1942 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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The 1942 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

The 1942 season was the first season played while the U.S. was engaged in World War II. Although some high-profile players were already in the Armed Forces - most notably Hall-of-Famers Hank Greenberg and Bob Feller - the 1942 season was not affected by war nearly to the extent that the next three seasons would be.

The Best of 1942

I calculate Player won-lost records two ways: pWins, which tie to team wins and eWins, which control for context and the ability of one's teammates. For players with more pWins than eWins, their Player wins contributed to more team wins than one might expect; for players with more eWins than pWins, just the opposite is true: their Player wins translated into fewer team wins than expected. Or more briefly: a player with more pWins than eWins was better in context, a player with more eWins than pWins was worse in context.

The top 10 players in pWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		pWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						pWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
1	Ted Williams	28.3	16.5	4.8	6.6	1	Ted Williams	28.3	16.5	4.8	6.6
2	Joe DiMaggio	25.4	17.0	3.9	5.6	2	Joe DiMaggio	25.4	17.0	3.9	5.6
3	Dolph Camilli	22.5	12.8	3.9	5.3	3	Enos Slaughter	26.1	17.2	3.6	5.3
4	Joe Gordon	22.6	15.4	3.8	5.3	4	Joe Gordon	22.6	15.4	3.8	5.3
5	Mort Cooper	18.0	11.5	3.7	4.9	5	Dolph Camilli	22.5	12.8	3.9	5.3
6	Enos Slaughter	26.1	17.2	3.6	5.3	6	Mort Cooper	18.0	11.5	3.7	4.9
7	Tex Hughson	17.0	11.3	3.3	4.4	7	Charlie Keller	24.6	16.2	3.2	4.9
8	Johnny Mize	20.8	12.3	3.3	4.6	8	Johnny Mize	20.8	12.3	3.3	4.6
9	Charlie Keller	24.6	16.2	3.2	4.9	9	Pete Reiser	20.4	13.5	3.2	4.5
10	Pete Reiser	20.4	13.5	3.2	4.5	10	Tex Hughson	17.0	11.3	3.3	4.4

The top 10 players in eWins above Positional Average and Replacement Level were as follows.

		eWins over Positional Average Top 10 Players						eWins over Replacement Level Top 10 Players
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL		Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
1	Ted Williams	27.9	17.0	4.3	6.1	1	Ted Williams	27.9	17.0	4.3	6.1
2	Mel Ott	23.4	16.2	2.9	4.4	2	Mel Ott	23.4	16.2	2.9	4.4
3	Joe DiMaggio	24.2	18.2	2.7	4.4	3	Joe DiMaggio	24.2	18.2	2.7	4.4
4	Charlie Keller	24.0	16.7	2.7	4.3	4	Charlie Keller	24.0	16.7	2.7	4.3
5	Johnny Mize	20.0	13.1	2.5	3.8	5	Enos Slaughter	24.9	18.4	2.4	4.2
6	Joe Gordon	21.2	16.7	2.5	4.0	6	Joe Gordon	21.2	16.7	2.5	4.0
7	Enos Slaughter	24.9	18.4	2.4	4.2	7	Johnny Mize	20.0	13.1	2.5	3.8
8	Mort Cooper	16.6	12.8	2.4	3.6	8	Mort Cooper	16.6	12.8	2.4	3.6
9	Pete Reiser	19.1	14.8	1.9	3.3	9	Bill Nicholson	24.1	19.1	1.7	3.5
10	Bobby Doerr	21.2	17.8	1.9	3.4	10	Bobby Doerr	21.2	17.8	1.9	3.4

Ted Williams

The best player in major-league baseball in 1942 in all four of the above tables was Ted Williams. Ted Williams won the American League Triple Crown in 1942. In fact, Ted Williams led the Amerian League in pretty much every key offensive statistic: batting average (.356), on-base percentage (.499), slugging percentage (.648), OPS (1.147), home runs (36), RBI (137), runs scored (141), walks (145), and total bases (338).

Ted Williams's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is shown next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ted Williams Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1939	BOS	20	149	24.8	17.3	0.590	3.0	4.7	23.9	18.2	0.568	2.0	3.8
1940	BOS	21	144	22.9	17.3	0.570	2.0	3.6	23.1	17.1	0.575	2.2	3.8
1941	BOS	22	143	24.4	16.4	0.597	3.3	5.1	25.4	15.4	0.623	4.3	6.1
1942	BOS	23	150	28.3	16.5	0.632	4.8	6.6	27.9	17.0	0.621	4.3	6.1
1946	BOS	27	150	28.4	15.5	0.646	5.5	7.2	27.9	16.0	0.635	5.0	6.7
1947	BOS	28	156	27.0	18.0	0.600	3.4	5.2	27.6	17.5	0.612	4.0	5.8
1948	BOS	29	137	25.6	15.6	0.621	4.1	5.7	24.8	16.4	0.601	3.3	4.9
1949	BOS	30	155	26.7	17.3	0.608	3.6	5.3	26.5	17.5	0.602	3.3	5.0
1950	BOS	31	89	14.1	11.1	0.560	1.1	2.1	14.6	10.5	0.582	1.6	2.6
1951	BOS	32	148	24.1	19.0	0.559	1.6	3.3	24.5	18.6	0.568	2.0	3.7
1952	BOS	33	6	0.9	0.2	0.788	0.3	0.4	0.8	0.3	0.734	0.3	0.3
1953	BOS	34	37	5.8	3.0	0.663	1.3	1.7	5.6	3.2	0.641	1.1	1.5
1954	BOS	35	117	18.8	13.0	0.591	2.4	3.7	19.4	12.4	0.610	3.0	4.3
1955	BOS	36	98	16.2	10.4	0.610	2.5	3.6	16.1	10.5	0.605	2.4	3.5
1956	BOS	37	136	17.9	12.8	0.583	1.9	3.2	18.1	12.6	0.589	2.1	3.4
1957	BOS	38	132	20.9	13.9	0.601	2.4	3.9	21.5	13.3	0.618	3.0	4.5
1958	BOS	39	129	17.8	15.0	0.543	0.5	1.8	18.5	14.4	0.562	1.1	2.4
1959	BOS	40	103	10.3	9.4	0.522	0.2	1.0	10.0	9.7	0.508	-0.1	0.7
1960	BOS	41	112	14.0	11.5	0.550	0.7	1.7	14.6	10.9	0.573	1.3	2.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,291	368.9	253.1	0.593	44.4	69.7	370.7	251.4	0.596	46.1	71.4
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			7	0.7	0.9	0.468		-0.0	0.9	1.0	0.480		-0.0
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			2,298	369.7	254.0	0.593		69.6	371.5	252.4	0.596		71.4

Joe Gordon

You might think that leading the league in batting average, home runs, RBI, runs scored, and total bases - not even getting into walks, on-base percentage, slugging percentage and OPS - would be enough to be an easy choice for American League MVP. Alas, not so much. In fact, Ted Williams won the Triple Crown twice and did not win the MVP award either time.

The American League MVP was Yankees' second baseman Joe Gordon, who batted .322/.409/.491 with 18 home runs, 103 RBI, and 88 runs scored, all of which pale in comparison to Williams. To be fair, Gordon was also an excellent defensive second baseman and shows up prominently in all four of the above tables.

Joe Gordon's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is shown next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Joe Gordon Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1938	NYA	23	127	18.7	14.7	0.559	2.0	3.4	18.1	15.3	0.542	1.5	2.8
1939	NYA	24	151	23.1	17.0	0.577	3.1	4.8	21.5	18.5	0.538	1.6	3.2
1940	NYA	25	155	22.1	18.4	0.545	1.9	3.6	22.7	17.8	0.562	2.6	4.2
1941	NYA	26	156	21.2	16.3	0.565	2.5	4.1	20.2	17.3	0.538	1.5	3.1
1942	NYA	27	147	22.6	15.4	0.595	3.8	5.3	21.2	16.7	0.559	2.5	4.0
1943	NYA	28	152	20.4	17.3	0.541	1.6	3.0	20.2	17.5	0.537	1.5	2.9
1946	NYA	31	112	12.8	12.6	0.504	0.2	1.2	12.4	12.9	0.489	-0.2	0.8
1947	CLE	32	155	21.4	16.7	0.563	3.0	4.5	21.4	16.7	0.562	2.9	4.4
1948	CLE	33	144	22.3	16.0	0.582	3.3	4.8	21.2	17.0	0.555	2.3	3.8
1949	CLE	34	148	19.5	17.0	0.534	1.2	2.7	19.1	17.3	0.524	0.9	2.3
1950	CLE	35	119	12.6	11.4	0.525	0.7	1.7	12.2	11.8	0.509	0.3	1.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,566	216.5	172.7	0.556	23.5	39.1	210.4	178.9	0.540	17.3	33.0
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			29	4.2	3.2	0.565		0.8	3.9	3.7	0.513		0.4
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,595	220.7	175.9	0.556		39.9	214.2	182.5	0.540		33.4

Mort Cooper

There was no Cy Young award yet in 1942, so it was a bit more common for pitchers in win MVP awards. And the winner of the 1942 National League MVP was a pitcher, Mort Cooper, on the strength of a league-leading 22 wins, a league-best 1.78 ERA, as well as league leads in shutouts (10) and WHIP (0.987). As measured by Player won-lost records, Cooper was the best pitcher in baseball, and has a defensible case as the NL MVP (no National League player is ahead of him in all four above tables).

The 1942 season was the first of three straight 20-win seasons by Cooper. From 1942 - 1944, he had a traditional won-lost record of 65-22 with a 2.17 ERA in 805 innings pitched. Cooper's career was fairly short but he certainly had his moments, many of them in 1942.

Mort Cooper's career record, as measured by Player won-lost records, is shown next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Mort Cooper Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1938	SLN	25	4	1.6	1.1	0.577	0.2	0.4	1.3	1.4	0.487	-0.0	0.1
1939	SLN	26	47	12.6	10.7	0.540	1.3	2.4	11.8	11.5	0.505	0.4	1.6
1940	SLN	27	38	13.9	13.5	0.508	0.6	1.8	13.5	13.9	0.493	0.2	1.4
1941	SLN	28	29	11.4	11.3	0.501	0.4	1.4	10.9	11.7	0.483	-0.0	1.0
1942	SLN	29	37	18.0	11.5	0.610	3.7	4.9	16.6	12.8	0.565	2.4	3.6
1943	SLN	30	37	17.6	12.2	0.591	3.1	4.4	16.6	13.3	0.555	2.1	3.4
1944	SLN	31	34	17.0	10.7	0.613	3.5	4.7	15.2	12.5	0.548	1.8	3.0
+– 1945		32	24	5.8	5.5	0.514	0.3	0.9	6.0	5.3	0.530	0.5	1.0
	BSN		20	4.5	4.7	0.491	0.0	0.5	4.9	4.4	0.528	0.4	0.8
	SLN		4	1.3	0.8	0.613	0.3	0.4	1.1	1.0	0.539	0.1	0.2
1946	BSN	33	28	12.6	12.0	0.513	0.7	1.9	12.9	11.7	0.525	1.0	2.1
+– 1947		34	18	4.8	6.8	0.414	-0.8	-0.4	5.6	6.0	0.483	-0.0	0.4
	BSN		10	2.8	3.6	0.437	-0.3	-0.1	3.2	3.1	0.505	0.1	0.4
	NY1		8	2.0	3.2	0.386	-0.5	-0.3	2.4	2.8	0.456	-0.1	0.1
1949	CHN	36	1	0.0	0.3	0.018	-0.2	-0.1	0.0	0.3	0.000	-0.2	-0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			297	115.2	95.7	0.546	12.9	22.3	110.4	100.5	0.524	8.1	17.5
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			6	3.1	3.0	0.504		0.4	2.9	2.7	0.515		0.4
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			303	118.3	98.7	0.546		22.7	113.3	103.2	0.524		17.9

1942 Postseason

The 1942 season saw three teams win over 100 games. Back in the days when there was nothing but a World Series, this meant tough luck for the 104-win Brooklyn Dodgers. Instead, the World Series matched the 106-win St. Louis Cardinals against the 103-win New York Yankees, with the Cardinals winning in five games.

The top performances of the 1942 World Series, as measured by Player won-lost records, are presented in the next table.

	1942 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Ernie White	SLN	1.0	0.2	0.5
Enos Slaughter	SLN	1.2	0.5	0.4
Whitey Kurowski	SLN	0.9	0.5	0.3
Johnny Beazley	SLN	1.2	0.9	0.3

Best of 1942 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players in (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) eWins over Positional Average in various aspects of the game. The numbers in this section have all been normalized to extrapolate player games for which I am missing play-by-play data. As above, this adjustment is based on individual player games for which I have play-by-play data.

Best by Factor: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, Fielding

There are four basic factors for which players earn Player won-lost records: Batting, Baserunning, Pitching, and Fielding. The top players in 1942 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ted Williams	19.1	9.4	4.5

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
George Case	2.7	1.8	0.4

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Mort Cooper	13.7	10.2	3.5
Tiny Bonham	11.0	8.5	2.5

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Claude Passeau	0.8	0.4	0.4

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Al Lopez	1.3	0.8	0.4
Mickey Owen	1.8	1.3	0.4

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
George McQuinn	2.9	2.4	0.5

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Lonny Frey	6.1	5.0	1.2

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Ken Keltner	6.6	5.5	1.1

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Johnny Pesky	7.6	6.5	1.0

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Indian Bob Johnson	7.1	6.3	0.7

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Dom DiMaggio	7.8	5.6	2.2

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Enos Slaughter	6.2	5.6	0.6

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1942 Major-League leaders in eWOPA by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position, and include no contextual adjustments (expected or actual).

	Catcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ernie Lombardi	9.7	7.6	1.4

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Johnny Mize	18.1	11.9	2.2

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Joe Gordon	20.7	16.7	2.2

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Stan Hack	20.3	17.0	1.3

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Johnny Pesky	22.0	19.2	1.7

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ted Williams	26.6	17.0	3.7

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Joe DiMaggio	23.3	17.8	2.4

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Mel Ott	23.0	16.4	2.6

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Mort Cooper	14.2	10.1	2.0

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Hugh Casey	4.9	3.9	0.5

For relief pitchers, context-neutral records may not be the best measure of how good they are, as context can matter a great deal, depending on how a pitcher is used. Here are the top relief pitchers of 1942 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1942, based on pWORL
Hugh Casey	6.5	4.4	0.599	1.2	1.9
Howie Krist	6.6	4.4	0.600	1.3	1.8
Murry Dickson	6.0	4.4	0.575	0.9	1.5
Harry Feldman	5.4	4.8	0.529	0.5	1.0
Joe Beggs	4.2	3.7	0.531	0.3	0.8

Finally, here are the best at three oft-forgotten positions that can nevertheless matter: pitcher offense, pinch hitting, and pinch running.

	Pitcher Offense
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Jim Tobin	2.9	2.3	1.0

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Lew Riggs	0.9	0.5	0.2
Ned Harris	0.6	0.3	0.2
Don Ross	0.8	0.5	0.2
Wally Judnich	0.4	0.1	0.2

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Oscar Grimes	0.2	0.0	0.1

Notable Debuts

One player debuted in 1942 who went on to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Warren Spahn.

This article concludes with the career record of Warren Spahn, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Warren Spahn Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1942	BSN	21	4	0.5	1.1	0.307	-0.3	-0.2	0.6	0.9	0.393	-0.1	-0.1
1946	BSN	25	24	7.9	6.3	0.555	1.0	1.7	7.5	6.7	0.527	0.6	1.3
1947	BSN	26	41	21.3	13.9	0.605	4.2	5.7	20.1	15.1	0.572	3.1	4.5
1948	BSN	27	37	17.3	13.5	0.561	2.4	3.7	16.8	14.1	0.543	1.8	3.1
1949	BSN	28	40	21.1	17.4	0.548	2.4	3.9	19.9	18.5	0.518	1.3	2.7
1950	BSN	29	41	19.5	19.3	0.502	0.7	2.4	20.5	18.2	0.530	1.8	3.5
1951	BSN	30	42	22.1	15.8	0.584	3.7	5.3	20.9	16.9	0.553	2.5	4.1
1952	BSN	31	52	17.9	17.1	0.512	0.9	2.5	18.8	16.1	0.539	1.9	3.5
1953	MLN	32	38	20.0	12.3	0.620	4.5	5.8	18.7	13.6	0.579	3.2	4.5
1954	MLN	33	41	19.9	15.1	0.569	3.0	4.6	18.8	16.2	0.537	1.9	3.5
1955	MLN	34	40	17.3	14.5	0.543	1.8	3.1	16.7	15.1	0.526	1.3	2.5
1956	MLN	35	39	18.5	14.6	0.560	2.5	4.0	18.5	14.6	0.559	2.5	4.0
1957	MLN	36	39	17.9	14.2	0.557	2.3	3.5	16.8	15.3	0.523	1.2	2.5
1958	MLN	37	41	18.6	15.5	0.545	2.2	3.5	18.5	15.6	0.542	2.1	3.4
1959	MLN	38	40	18.8	15.7	0.546	2.2	3.7	18.7	15.8	0.542	2.1	3.5
1960	MLN	39	40	19.0	15.0	0.558	2.6	4.0	17.7	16.3	0.521	1.3	2.7
1961	MLN	40	39	19.4	15.0	0.563	2.8	4.2	18.7	15.7	0.543	2.2	3.5
1962	MLN	41	36	17.2	16.0	0.518	1.2	2.6	18.0	15.2	0.543	2.0	3.4
1963	MLN	42	33	19.6	13.5	0.592	3.7	5.1	17.3	15.7	0.524	1.4	2.9
1964	MLN	43	39	9.0	13.0	0.408	-1.7	-0.5	9.3	12.7	0.421	-1.4	-0.3
+– 1965		44	37	11.4	14.8	0.436	-1.3	-0.1	11.2	15.0	0.426	-1.6	-0.4
	NYN		21	7.9	10.9	0.421	-1.2	-0.4	7.7	11.0	0.411	-1.4	-0.6
	SFN		16	3.5	3.9	0.473	-0.1	0.2	3.4	4.0	0.464	-0.2	0.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			783	353.9	293.4	0.547	40.8	68.5	344.0	303.3	0.531	30.9	58.6
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			8	3.1	2.9	0.512		0.4	3.7	3.4	0.521		0.6
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			791	357.0	296.3	0.547		68.9	347.8	306.7	0.531		59.1

All articles are written so that they pull data directly from the most recent version of the Player won-lost database. Hence, any numbers cited within these articles should automatically incorporate the most recent update to Player won-lost records. In some cases, however, the accompanying text may have been written based on previous versions of Player won-lost records. I apologize if this results in non-sensical text in any cases.

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