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	19.7	10.4	4.9	6.2	1	Roy Campanella	19.7	10.4	4.9	6.2
2	Warren Spahn	20.0	12.3	4.5	5.8	2	Duke Snider	23.3	13.3	4.4	5.9
3	Duke Snider	23.3	13.3	4.4	5.9	3	Robin Roberts	24.8	18.0	4.1	5.9
4	Robin Roberts	24.8	18.0	4.1	5.9	4	Warren Spahn	20.0	12.3	4.5	5.8
5	Al Rosen	26.6	17.2	4.0	5.8	5	Al Rosen	26.6	17.2	4.0	5.8
6	Eddie Mathews	24.6	15.9	3.7	5.4	6	Eddie Mathews	24.6	15.9	3.7	5.4
7	Pee Wee Reese	19.9	13.7	3.5	4.9	7	Minnie Minoso	24.2	16.1	3.2	4.9
8	Yogi Berra	17.2	11.2	3.3	4.5	8	Pee Wee Reese	19.9	13.7	3.5	4.9
9	Minnie Minoso	24.2	16.1	3.2	4.9	9	Stan Musial	25.9	18.4	2.9	4.7
10	Gil Hodges	18.9	11.7	3.2	4.5	10	E. Mike Garcia	19.4	14.1	3.2	4.6

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	Robin Roberts	24.8	17.9	4.1	5.9	1	Robin Roberts	24.8	17.9	4.1	5.9
2	Duke Snider	22.7	14.0	3.8	5.3	2	Al Rosen	26.4	17.5	3.7	5.5
3	Al Rosen	26.4	17.5	3.7	5.5	3	Duke Snider	22.7	14.0	3.8	5.3
4	Warren Spahn	18.7	13.6	3.2	4.5	4	Eddie Mathews	23.9	16.6	3.0	4.7
5	Roy Campanella	17.9	12.3	3.1	4.4	5	Warren Spahn	18.7	13.6	3.2	4.5
6	Eddie Mathews	23.9	16.6	3.0	4.7	6	Stan Musial	25.6	18.7	2.5	4.4
7	Stan Musial	25.6	18.7	2.5	4.4	7	Roy Campanella	17.9	12.3	3.1	4.4
8	Mickey Mantle	19.4	13.7	2.4	3.8	8	Mickey Mantle	19.4	13.7	2.4	3.8
9	Harvey Haddix	17.9	14.4	2.3	3.7	9	Harvey Haddix	17.9	14.4	2.3	3.7
10	Ray Boone	19.6	14.6	2.2	3.6	10	Larry Doby	21.4	16.1	2.1	3.6

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	24.8	18.0	0.580	4.1	5.9	24.8	17.9	0.580	4.1	5.9
Warren Spahn	38	20.0	12.3	0.620	4.5	5.8	18.7	13.6	0.579	3.2	4.5

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							4	0.5	1.1	0.307	-0.3	-0.2
1943
1944
1945
1946							24	7.9	6.3	0.555	1.0	1.7
1947							41	21.3	13.9	0.605	4.2	5.7
1948	21	9.7	9.8	0.497	0.2	1.0	37	17.3	13.5	0.561	2.4	3.7
1949	43	14.1	13.5	0.511	0.6	1.7	40	21.1	17.4	0.548	2.4	3.9
1950	40	19.8	14.4	0.579	3.1	4.7	41	19.5	19.3	0.502	0.7	2.4
1951	44	20.9	16.8	0.555	2.5	4.2	42	22.1	15.8	0.584	3.7	5.3
1952	39	20.7	13.5	0.606	4.3	5.7	52	17.9	17.1	0.512	0.9	2.5
1953	44	24.8	18.0	0.580	4.1	5.9	38	20.0	12.3	0.620	4.5	5.8
1954	45	20.7	17.5	0.541	2.2	4.0	41	19.9	15.1	0.569	3.0	4.6
1955	51	21.8	17.7	0.552	2.6	4.1	40	17.3	14.5	0.543	1.8	3.1
1956	43	19.0	19.1	0.499	0.5	2.3	39	18.5	14.6	0.560	2.5	4.0
1957	39	14.2	20.1	0.413	-2.5	-1.1	39	17.9	14.2	0.557	2.3	3.5
1958	36	18.1	15.0	0.547	2.1	3.4	41	18.6	15.5	0.545	2.2	3.5
1959	35	17.8	17.4	0.506	0.7	2.2	40	18.8	15.7	0.546	2.2	3.7
1960	35	14.0	14.9	0.484	-0.0	1.2	40	19.0	15.0	0.558	2.6	4.0
1961	26	5.1	8.1	0.385	-1.4	-0.8	39	19.4	15.0	0.563	2.8	4.2
1962	27	10.3	8.8	0.539	1.0	1.9	36	17.2	16.0	0.518	1.2	2.6
1963	35	14.6	15.8	0.480	-0.1	1.3	33	19.6	13.5	0.592	3.7	5.1
1964	31	13.6	11.2	0.548	1.6	2.8	39	9.0	13.0	0.408	-1.7	-0.5
1965	30	11.0	10.8	0.505	0.5	1.5	37	11.4	14.8	0.436	-1.3	-0.1
1966	24	6.7	7.2	0.483	-0.1	0.6
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	688	296.9	269.7	0.524	22.1	46.6	783	353.9	293.4	0.547	40.8	68.5

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	19.7	10.4	0.654	4.9	6.2	17.9	12.3	0.593	3.1	4.4
Duke Snider	153	23.3	13.3	0.637	4.4	5.9	22.7	14.0	0.620	3.8	5.3

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	0.431	-0.3	-0.1
1948	83	6.9	5.6	0.550	0.9	1.4	53	4.6	5.0	0.481	-0.3	0.1
1949	130	11.2	9.6	0.537	0.8	1.7	146	21.0	12.9	0.619	3.6	4.9
1950	126	12.3	9.8	0.557	1.3	2.2	152	20.8	17.3	0.546	1.3	2.8
1951	143	16.2	11.5	0.586	2.5	3.6	150	20.2	16.0	0.558	1.7	3.1
1952	128	16.2	10.4	0.610	3.0	4.1	144	19.9	15.1	0.569	2.1	3.5
1953	144	19.7	10.4	0.654	4.9	6.2	153	23.3	13.3	0.637	4.4	5.9
1954	111	8.6	8.8	0.494	-0.1	0.7	149	23.6	15.2	0.609	3.3	4.9
1955	123	14.2	10.0	0.587	2.3	3.3	148	23.9	14.6	0.622	3.9	5.5
1956	124	12.5	10.3	0.548	1.1	2.1	151	22.7	15.3	0.597	3.0	4.6
1957	103	8.6	8.0	0.518	0.5	1.2	139	18.7	15.4	0.549	1.0	2.4
1958							106	9.9	10.6	0.483	-0.7	0.1
1959							126	15.4	11.1	0.581	1.6	2.7
1960							100	8.9	7.6	0.538	0.4	1.1
1961							83	9.8	6.7	0.596	1.2	2.0
1962							80	6.3	4.7	0.574	0.6	1.1
1963							129	13.0	12.4	0.512	-0.2	0.8
1964							89	4.8	5.5	0.469	-0.4	0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,215	126.5	94.5	0.572	17.3	26.3	2,138	268.7	201.0	0.572	26.1	45.4

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
Mickey Mantle	NYA	1.4	0.6	0.4
Billy Martin	NYA	1.3	0.7	0.4
Yogi Berra	NYA	0.8	0.4	0.3
Carl Erskine	BRO	1.1	0.8	0.2
Billy Loes	BRO	0.7	0.4	0.2
Ed Lopat	NYA	0.6	0.3	0.2
Gene Woodling	NYA	0.9	0.7	0.2

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	17.8	10.7	3.3
Eddie Mathews	17.2	10.6	3.0

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bill Bruton	1.7	1.0	0.3
Eddie Miksis	1.3	0.7	0.3
Red Schoendienst	1.5	0.9	0.3

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Robin Roberts	19.4	13.9	5.5

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Dick Marlowe	0.6	0.3	0.3

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Del Crandall	1.7	1.1	0.6

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Gil Hodges	2.3	1.7	0.5
Walt Dropo	2.6	2.1	0.5

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Wayne Terwilliger	4.8	4.1	0.7

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Willie E. Jones	4.4	3.9	0.5

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Pee Wee Reese	5.8	4.1	1.6

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Minnie Minoso	6.1	4.8	1.3

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Duke Snider	4.7	3.2	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	16.1	11.5	2.6

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Gil Hodges	14.2	10.3	1.6

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Red Schoendienst	19.2	16.7	1.4

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Al Rosen	23.9	16.3	3.1

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Pee Wee Reese	19.3	16.4	1.8

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Stan Musial	20.6	15.1	2.0

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Duke Snider	22.8	14.7	3.4

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Carl Furillo	18.5	15.0	1.4

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Robin Roberts	19.5	14.2	2.7

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ellis Kinder	6.3	5.2	0.6

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	9.2	5.7	0.616	1.9	2.8
Harry Dorish	8.7	7.6	0.534	0.7	1.7
Dave Hoskins	6.7	5.4	0.553	0.8	1.5
Al Brazle	6.8	6.0	0.531	0.5	1.3
Marlin Stuart	5.2	4.1	0.559	0.6	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
Early Wynn	2.0	1.8	0.6
Don Larsen	1.7	1.3	0.6

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Peanuts Lowrey	1.7	1.3	0.3

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Don Thompson	0.12	0.03	0.04
Hoot Evers	0.09	0.01	0.04
Jim Pendleton	0.31	0.21	0.04
Johnny Temple	0.12	0.05	0.04

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	0.7	0.481	-0.0	0.0	10	1.1	1.3	0.462	-0.1	0.0
1954	138	14.3	16.2	0.469	-1.2	0.1	154	19.4	20.4	0.487	-0.1	1.6
1955	152	22.5	17.6	0.561	1.7	3.3	154	22.8	18.6	0.550	2.5	4.2
1956	153	24.5	18.6	0.569	2.2	4.0	139	18.5	17.4	0.515	1.1	2.5
1957	149	21.4	17.2	0.555	1.5	3.1	156	22.3	18.3	0.549	2.2	3.9
1958	146	22.6	16.5	0.578	2.3	3.8	154	24.9	19.0	0.567	3.7	5.4
1959	136	20.4	16.3	0.556	1.4	2.8	155	25.6	18.9	0.575	3.7	5.4
1960	147	17.3	19.0	0.477	-1.5	-0.1	156	23.0	21.1	0.522	1.4	3.1
1961	153	22.7	15.4	0.596	2.7	4.4	138	17.5	15.9	0.523	1.0	2.5
1962	100	16.8	12.8	0.568	1.3	2.4	154	17.3	17.1	0.503	-0.8	0.5
1963	145	22.4	15.9	0.585	2.2	3.6	129	12.5	12.2	0.506	-0.3	0.6
1964	146	18.9	16.7	0.530	0.3	1.7	156	17.1	17.2	0.499	-0.8	0.6
1965	125	15.1	13.2	0.533	0.4	1.6	163	18.5	17.1	0.520	-0.3	1.1
1966	142	20.7	14.8	0.583	2.2	3.6	141	12.1	13.2	0.478	-1.2	-0.3
1967	131	21.1	14.3	0.595	2.5	4.1	151	17.2	14.6	0.540	0.3	1.7
1968	101	13.2	9.0	0.594	1.6	2.5	150	16.8	15.0	0.529	-0.0	1.3
1969	131	18.1	13.5	0.573	1.4	2.8	155	17.7	14.0	0.558	0.8	2.1
1970	131	15.7	13.8	0.532	0.3	1.6	72	4.9	5.6	0.466	-0.7	-0.2
1971	133	16.5	12.4	0.571	1.6	2.7	38	1.3	2.1	0.374	-0.5	-0.3
1972	106	10.0	7.8	0.561	0.8	1.6
1973	91	9.7	9.0	0.519	0.1	0.9
1974	147	13.0	11.2	0.537	0.8	2.2
1975
1976
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,833	377.4	301.9	0.556	24.6	52.7	2,525	310.4	279.1	0.527	11.9	35.8

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	11.3	6.7	0.629	1.7	2.5
1937	145	18.8	13.5	0.582	1.6	2.9
1938	149	17.0	14.3	0.543	0.3	1.5
1939	152	20.1	14.0	0.590	1.8	3.3
1940	155	19.8	14.4	0.579	1.9	3.3
1941	126	16.4	10.0	0.621	2.3	3.5
1942	142	20.8	12.3	0.627	3.3	4.6
1943
1944
1945
1946	101	13.4	9.0	0.599	1.5	2.4
1947	154	21.2	14.5	0.594	2.4	3.8
1948	152	20.5	14.6	0.584	2.8	4.3
1949	119	11.2	10.6	0.513	0.2	1.1	21	1.0	1.1	0.466	-0.1	-0.0
1950	90	9.2	6.0	0.605	1.2	1.9	141	17.8	13.4	0.571	1.4	2.7
1951	113	9.5	7.7	0.552	0.7	1.4	128	16.5	13.1	0.558	1.4	2.5
1952	78	3.4	3.7	0.474	-0.2	0.1	127	16.0	11.3	0.587	1.7	2.8
1953	81	3.4	3.1	0.524	0.2	0.6	68	5.7	5.4	0.513	0.0	0.5
1954							6	0.1	0.2	0.179	-0.1	-0.1
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,847	216.0	154.4	0.583	21.9	37.2	491	57.1	44.5	0.562	4.4	8.4

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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