The next season in my continuing series on looking at individual seasons through the prism of Player won-lost records is 1960. The 1960 season was the last major-league season before expansion and the last season when both leagues played 154-game seasons.

The Best of 1960

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	Mickey Mantle	23.5	13.5	4.2	5.7			1	Mickey Mantle	23.5	13.5	4.2	5.7
2	Roger Maris	22.7	13.9	3.8	5.3			2	Roger Maris	22.7	13.9	3.8	5.3
3	Eddie Mathews	22.6	14.6	3.6	5.0			3	Eddie Mathews	22.6	14.6	3.6	5.0
4	Vern Law	18.9	13.8	3.3	4.7			4	Vern Law	18.9	13.8	3.3	4.7
5	Ron Hansen	20.2	15.0	2.9	4.3			5	Ron Hansen	20.2	15.0	2.9	4.3
6	Warren Spahn	19.2	15.4	2.7	4.2			6	Hank Aaron	24.5	18.1	2.5	4.2
7	Woodie Held	15.5	10.9	2.6	3.6			7	Warren Spahn	19.2	15.4	2.7	4.2
8	Don Drysdale	19.0	15.3	2.6	4.0			8	Don Drysdale	19.0	15.3	2.6	4.0
9	Ernie Broglio	16.0	11.7	2.6	3.9			9	Larry Jackson	19.3	16.0	2.4	3.9
10	Hank Aaron	24.5	18.1	2.5	4.2			10	Willie Mays	25.4	19.5	2.1	3.9

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	Roger Maris	21.3	14.2	3.0	4.4			1	Ernie Banks	22.9	17.9	2.9	4.5
2	Ernie Banks	22.9	17.9	2.9	4.5			2	Roger Maris	21.3	14.2	3.0	4.4
3	Mickey Mantle	21.8	15.2	2.6	4.0			3	Mickey Mantle	21.8	15.2	2.6	4.0
4	Mike McCormick	16.6	13.0	2.4	3.7			4	Hank Aaron	24.2	18.6	2.2	3.9
5	Vern Law	18.0	14.9	2.3	3.7			5	Eddie Mathews	21.5	16.1	2.3	3.8
6	Eddie Mathews	21.5	16.1	2.3	3.8			6	Vern Law	18.0	14.9	2.3	3.7
7	Hank Aaron	24.2	18.6	2.2	3.9			7	Mike McCormick	16.6	13.0	2.4	3.7
8	Lew Burdette	17.3	14.4	2.2	3.5			8	Lew Burdette	17.3	14.4	2.2	3.5
9	Frank Robinson	19.9	14.0	2.1	3.4			9	Ken Boyer	20.3	15.4	2.1	3.5
10	Ken Boyer	20.3	15.4	2.1	3.5			10	Frank Robinson	19.9	14.0	2.1	3.4

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.

Two sets of players in the previous tables seem to warrant further comment.

The M&M Boys: Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris

The voting for the 1960 AL MVP Award was one of the closest ever, with Roger Maris edging out teammate Mickey Mantle 225-222, despite Mantle winning more 1st place votes (10-8, with 3 other players splitting 6 additional first-place votes).

Maris and Mantle hold the top two spots among American League players in all four of the above tables.

Both Maris and Mantle look better in pWins (over positional average and replacement level) than eWins. This is mostly because they had very good teammates (including each other) so that more of Mantle's and Maris's positive contributions contributed to Yankee wins and Maris and Mantle's negative contributions were often overcome by strong performances by their teammates and the Yankees were able to win anyway, minimizing the cost of Maris's and Mantle's "losses".

Although both Maris and Mantle benefitted from putting their performance in context, Mantle benefitted much more so. This is because, while Maris's performance did not necessarily improve in more "clutch" situations (e.g., his OPS was 1.247 in high-leverage vs. 1.010 in low-leverage situations, 0.918 in late and close situations, 0.473 in extra innings), Mantle's performance generally improved as the situation became more "clutch": OPS of 1.171 in high-leverage vs. 0.852 in low-leverage, 1.201 in late and close situations, 1.462 in extra innings.

The effect of Mickey Mantle's "clutch" performance vis-a-vis Roger Maris's "clutch" performance wasn't huge, but it was just enough to flip their positions, with Maris showing up as the most valuable player in the American League when context is neutralized but Mantle just passing him as the most valuable player in the American League (and major leagues) when his performance is put into context.

NL Infielders: Eddie Mathews and Ernie Banks

Looking at context-neutral statistics, the most valuable player in the National League was Ernie Banks, who (deservedly) won the two previous NL MVP awards. Putting his performance into the context of team wins (of which the 1960 Chicago Cubs managed only 60), however, Banks falls out of the major-league top 10 entirely with the top spot for a National League player held instead of fellow Hall-of-Fame infielder Eddie Mathews.

The 1960 season is something of a microcosm of Banks's and Mathews's career in this regard. Mathews spent the first half of his career playing for very good Braves teams with very good teammates, such as Hank Aaron and Warren Spahn. As result his career was worth about 5 more wins (over positional average and replacement level) as measured by pWins than as measured by eWins. The exact opposite is true for Ernie Banks, who toiled on terrible Cubs teams for the better part of his career, and consequently was worth about 5 fewer wins (over positional average and replacement level) as measured by pWins than as measured by eWins. The relative values of Banks and Mathews in 1960 and in their careers are shown in the next table.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ernie Banks, 1960	156	22.0	19.9	0.525	1.5	3.2	22.9	17.9	0.560	2.9	4.5
Eddie Mathews, 1960	153	22.6	14.6	0.607	3.6	5.0	21.5	16.1	0.572	2.3	3.8

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Ernie Banks, career	2,525	304.4	270.8	0.529	12.9	36.6	302.2	255.9	0.542	19.5	42.5
Eddie Mathews, career	2,389	319.4	238.7	0.572	34.6	57.5	309.8	239.8	0.564	29.3	51.9

The 1960 Postseason

The 1960 World Series, between the New York Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates, was one of the most remarkable World Series ever.

The Yankees set records for most runs scored in a World Series, 55, and for largest run differential for a series, 28 runs (55-27). The Yankees won games 2, 3, and 6 of the 1960 World Series by scores of 16-3, 10-0, and 12-0, respectively. As a team, the Yankees batted .338/.383/.528 for the series with Pirates pitchers amassing a combined ERA of 7.11.

But Bill Mazeroski led off the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 with a home run to left field to win the World Series for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

If you look at player performance in the 1960 World Series independent of context, the best players in the 1960 World Series were, not surprisingly, mostly New York Yankees:

	1960 World Series: eWins
		eWins	eLosses	eWORL
Mickey Mantle	NYA	1.3	0.6	0.4
Whitey Ford	NYA	1.0	0.5	0.4
Bobby Richardson	NYA	1.1	0.8	0.3
Elston Howard	NYA	0.5	0.2	0.2
Bill Stafford	NYA	0.4	0.2	0.2

If, however, you put players' performances into context and tie them to team results, suddenly the list of the best players in the 1960 World Series includes a fair number of Pittsburgh Pirates:

	1960 World Series: pWins
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Roy Face	PIT	1.0	0.4	0.4
Vern Law	PIT	1.3	0.8	0.4
Whitey Ford	NYA	1.0	0.4	0.4
Mickey Mantle	NYA	1.1	0.6	0.3
Hal W. Smith	PIT	0.6	0.1	0.3
Bill Mazeroski	PIT	1.0	0.7	0.3
Roberto Clemente	PIT	1.1	0.7	0.3
Bill Virdon	PIT	1.1	0.7	0.2
Elston Howard	NYA	0.6	0.2	0.2
Bobby Richardson	NYA	1.2	1.0	0.2
Bob Turley	NYA	0.7	0.5	0.2
Don Hoak	PIT	0.9	0.7	0.2
Harvey Haddix	PIT	0.6	0.4	0.2
Smoky Burgess	PIT	0.5	0.3	0.2

Best of 1960 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 1960 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Mathews	16.5	10.6	2.7

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Luis Aparicio	2.4	1.5	0.4

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Bob Friend	14.7	11.5	3.2
Mike McCormick	13.8	10.8	3.0
Jim Bunning	13.9	11.4	2.5
Lew Burdette	14.2	11.7	2.5

Next, we look at the major-league leaders in net fielding wins in 1960 by fielding position.

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Chuck Estrada	0.4	0.2	0.3

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Cal Neeman	0.8	0.6	0.2
El Tappe	0.6	0.4	0.2
Ed Bailey	1.3	1.1	0.2
Hank Foiles	0.5	0.3	0.2
Smoky Burgess	0.8	0.6	0.2
Hal R. Smith	1.3	1.1	0.2
Del Crandall	1.7	1.5	0.2
Lou Berberet	0.8	0.6	0.2
Pete Daley	0.7	0.5	0.2

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Vic Power	2.6	1.9	0.7

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Marv Breeding	4.8	4.3	0.5

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Brooks Robinson	4.8	3.5	1.3

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Luis Aparicio	6.8	5.6	1.1

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Wally Moon	4.9	3.8	1.2

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Curt Flood	5.1	4.2	0.9

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Roger Maris	5.2	4.0	1.2

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1960 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
Del Crandall	14.9	13.4	1.2

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Roy Sievers	14.5	10.2	1.4

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Nellie Fox	18.5	18.3	0.7

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Mathews	21.5	16.3	2.1

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ernie Banks	22.7	18.3	2.6

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Ted Williams	14.0	10.1	1.4

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Mickey Mantle	21.8	15.4	2.4

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Roger Maris	20.0	13.9	2.5

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bob Friend	15.0	12.0	1.7
Jim Bunning	14.1	11.4	1.6
Mike McCormick	13.4	11.0	1.4
Vern Law	14.9	12.6	1.4

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Lindy McDaniel	5.8	3.5	0.9

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 1960 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

	Top Relief Pitchers of 1960, based on pWORL
Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
Lindy McDaniel	9.9	5.0	0.663	2.3	3.2
Turk Farrell	6.2	4.1	0.597	0.9	1.5
Hoyt Wilhelm	9.8	9.1	0.521	0.5	1.5
Mike Fornieles	7.2	5.7	0.559	0.6	1.4
Johnny Klippstein	5.2	3.6	0.594	0.7	1.3

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
Early Wynn	1.7	1.9	0.4
Don Cardwell	1.5	1.7	0.4

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Earl Torgeson	1.5	0.9	0.4

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Al Spangler	0.4	0.1	0.1
Johnny Antonelli	0.1	0.0	0.1

Notable Debuts

Two Hall-of-Famers made their major-league debut in 1960: Ron Santo and Juan Marichal.

Here's how their careers compare in Player won-lost records.

	Ron Santo						Juan Marichal
Season	Games	pWins	pLosses	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLosses	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
1960	95	10.2	10.2	0.500	-0.2	0.6	11	5.2	3.5	0.600	1.1	1.5
1961	154	17.3	18.5	0.483	-0.8	0.8	30	12.9	11.7	0.524	1.0	2.1
1962	162	16.7	21.5	0.438	-2.5	-1.0	38	18.2	15.8	0.534	2.0	3.5
1963	162	22.8	20.3	0.529	1.1	2.7	42	23.0	16.3	0.584	4.3	6.0
1964	161	23.0	18.5	0.553	1.8	3.5	33	18.7	12.9	0.593	3.7	5.3
1965	164	23.3	18.7	0.554	1.7	3.4	39	22.4	15.5	0.591	4.4	6.1
1966	155	21.3	18.1	0.541	1.2	2.7	37	23.1	14.4	0.617	5.2	6.8
1967	161	23.2	17.2	0.574	2.6	4.3	26	12.8	12.7	0.503	0.6	1.7
1968	162	23.7	18.3	0.564	2.5	4.2	38	20.3	16.6	0.551	2.8	4.3
1969	160	23.2	18.4	0.558	2.2	4.0	38	21.6	14.9	0.592	4.2	5.9
1970	154	20.3	16.8	0.547	1.1	2.8	34	13.2	13.3	0.498	0.5	1.6
1971	154	20.0	17.3	0.536	0.8	2.3	37	17.0	14.1	0.547	2.3	3.6
1972	133	16.7	14.2	0.540	1.1	2.3	25	9.9	12.7	0.438	-1.0	0.0
1973	149	19.6	18.2	0.518	0.1	1.7	34	13.6	13.2	0.508	0.8	1.9
1974	117	9.7	10.4	0.481	-0.3	0.6	11	3.5	2.4	0.588	0.5	0.8
1975							2	0.2	0.9	0.211	-0.3	-0.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS (Regular Season)	2,243	291.0	256.7	0.531	12.3	35.0	475	235.7	190.9	0.553	32.3	51.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
Postseason	0	0.0	0.0	0.000	0.0	0.0	2	0.6	0.8	0.421	-0.1	-0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,243	291.0	256.7	0.531	12.3	35.0	477	236.3	191.7	0.552	32.2	51.0

Retirement of a Legend

Finally, 1960 was the final season in the legendary career of Ted Williams. Even at the age of 41, Williams was the best left fielder in the American League (as measured by eWins over positional average). And famously, he homered in the final at-bat of his career. That moment was memorialized by John Updike in a New Yorker essay, Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu.

Ted Williams' career began in 1939. I have only calculated Player won-lost records for complete seasons since 1944. Before that time, I am missing 278 games from the first few years of Ted Williams's career. But here is what I do have for the portion of Ted Williams's career for which Retrosheet has play-by-play data and I have calculated Player won-lost records.

Ted Williams Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
1939	BOS	20	88	14.9	10.7	0.581	1.6	2.7	13.5	10.3	0.568	1.2	2.2
1940	BOS	21	81	12.5	9.1	0.578	1.2	2.2	13.7	9.7	0.584	1.5	2.5
1941	BOS	22	75	13.1	8.8	0.599	1.7	2.8	14.2	8.2	0.635	2.6	3.7
1942	BOS	23	64	13.0	6.5	0.668	2.8	3.7	11.4	7.2	0.613	1.6	2.5
1946	BOS	27	150	28.4	15.4	0.649	5.6	7.4	28.4	16.0	0.640	5.3	7.1
1947	BOS	28	156	26.9	18.0	0.599	3.3	5.2	27.7	17.2	0.617	4.1	5.9
1948	BOS	29	137	25.6	15.1	0.628	4.3	6.0	24.7	16.3	0.604	3.3	5.0
1949	BOS	30	155	27.0	17.3	0.609	3.6	5.4	27.9	17.9	0.610	3.7	5.6
1950	BOS	31	89	14.1	11.1	0.560	1.1	2.1	15.3	10.6	0.591	1.9	2.9
1951	BOS	32	148	24.3	19.0	0.561	1.6	3.4	24.9	18.6	0.573	2.1	3.9
1952	BOS	33	6	0.9	0.2	0.789	0.3	0.4	0.7	0.2	0.743	0.2	0.2
1953	BOS	34	37	5.9	2.8	0.675	1.4	1.8	5.0	2.7	0.644	1.0	1.3
1954	BOS	35	117	18.9	12.9	0.595	2.5	3.8	20.1	12.5	0.617	3.2	4.6
1955	BOS	36	98	16.4	10.4	0.611	2.6	3.7	16.1	10.2	0.611	2.6	3.7
1956	BOS	37	136	17.8	12.6	0.585	1.9	3.2	18.1	12.5	0.592	2.1	3.4
1957	BOS	38	132	20.9	14.2	0.596	2.3	3.8	21.5	13.1	0.622	3.2	4.6
1958	BOS	39	129	18.0	14.9	0.548	0.7	1.9	18.7	14.5	0.563	1.2	2.5
1959	BOS	40	103	10.3	9.4	0.522	0.2	1.0	9.7	9.4	0.510	-0.1	0.7
1960	BOS	41	112	14.1	11.4	0.552	0.7	1.8	14.4	10.5	0.577	1.3	2.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,013	323.1	220.0	0.595	39.3	62.1	326.0	217.4	0.600	42.0	64.8
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			7	0.7	0.8	0.468		-0.0	0.9	0.9	0.499		0.0
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			2,020	323.9	220.8	0.595		62.0	326.9	218.3	0.600		64.8

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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