11	3.32	0
Ray Herbert	White Sox	20-9	3.27	0
Terry Fox	Tigers	3-1	1.71	16
Hoyt Wilhelm	Orioles	07-10	1.94	15
Dick Radatz	Red Sox	9-6	2.24	24
Dick Donovan	Indians	20-10	3.59	0
Whitey Ford	Yankees	17-8	2.90	0
Jim Kaat	Twins	18-14	3.14	1

And then comparing pitchers to their team performances, we get this list of eleven:

Dick Radatz	Above
Dick Donovan	Above
Hank Aguirre	Above
Camilo Pascual	Above
Hoyt Wilhelm	Above
Bill Monboquette	Red Sox	15-13	3.33	0
Ray Herbert	Above
Dave Stenhouse	Senators	11-12	3.65	0
Terry Fox	Above
Dave Wickersham	Athletics	11-4	4.17	1
Robin Roberts	Orioles	10-09	2.78	0

Which, when compiled and run through the 'number cruncher', brings us this top ten list of overall performances. It is important to note that there was still just one Cy Young Award presented at this time, and of the four players receiving votes, none of those pitchers were in the American League.

But our top ten list:

Hank Aguirre	17^th in MVP
Camilo Pascual	15^th in MVP
Dick Radatz	21^st in MVP (tied)
Dick Donovan	5^th in MVP
Ray Herbert	29^th in MVP (tied)
Ralph Terry	14^th in MVP
Hoyt Wilhelm	No votes
Terry Fox	No votes
Jim Kaat	No votes
Robin Roberts	No votes

It is interesting to see relievers begin to have an impact, more so in the American league, based on these lists anyway.

Now, over to the National League, our initial list is as follows:

Bob Purkey	Reds	23-5	2.81	0
Don Drysdale	Dodgers	25-9	2.83	1
Sandy Koufax	Dodgers	14-7	2.54	1
Roy Face	Pirates	8-7	1.88	28
Warren Spahn	Braves	18-14	3.04	0
Jack Sanford	Giants	24-7	3.43	0
Bob Gibson	Cardinals	15-13	2.85	1
Billy Pierce	Giants	16-6	3.49	1
Bobby Shantz	Houston/Cardinals	6-4	1.95	4
Bob Shaw	Braves	15-9	2.80	2

Now comparing to their teams performances. With that in mind, remember the Mets were just horrible, which is why they dominate this list. So as bad as the stats look at the face of them, compared to how the team performed as a whole, some of these were pretty good...considering.

Anyway, that list:

Roger Craig	Mets	10-24	4.51	3
Al Jackson	Mets	08-20	4.40	0
Don Elston	Cubs	4-8	2.44	8
Jay Hook	Mets	8-19	4.84	0
Jim Umbricht	Houston	04-01	2.01	0
Don McMahon	Houston/Braves	5-6	1.69	8
Bob Buhl	Braves/Cubs	12-14	3.87	0
Turk Farrell	Houston	10-20	3.02	4
Bob Purkey	Above
Warren Spahn	Above

Combined, we get this top performer list:

Bob Purkey	4^th in Cy Young, 8^th in MVP
Don Drysdale	Cy Young Award, 5^th in MVP
Sandy Koufax	24^th in MVP (tied)
Warren Spahn	No votes
Roy Face	No votes
Bob Gibson	No votes
Jack Sanford	2^nd in Cy Young, 7^th in MVP
Don McMahon	No votes
Bobby Shantz	No votes
Bob Shaw	No votes

Now, we'll look at the American League, whose hitters fared about 1% below the National League, not really a significant number in my opinion...just as I stated earlier, essentially even among the two leagues.

Here is our initial listing, featuring runs created:

Player	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	RC
Al Kaline	Tigers	29	94	.304	1.43
Mickey Mantle	Yankees	30	89	.321	1.26
Norm Siebern	Athletics	25	117	.308	1.27
Floyd Robinson	White Sox	11	109	.312	1.20
Bob Allison	Twins	29	102	.266	1.17
John Romano	Indians	25	81	.261	0.94
Harmon Killebrew	Twins	48	126	.243	1.05
Elston Howard	Yankees	21	91	.296	0.98
Lou Clinton	Red Sox	18	75	.294	1.05
Carl Yastrzemski	Red Sox	19	94	.296	1.09

And now, compared to their team performances, we have this listing:

Al Kaline	Above
John Romano	Above
Mickey Mantle	Above
Norm Siebern	Above
Harry Bright	Senators	17	67	.273	0.93
Chick Hinton	Senators	17	75	.310	0.87
Floyd Robinson	Above
Lou Clinton	Above
Carl Yastrzemski	Above
Jim Gentile	Orioles	33	87	.251	0.88
Rocky Colavito	Tigers	37	112	.273	1.02

And that brings my final (surprising) list of top ten American League performers to this:

Al Kaline	6^th in MVP
Mickey Mantle	Most Valuable Player
Norm Siebern	7^th in MVP
Floyd Robinson	10^th in MVP
John Romano	No votes
Bob Allison	No votes
Lou Clinton	No votes
Carl Yastrzemski	18^th in MVP (tied)
Harmon Killebrew	3^rd in MVP
Rocky Colavito	16^th in MVP

Switching over to the National League, our initial list is:

Frank Robinson	Reds	39	136	.342	1.43
Tommy Davis	Dodgers	27	153	.346	1.51
Willie Mays	Giants	49	141	.304	1.37
Hank Aaron	Braves	45	128	.323	1.35
Frank Howard	Dodgers	31	119	.296	1.19
Vada Pinson	Reds	23	100	.292	1.19
Orlando Cepeda	Giants	35	114	.306	1.14
Eddie Mathews	Braves	29	90	.265	1.10
Bill White	Cardinals	20	102	.324	1.10
Felipe Alou	Giants	25	98	.316	1.10
Maury Wills	Dodgers	6	48	.299	1.04

I added Maury Wills to this list for comparison sake, as he didn't make either one of my lists. While he did score 130 runs, he didn't drive in a lot, which granted, is hard for a lead-off batter to do. His hits, as I mentioned above, were mainly singles, 179 of them to be exact. So, he was doing his job and getting on base, sealing and scoring runs...but teammate Tommy Davis scored 120 and drove in 153. Minus his homers, and Davis was responsible for creating 246 runs, compared to Wills' 172 runs created.

Wills was 13^th in the majors in runs created, but his disadvantage was in placing himself in a position to produce and create more. That is why he didn't crack my top ten lists.

That being said, looking at performance against team averages, we get this list:

Hank Aaron	Above
Frank Robinson	Above
Tommy Davis	Above
Billy Williams	Cubs	2	91	.298	1.03
Willie Mays	Above
Ernie Banks	Cubs	37	104	0.27	1.00
Roman Mejias	Houston	24	76	.286	0.92
Eddie Mathews	Above
Don Demeter	Phillies	29	107	.307	1.07
George Altman	Cubs	22	71	.318	0.86

Which brings our final National League list to the following:

Frank Robinson	4^th in MVP
Hank Aaron	6^th in MVP
Tommy Davis	3^rd in MVP
Willie Mays	2^nd in MVP
Frank Howard	9^th in MVP
Eddie Mathews	29h in MVP (tied)
Don Demeter	No votes
Vada Pinson	No votes
Bill White	13^th in MVP (tied)
Billy Williams	No votes