1953 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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The 1953 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

Next in my continuing series of looking at individual seasons through the prism of Player won-lost records is the 1953 season. The 1953 season was one of close, but no cigar. In the American League, the Cleveland Indians finished in second place for the third year in a row. In the National League, the Brooklyn Dodgers won 105 regular-season games, but still couldn't beat the Yankees in the World Series. At the player level, Al Rosen fell one hit short of winning an American League Triple Crown.

The Best of 1953

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	Roy Campanella	19.9	10.4	5.0	6.3	1	Roy Campanella	19.9	10.4	5.0	6.3
2	Warren Spahn	20.3	12.7	4.5	6.0	2	Robin Roberts	25.1	18.3	4.3	6.2
3	Duke Snider	23.6	13.4	4.4	6.0	3	Duke Snider	23.6	13.4	4.4	6.0
4	Robin Roberts	25.1	18.3	4.3	6.2	4	Warren Spahn	20.3	12.7	4.5	6.0
5	Al Rosen	26.7	17.1	4.0	5.9	5	Al Rosen	26.7	17.1	4.0	5.9
6	Pee Wee Reese	19.1	12.9	3.5	4.9	6	Eddie Mathews	24.2	16.1	3.4	5.1
7	Eddie Mathews	24.2	16.1	3.4	5.1	7	Pee Wee Reese	19.1	12.9	3.5	4.9
8	Yogi Berra	17.3	11.2	3.3	4.6	8	E. Mike Garcia	20.0	14.7	3.3	4.9
9	E. Mike Garcia	20.0	14.7	3.3	4.9	9	Stan Musial	26.0	18.3	2.9	4.8
10	Gil Hodges	18.7	11.5	3.2	4.4	10	Minnie Minoso	24.1	16.4	3.0	4.7

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	Duke Snider	24.1	14.7	4.0	5.7	1	Robin Roberts	24.1	17.9	3.9	5.8
2	Robin Roberts	24.1	17.9	3.9	5.8	2	Duke Snider	24.1	14.7	4.0	5.7
3	Warren Spahn	18.7	12.8	3.7	5.1	3	Al Rosen	24.3	16.1	3.4	5.1
4	Al Rosen	24.3	16.1	3.4	5.1	4	Warren Spahn	18.7	12.8	3.7	5.1
5	Roy Campanella	17.3	11.8	3.1	4.3	5	Roy Campanella	17.3	11.8	3.1	4.3
6	Harvey Haddix	18.0	14.3	2.5	3.9	6	Stan Musial	24.7	17.9	2.5	4.3
7	Stan Musial	24.7	17.9	2.5	4.3	7	Eddie Mathews	22.2	15.9	2.5	4.1
8	Eddie Mathews	22.2	15.9	2.5	4.1	8	Harvey Haddix	18.0	14.3	2.5	3.9
9	Gil Hodges	18.8	13.2	2.3	3.7	9	Gil Hodges	18.8	13.2	2.3	3.7
10	Ray Boone	18.9	14.1	2.1	3.5	10	Ray Boone	18.9	14.1	2.1	3.5

One somewhat striking thing about the above tables is the lack of American League players. These numbers do not make any adjustments for league strength: a win in the American League is treated exactly the same as a win in the National League. Yet, the only American League player to make the eWOPA/eWORL lists is Al Rosen. He is joined by a couple of leaguemates on the pWOPA/pWORL lists (Garcia, Berra, Minoso), but clearly the best players in 1953 tended to be in the National League.

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.

A couple of pairings in the above table show interesting examples of the potential impact of context on Player value.

Robin Roberts vs. Warren Spahn

The top two pitchers in the major leagues in 1953 were Hall-of-Famers Robin Roberts and Warren Spahn. Both pitchers had outstanding seasons and, in fact, both pitchers performed somewhat better in context (pWOPA, pWORL) than out (eWOPA, eWORL). But in context, Spahn was arguably more valuable than Roberts (by pWOPA although not by pWORL), while Roberts beat Spahn in both eWOPA and eWORL.

The table below compares Roberts's and Spahn's 1953 seasons in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Robin Roberts	44	25.1	18.3	0.578	4.3	6.2	24.1	17.9	0.573	3.9	5.8
Warren Spahn	38	20.3	12.7	0.615	4.5	6.0	18.7	12.8	0.595	3.7	5.1

Spahn pitched at a somewhat higher quality (e.g., 0.559 OPS-allowed by Spahn vs. 0.654 OPS-allowed by Roberts) but Roberts made up the difference for the most part in quantity (346.2 innings pitched by Roberts vs. 265.2 innings pitched by Spahn).

Spahn's quality was somewhat better in context than out. For example, in 22 plate appearances with the bases loaded, batters went 4-for-22 with 1 triple, a batting line of .182/.182/.273 (OPS of .455), which gives his in-context record a bit of a boost relative to Roberts, whose record was pretty similar in or out of context.

The next table compares the careers of Robin Roberts and Warren Spahn, by season, in context, for the games for which Retrosheet has play-by-play data.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Robin Roberts						Warren Spahn
1942							1	0.0	0.1	0.287	-0.0	-0.0
1943
1944
1945
1946							24	8.1	6.5	0.554	1.0	1.8
1947							41	21.3	14.2	0.600	4.2	5.6
1948	21	10.1	10.0	0.503	0.4	1.3	37	17.5	13.9	0.557	2.4	3.7
1949	43	14.5	13.8	0.511	0.7	1.8	40	21.5	17.8	0.547	2.5	4.0
1950	40	20.2	14.6	0.580	3.4	5.0	41	19.8	19.8	0.500	0.7	2.6
1951	44	21.3	17.1	0.554	2.7	4.4	42	22.3	16.2	0.580	3.7	5.4
1952	39	21.3	13.8	0.607	4.5	6.0	52	18.1	17.4	0.509	0.9	2.5
1953	44	25.1	18.3	0.578	4.3	6.2	38	20.3	12.7	0.615	4.5	6.0
1954	45	20.9	17.8	0.540	2.3	4.2	41	20.3	15.5	0.566	3.1	4.8
1955	51	22.0	18.0	0.550	2.8	4.3	40	17.8	14.8	0.545	2.0	3.3
1956	43	19.3	19.3	0.500	0.7	2.5	39	19.0	15.0	0.559	2.7	4.2
1957	39	14.2	20.5	0.410	-2.4	-1.0	39	18.4	14.6	0.557	2.6	4.0
1958	36	18.3	15.2	0.546	2.3	3.7	41	19.0	15.9	0.545	2.5	3.9
1959	35	17.9	17.8	0.502	0.7	2.3	40	19.2	16.1	0.545	2.3	3.8
1960	35	14.3	15.1	0.487	0.2	1.5	40	19.2	15.4	0.555	2.7	4.2
1961	26	5.0	8.2	0.377	-1.4	-0.8	39	19.7	15.3	0.564	3.1	4.5
1962	27	10.5	9.0	0.538	1.2	2.1	36	17.6	16.2	0.520	1.5	3.0
1963	35	14.8	16.0	0.479	0.1	1.5	33	20.0	13.8	0.592	4.0	5.5
1964	31	13.7	11.5	0.545	1.7	3.0	39	9.3	13.3	0.411	-1.6	-0.4
1965	30	11.3	11.0	0.507	0.7	1.7	37	11.6	15.1	0.434	-1.2	0.1
1966	24	7.0	7.5	0.482	-0.1	0.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	688	301.6	274.5	0.524	24.7	50.1	780	360.1	299.7	0.546	43.8	72.5

Duke Snider vs. Roy Campanella

The top two players on the NL pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers (and the two best non-pitchers in the National League), as measured by Player won-lost records, were Duke Snider and Roy Campanella. In context, Campanella was the best player in baseball. Controlling for context, Campanella was still easily a top-10 player but the best non-pitcher in baseball was Duke Snider.

As with Roberts and Spahn, both Snider and Campanella look better in context (pWOPA, pWORL) than out of context (eWOPA, eWORL). But Campanella timed his hitting exceptionally well so that, for example, his OPS in high/medium/low-levarage situations in 1953 was 1.266/1.102/0.815. Snider, on the other hand, was more consistently excellent across all situations: OPS of 1.043/0.957/1.110 in high/medium/low-leverage situations.

The next table compares Campanella's and Snider's 1953 seasons in and out of context. The table after that compares their careers, by season, in context. Incidentally, MVP voters in 1953 apparently thought context mattered: they awarded the MVP to Campanella with Snider placing third.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Roy Campanella	144	19.9	10.4	0.656	5.0	6.3	17.3	11.8	0.595	3.1	4.3
Duke Snider	153	23.6	13.4	0.638	4.4	6.0	24.1	14.7	0.622	4.0	5.7

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Roy Campanella						Duke Snider
1947							40	1.9	2.5	0.433	-0.3	-0.1
1948	83	6.8	5.5	0.555	0.9	1.4	53	4.6	5.0	0.479	-0.4	0.0
1949	130	11.2	9.8	0.534	0.8	1.7	146	20.9	12.8	0.620	3.5	4.9
1950	126	12.6	10.0	0.557	1.3	2.3	152	20.8	17.0	0.550	1.4	2.9
1951	143	16.3	11.4	0.589	2.6	3.7	150	20.1	15.8	0.560	1.7	3.2
1952	128	16.2	10.4	0.610	3.0	4.1	144	19.9	14.9	0.572	2.1	3.6
1953	144	19.9	10.4	0.656	5.0	6.3	153	23.6	13.4	0.638	4.4	6.0
1954	111	8.6	8.7	0.497	0.0	0.7	149	23.6	15.1	0.610	3.4	5.0
1955	123	14.4	10.1	0.587	2.4	3.4	148	24.2	14.8	0.621	4.0	5.6
1956	124	12.4	10.4	0.544	1.0	2.0	151	23.0	15.2	0.601	3.1	4.7
1957	103	8.6	8.2	0.514	0.4	1.1	139	19.0	15.7	0.548	1.0	2.5
1958							106	10.1	10.6	0.487	-0.6	0.2
1959							126	15.5	11.3	0.577	1.6	2.7
1960							100	9.0	7.7	0.539	0.4	1.1
1961							83	9.8	6.6	0.595	1.2	2.0
1962							80	6.3	4.6	0.579	0.7	1.1
1963							129	13.0	12.5	0.510	-0.3	0.7
1964							89	4.8	5.6	0.462	-0.5	0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,215	127.0	94.8	0.573	17.5	26.7	2,138	270.1	201.3	0.573	26.4	46.1

1953 Postseason

Ho hum. Another Yankees -Dodgers World Series, their second consecutive meeting, fourth meeting in the past seven seasons, with two more matchups coming in the next three years. This time, the stars of the World Series were Billy Martin and Mickey Mantle.

	1953 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Billy Martin	NYA	1.3	0.6	0.5
Mickey Mantle	NYA	1.4	0.7	0.4
Yogi Berra	NYA	0.9	0.4	0.3
Carl Erskine	BRO	1.1	0.8	0.3

Best of 1953 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.

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 1953 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Al Rosen	17.9	11.0	3.2
Duke Snider	17.6	10.8	3.1

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Miksis	1.3	0.7	0.3
Jackie Robinson	1.4	0.8	0.3
Bill Bruton	1.7	1.1	0.3
Red Schoendienst	1.5	0.9	0.3

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Robin Roberts	19.2	14.1	5.0
Warren Spahn	14.4	9.9	4.5

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Sal Maglie	1.0	0.3	0.7

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Del Crandall	1.6	1.1	0.5

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Gil Hodges	2.2	1.7	0.5
Walt Dropo	2.4	1.9	0.5

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Jim Gilliam	5.0	4.1	0.8

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Willie Jones	4.2	3.7	0.5

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Pee Wee Reese	5.0	3.5	1.5

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Minnie Minoso	5.9	4.9	1.0

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Duke Snider	4.9	3.3	1.6

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Jim Piersall	7.7	5.3	2.4

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1953 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
Roy Campanella	16.7	11.7	2.7

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Gil Hodges	14.5	10.2	1.8

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Red Schoendienst	18.7	16.1	1.5

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Al Rosen	24.0	16.4	3.1

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Pee Wee Reese	18.9	15.8	2.0

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Stan Musial	20.8	15.2	2.0

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Duke Snider	23.6	14.9	3.6

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Carl Furillo	19.1	15.4	1.4

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Robin Roberts	19.4	14.5	2.6
Warren Spahn	14.6	10.1	2.4

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ernie T. Johnson	4.3	3.1	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 1953 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1953, based on pWORL
Ellis Kinder	9.4	5.9	0.614	1.7	2.7
Harry Dorish	9.1	7.8	0.538	0.7	1.7
Dave Hoskins	6.8	5.6	0.546	0.7	1.4
Marlin Stuart	5.5	4.2	0.566	0.6	1.2
Clem Labine	7.5	6.9	0.522	0.4	1.2

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
Mickey McDermott	2.1	1.8	0.6
Don Larsen	1.7	1.3	0.6
Early Wynn	2.0	1.8	0.6

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bobby Hofman	1.1	0.6	0.3
Peanuts Lowrey	1.8	1.4	0.3

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Don Thompson	0.16	0.03	0.06

Noteworthy Players of 1953

Finally, let's take a look at some players who had noteworthy 1953 seasons.

Notable Debuts

Two Hall-of-Famers made their major-league debuts in 1953: Al Kaline and Ernie Banks. Kaline and Banks present a fairly nice contrast between career (Kaline) versus peak (Banks). Their careers are compared in the next table.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Al Kaline						Ernie Banks
1953	30	0.7	0.8	0.472	-0.1	0.0	10	1.0	1.1	0.475	-0.0	0.1
1954	138	14.3	16.0	0.472	-1.1	0.2	154	18.6	19.5	0.488	-0.0	1.6
1955	152	22.8	17.6	0.564	1.8	3.5	154	21.7	18.2	0.544	2.2	3.9
1956	153	24.6	18.3	0.573	2.4	4.1	139	17.7	16.6	0.516	1.1	2.5
1957	149	21.5	17.2	0.556	1.6	3.2	156	21.5	17.5	0.552	2.2	3.9
1958	146	22.6	16.6	0.577	2.2	3.7	154	24.4	17.6	0.581	4.1	5.7
1959	136	20.3	16.0	0.559	1.5	3.0	155	24.8	18.0	0.579	3.7	5.5
1960	147	17.3	18.8	0.479	-1.5	-0.0	156	22.0	19.9	0.525	1.5	3.2
1961	153	22.8	15.7	0.592	2.5	4.2	138	16.8	15.4	0.522	1.0	2.4
1962	100	17.1	12.7	0.573	1.4	2.5	154	17.4	16.9	0.508	-0.7	0.7
1963	145	22.6	15.9	0.587	2.2	3.7	129	12.6	12.0	0.512	-0.2	0.7
1964	146	19.0	16.9	0.528	0.2	1.6	156	16.9	16.9	0.501	-0.7	0.6
1965	125	15.3	13.3	0.534	0.4	1.6	163	18.3	16.9	0.521	-0.2	1.2
1966	142	20.9	15.0	0.582	2.2	3.7	141	12.2	13.1	0.482	-1.2	-0.2
1967	131	21.5	14.4	0.600	2.7	4.3	151	17.3	14.5	0.543	0.4	1.8
1968	101	13.3	9.0	0.597	1.7	2.6	150	16.8	15.1	0.527	-0.1	1.2
1969	131	18.3	13.5	0.575	1.5	2.9	155	18.0	13.9	0.565	1.0	2.4
1970	131	15.6	14.0	0.528	0.2	1.5	72	5.0	5.7	0.465	-0.7	-0.2
1971	133	16.8	12.3	0.577	1.7	2.9	38	1.3	2.1	0.389	-0.4	-0.3
1972	106	10.0	7.9	0.559	0.8	1.5
1973	91	9.9	9.2	0.520	0.2	1.0
1974	147	13.1	11.2	0.541	0.9	2.3
1975
1976
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,833	380.5	302.4	0.557	25.5	54.2	2,525	304.4	270.8	0.529	12.9	36.6

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 1953 was the final season for Hall-of-Fame first baseman Johnny Mize. So far, I have only calculated Player won-lost records since 1947 and, even then, I am missing a few games from 1947 - 1950. So, obviously, I have not calculated Player won-lost records for the vast majority of Johnny Mize's career.

One player whose last full season was 1953 (he played 6 games in 1954) for whom I do have his entire major-league career is Luke Easter. Easter did not make his major-league debut until he was 33 years old and played only three full major-league seasons, 1950 - 52, his age 34 - 36 seasons. In addition to his brief major-league career, Luke Easter also had significant careers before and after in the Negro Leagues (before) and in the International League (after). Luke Easter's career is discussed in some detail in his thread at the Hall of Merit (which had not inducted him as of 2013).

The table below compares the Player won-lost records for those games for which Retrosheet has play-by-play data for Johnny Mize and Luke Easter. For Mize, in addition to missing all of his career through 1946, I am also missing large portions of the 1947 - 50 seasons as well. Mize was three years older than Easter, so the right age comparison would be Mize's 1947-49 seasons to Easter's 1950-52. Unfortunately, I am missing games for these three seasons for Mize.

Even with that caveat, however, the comparison is intriguing. Easter's MLB career matches up reasonably well with the mid-30s career of Hall-of-Famer Johnny Mize, a player who was probably the best NL first baseman of the 20th century at his retirement.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Johnny Mize						Luke Easter
1936	90	11.4	6.7	0.631	1.8	2.6
1937	105	14.0	10.5	0.572	1.0	2.0
1938	87	9.7	8.6	0.530	-0.1	0.7
1939	89	11.3	8.7	0.564	0.7	1.6
1940	76	9.8	6.6	0.598	1.3	2.0
1941	58	7.2	4.8	0.598	0.9	1.5
1942	66	9.5	5.3	0.641	1.7	2.4
1943
1944
1945
1946	101	13.3	8.9	0.600	1.5	2.4
1947	154	21.3	14.3	0.598	2.5	4.0
1948	152	20.7	14.6	0.587	2.9	4.3
1949	119	11.4	10.6	0.519	0.3	1.2	21	1.0	1.2	0.462	-0.1	-0.0
1950	90	9.3	6.1	0.603	1.2	1.8	141	17.8	13.1	0.576	1.6	2.8
1951	113	9.5	7.7	0.552	0.7	1.4	128	16.8	12.9	0.565	1.5	2.7
1952	78	3.5	3.8	0.481	-0.2	0.2	127	16.2	11.3	0.590	1.8	2.9
1953	81	3.4	3.1	0.522	0.2	0.5	68	5.6	5.3	0.513	0.0	0.5
1954							6	0.1	0.3	0.196	-0.1	-0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,459	165.2	120.2	0.579	16.4	28.7	491	57.5	44.0	0.566	4.7	8.9

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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