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1954 A broken ankle and the most famous out…

The 1954 baseball season stands out for many reasons. The mighty New York Yankees, who had won every American League pennant since 1949, missed out in 1954. In fact, they were in the midst of a period of sixteen years, where the pennant eluded them just twice. Interestingly enough, the two years that they did not win, 1954 and 1959, manager Al Lopez won the pennant.

The Yankees from 1949 through 1953 averaged 97 wins each season, with their 99 wins in 1953 being their highest total during that span. Between 1949 and 1958, the Yankees only won 100 games once. Unfortunately, that was in 1954, where Al Lopez led his Indians to a remarkable 111-win season, which left the Yankees 103 wins finishing in 2^nd place, 8 games behind the winners.

The last Series before this in which the Yankees were not a participant, was the 1948 Series, which is the last World Series won by the Indians, over the Boston Braves.

The Indians faced the New York Giants in the World Series. It would be the Giants first appearance in the Fall Classic since 1951, when Bobby Thomson’s homer in a playoff game to defeat the Dodgers, would send them to face the Yankees that October.

Thomson was born in Scotland and grew up in Staten Island, NY, and was called “The Staten Island Scot”. He played eight years for the Giants, after giving three years to military service, had a comfortable career in New York. He was a three time All-Star, and finished in the top 20 in the MVP vote twice.

But before the 1954 season, he was traded to the Milwaukee Braves, along with catcher Sam Calderone in exchange for Pitchers Johnny Antonelli and Don Liddle, infielder Bobby Klaus, catcher Ebba St. Claire and a sum of cash.

The Milwaukee Braves had just finished setting a new National League attendance record, having been relocated from Boston, and they were rightfully excited to get the All-Star Thomson into their line-up. (For the record, the Braves would set a new attendance record in 1954)

But fate would step in, in the form of a broken ankle early in spring training making room for a young shortstop/outfielder named Henry Aaron to earn a roster spot. Young Henry, who would soon be called “Hammerin’ Hank” went on to have a pretty decent career in his own right.

But getting back to the Giants, who had their own stellar youngster in their outfield by the name of Willie Mays.

Willie was a natural talent, who was perfect for New York at the time. He was rarely seen without a smile on his face. He played hard, and was very popular with the fans, especially the youngsters. He was known to play stickball with the neighborhood kids in Harlem, close to where the Polo Grounds were. He was said the be able to hit the ball ‘five or six sewers’, which in New York stickball vernacular would measure four to five city blocks.

In 1954, after missing most of 1952 and all of 1953 to military duties, Willie won the National League MVP award, after leading the Giants to 97 wins and the NL pennant.

It is during that 1954 World Series where Willie’s spotlight shone brightly.

In game one, played at the Polo Grounds, Indians slugger Vic Wertz stepped to the plate. Wertz, who had been acquired from the Orioles during the season, was playing in his first World Series game, and was doing very well. He was 4-4 in the top of the eighth of a 2-2 game. Runners on 1^st and second. Wertz connected and hit a long drive to center-field, about four hundred-twenty feet. Unfortunately for him, the centerfield fence at the Polo Grounds was four hundred-eighty-three feet away. Also, even though he was playing shallow…Mays turned and bolted towards the wall. Not looking up for the last twenty feet or so, Mays made an over-the-shoulder catch, much to everyone’s amazement. Then he turned and fired the ball back into second base.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bLt2xKaNH0

It is probably the most famous out in World Series history.

The runners, Larry Doby and Al Rosen had to scamper back to their bases, with Doby able to tag up and reach third. By throwing behind Doby, Mays’ throw kept Rosen from advancing. Neither of them scored. The Giants would then win the game in the bottom of the tenth, when Dusty Rhodes hit a three-run pinch-hit homer off of Bob Lemon to give them the 5-2 victory.

They (baseball guys and gals) still talk about “The Catch” In most reverent terms. Many, like myself, have seen it hundreds of times, and it is still remarkable. In fact, when I typed Willie Mays into the YouTube search bar, the term "Willie Mays Catch" was the first option.

To me, the throw after the catch is even more amazing. But I read something about the catch that I have shared before, and will do so again.

Monte Irvin, who was in left-field that day, and had played with Wille for a while, claims that he new Willie was going to make that catch all along. According to Irvin, when Willie was going to make a catch, he would tap the pocket of his glove twice, and the catch was made without fail. If you watch the video closely, you can see Willie tap it twice as he’s running, and then makes the great catch, hat falling off as usual. Then he turns and makes that throw, which unfortunately, is lost to time.

But here we are, some seventy years later, and we measure Willie Mays’ greatness with hard numbers…660HR, 1909 RBI, .301 AVG, 24 All-Star games, 12 Gold Gloves…and one film clip of an incredible catch.

Both pennants were won pretty easily. I mentioned the Indians finishing eight games ahead of the Yankees. The Giants, and their 97 victories, finished five games ahead of their crosstown rival Dodgers. The Indians won 111 games, which bettered the infamous 1927 Murderer’s Row Yankees, who many consider the greatest team ever.

Off the field, but still baseball related, retired Yankee great Joe DiMaggio married screen star Marilyn Monroe, in one of the most famous marriages of the decade. They divorced after less than a year of marriage, but there was no doubt that Joe truly loved Marilyn. It has been reported that he paid for roses to be delivered to her grave every week until his death.

I have a good source that was a colleague of DiMaggio, and they told ma the Joe was a jovial fellow, meeting fans and posing for photos on nights out. But as soon as someone mentioned Marilyn, his demeanor would change, and he would shut down, and become sullen. His nights out would end shortly afterwards.

But on to baseball. Let’s look at how the top performing teams fared, first in offense:

National League	American League
Cardinals	Yankees
Dodgers	Indians
Redlegs	White Sox

(The Cincinnati club was called the Redlegs from 1953-1958)

And in pitching, we have:

Giants	Indians
Braves	Yankees
Dodgers	White Sox

And our final ‘Power Number’ or top overall rankings were:

Indians	American League Champion
White Sox	3^rd in AL
Giants	Worlds Serie Champion
Braves	3^rd in NL
Dodgers	2^nd in NL

Items of note from the 1954 baseball season…

Chicago Cubs manager Phil Cavaretta, in a frank discussion with owner Phillip Wrigley, admitted the team was not very good, and would not finish any higher than fifth place. Wrigley fired him, and replaced him with Stan Hack, who had a better outlook. The team finished in seventh place.

Phil Cavaretta

Stan Hack

Players were no longer allowed to leave their gloves on the field between innings, something that had been going on since the teens.

The St. Louis Browns franchise moved to Baltimore for the 1954 season. Because of that move, and the complicated territorial rights of the National Baseball Association, the previously named Baltimore Orioles franchise was transferred to Richmond, Virginia, and were renamed the Virginians.

Also on the move were the Chicago Cubs affiliate Newark Bears moved to Havana Cuba to become the Sugar Kings.

The St. Louis Cardinals had been sold to the Anheuser-Busch Company, in a deal that included Sportsman’s Park, which was renamed Busch Stadium. Browns owner Bill Veeck, whose teams struggled with attendance issues, decided to sell and move the team.

Willie Mays homered in 1^st official at bat in five straight games, first time that has ever been done.

Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves hit four home runs in a game against the Brooklyn Dodgers, just the third National Leaguer to accomplish this in the modern era.

Indians second baseman Bobby Avila led the American League in batting, and had the second lowest career batting average of a league leader, .281. Now he is fourth.

Teammate Billy Glynn exploded for three homers in a game, but finished the season with five altogether, which was the lowest amount until Dan Johnson of the White Sox hit all three of his season’s homer in the same game.

Cardinals’ legend Stan Musial had a day to remember, when he hit five homers over the course of a doubleheader against the Giants. It has only been done one more time, by slugger Nate Colbert of the San Diego Padres in 1972, against the Braves. Colbert broke Musial’s record with 21 total bases in the twin-bill.

A statistical oddity is the fact that young Nate was at that doubleheader in St. Louis to watch Musial accomplish his feat.

The Brooklyn Dodgers signed Roberto Clemente to a contract. This was still ten or so years before the baseball player draft, so teams had scouts all over the country, as well as over the borders, to find talent. Clemente was discovered in Puerto Rico, and the Dodgers beat the Yankees, Giants and Braves for his services, which would be short lived.

Any player signed to a contract of $4,000 or more, was thought of as a “Bonus Baby”, and the rules stipulated that these players were to me a part of the 25-man roster for two seasons, od they would be eligible to be drafted. Clemente signed for $10,000.

The Dodgers decided to ‘hide’ him in Montreal where they assigned him to the Royals. There is a story that has not been able to be substantiated that says the Dodgers instructed their manager to use Clemente sparingly, but the Royals manager Max Macon has denied it.

He did appear in 87 games for the Royals in 1954, with just 1 outfield assist in limited playing time. His batting average was an unremarkable .257.

The shy nineteen-year-old, who struggled with a language barrier, was greatly helped by bi-lingual teammates Tommy Lasorda and Joe Black.

Interestingly, it was Joe Black that the Pirates were interested in, and former Dodger manager Clyde Sukeforth saw Clemente and saw the raw talent he possessed. Sukeforth was the initial go-between between Jackie Robinson and Branch Rickey, as they planned to break the color-line. He was Jackie’s first manager in the major leagues, managing him for the first two games of the 1947 season before turning the reigns over to Burt Shotton.

Clemente was drafted by the Pirates after the 1954 season, and went on to play eighteen seasons for Pittsburgh, becoming a legend along the way.

Speaking of Bonus Babies, U.S. Senator Herman Welker of Idaho, had a conversation with Clark Griffith who owned the Washington team, about a young ballplayer that was batting over .800 for a semi-pro team. Griffith was intrigued and sent his chief scout, former big leaguer Ossie Bulge, to check him out.

Bluege watched the young man, who used to play ball at the Walter Johnson Memorial Field, and agreed that the raw talent was there, and outbid the Boston Red Sox for his services.

Harmon Killebrew would go on to have a Hall of Fame career as a pretty potent slugger, finishing with 573 home runs, which placed him in fourth place on the all-time list at the time. He was a multiple All-Star, multiple home run champion and 1696 American League Most Valuable Player.

He also holds the record for the most career homeruns by someone from Idaho.

On June 17, the Baltimore Orioles and the Boston Red Sox, the teams with the two worst records in the American League, played in a seventeen-inning contest. Baltimore squeaked out an 8-7 victory.

On August 18^th White Sox pitcher Jack Harshaw battled Tigers pitcher Al Aber to pitcher’s duel, with Aber losing it 1-0 in 16 innings. Both pitchers earned complete games. The White Sox won after Minnie Minoso hit a triple to drive in Nellie Fox.

Al Aber, who took the loss, had a rare 1 for 7 day at the plate as the starting pitcher.

Speaking of Nellie Fox, both he and Harvey Keunn of the Tigers had 200 hits or more, but less than forty extra-base-hits. It is the only time that had been done by two players in the same season.

Cincinnati first-baseman Ted Kluszewski became (are you ready or this one?) just the second player with ten letters in their last name to hit 40 homers in a season. He finished with 49 homers, but struck out just 35 times.

Detroit Tigers Bonus Baby (from 1953) Al Kaline became just the second teenager to hit a Grand Slam home run. The first was Eddie Onslow of those same Tigers in 1912. Harmon Killebrew would become the third later in the season.

Washington slugger Roy Sievers set the record for the lowest batting average (.232) to drive in 100 runs in a season. That has since been beaten by Tony Armas in 1983, and Carlos Pena in 2009.

Ted Williams earned more walks than hits, 136-133. It was the eighth time in American League history that a qualifying batter has done that. Max Bishop accomplished it 5 times. Roy Cullenbine and Eddie Joost also accomplished it.

Yankees catcher Yogi Berra won his first of two consecutive Most Valuable Player Awards. He is still the only catcher to have done this.

Teammate Bob Grim remains the last AL rookie to win twenty-games in a season.

And the Yankees established a new record by using 262 pinch-hitters over the course of the season. The pinch-hitters finished with a .292 overall average.

Phillie pitcher Robin Roberts had a rare season where he led the national League in wins (23) for a losing team (75-79)

Dodger rookie pitcher Karl Spooner is the last National League rookie to pitch a shutout in his first two major league starts. Tom Phoebus of the 1966 Orioles is the last in the AL.

The Giants outfield helped out pitcher Ruben Gomez by starting three double plays in what would turn out to be a 1-0 victory over the Braves. Willie Mays started one, and Don Mueller started the other two.

In the minor leagues…

The All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, there were just five teams remaining. The bases had been moved to be eighty-five feet apart now, and the fences had been shortened. As a result, the league combined to hit 408 homers, which was three times as many as were hit in 1953.

Joanne Weaver of the Fort Wayne Daisies led the league in batting for the third consecutive season. She finished with a .429 average and also set the single season record by slugging 29 homers, and she stole 79 bases for good measure. But her Daisies lost the league Championship to the Kalamazoo Lassies.

In the Eastern League, Roberto Vargas of the Reading Indians, pitched a one-hitter to earn a 1-0 victory over Paul Penson of the Schenectady Blue Jays, A Phillies affiliate. Penson pitched a two-hitter in taking the disappointing loss.

In the Pacific Coast League, Allen Gettel of the Oakland Oaks faced Bob Hall of the Hollywood Stars in a twenty-one-inning marathon. The Oaks earned a 5-1 victory but both pitchers went all the way.

In the South Atlantic League, Detroit native Joe Carolan purchased a ticket to a game in Columbus, and was able to talk his way into a quick tryout. He had some prior minor league experience. He passed the tryout, and signed a contract with the Cardinals an hour before the game, and then hit a grand-slam home run in his first at-bat against the Macon Peaches (Cubs affiliate).

That great start didn’t translate into stardom, as he finished the season with a .231 average.

In the Alabama Florida League, Robert Berry of the Graceville Oilers hit 17 triples, but oddly enough, only 11 doubles on his way to a .311 season for his fourth-place team, who would eventually win their league championship.

In the California League, Ray Perry of the Bakersfield Indians (Dodger’s affiliate) led the league in homers. It was his seventh consecutive home run title, across three leagues. 1953-54 California League, 1952 Cotton States League and 1948-51 Far West League.

Also in the California League, Bob Rivich of the Stockton Ports (Cub’s affiliate) drove in all 11 runs in a game against Bakersfield, a game won by the Ports 11-3. Rivich broke the record originally set by “Wimpy” Quinn of Bakersfield in 1949.

Oh, Rivich only played five innings of his game.

In the Mississippi Ohio Valley league, Luis Herrera of the Decatur Commodores struck out nineteen batters in a game against the Mattoon Phillies.

In the Georgia Florida League, Johnny Scroggs of the Waycross Bears pitched a no-hitter against the Thomasville Dodgers, winning 3-0. It was Scroggs first professional start.

In the Appalachian League, the Welch Miners (A’s affiliate) turned a triple play in two consecutive innings in a game against the Johnson City Cardinals.

For the Asheville Tourists, the Dodgers affiliate of the Tri-State League, groundskeeper Bud Shaney was pressed into action, and pitched 5 innings against the Knoxville Smokies, earing the 223^rd win of his long minor league career.

Shaney began his career in 1922 for the Independence Producers of the Southwestern League. He would pitch in one more game, in 1955 before retiring for good.

In the Piedmont League, the Hagerstown Packets, a Washington affiliate, made nine consecutive hits to start the game, scoring eight runs against the Lancaster Red Roses, a Phillies affiliate. Hagerstown would hold on to win the game 11-10 in ten innings.

And in the Western League, future Hall of Famer Earl Weaver would hit .283 for the Denver Bears, a Pirates affiliate, scoring 124 runs in the process.

Albany Cardinals pitcher Bill Knox led the minor leagues with a 1.80 ERA for the Cards affiliate in the Georgia Florida League.

The Arizona-Texas League was an offensive juggernaut, with each of the eight teams accumulating a batting average over .290.

Ricardo Garza of the Mexicali Eagles, a Cardinals affiliate in the Arizona-Texas League walked 160 times.

The runs leaders in that league were Garza with 169, Earl Smith of the Phoenix Reds 183, and Kenneth Toothman of Phoenix with a minor-league leading 193 runs scored.

Joe Bauman of the Roswell Rockets of the Longhorn league had a season for the ages. He batted an even .400 with 72 homers, 188 runs scored and an unrivaled 224 Runs Batted In.

Neal Cobb of the Crestview Braves in the Alabama Florida League led pro baseball with a .432 average, while his teammate Fred Williams finished at .403.

Lenardo Rodriguez of the Cananea Mineros of the Arizona Texas League led that loop with a .430 average. William Dossen of the Texas City-Thibodeaux Pilots of the Evangeline league hit .410 and Donald Stokes of the Plainview Ponies of the West Texas/New Mexico League hit .405 to round out the top minor league hitters.

Jaspers Spears of the Asheville Tourists of the Tri State League hit 24 triples, followed by Nelson Daehn of the Temple Eagles of the Big State League (23) Bobby Smith of the Fresno Cardinals in the California League (22), John Creighton of the Lancaster Red Roses the A’s affiliate of the Piedmont League (21), Eduardo Cruz of the Juarez Indios in the Arizona Texas League and James Henderson of the Carlsbad Potashers on the Longhorn League (20 each).

Runs Batted in leaders, after Bauman were Earl Smith of the Phoenix Stars (195) and Claudio Solano of the Cananea Mineros (188) both of the Arizona-Texas League, Dean Stafford (171) of the Galveston White Caps of the Big State League and Bob Lennon (161) of the Nashville Volunteers, a Giants affiliate of the Southern Association.

And behind Bauman in the home run race were Frank Gaviano (56) of the Fargo-Moorhead Twins, a Cleveland affiliate of the Northern League, and Bob Lennon of (64) Nashville.

Floyd Faust, of the Brunswick Pirates led the Georgia-Florida League with 76 stolen bases. But the minor league champion was Dave Mann of the York White Roses, an Orioles affiliate of the Piedmont league stole 88 bases. He set a new Piedmont League record, bettering Warren Butts who stole 87 in 1916, Despite his thefts, Mann only managed to score 99 runs.

Bob Thorpe, of the Stockton Ports in the California League won 28 games. Whammy Douglas of the Brunswick Pirates in the Georgia-Florida League won 27, and Pete Treece of the Rock Hill Chiefs, a Washington affiliate of the Tri-State league won 26 games to lead the minors in wins.

Kenneth Hommell of the Ogden Reds in the Pioneer League struck out 277 batters, which would lead pro ball in most seasons, but Herb Score of the Indianapolis Indians of the American Association struck out 330 batters, and that was 122 strikeouts more than the league runner-up Sam Jones, his teammate, who finished with 208.

Anyway, back to the major leagues, where we will look at the National League hitters, who performed 6.6% better than the American League batters. Our initial top ten performers were:

Batter	Team	HR	RBI	AVG	RCG
Duke Snider	Dodgers	40	130	.341	1.41
Stan Musial	Cardinals	35	126	.330	1.38
Ted Kluszewski	Cincinnati	49	141	.326	1.32
Willie Mays	Giants	41	110	.345	1.25
Gil Hodges	Dodgers	40	130	.304	1.26
Eddie Mathews	Braves	40	106	.290	1.15
Hank Sauer	Cubs	41	103	.288	1.13
Gus Bell	Cincinnati	17	101	.299	1.23
Pee Wee Reese	Dodgers	10	69	.309	1.11
Red Schoendienst	Cardinals	5	79	.315	1.16

Then comparing performances to their team’s totals, we get this top ten list:

Stan Musial	Above
Ted Kluszewski	Above
Eddie Mathews	Above
Willie Mays	Above
Duke Snider	Above
Frank Thomas	Pirates	23	94	.298	0.99
Hank Sauer	Above
Gil Hodges	Above
Joe Adcock	Brewers	23	87	.308	1.03
Gus Bell	Above

So, our overall top ranked National League hitters were:

Stan Musial	6^th in MVP vote
Duke Snider	4^th in MVP vote
Ted Kluszewski	2^nd in MVP vote
Willie Mays	National League MVP
Eddie Mathews	19^th in MVP vote (tied)
Gil Hodges	10^th in MVP vote
Hank Sauer	26^th in MVP vote
Gus Bell	No votes
Frant Thomas	13^th in MVP vote (tied)
Red Schoendienst	13^th in MVP vote (tied)

For the American League, our initial top performers were:

Ted Williams	Red Sox	29	89	.345	1.31
Minnie Minoso	White Sox	19	116	.320	1.41
Yogi Berra	Yankees	22	125	.307	1.26
Mickey Mantle	Yankees	27	102	.300	1.40
Larry Doby	Indians	32	126	.272	1.21
Jackie Jensen	Red Sox	25	117	.276	1.21
Al Rosen	Indians	24	102	.300	1.12
Bobby Avila	Indians	15	67	.341	1.15
Mickey Vernon	Washington	20	97	.290	1.11
Al Smith	Indians	11	50	.281	1.07

And against their team’s performances, we get this list:

Ted Williams	Above
Minnie Minoso	Above
Cal Abrams	Orioles	6	27	.293	0.75
Gus Zernial	A’s	14	62	.250	0.93
Mickey Vernon	Above
Ray Boone	Tigers	20	85	.295	0.95
Jackie Jensen	Above
Yogi Berra	Above
Mickey Mantle	Above
Rot Sievers	Washington	24	102	.232	1.06

And their overall combined top ten list is:

Ted Williams	7^th in MVP vote
Minnie Minoso	4^th in MVP vote
Yogi Berra	American League MVP
Mickey Mantle	15^th in MVP vote (tied)
Jackie Jensen	14^th in MVP vote
Larry Doby	2^nd in MVP vote
Al Rosen	15^th in MVP vote (tied)
Bobby Avila	3^rd in MVP vote
Mickey Vernon	9^th in MVP vote (tied)
Roy Sievers	26^th in MVP vote (tied)

Now for the pitching, looking at the National League first, our initial top performers were:

Pitcher	Team	W-L	ERA	SV
Johnny Antonelli	Giants	21-7	2.30	2
Robin Roberts	Phillies	23-15	2.97	4
Warren Spahn	Braves	21-12	3.14	2
Gene Conley	Braves	14-9	2.96	0
Curt Simmons	Phillies	14-15	2.81	1
Hoyt Wilhelm	Giants	12-4	2.10	7
Lew Burdette	Braves	15-14	2.76	0
Marv Grissom	Giants	10-7	2.35	17
Dave Jolly	Braves	11-6	2.43	10
Ruben Gomez	Giants	17-9	2.88	0

Then compared to their team’s numbers, we get this list:

Dick Littlefield	Pirates	10-11	3.60	0
Robin Roberts	Above
Harvey Haddix	Cardinals	18-13	3.57	4
Frank Smith	Cincinnati	5-8	2.67	20
Howie Pollett	Cubs	8-10	3.58	0
Bob Rush	Cubs	13-15	3.77	0
Brooks Lawrence	Cardinals	15-6	3.74	1
Curt Simmons	Above
Jim Davis	Cubs	11-7	3.52	4
Paul Minner	Cubs	11-11	3.96	1

It should be noted that Dick Littlefield came over from Baltimore in a trade for Cal Abrams on May 25^th. These stats are for his time with the Pirates only.

So, our overall top National League pitchers were:

Johnny Antonelli	3^rd in MVP vote
Robin Roberts	7^th in MVP vote
Warren Spahn	11^th in MVP vote
Dick Littlefield	No votes
Curt Simmons	No votes
Gene Conley	23^rd in MVP vote,3^rd in Rookie of the Year
Frank Smith	No votes
Harvey Haddix	No votes
Lew Burdette	No votes
Hoyt Wilhelm	1th in MVP vote

At this point, there was no Cy Young Award for pitchers. Also remember that Johnny Antonelli joined the Giants for the 1954 season, after a trade with the Milwaukee Braves.

For the American League, where the pitchers held a7.4% statistical advantage over the hitters, and a 7.1% advantage over the National League pitchers, we get this initial list:

Bob Lemon	Indians	23-7	2.72	0
Early Wynn	Indians	23-11	2.73	3
Bob Feller	Indians	13-3	3.09	0
Steve Gromek	Tigers	18-16	2.74	1
Mike Garcia	Indians	19-18	2.64	6
Virgil Trucks	White Sox	19-12	2.79	3
Sandy Consuegra	White Sox	16-3	2.69	4
Whitey Ford	Yankees	16-8	2.82	1
Bob Grim	Yankees	20-6	3.26	1
Bob Keegan	White Sox	16-9	3.09	2

It is easy to see how the Indians fared well in league play, with 4 of the top five pitchers on this list, accounting for 78 wins. An article on CBSsports.com ranks the 1954 Indians rotation as the #5 rotation of all time. Garcia led the league in Earned Run Average, while Lemon and Wynn finished third and fourth.

So looking now at the top pitchers against their team’s performances, we get this list:

Moe Burtschy	A’s	5-4	3.80	4
Arnie Portocarrero	A’s	9-18	4.06	0
Duane Pillette	Orioles	10-14	3.12	0
Steve Gromek	Above
Ned Garver	Tigers	14-11	2.91	1
Johnny Schmitz	Washington	11-8	2.91	1
Joe Coleman	Orioles	13-17	3.50	0
Frank Sullivan	Red Sox	15-12	3.14	1
Bob Turley	Orioles	14-15	3.46	0
Dean Stone	Washington	12-10	3.22	0

So that brings our top American League pitchers to:

Bob Lemon	5^th in MVP vote
Early Wynn	6^th in MVP vote
Bob Feller	No votes
Ned Garver	No votes
Virgil Trucks	12^th in MVP vote (tied)
Steve Gromek	26^th in MVP vote (tied)
Mike Garcia	19^th in MVP vote (tied)
Sandy Conseugra	No votes
Duane Pillette	No votes
Johnny Schmitz	No votes