1959 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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The 1959 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 1959 season.

The final season of the 1950's was only the second season of the 1950's that did not end with the New York Yankees playing in the World Series. Instead, the Chicago White Sox won their first American League pennant in 40 years.

Meanwhile, in the Senior Circuit, the Milwaukee Braves came agonizingly close to a third consecutive pennant, losing a two-game playoff to the Los Angeles Dodgers, who brought the World Series to the West Coast for the first time.

The Best of 1959

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	Ernie Banks	24.8	18.0	3.7	5.5	1	Ernie Banks	24.8	18.0	3.7	5.5
2	Willie Mays	24.9	16.3	3.7	5.4	2	Willie Mays	24.9	16.3	3.7	5.4
3	Vern Law	18.5	12.9	3.5	4.8	3	Nellie Fox	21.7	15.5	3.4	4.9
4	Nellie Fox	21.7	15.5	3.4	4.9	4	Vern Law	18.5	12.9	3.5	4.8
5	Early Wynn	20.6	15.7	3.2	4.7	5	Early Wynn	20.6	15.7	3.2	4.7
6	Eddie Mathews	22.8	15.4	3.1	4.6	6	Eddie Mathews	22.8	15.4	3.1	4.6
7	Hank Aaron	25.2	17.5	2.8	4.5	7	Hank Aaron	25.2	17.5	2.8	4.5
8	Minnie Minoso	23.4	16.9	2.7	4.3	8	Minnie Minoso	23.4	16.9	2.7	4.3
9	Don Newcombe	15.9	12.3	2.5	3.7	9	Warren Spahn	19.2	16.1	2.3	3.8
10	Bob Shaw	15.2	11.2	2.5	3.7	10	Mickey Mantle	20.5	14.8	2.3	3.7

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	Ernie Banks	24.0	16.8	3.9	5.5	1	Ernie Banks	24.0	16.8	3.9	5.5
2	Camilo Pascual	16.9	11.8	3.2	4.4	2	Camilo Pascual	16.9	11.8	3.2	4.4
3	Warren Spahn	19.4	15.5	2.7	4.2	3	Warren Spahn	19.4	15.5	2.7	4.2
4	Don Newcombe	16.7	12.8	2.6	3.9	4	Eddie Mathews	22.2	15.9	2.5	4.1
5	Eddie Mathews	22.2	15.9	2.5	4.1	5	Don Newcombe	16.7	12.8	2.6	3.9
6	Willie Mays	22.6	16.9	2.2	3.8	6	Hank Aaron	24.5	18.1	2.2	3.9
7	Vern Law	17.7	14.7	2.2	3.6	7	Willie Mays	22.6	16.9	2.2	3.8
8	Hank Aaron	24.5	18.1	2.2	3.9	8	Vern Law	17.7	14.7	2.2	3.6
9	Ken Boyer	20.3	15.2	2.0	3.5	9	Ken Boyer	20.3	15.2	2.0	3.5
10	Eddie Yost	20.7	15.7	2.0	3.4	10	Eddie Yost	20.7	15.7	2.0	3.4

Let's take a closer look at a few of the players above.

Ernie Banks

The best player in the major leagues in 1959, as measured by either pWins or eWins, over either positional average or replacement level, was Chicago Cubs shortstop Ernie Banks.

Ernie Banks actually had a fairly short period of time as an elite Hall-of-Fame caliber player - basically about seven seasons, from 1955 through 1961. But it was a heckuva peak.

The next table shows the top 10 players in career (context-neutral, teammate-adjusted) wins over positional average at shortstop. This counts only Player decisions earned while playing shortstop and only includes players who played the bulk of their career since 1930.

	Top 10 Shortstops (Career eWOPA at Shortstop)
	eWins	eLosses	eWinPct	eWOPA
Cal Ripken	301.3	273.9	0.524	25.4
Alex Rodriguez	180.5	144.8	0.555	23.3
Alan Trammell	262.1	244.4	0.517	20.0
Pee Wee Reese	271.4	240.3	0.530	19.9
Barry Larkin	274.1	244.0	0.529	19.9
Derek Jeter	347.6	328.0	0.515	19.8
Ernie Banks	158.5	129.2	0.551	18.2
Vern Stephens	160.6	135.8	0.542	14.8
Lou Boudreau	179.0	155.8	0.535	14.5
Arky Vaughan	151.0	127.7	0.542	13.9

Banks has by far the fewest total decisions of any player in the above table. In fact, this table pretty much shows Banks in the best possible light: he moved to first base in 1962 (at age 31) just as he was starting to slip toward average, so this captures none of his decline phase, all of which he spent as a first baseman.

Camilo Pascual vs. Vern Law

In 1959, only one Cy Young Award was awarded for all of Major-League Baseball, which was won by Early Wynn. Wynn had a fine season in 1959, but not the best season for a pitcher measured either by pWins or eWins. Measured by pWins (over either positional average or replacement level), the best pitcher in 1959 was Pittsburgh Pirates starter Vern Law. Measured by eWins (again, over either positional average or replacement level), the best pitcher in 1959 was Washington Senator Camilo Pascual.

Comparing Law's and Pascual's 1959 seasons makes for an interesting contrast in the effect of context on player value.

The next table compares Pascual's and Law's 1959 season records in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Camilo Pascual	32	16.7	13.4	0.556	2.3	3.6	16.9	11.8	0.590	3.2	4.4
Vern Law	38	18.5	12.9	0.590	3.5	4.8	17.7	14.7	0.546	2.2	3.6

Perhaps the best way to contrast how context affect the records of Pascual and Law is to compare how they pitched with the bases loaded. Both Pascual and Law had excellent seasons in 1959. Because of that, neither of them pitched in many bases-loaded situations: Pascual faced 10 such plate appearances and Law faced 11.

Of the 10 batters that Pascual faced with the bases loaded, he walked one, gave up 6 singles, and a double, a batting line of .667/.700/.778, with 13 runs scoring.

Of the 11 batters that Law faced with the bases loaded, he allowed one single, one sacrifice fly, a batting line of .100/.091/.100, and 3 runs scored.

Only 21 plate appearances, of course, but an interesting contrast.

Nellie Fox

The 1959 season is the only season (so far) in major-league history in which the Most Valuable Players from both leagues played in Chicago as Cubs shorstop Ernie Banks was joined by White Sox second baseman Nellie Fox.

Based on pWins (over either positional average or replacement level), the MVP voters got both awards right in 1959.

Nellie Fox's 1959 season looks quite a bit better in context than not. This is actually true of Nellie Fox's career in general. The next table compares Nellie Fox's 1959 season and career as measured by Player won-lost records, in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
1959	156	21.7	15.5	0.583	3.4	4.9	20.3	17.4	0.538	1.7	3.2
Career	2,367	283.5	265.3	0.517	14.8	37.3	270.9	276.9	0.495	2.8	25.2

In 1959, Nellie Fox had an overall batting line of .306/.380/.389, for an OPS of .770. With runners in scoring position, Fox batted .383/.497/.525 (1.022 OPS). His OPS by leverage broke down 1.135 in high-lev, .722 in medium-lev, .678 in low-lev situations.

For his career, the splits were not quite so dramatic, but still showed a definite flair for "clutch" hitting: .710 OPS overall, .754 with runners in scoring position, .774 in high-leverage (vs. .718 in medium-leverage, .689 in low-leverage). It's harder to pull out specific numbers to show it, but Fox was also something of a "clutch" baserunner and fielder over his career, with his baserunning and fielding numbers both looking better measured in pWins than in eWins.

In fact, here's an interesting comparison to show just how much context boosted the value of Nellie Fox's career: Nellie Fox vs. Ernie Banks in career Player won-lost records.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Nellie Fox	2,367	283.5	265.3	0.517	14.8	37.3	270.9	276.9	0.495	2.8	25.2
Ernie Banks	2,525	304.4	270.8	0.529	12.9	36.6	302.2	255.9	0.542	19.5	42.5

1959 Postseason

The 1959 World Series was the first played on the West Coast and the first World Series appearance by the Chicago White Sox since they threw one 40 years earlier.

The series started and ended with blowouts (11-0, 9-3) with the middle four games decided by a total of five runs (the Dodgers winning 3 of the 4 plus the latter blowout).

The top performers in the 1959 World Series, as measured by Player won-lost record, are shown in the table below. The top performance in the 1959 World Series was by Dodgers relief pitcher Larry Sherry, who recorded the pitching win in two of the Dodgers victories while picking up the save in the other two.

	1959 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Larry Sherry	LAN	1.2	0.5	0.5
Charlie Neal	LAN	1.2	0.7	0.3

Best of 1959 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 1959 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Mathews	16.8	10.9	2.6
Hank Aaron	17.4	11.7	2.5

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Luis Aparicio	2.6	1.5	0.5

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

The importance of baserunning was pretty much at an all-time major-league low in the 1950s. For example, in 1959, Bob Allison finished 5th in the American League in stolen bases in 1959 with 13. The Go-Go White Sox and Luis Aparicio were a notable exception. In 1959, Aparicio stole more bases (56) than all but one other team in the American League (Boston stole 68) and more than the average team total in the National League (55). And it wasn't just Aparicio: the White Sox would have finished second in the AL in stolen bases (57) removing Aparicio's total completely.

The next table shows the top ten baserunning seasons, as measured by baserunning wins over non-pitcher average, by an individual through the 1950s.

Top 10 Baserunning Seasons, 1950 - 1959 (Wins over non-Pitcher Average)
Player	Season	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Luis Aparicio	1959	2.6	1.5	0.5
Mickey Mantle	1958	1.9	0.8	0.5
Luis Aparicio	1958	1.9	0.9	0.5
Luis Aparicio	1957	1.9	1.1	0.4
Jim Rivera	1952	1.6	0.9	0.4
Sam Jethroe	1951	1.9	1.1	0.4
Jackie Robinson	1952	2.1	1.3	0.4
Willie Mays	1958	2.1	1.3	0.3
Don Blasingame	1957	2.2	1.4	0.3
Harvey Kuenn	1959	1.5	0.8	0.3

While the White Sox, as a team, were very aggressive baserunners, they were actually fairly average at it overall. The next table shows the top 10 baserunning seasons by teams in the 1950s, ranked by (context-neutral) baserunning wins.

Top 10 Baserunning Seasons, 1950 - 1959 (Total Baserunning Wins)
Player	Season	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Chicago White Sox	1958	11.8	9.1	1.4
Chicago White Sox	1957	11.7	9.5	1.1
Brooklyn Dodgers	1951	11.7	11.0	0.3
Philadelphia Phillies	1952	11.6	11.5	0.0
Chicago White Sox	1959	11.3	11.1	0.1
New York Giants	1951	11.3	10.2	0.5
St. Louis Cardinals	1957	11.2	10.8	0.2
St. Louis Cardinals	1954	11.1	10.7	0.2
Brooklyn Dodgers	1952	11.1	9.6	0.8
New York Yankees	1952	11.1	9.7	0.7

The nickname "Go-Go White Sox" is usually associated with the 1959 White Sox, because they're the White Sox team that won the pennant, but the White Sox were actually a better baserunning team the two previous seasons. By 1959, the White Sox were still an aggressive baserunning team, but not an especially good one.

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Camilo Pascual	13.1	9.7	3.5
Warren Spahn	15.7	12.9	2.8

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Whitey Ford	0.6	0.2	0.3
Bud Daley	0.5	0.2	0.3
Camilo Pascual	0.5	0.2	0.3

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Hobie Landrith	1.2	0.7	0.4
Ed Fitz Gerald	0.9	0.5	0.4
Hal R. Smith	1.5	1.1	0.4
Elston Howard	0.7	0.4	0.4
Ed Bailey	1.2	0.8	0.4

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Vic Power	2.3	1.5	0.8

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Nellie Fox	5.4	4.3	1.1

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Jim Gilliam	3.4	2.8	0.6
Jim Davenport	2.9	2.3	0.6

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Ernie Banks	6.1	4.8	1.3

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Al E. Smith	3.7	2.8	0.9
Minnie Minoso	6.6	5.7	0.9

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Gary Geiger	3.8	2.5	1.3

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Al Pilarcik	3.3	2.4	1.0

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1959 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
Yogi Berra	12.4	10.7	1.2

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Frank Robinson	15.3	11.7	1.2

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Nellie Fox	20.3	17.6	1.6
Charlie Neal	20.3	17.6	1.6

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Mathews	22.1	16.3	2.3

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ernie Banks	23.8	17.3	3.6

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Minnie Minoso	21.7	18.0	1.2

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Willie Mays	22.2	17.0	2.0

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Hank Aaron	22.4	16.4	2.0

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Camilo Pascual	13.3	9.7	1.9

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Gerry Staley	6.8	5.0	0.8

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 1959 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1959, based on pWORL
Lindy McDaniel	10.4	8.7	0.544	0.9	2.1
Gerry Staley	7.1	4.9	0.592	1.1	1.9
Bill R. Henry	7.7	6.0	0.565	0.9	1.8
Roy Face	7.0	5.1	0.578	0.9	1.8
Turk Lown	6.0	4.0	0.597	1.0	1.6

Roy Face had a traditional won-lost record of 18-1 in 1959. His Player won-lost record was somewhat less impressive.

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
Don Newcombe	2.1	1.7	0.8

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Johnny Romano	0.8	0.2	0.3
Gene Freese	1.0	0.4	0.3

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Felipe Alou	0.07	0.01	0.04

Noteworthy Players of 1959

Finally, let's take a look at some players who had noteworthy 1959 seasons.

Notable Debuts

Three players made their major-league debut in 1959 who would go on to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Bob Gibson, Willie McCovey, and Billy Williams. Their careers, as measured by Player won-lost records, are compared in the next table.

Season	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Bob Gibson				Willie McCovey				Billy Williams
1959	5.1	4.9	0.2	0.7	7.3	4.5	1.2	1.7	0.5	1.0	-0.3	-0.2
1960	4.8	6.6	-0.7	-0.2	9.2	6.8	0.8	1.5	1.3	1.4	-0.2	-0.0
1961	15.5	13.4	1.6	2.8	10.4	8.5	0.3	1.2	15.7	18.4	-1.9	-0.4
1962	17.7	13.8	2.7	4.1	9.3	6.5	1.0	1.6	20.8	19.9	-0.5	1.0
1963	17.7	14.5	2.4	3.8	21.9	16.2	2.0	3.5	24.4	19.3	1.6	3.3
1964	20.3	16.5	2.7	4.6	13.4	11.6	0.3	1.4	22.8	19.8	0.4	2.2
1965	20.3	17.6	2.4	4.1	21.2	13.2	3.0	4.4	24.4	19.6	1.4	3.2
1966	20.0	15.5	2.9	4.5	19.9	12.1	3.0	4.3	19.3	20.8	-1.7	-0.1
1967	11.8	9.9	1.5	2.4	18.9	11.4	2.8	4.2	23.2	18.9	1.1	2.9
1968	22.3	14.5	4.8	6.2	21.7	14.5	2.5	4.0	26.1	19.2	2.3	4.2
1969	22.7	16.9	3.9	5.7	22.2	12.2	3.8	5.3	23.0	19.8	0.8	2.6
1970	22.1	13.9	5.1	6.5	21.6	13.3	3.0	4.5	25.5	18.9	2.1	4.0
1971	17.9	15.3	2.1	3.5	12.5	8.5	1.4	2.2	23.4	17.7	2.0	3.7
1972	20.2	14.5	3.7	5.2	6.5	7.4	-1.0	-0.4	23.6	16.9	2.4	4.1
1973	11.3	11.1	0.6	1.6	14.7	10.6	1.4	2.5	20.5	19.3	-0.3	1.4
1974	13.4	14.6	-0.0	1.1	11.5	9.5	0.5	1.3	13.5	13.1	-0.4	0.7
1975	5.8	8.7	-1.3	-0.6	11.7	12.1	-0.9	0.1	13.6	10.2	1.6	3.0
1976					6.3	7.0	-0.7	-0.1	7.9	7.1	0.3	1.2
1977					13.8	12.7	-0.1	1.0
1978					11.4	9.9	0.3	1.1
1979					9.2	9.5	-0.6	0.2
1980					3.2	3.0	-0.1	0.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	268.7	222.3	34.5	56.0	297.8	221.0	24.1	45.7	329.5	281.5	10.7	36.8

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 1959 was the final season for two players who have subsequently been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: Larry Doby and Enos Slaughter.

Doby's and Slaughter's career records are compared in the next table, for those games for which I have play-by-play data. This includes every game of Larry Doby's career, but only 2,058 of the 2,380 games in which Slaughter appeared over his 19-year career.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Larry Doby						Enos Slaughter
1938							72	9.0	9.7	0.481	-0.5	0.3
1939							84	12.3	10.3	0.545	0.6	1.6
1940							71	10.9	7.7	0.587	1.3	2.1
1941							51	7.0	5.9	0.541	0.3	0.9
1942							66	10.7	7.8	0.579	1.2	2.0
1943
1944
1945
1946							156	25.7	18.7	0.579	2.6	4.5
1947	28	0.5	0.9	0.364	-0.2	-0.1	147	20.6	18.4	0.529	0.3	1.9
1948	120	16.2	13.8	0.539	0.6	1.9	146	23.6	18.6	0.559	1.6	3.3
1949	147	22.0	17.5	0.557	1.7	3.3	151	23.3	18.5	0.558	1.3	3.0
1950	142	21.7	14.5	0.599	3.1	4.6	148	18.9	18.8	0.501	-0.4	1.2
1951	134	19.1	15.1	0.558	1.6	3.0	123	14.4	13.6	0.514	0.2	1.3
1952	140	21.8	15.1	0.591	3.0	4.5	140	21.8	17.0	0.562	1.9	3.5
1953	149	21.9	16.0	0.578	2.3	3.9	143	18.6	16.3	0.533	0.8	2.2
1954	153	27.1	15.3	0.640	5.0	6.7	69	4.0	3.4	0.539	0.3	0.7
1955	131	17.9	14.5	0.552	1.1	2.4	118	8.9	7.4	0.547	0.6	1.3
1956	140	18.8	16.5	0.532	0.5	2.0	115	9.8	10.4	0.486	-0.6	0.3
1957	119	16.2	14.1	0.535	0.5	1.8	96	8.0	6.5	0.550	0.4	1.1
1958	88	9.2	8.0	0.535	0.3	1.0	77	4.6	4.5	0.503	-0.1	0.3
1959	39	2.9	3.9	0.424	-0.6	-0.3	85	3.5	4.7	0.428	-0.7	-0.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	1,530	215.3	165.3	0.566	18.9	34.6	2,058	255.8	218.2	0.540	11.1	31.3

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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