Saturday, May 29, 2021

1941 Teddy, Joe D and the looming darkness

 

1941 and the end of innocence

(originally posted 3/15/15, updates in blue)

 

(When I originally posted this, I had only worked on the American League side, and only the hitting. This is a more complete ranking, with both leagues involved, as well as adding the pitching. As this blog and formula  is constantly changing, I had not yet had a legitimate way of ranking the pitching performances, but that has changed since.)

 

One of the reasons I finally started this project was to figure out some of the historic performances and how they compare to modern day figures. To find a reliable statistical norm that is a continual formula that can measure true worth and value and compare those to the norm for each season


One of the joys of baseball, or most other sports, is the argument over best players, greats at this, greatest at that, etc. My formula just adds fuel to the fire and may agree with your argument or contradict it. But hopefully will regenerate some interest. Ultimately, I plan to reveal the best single season offensive performance here.


Now it is worth noting that in this era, post season awards are voted on by the sportswriters. No knock on them, but they do get things wrong. Sometimes horribly wrong. Sometimes, justifiably wrong. They are human, and as such, can be vindictive. I bring this up because of the 1941 American League season.

 

Before we get into the analysis, let's look at some of the significant historical events of 1941. Of course, it would be the last season before the United States entered into World War II. But the military was active in drafting players in advance of that.

 

Pitcher Hugh “Losing Pitcher” Mulcahy would be the first major league player drafted into the military for World War II. He was drafted in March of 1941 and would serve four years in the Army. He earned his unfortunate nickname mainly due to the fact that in eight seasons, he never had more wins than losses. He was an All-Star in 1940, a season that had him lose 22 games.

 


Tigers great Hank Greenberg was also drafted, in May of that year. Hank, who was reportedly earning $55,000 per season for the Tigers, was now earning $21 per month for the Army. He would be discharged later in 1941 because of a change in the law releasing men over twenty-eight from duty.

 


Then Pearl Harbor happened. The attack was on December 7th, and the thirty-year-old Greenberg re-enlisted on December 9th. He would serve 3 and a half years in the army.

 

 

On to the field of play, the Dodgers and Cardinals had some bad blood brewing between the two, and as a result, there were a couple of bean-ball issues between them. It had gotten so that the Dodgers became the first team to use protective batting helmets to protect themselves.

 

Mel Ott of the Giants would become the first National League player to reach 400 career home runs. (He would also be the first to 500, finishing at 511).

 


Lefty Grove of the Red Sox would win his 300th game. He would retire at the end of the season, having lost just 141 games, the lowest ever by a 300-game winner. Included in that win total was a record twenty straight home wins, dating back to 1938.

 


The Chicago Cubs, not really known for their innovations, became the first team to add an organist to play during breaks in the action. The rest of the teams would follow suit eventually.

 

The perplexing St. Louis Browns finished at 70-84 for the season, 31 games out of first place, but they had the fifth highest batting average. They just could not score runs. They set the Major League record (that still stands) of leaving 1,334 runners on base.

 Speaking of the Browns...

There were rumors of a plan in place to relocate the franchise to Los Angeles, becoming the first Major League team on the West Coast. The plan apparently fell through after the attack on Pearl Harbor, which made team (and probably insurance companies) leery of the increased air travel that would ensue. So the major league stayed put for the forseeable future.

On May 15th, the Yankees were 14-15 after a 13-1 loss to the White Sox. Center-fielder Joe DiMaggio singled in a 13-1 loss. He would then go on to get a hit in the next 55 consecutive games, the streak ending in Cleveland on July 17th. Joltin' Joe hit .408 during the streak, scored 56 runs and had 55 runs batted in. And he struck out just seven times during the two-month span.



 More importantly, the Yankees played at a .759 clip, winning 41 games, and propelling them to the American League pennant by 17 games over the Red Sox.

 

 

Sadly, on June 2nd, Yankee great Lou Gehrig lost his battle with ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. The crippling disease that now bears his name took his life at thirty-seven years...

 

(Babe Ruth bidding farewell to his former teammate and fellow legend)

With all of the headlines being garnered in the American League, the National League did still play their season as well. Not as many headlines from the Senior Circuit, but some noteworthy performances as such. Most notably twenty-year-old St. Louis Cardinals rookie Stan Musial, who hit .426 in just twelve games.

 

 


On to the season at hand. The Yankees returned to the World Series in 1941, after finishing send to the Tigers in 1939. They faced the Brooklyn Dodgers, making their first World Series since the 1920 Brooklyn Robins lost to the Cleveland Indians 5 games to 2.

 

The Yankees would win the 1941 Series 4 games to 1, giving the Yankees their ninth World Championship.

 

The power rankings for 1941 bears this out, as the top 5 teams in the Majors were:

                                    Brooklyn            NL Champions

                                    Yankees World Champions

                                    Cardinals           2nd in NL

                                    Red Sox             2nd in AL

                                    Reds                  3rd in NL

                       

 

Overall, the National League pitchers statistically were 12.9% better than their American League counterparts, partially because they did not have to face Ted Williams or Joe DiMaggio. As such, the American League batters fared 11.1% better than the National League.

 

Let's look at the little talked about American League pitching first, shall we?

 

First, their overall numbers, our top ten looks like this:

Name

Team

W-L

ERA

Saves

Thornton Lee

White Sox

22-11

2.37

1

Johnny Murphy

Yankees

8-3

1.98

15

Red Ruffing

Yankees

15-6

3.54

0

Bob Feller

Indians

25-13

3.15

2

Marius Russo

Yankees

14-10

3.09

1

Al Benton

Tigers

15-6

2.97

7

Lefty Gomez

Yankees

15-5

3.74

0

Dutch Leonard

Senators

18-13

3.45

0

Ted Lyons

White Sox

12-10

3.70

0

Spud Chandler

Yankees

10-04

3.19

4

                       

 

 

Then compared to their teams, we get:

Dutch Leonard

Above

 

 

 

Thornton Lee

Above

 

 

 

Al Benton

Above

 

 

 

Bob Muncrief

Browns

13-9

3.65

1

Phil Marchildon

Athletics

10-15

3.57

0

Bob Feller

Above

 

 

 

Jack Knott

Athletics

13-11

4.40

0

Sid Hudson

Senators

13-14

3.46

0

Denny Galehouse

Browns

09-10

3.64

0

Charlie Wagner

Red Sox

12-08

3.07

0

 

 

Combining the numbers and crunching them gives a final top ten ranking of:

                                                            Thornton Lee    4th in MVP

                                                            Dutch Leonard 20th in MVP

                                                            Bob Feller         3rd in MVP         

                                                            Al Benton          19th in MVP (tied)

                                                            Johnny Murphy  no votes

                                                            Red Ruffing       25th in MVP

                                                            Sid Hudson        no votes

                                                            Charlie Wagner  no votes

                                                            Ted Lyons          15th in MVP (tied)                     

                                                            Marius Russo      no votes

 

 

Now looking at the National League pitchers, the top performers:

Elmer Riddle

Reds

19-4

2.24

1

Whit Wyatt

Dodgers

22-10

2.34

1

Ernie White

Cardinals

17-7

2.40

2

Bucky Walters

Reds

19-15

2.83

2

Johnny Vander Meer

Reds

16-13

2.82

0

Curt Davis

Dodgers

13-7

2.97

2

Max Butcher

Pirates

17-12

3.05

0

Kirby Higbe

Dodgers

22-9

3.14

3

Lon Warneke

Cardinals

17-9

3.15

0

Paul Derringer

Reds

12/14/16

3.31

1

 

And against their team averages, we get this list:

Elmer Riddle

Above

 

 

 

Ted Hughes

Phillies

9-14

4.45

0

Johnny Podganjy

Phillies

9-12

4.62

0

Max Butcher

Above

 

 

 

Hal Schumacher

Giants

12-10

3.36

1

Claude Passeau

Cubs

14-14

3.35

0

Whit Wyatt

Above

 

 

 

Bucky Walters

Above

 

 

 

Jim Tobin

Braves

12-12

3.10

0

Cy Blanton

Phillies

6-13

4.51

0

 

 

Combining, we get these top pitching performers in the National League:

                                                            Elmer Riddle                 5th in MVP

                                                            Whit Wyatt                    3rd in MVP

                                                            Ernie White                   6th in MVP

                                                            Bob Muncrief                 no votes

                                                            Bucky Walters                28th in MVP

                                                            Max Butcher                  no votes

                                                            Johnny Vander Meer      no votes

                                                            Hal Schumacher no votes

                                                            Claude Passeau              no votes

                                                            Jim Tobin                      21st in MVP (tie)

 

Okay, so now onto the offensive rankings.

 

We will build excitement by highlighting the National League first. Overall rankings, including Runs Created per Game (R/G) rankings:

Player

Team

HR

RBI

AVG

R/G

Pete Reiser

Dodgers

14

76

.343

1.31

Joe Medwick

Dodgers

18

88

.318

1.28

Dolph Camili

Dodgers

34

120

.285

1.19

Johnny Mize

Cardinals

16

100

.317

1.20

Enos Slaughter

Cardinals

13

76

.311

1.19

Terry Moore

Cardinals

6

68

.294

1.21

Mel Ott

Giants

27

90

.286

1.03

Elbie Fletcher

Pirates

11

74

.288

1.05

Babe Young

Giants

25

104

.265

1.11

Cookie Lavagetto

Dodgers

1

78

.277

1.15

 

 

And against their teams, we get:

Nick Etten

Phillies

14

79

.311

0.95

Danny Litwhiler

Phillies

18

66

.305

0.79

Johnny Mize

Above

 

 

 

 

Mel Ott

Above

 

 

 

 

Babe Young

Above

 

 

 

 

Pete Reiser

Above

 

 

 

 

Enos Slaughter

Above

 

 

 

 

Frank McCormick

Reds

17

97

.269

1.02

Dom Dallessandro

Cubs

6

85

.272

1.09

Stan Hack

Cubs

7

45

.317

0.99

 

 

So, getting to our overall rankings, our top ten National League hitters were:

                                    Pete Reiser                    2nd in MVP

                                    Johnny Mize                  9th in MVP

                                    Joe Medwick                 no votes

                                    Dolph Camili                 NL NVP

                                    Enos Slaughter               19th in MVP (tied)

                                    Nick Etten                     28th in MVP (tied)

                                    Mel Ott                         19th in MVP (tied)

                                    Babe Young                   21st in MVP (tied)

                                    Elbie Fletcher                14th in MVP

                                    Dom Dallessandro          no votes

                                   

 

Now before we get to the American League, a little background may be needed.

 

Most people know that in 1941 twenty-three-year-old Ted Williams, in just his third big league season, was the last player to hit .400. And most should know that he was at .3999 going into the last day of the season. And that he could have sat out and had his average rounded to .400. And that he played both games of a doubleheader (yes youngsters, a star playing in both games of a doubleheader, one game right after the other, not one of these newfangled day/night deals. AND since the Yankees had clinched the league title a week before, both games of the twin-bill were essentially meaningless). And that he went 6 for 8 to finish the season at .406.

Teddy Ballgame’s batting average was .143 points higher than the major league average, and 52.6% greater than the AL combined league average. His stat line was .406/.735/.553 against the AL’s .266/.389/.341.

With all that, he was not voted the Most Valuable Player that season. 

Joe DiMaggio was.

 

Williams finished second to DiMaggio. There were 24 voters then, DiMaggio got 15 first place votes, and Williams got 8.

Travesty? Maybe. The Yankees did win the pennant that year by 17 games, so maybe the reasoning for DiMaggio winning the popularity contest.

Or was it the publicity all season. Remember that summer, DiMaggio captivated the nation with his 56-game hitting streak. So that may have carried him to the MVP, being the one thing that everyone talked about.

It is also known that Williams was not a fan of the sportswriters, nor were they fans of him. And since they were the ones that had the vote, many voted against him for one reason or another.

Looking further at the Yankees and Red Sox from 1941, both stars had a fairly good supporting cast, advantage Ted Williams on that front. Williams also had a lineup that featured future Hall of Famers Jimmie Foxx, Joe Cronin, and Bobby Doerr, with support from Jim Tabor. While DiMaggio's lineup featured a vastly underrated Charlie Keller and Hall of Famers Bill Dickey and Joe Gordon.

 

The Yankees had five different players score more than 100 runs in 1941(Joe DiMaggio, Charlie Keller, Joe Gordon, Red Rolfe, and Tommy Heinrich), while the Red Sox had just two (Ted Williams and Dom DiMaggio).

 

The argument could then be made as the Most VALUABLE Player, DiMaggio did more for the Yankees. Joe was responsible for 15.2% of the Red Sox' runs that year, compared to Teddy Ballgame's 14.6%.

 

But there is another player whom you probably are not familiar with, who had an extremely good season for a team that did not finish in the money. Jeff Heath. He finished 8th in the MVP voting that year, but offensively had a very, very productive season. Quite possibly, his numbers may have won him an award in any other season of that decade, but as it was, he had the 5th best raw number that season, comparing his number to the league average.

 


Let's delve into those raw numbers first:

Ted Williams

Red Sox

37

120

.406

1.52

Joe DiMaggio

Yankees

30

125

.357

1.56

Charlie Keller

Yankees

33

122

.298

1.36

Cecil Travis

Senators

7

101

.359

1.32

Jeff Heath

Indians

24

123

.341

1.25

Jimmie Foxx

Red Sox

19

105

.300

1.28

Sam Chapman

Athletics

25

106

.322

1.24

Joe Cronin

Red Sox

16

95

.311

1.24

Bob Johnson

Athletics

22

107

.275

1.23

Roy Cullenbine

Browns

9

98

.317

1.15

 

And then against their teams, we get:

Jeff Heath

Above

 

 

 

 

Joe DiMaggio

Above

 

 

 

 

Ted Williams

Above

 

 

 

 

Taffy Wright

White Sox

10

97

.322

1.16

Cecil Travis

Above

 

 

 

 

Sam Chapman

Above

 

 

 

 

Charlie Keller

Above

 

 

 

 

Bob Johnson

Above

 

 

 

 

Rudy York

Tigers

27

111

.259

1.13

Luke Appling

White Sox

1

57

.314

0.97

 


In crunching the numbers, the final rankings come in as follows:

 

                                                Ted Williams                  2nd in MVP

                                                Joe DiMaggio                 AL MVP

                                                Charlie Keller                5th in MPV

                                                Jeff Heath                     8th in MVP

                                                Cecil Travis                    6th in MVP         

                                                Sam Chapman                12th in MVP

                                                Jimmie Foxx                  no votes

                                                Taffy Wright                   25th in MVP (tied)

                                                Bob Johnson                  no votes

                                                Joe Cronin                     11th in MVP

                                               

  So it goes back to one's interpretation of the term "Most Valuable" player. Williams had by far the best season, but didn't make the post-season. DiMaggio  had a great season as well, and did play in October, but would the Yankees have made it without his help? And where would the second place Red Sox have finished without Williams in the middle of their lineup every day?    



This is where the debates rage on. In my opinion, Williams was the player of the year, beyond a doubt. But was he most valuable? With apologies to Mr. DiMaggio, I believe so.                 

 

 To sum up, if I were to have voted in 1941, and I was voting for Pitcher and Player of the league for each league, my votes would have been:

 NATIONAL LEAGUE


 

Elmer Riddle

NL player of the year

 


 

Pete Reiser

NL Offensive Player of the Year

 

Whit Wyatt

Johnny Mize

Joe Medwick

 

AMERICAN LEAGUE


 

Ted Williams

AL Player of the Year

 

Joe DiMaggio



Thornton Lee

AL Pitcher of the Year

 

Charlie Keller

Jeff Heath