4th MMP ballot mention for Roberts, Mathews, Spahn, Musial, Berra and Robinson. Rosen's 3rd time on a ballot.

14 is the record for fewest players mentioned on an MMP ballot. My best player without a vote is Ted Kluszewski. Virgil Trucks is my best pitcher without a vote.

Campanella's tie for 3rd matches his 1951 standing and he joins Bench (2nd 1970, 3rd 1974) and Gary Carter (2nd 1982, 3rd 1984) as catchers with multiple top 3 finishes. Buster Posey (2012), Darrell Porter (1979) and Yogi Berra (1950) have had 2nd place finishes. No catcher has ever won the MMP.

Al Rosen joins Mike Schmidt, Wade Boggs and George Brett as 3B to win an MMP award.

Congratulations to Al Rosen! Rosen is the first member of the Cleveland Indians to win the MMP Award. He is the second player from Cleveland to win the AL MMP (Gaylord Perry won in 1972 and '74) as well as the second Indian to be named the top AL position player following Larry Doby last year. Rosen also joins the short list of MMP winners who are not in the Hall of Merit (Rizzuto, Guidry, Lynn, Canseco and the still active Mike Trout).

Congratulations to Robin Roberts, who is the NL MMP and the pitching MMP for 1953. This is Roberts' first NL MMP and his second pitching MMP (he also won the pitching award in 1951). This makes the 3rd straight year that a Philly pitcher has won the latter award, though Shantz won it in '52 with the Athletics of the American League.

Roberts joins an illustrious list of multiple pitching MMPs that includes Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, fellow Phillie Steve Carlton, Dave Stieb and Roger Clemens. He also joins an elite list of pitchers to win the NL MMP that features Koufax, Gibson, Seaver, Carlton, Dwight Gooden and Mike Scott.

Finally, this marks Robin Roberts' third straight season winning the NL pitching MMP, tying Bob Gibson's record for consecutive awards.

Congratulations to Eddie Mathews! Mathews is the NL's MMP among position players. Mathews is only the second Brave to receive this award as his teammate Hank Aaron won it for 1961 and '63. Mathews is also the 3rd third baseman to win the award, joining Ron Santo ('67) and Mike Schmidt (7x).

Chris - Mathews tied Campanella for 3rd

Thanks for the heads up, DL. I had missed that.

Congratulations as well to Roy Campanella! This is our second tie at the top of the ballot for a major award, joining the Niekro/Perry tie for the pitching MMP in 1974. Campanella is the second Dodger to be named top position player following Jackie Robinson ('51 and '52). As you noted above, he's also the 4th Catcher to win the award, joining Johnny Bench ('70 and '72), Gary Carter ('82) and Buster Posey ('12).

Finally, congratulations to Billy Pierce! EricC summed it well on his ballot when he wrote "Billy Pierce. Just edges Trucks as top AL pitcher." Pierce received two 10th place votes to sneak onto the results table but he barely beat out Trucks as our AL pitching MMP. 5 voters had Pierce 1st; 5 preferred Virgil Trucks and 2 went with relief ace Ellis Kinder. Pierce won out based on second place votes as Kinder stole some of Trucks' thunder.

MMPs by franchise:

Red Sox (4): Yastrzemski ('67, '70), Lynn ('79), Boggs ('86)

Yankees (3): Rizzuto ('50), Mantle ('61), Guidry ('78)
Dodgers (3): J Robinson ('51, '52), Koufax ('63)
Giants (3): Mays ('62, '64, '65)
Orioles (3): F Robinson ('66), Ripken ('83, '84)
Phillies (3): Carlton ('72), Schmidt ('74, '81)
Reds (3): Morgan ('73, '75, '76)

Athletics (2): R Jackson ('69), Canseco ('88)
Mets (2): Seaver ('71), Gooden ('85)
Angels (2): Trout ('12, '13)

Indians (1): Rosen ('53)
Cardinals (1): Gibson ('68)
Twins (1): Carew ('77)
Royals (1): Brett ('80)
Brewers (1): Yount ('82)
Tigers (1): Trammell ('87)

Rosen also joins the short list of MMP winners who are not in the Hall of Merit (Rizzuto, Guidry, Lynn, Canseco and the still active Mike Trout).

Funny thing about that list. Canseco and Rizzuto have each appeared on only one ballot so far - the one they won. Trout has appeared on two ballots and won both of them. Fred Lynn and Ron Guidry each appeared on one other ballot besides the year they won.

Funny thing about that list. Canseco and Rizzuto have each appeared on only one ballot so far - the one they won.

I wondered if that had to do with our chronological cutoffs. Our earliest award so far is for 1950- and that's the year Rizzuto won so we're missing much of his career. Our latest award, not including the ones we voted for in real time, is for 1988- and that's the year Canseco won so we're missing a big chunk of his career. But looking at their career records, I think it will probably stay that way. Rizzuto's next best year is 1942 when he had 5.7 WAR on 21 runs fielding and a 103 OPS+. But a similar season in '52 wasn't enough to get him onto a ballot (5.3 WAR, 19 runs fielding, 103 OPS+) so he looks doubtful. Canseco had two more big years with the bat in 1990 and '91 but they aren't as big as '88 and his defense declines precipitously. He makes the top ten in offense-only WAR for both seasons but tops out at 9th in 1990 when you factor in defense- and that's not including pitchers or the other league.

Made a mistake, looked at Klu's 1954 numbers. My best position player without a vote is Ray Boone.

Hi, guys. It seems you did a great job of putting together a real list of 1953 MMPs without me! Congrats, thanks, I agree with your opinions of Rosen and pretty much the whole list.

Last Saturday, May 3. I thought I had come down with food poisoning, but it lasted for 6 hours, so I went to the hospital. It was pancreatitis. Worse, I don't drink or smoke, so it wasn't caused by those things, which were the doctor's first two guesses.

It was his third guess. My gall bladder died, infecting the pancreas in the process. I now have no gall bladder, although the pancreas should recover fully in a couple of weeks.

By the time the hospital had figured out what it was and done the surgery, it was today, which is Thursday, May 8. I've been home about 3 hours, and am OK so far, although drained by several days of no calories, just clear fluids. Since I can eat pretty much anything except fats now, I should recover if I don't insult the pancreas too hard in the process and go diabetic. I should be fine for 1954.

Thanks for the kind comments in the ballot thread! See you next "year!" - Brock Hanke

Glad you're on the mend, Brock!

Grandma - Thanks! And, although this is probably the oddest request ever to be made in a MMP thread, could you go over to the All-Star Baseball Yahoo Group, and ask one of the moderators there to send me an email (bjhanke@aol.com) telling me how to log myself back onto the group under my own group name? I've apparently completely forgotten how. Nothing I tried has worked. Thanks in advance, Brock.

Just curious Brock - how would you have voted on Campanella/Mathews and Pierce/Trucks?

Grandma - Thanks! And, although this is probably the oddest request ever to be made in a MMP thread, could you go over to the All-Star Baseball Yahoo Group, and ask one of the moderators there to send me an email (bjhanke@aol.com) telling me how to log myself back onto the group under my own group name? I've apparently completely forgotten how. Nothing I tried has worked. Thanks in advance, Brock.

Is All-Star Baseball the actual name of the group, Brock? I can't find a listing among the groups at Yahoo!

Grndma - I think it's CADACO All-Star Baseball. I thought you were in the group.... - Brock

DL - I'd have had Campy #6 and Eddie #3, so Eddie over the catcher. I don't tend to give serious catcher bonuses in this specific MMP project. Catcher bonuses are a combination of how much quality of play gets lost to the demands of the position, and how much playing time the catcher loses. The problem is that, in any individual year, the top catchers will have played what would count as full seasons for any position, not just for a catcher. A catcher who can't do that for the season won't get close enough to rank. In career projections, I give catchers much more bonus, because they do miss playing time. But the one-year sample size collapses that, leaving me with only one issue to factor in. Here in 1953, Yogi's postseason bonus is worth more than anyone's playing time bonus - or, rather, the playing time bonus for anyone who would actually get considered.

I would not have voted for either Pierce or Trucks, but I would give a small advantage to Virgil. Trucks rates higher according to both Win Shares and WAR, so it would be a pretty clear decision.

BTW, Yogi would have been near the in/out line, based on the postseason credit. Remember, I'm being very circumspect about making adjustments to the consensus rankings of the systems. In 1953, I recognize the name of every man who scored a single vote, but I saw NONE of them, except Musial, in 1953 per se, and I only got to see Stan in highlight video. In 1954, I will have seen many of the strong contenders, and "only" have to adjust for the enthusiasms of a 6-year-old enthusiasm, and lack of perspective. - Brock

Grndma - I think it's CADACO All-Star Baseball. I thought you were in the group.... - Brock

No, I'm not, Brock. Guess I can't help you then. ;-)

Grandma - I found the Yahoo Group for Cadaco All-Star Baseball, after fighting with Yahoo for a while. It turned out that the problem was my very old browser. Yahoo no longer recognized my login ID or password. I managed to fix that and get back in the group. Thanks for putting up with my request when I clearly have the memory of your being in the group wrong.

Also, gall bladder removal does not turn out to be so bad. It's actually considered an ELECTIVE surgery for some people. It just takes a week to get enough calories and fluids back in your system for you to start feeling human. I'm pretty much back to being me. Thanks for everyone's concern! - Brock

Grandma - I found the Yahoo Group for Cadaco All-Star Baseball, after fighting with Yahoo for a while. It turned out that the problem was my very old browser. Yahoo no longer recognized my login ID or password. I managed to fix that and get back in the group. Thanks for putting up with my request when I clearly have the memory of your being in the group wrong.

Not a problem, Brock. Glad you got the browser (and, more importantly, your gall bladder :-) fixed.

Grandma - Yeah. Just as soon as I can drive, I can fix the browser issue with a new computer in a day or two. The gall bladder would require me years of surgery training to try to do myself. - Brock