The 1951 season was very exciting. The Baltimore Orioles won the Mathewson Division. Led by Carl Furillo .318-19-97, Duke Snider .282-32-125 and Andy Pafko .289-49-136. Mike Garcia 17-11 3.85 and Vic Raschi 15-9 4.57 on the mound. As well as an excellent defense in the field. Only 119 errors in 162 games.
The Cleveland Indians won the Cobb Division in a three way battle which included the Yankees and the Cardinals. The Indians went into battle with Richie Ashburn .329-9-61 124 runs, MVP Roy Campanella .347-44-137 and Sid Gordon .307-48-134. On the mound they had Ned Garver 21-14 3.75, Preacher Roe 20-11 3.87 and also Bubba Church who won 19 games despite an ERA of 4.85. Ted Wilkes 2-1 3.00 saved 26 games for the Tribe. The Yankees ended up winning the Wild Card race by one game.
New York was led by Cy Young Winner Saul Rogovin 22-8 3.00, Sam Zoldak 12-7 2.84, and Allie Reynolds 18-11 3.12. Frank Smith won the Reliever of the Year Award with 88 pts. He had 34 saves to lead the league. Outstanding offensive players also included Jackie Robinson .345-22-107, Monte Irvin .326-23-109, Puddin Head Jones .288-30-92, Yogi Berra .280-36-119, and Luke Easter .266-29-101. The Yankees were also very strong on defense. They were the only team in the same class as Baltimore with the glove. The made only 118 errors in 162 games.
1951 Batting Stats sorted by OB+SLUG include only those with 502 Plate Appearances. The 1951 season turned out to be a very offensive season. Gil Hodges DEA and Ralph Kiner PHA embarked on a Homerun race to the end. Hodges finished on top with 61 homers. Kiner finished with 57. However, Kiner had a much better season all around. He batted .315 to Hodges .288. Kiner's OB+SLUG was 1.121 and Hodges was .976. The fact that Detroit and Philadelphia finished next to last and last respectively in the Mathewson Division did not escape the MVP voters. Roy Campanella of the Cobb Division Champs Cleveland Indians won the MVP Award. He batted .347, drove in 137 runs and hit 44 homers. His OB+SLG was 1.040. He also was a tremendous defensive player. His -3 arm prevented most baserunners from even trying to steal.
1951 Pitching Stats are sorted by Wins.
1951 Relief Pitching Stats sorted by Points.
1951 Playoffs: Baltimore faced New York in the first round. The series was very even with Baltimore pitching slightly better and winning the Wild Card Series 4-3. The Orioles went on to face the Cleveland Indians who had a bye into the WRL Championship Cup Series.
1951 Championship Cup Series: Baltimore stormed into Cleveland and proceeded to thrash the Indians 4-1. Andy Pafko, series MVP, hit .529 with 3 homers in the 5 games to lead the Orioles. Duke Snider added 3 homers as well. Baltimore also brought the arms and had only a 3.27 ERA. Cleveland pitchers had a 4.40 ERA.
1952
Top three draft picks were Eddie Mathews Cubs (Giants), Hoyt Wilhelm BOA and Jackie Jensen PHA. The White Sox and Yankees took their divisions easily this year. The White Sox defeated the Wild Card Tigers to move to the Championship Cup Series with the Yankees. The underdog White Sox with first year owner Billy won the WRL CC in 7 games. Musial batted .357 and hit 3 homers 10 RBIs. Harvy Haddix appeared in 4 games and saved 2 of them to help Chicago secure the Championship. The White Sox got a second monster year in a row from Stan Musial. His performance of .330 26 120 earned him the WRL MVP award for 1952. The Yankees improved on their wild card finish in 51 with Yogi Berra .283-40-123 and Frank Smith 1.50 24 saves, Allie Reynolds 19-11 2.61, Saul Rogovin 19-11 3.37, and Jim Hearn 18-5 3.94. Mike Garcia BAL 22-9 3.06 and Warren Spahn BKN 20-12 4.05 were the only 20 game winners. Satchell Paige won the ERA title at 14-5 2.41. Dutch Leonard saved 31 games and won the Reliever of the Year award with 95 pts. Andy Pafko edged Musial for the Batting Title .331 to .330. Hank Sauer h led the league with 52 homers and 143 RBIs.
1952 Batting Stats
1952 Pitching Stats
1952 Relief Stats
1952 Playoffs
1952 Championship Cup
