BBTF's Hall of Merit Discussion :: Most Meritorious Player: 1949 Discussion

Hall of Merit
— A Look at Baseball's All-Time Best

Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Most Meritorious Player: 1949 Discussion

The Yankees took the pennant from the Red Sox and beat the Dodgers in the World Series.

Vote for 10.

Player			SH WS		BBR WAR
Stan Musial		40.7		9.2
Ted Williams		39.8		9.1
Jackie Robinson		37.2		9.6
Eddie Joost		35.3		6.9
Ralph Kiner		36.6		8.1
Vern Stephens		31.9		6.9
Pee Wee Reese		32.4		7.0
Enos Slaughter		30.1		6.2
Bob Elliott		23.4		5.2
Bobby Thomson		25.6		6.2
Bobby Doerr		24.9		5.4
Cass Michaels		22.5		5.3
Roy Campanella		23.2		4.4
George Kell		24.6		4.8
Andy Seminick		18.4		3.5
Johnny Pesky		23.5		4.0
Joe DiMaggio		20.7		4.4
Dom DiMaggio		23.7		3.5
Eddie Stanky		21.4		4.1
Red Schoendienst	21.2		3.4
Elmer Valo		24.4		4.3
Tommy Henrich		24.5		4.2
Del Ennis		27.1		5.4
Luke Appling		18.8		5.0
Hoot Evers		18.0		3.0
Vic Wertz		23.4		3.3
Duke Snider		23.8		5.2
Willard Marshall	18.0		4.4
Carl Furillo		21.9		4.8
Phil Rizzuto		22.5		2.9
Yogi Berra		21.5		2.6
Larry Doby		23.8		3.8
Sam Chapman		23.3		3.6
	
Hank Thompson		10.4 		2.2 (.296/.447/.565 in minors)
Wes Westrum		6.3		1.2 (.308/.438/.657 in minors)
Monte Irvin		1.6		0.2 (.373/.519/.642 in minors)
Luke Easter		0.3		-0.3 (.363/.460/.722 in minors)
Minnie Minoso 		0.1		-0.1 (.297/.371/.483 in minors)
Al Rosen		0.3		-0.5 (.319/.410/.524 in minors)
Artie Wilson		.348/.410/.409 in minors

Pitcher			SH WS		BBR WAR
Mel Parnell		30.7		8.3
Bob Lemon		29.9		7.1
Virgil Trucks		27.3		6.3
Howie Pollet		22.9		6.6
Hal Newhouser		23.8		5.7
Ken Heintzelman		22.4		6.1
Dale Koslo		18.1		6.0
Don Newcombe		19.8		5.8
Warren Spahn		22.8		5.6
Preacher Roe		19.2		5.5
Fred Hutchinson		18.2		4.6
Russ Meyer		19.6		4.1
Ken Raffensberger	20.3		5.3
Murry Dickson		18.4		5.0
Mike Garcia		20.4		4.9
Ellis Kinder		23.6		4.4
Bill Wight		18.0		3.5
Ned Garver		13.5		4.3
Harry Brecheen		16.8		3.6
Vic Raschi		18.8		3.1
Robin Roberts		16.8		3.1
Ed Lopat		16.1		3.2
Gerry Staley		16.8		4.2

Joe Page		18.4		4.2

DL from MN Posted: November 28, 2018 at 12:33 PM | 9 comment(s) Login to Bookmark
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1. DL from MN Posted: November 28, 2018 at 12:46 PM (#5791839)

1949 Prelim

Should be an interesting year. I could see Ted, Stan and Jackie all receiving the top spot. One thing I noticed when looking up data on baseball gauge is this year was the peak for walk rate in the history of MLB.

1) Stan Musial - Great bat but it is his glovework that makes the difference
2) Ted Williams - Higher standard deviations in run scoring in the AL versus the NL (0.913 v 0.953) but still the best bat
3) Jackie Robinson - Closer to #5 than to #2
4) Mel Parnell - 315 innings with good run prevention
5) Eddie Joost - similar value at the plate to Robinson, better defensive value. They are very close
6) Ralph Kiner - 2nd best bat but below average glove
7) Bob Lemon - good hitting helps him make the list
8) Vern Stephens
9) Pee Wee Reese
10) Virgil Trucks - not good at the plate

11-15) Enos Slaughter, Howie Pollet, Ken Heintzelman, Dave Koslo, Hal Newhouser,
16-20) Bob Elliott, Bobby Thomson, Bobby Doerr, Don Newcombe, Preacher Roe

Campanella is in the next group and his glove only rates as average which surprises me.

2. Carl Goetz Posted: November 28, 2018 at 03:49 PM (#5791938)

I use a custom WAR on Baseball Gauge with 70/30 DRA/TZ split and 75/25 RA9/FIP split.
1) Jackie Robinson
2) Ted Williams
3) Stan Musial
4) Mel Parnell
5) Ralph Kiner
6) Enos Slaughter
7) Vern stephens
8) Peewee Reese
9) Bobby Thomson
10) Bob Lemon

11-15) Howie Pollet, Eddie Joost, Virgil Trucks, Don Newcombe, Roy Campanella
16-20) Cass Michaels, Elmer Valo, Dave Koslo, Hal Newhouser, Luke Appling

3. DL from MN Posted: November 29, 2018 at 10:41 AM (#5792143)

One thing I didn't mention above is Don Newcombe pitched an additional 34 innings in the minor leagues before he became the best pitcher on the Dodgers roster. He pitched well enough in Montreal to debut in 1948 for the Dodgers but informal quotas were almost certainly holding him back. This is also the same reason he repeated "B" level Nashua - the Dodgers AA farm team in Fort Worth, Texas was not integrated. 34 more innings would add 14% more playing time to his numbers and that slides him up to #13 on my list before I look at his postseason work. He also led the league in strikeout rate so I would anticipate the FIP WAR calculators will like him.

4. DL from MN Posted: December 11, 2018 at 04:18 PM (#5796820)

1949 World Series

Player Name G AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO BA OBP SLG OPS SB CS E WPA
Yogi Berra 4 16 2 1 0 0 0 1 1 3 .063 .118 .063 .180 0 0 0 -0.29
Joe DiMaggio 5 18 2 2 0 0 1 2 3 5 .111 .238 .278 .516 0 0 0 -0.17
Tommy Henrich 5 19 4 5 0 0 1 1 3 0 .263 .364 .421 .785 0 0 0 0.09
Phil Rizzuto 5 18 2 3 0 0 0 1 3 1 .167 .286 .167 .452 1 0 0 -0.12

Roy Campanella 5 15 2 4 1 0 1 2 3 1 .267 .389 .533 .922 0 0 0 -0.11
Carl Furillo 3 8 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 .125 .222 .125 .347 0 0 0 -0.09
Pee Wee Reese 5 19 2 6 1 0 1 2 1 0 .316 .381 .526 .907 1 0 1 0.12
Jackie Robinson 5 16 2 3 1 0 0 2 4 2 .188 .350 .250 .600 0 0 1 -0.28
Duke Snider 5 21 2 3 1 0 0 0 0 8 .143 .143 .190 .333 0 0 0 -0.57

Pitcher Name G GS ERA W L SV CG IP H R ER BB SO WHIP WPA
Eddie Lopat 1 1 6.35 1 0 0 0 5.2 9 4 4 1 4 1.765 0.00
Joe Page 3 0 2.00 1 0 1 0 9.0 6 2 2 3 8 1.000 0.66
Vic Raschi 2 2 4.30 1 1 0 0 14.2 15 7 7 5 11 1.364 0.43

Don Newcombe 2 2 3.09 0 2 0 1 11.2 10 4 4 3 11 1.114 0.06
Preacher Roe 1 1 0.00 1 0 0 1 9.0 6 0 0 0 3 0.667 0.86

5. DL from MN Posted: December 14, 2018 at 10:04 AM (#5797752)

I'm not exactly sure how WPA works but a catcher with a 922 OPS is not a negative contributor.

6. Qufini Posted: December 20, 2018 at 10:32 AM (#5799459)

1949 Prelim Ballot

1. Ted Williams, LF, Boston Red Sox: 191 OPS+ and 180 RC are 43 and 52 pts better than 2nd place in the AL
2. Jackie Robinson, 2B, Brooklyn Dodgers: would have loved to vote him first but the numbers just aren't there to displace Ted
3. Stan Musial, LF/CF, St. Louis Cardinals: 177 OPS+ is 2nd in NL, 167 RC are 1st
4. Ralph Kiner, LF, Pittsburgh Pirates: 186 OPS+ is 1st in NL, 156 RC are 2nd; the difference between Stan and Ralph are the partial CF bonus for Stan and -4 fielding for Ralph
5. Vern Stephens, SS, Boston Red Sox: a career year with 137 OPS+ and +10 fielding at short
6. Mel Parnell, P, Boston Red Sox: best pitcher in MLB with 158 ERA+ in 295 IP
7. Eddie Joost, SS, Philadelphia Athletics: another career year for a SS with a 137 OPS+ and +6 fielding
8. Virgil Trucks, P, Detroit Tigers: 148 ERA+ in 275 IP
9. Warren Spahn, P, Boston Braves: 302 IP leads MLB; 124 ERA+ is tied for 10th in NL
10. Bobby Doerr, 2B, Boston Red Sox: the fourth BoSox player on the list with 127 OPS+ and +11 fielding at the keystone

11. Bob Lemon, P, Cleveland Indians
12. Hal Newhouser, P, Detroit Tigers
13. Don Newcombe, P, Brooklyn Dodgers: minor league credit makes him the 2nd best pitcher in the NL
14. Enos Slaughter, RF, St. Louis Cardinals
15. Sid Gordon, 3B, New York Giants
16. Pee Wee Reese, SS, Brooklyn Dodgers
17. Bobby Thomson, CF, New York Giants
18. Roy Campanella, C, Brooklyn Dodgers
19. George Kell, 3B, Detroit Tigers
20. Cass Michaels, 2B, Chicago White Sox: I don't think I'd ever heard of Cass before looking up this year's numbers

7. progrockfan Posted: December 21, 2018 at 07:54 PM (#5800050)

1949 Prelim:

1. Jackie Robinson - 1949 WAR leader and the top 5-tool player in MLB, with small-ball skills that transformed the game

2. Stan Musial - less pure offense than Williams, but far superior defense

3. Ted Williams - a ridiculous offensive season that would rank #1 in many years

4. Roy Campanella - defense defense defense; led in games, innings, putouts, caught stealing %, range factor/G & range factor/9, with 131 OPS+ as a bonus; I see him even with Jackie as MLB's top defender for '49

5. Mel Parnell - top MLB pitcher, led AL in both ERA & innings: an invaluable combination

6. Eddie Joost - brilliant plate selectivity and great middle-infield defense

7. Vern Stephens - a remarkable display of power from the SS position

8. Warren Spahn - the Eddie Collins of pitchers; yet another in a seemingly endless succession of premium-value seasons

9. Ralph Kiner - plenty of stick; would rank 4 slots higher with better defense

10. Don Newcombe - a touch of AAA credit factors into his making my ballot

Next 5: Pee Wee Reese, Larry Doby, Virgil Trucks, Enos Slaughter, Bobby Doerr

8. DL from MN Posted: December 22, 2018 at 08:02 AM (#5800097)

Where are you finding the catcher defense numbers for Campanella?

9. progrockfan Posted: December 22, 2018 at 10:58 AM (#5800113)

Where are you finding the catcher defense numbers for Campanella?

Baseball Reference. I also have a large personal database of statistics relating to Campy's career.

In addition to the leaderboad stats I cited in my ballot, Campy was second in assists and third in caught stealing as a raw number (though his reputation was severely suppressing baserunning attempts against him). Campy was by far MLB's elite defensive catcher at this time. You'll hear more about Campy from me presently. ;)

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Wednesday, November 28, 2018

Most Meritorious Player: 1949 Discussion

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