1943 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

The 1943 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

In their latest release (in December 2017) Retrosheet released complete play-by-play data (with some games deduced) for the 1941, 1942, and 1943 seasons. This article looks at the last of these.

While not as bad as 1944 or 1945 would end up being, the toll taken from World War II on Major League Baseball took a definite turn for the worse in 1943. Two of the top three finishers in AL MVP voting in 1942 missed the entire 1943 season due to military service as did two of the top five finishers in NL MVP voting. And yet, the final results of the 1943 season looked a lot like the 1942 season: so much so that the same two teams met in the World Series.

The Best of 1943

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	Stan Musial	27.8	17.6	4.2	5.9	1	Stan Musial	27.8	17.6	4.2	5.9
2	Charlie Keller	25.1	16.0	3.8	5.4	2	Charlie Keller	25.1	16.0	3.8	5.4
3	Spud Chandler	16.5	10.5	3.5	4.6	3	Spud Chandler	16.5	10.5	3.5	4.6
4	Mort Cooper	17.6	12.2	3.1	4.4	4	Lou Klein	23.4	17.6	3.0	4.6
5	Whitey Kurowski	20.7	14.7	3.1	4.4	5	Mort Cooper	17.6	12.2	3.1	4.4
6	Billy Johnson	21.6	15.8	3.0	4.4	6	Whitey Kurowski	20.7	14.7	3.1	4.4
7	Lou Klein	23.4	17.6	3.0	4.6	7	Billy Johnson	21.6	15.8	3.0	4.4
8	Whit Wyatt	12.0	7.0	2.7	3.6	8	Bill Nicholson	27.2	20.4	2.5	4.3
9	Dizzy Trout	17.3	13.1	2.5	3.9	9	Lou Boudreau	22.0	17.4	2.4	3.9
10	Rip Sewell	17.1	13.0	2.5	3.8	10	Dizzy Trout	17.3	13.1	2.5	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	Charlie Keller	24.1	17.0	2.9	4.4	1	Bill Nicholson	27.5	20.0	2.8	4.6
2	Bill Nicholson	27.5	20.0	2.8	4.6	2	Charlie Keller	24.1	17.0	2.9	4.4
3	Stan Musial	26.2	19.1	2.7	4.4	3	Stan Musial	26.2	19.1	2.7	4.4
4	Spud Chandler	15.6	11.4	2.6	3.7	4	Luke Appling	24.4	19.6	2.5	4.2
5	Luke Appling	24.4	19.6	2.5	4.2	5	Spud Chandler	15.6	11.4	2.6	3.7
6	Rudy York	21.6	15.7	2.2	3.6	6	Rudy York	21.6	15.7	2.2	3.6
7	Whit Wyatt	11.3	7.7	2.1	2.9	7	Bob Elliott	22.1	18.4	1.9	3.4
8	Mort Cooper	16.6	13.3	2.1	3.4	8	Mort Cooper	16.6	13.3	2.1	3.4
9	Augie Galan	18.9	14.3	2.0	3.2	9	Lou Boudreau	21.5	18.0	1.9	3.4
10	Mel Ott	17.3	12.3	1.9	3.1	10	Bobby Doerr	21.9	18.4	1.8	3.3

Stan Musial

The top player in three of the four tables above won the National League MVP award. Stan Musial batted .357/.425/.562, all of which led the National League. Musial also led the league in hits (220), doubles (48), triples (20), and total bases (347). He finished second in the league in runs scored (108) and fifth in RBI (81). He was an easy and obvious MVP choice.

Stan Musial's career, as shown by Player won-lost records, is shown next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Stan Musial Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1941	SLN	20	12	1.8	1.1	0.625	0.3	0.4	1.7	1.1	0.618	0.3	0.4
1942	SLN	21	140	20.6	13.1	0.612	3.0	4.4	19.4	14.3	0.576	1.8	3.2
1943	SLN	22	157	27.8	17.6	0.612	4.2	5.9	26.2	19.1	0.578	2.7	4.4
1944	SLN	23	146	25.2	15.6	0.617	4.0	5.6	24.8	16.0	0.607	3.5	5.2
1946	SLN	25	156	22.7	16.2	0.584	2.2	3.7	22.6	16.3	0.580	2.0	3.6
1947	SLN	26	149	19.9	13.8	0.590	2.1	3.5	18.8	14.9	0.559	1.1	2.4
1948	SLN	27	155	27.9	18.4	0.602	3.8	5.6	27.8	18.5	0.600	3.7	5.5
1949	SLN	28	157	25.0	16.8	0.598	3.5	5.2	24.3	17.5	0.581	2.8	4.5
1950	SLN	29	146	20.5	16.0	0.562	1.5	3.0	20.1	16.4	0.551	1.1	2.6
1951	SLN	30	152	23.3	16.4	0.587	2.7	4.3	23.3	16.4	0.587	2.7	4.3
1952	SLN	31	154	22.7	16.8	0.575	2.4	4.0	22.5	16.9	0.570	2.2	3.8
1953	SLN	32	157	25.9	18.4	0.585	2.9	4.7	25.6	18.7	0.578	2.5	4.4
1954	SLN	33	153	23.3	19.2	0.547	1.7	3.4	24.0	18.5	0.565	2.4	4.1
1955	SLN	34	153	20.4	15.3	0.571	1.8	3.3	20.3	15.3	0.570	1.8	3.2
1956	SLN	35	156	18.4	17.3	0.515	-0.2	1.2	19.3	16.3	0.542	0.7	2.2
1957	SLN	36	134	17.8	11.6	0.604	2.4	3.6	16.9	12.6	0.573	1.5	2.7
1958	SLN	37	135	13.3	11.1	0.545	0.6	1.5	13.3	11.0	0.548	0.7	1.6
1959	SLN	38	115	9.1	9.7	0.483	-0.7	0.1	9.7	9.1	0.518	-0.0	0.7
1960	SLN	39	116	12.5	9.6	0.567	1.0	1.9	12.0	10.1	0.543	0.5	1.4
1961	SLN	40	123	14.2	12.9	0.523	0.3	1.5	14.3	12.8	0.528	0.4	1.6
1962	SLN	41	135	16.6	14.5	0.534	0.3	1.5	17.2	13.9	0.552	0.9	2.1
1963	SLN	42	124	12.0	10.1	0.542	0.5	1.3	11.4	10.7	0.516	-0.1	0.8
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			3,025	420.8	311.5	0.575	40.1	69.6	415.7	316.6	0.568	35.1	64.6
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			23	2.9	2.2	0.570		0.4	2.6	2.5	0.517		0.2
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			3,048	423.7	313.7	0.575		70.1	418.4	319.0	0.568		64.8

Charlie Keller

The one table above in which Stan Musial is not in first is eWins over positional average (eWOPA), which find Charlie Keller at the top. Keller is in second place in the other three tables.

Keller finished a disappointing 13th place in AL MVP voting in 1943.

In 1943, Charlie Keller batted .271/.396/.525. Keller led the American League in OPS (.922) and walks (106). His 11 triples were third in the AL; his 31 home runs were second. Like Musial, he finished second in his league in runs scored (97). He was also sixth in the AL in RBI (86).

The 1943 season was Keller's fifth season. Keller would go on to miss most of the next two seasons due to military service. He returned for one more full season in 1946. Unfortunately, his career was derailed thereafter by serious back injuries.

Keller's career, as seen by Player won-lost records, is shown next.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Charlie Keller Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1939	NYA	22	111	16.1	11.2	0.590	2.0	3.2	15.4	11.8	0.567	1.4	2.5
1940	NYA	23	138	21.7	16.7	0.565	1.7	3.3	22.0	16.3	0.574	2.1	3.6
1941	NYA	24	140	25.9	16.4	0.613	4.0	5.9	24.6	17.7	0.582	2.8	4.6
1942	NYA	25	152	24.6	16.2	0.603	3.2	4.9	24.0	16.7	0.589	2.7	4.3
1943	NYA	26	141	25.1	16.0	0.610	3.8	5.4	24.1	17.0	0.587	2.9	4.4
1945	NYA	28	44	7.7	5.3	0.592	1.0	1.5	7.7	5.3	0.592	1.0	1.5
1946	NYA	29	150	24.0	17.0	0.585	2.6	4.2	24.0	17.0	0.585	2.6	4.2
1947	NYA	30	45	8.0	5.5	0.596	1.0	1.5	7.9	5.6	0.583	0.8	1.3
1948	NYA	31	83	9.0	7.6	0.541	0.3	1.0	8.6	8.0	0.518	-0.0	0.7
1949	NYA	32	60	4.8	3.9	0.549	0.3	0.7	4.7	3.9	0.547	0.3	0.6
1950	DET	33	50	2.1	1.5	0.580	0.4	0.6	2.3	1.3	0.641	0.6	0.8
1951	DET	34	53	2.5	2.5	0.497	0.0	0.3	2.7	2.3	0.542	0.2	0.5
1952	NYA	35	2	0.0	0.0	0.000	-0.0	-0.0	0.0	0.0	0.000	-0.0	-0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,169	171.4	119.8	0.589	20.4	32.3	168.2	123.0	0.578	17.2	29.1
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			19	3.8	2.0	0.657		1.0	3.5	2.3	0.601		0.7
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,188	175.2	121.8	0.589		33.4	171.6	125.3	0.578		29.8

Unfortunately, Keller's career was too short - and, perhaps, too underappreciated (his career batting average was .286 with an on-base percentage of .410; he had over 100 walks in all five seasons in which he had 500 or more plate appearances) - to ever get any traction in Hall-of-Fame voting. His walks and lost time due to World War II were more appreciated, however, by the electorate at the Hall of Merit which elected him in "1996".

Spud Chandler

Player won-lost records suggest that Charlie Keller should have won the AL MVP award. While MVP voters did a pretty poor job of recognizing Keller's value, their MVP choice was actually a pretty good one. In fact, he was the best pitcher in baseball in 1943, as measured by Player won-lost records: Spud Chandler.

Chandler led the American League in wins (20), win percentage (.833), ERA (1.64), complete games (20), shutouts (5), WHIP (0.992), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.48), and FIP (fielding independent pitching, 2.30). Like Keller, Chandler missed most of the next two seasons but came back with a strong 1946 - when Chandler was 20-8 with a 2.10 ERA. He came back for one more season in 1947, by which time he was 39 years old, when he led the American League in ERA (2.46 in 128 innings pitched). And that was it.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Spud Chandler Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1937	NYA	29	12	5.3	3.9	0.576	0.8	1.2	4.7	4.5	0.508	0.2	0.6
1938	NYA	30	23	11.4	7.8	0.594	2.1	2.9	10.7	8.6	0.554	1.3	2.1
1939	NYA	31	11	0.6	0.4	0.570	0.1	0.1	0.5	0.5	0.498	0.0	0.1
1940	NYA	32	27	9.4	9.8	0.490	0.1	0.9	9.6	9.7	0.498	0.2	1.1
1941	NYA	33	28	9.2	6.9	0.572	1.4	2.1	8.4	7.7	0.523	0.6	1.3
1942	NYA	34	24	12.7	9.3	0.577	2.0	2.9	10.9	11.0	0.497	0.3	1.1
1943	NYA	35	30	16.5	10.5	0.612	3.5	4.6	15.6	11.4	0.578	2.6	3.7
1944	NYA	36	1	0.2	0.3	0.424	-0.0	-0.0	0.2	0.4	0.347	-0.1	-0.1
1945	NYA	37	4	2.0	2.0	0.508	0.1	0.3	2.1	1.9	0.528	0.2	0.4
1946	NYA	38	34	15.6	12.6	0.553	2.0	3.3	15.5	12.7	0.549	1.9	3.2
1947	NYA	39	17	8.8	5.9	0.598	1.7	2.3	8.3	6.4	0.568	1.3	1.8
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			211	91.8	69.4	0.570	13.8	20.7	86.5	74.7	0.536	8.5	15.3
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			6	2.0	1.4	0.586		0.5	2.0	1.5	0.571		0.4
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			217	93.9	70.8	0.570		21.2	88.5	76.2	0.536		15.8

1943 Postseason

The 1943 World Series was a repeat of the 1942 World Series. As in 1942, the World Series went 5 games, but, unlike in 1942, this time the New York Yankees defeated the St. Louis Cardinals.

The top performances of the 1943 World Series, as measured by Player won-lost records, are presented in the next table.

	1943 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Spud Chandler	NYA	1.3	0.6	0.5
Marius Russo	NYA	1.0	0.3	0.4
Frankie Crosetti	NYA	1.1	0.6	0.3
Billy Johnson	NYA	1.2	0.8	0.3

As measured by Player won-lost records, the top performer in the 1943 postseason was the top pitcher in the 1943 regular season, Spud Chandler. Chandler started and won Games 1 and 5 of the series, both complete games, allowing one earned run (and one unearned run).

Best of 1943 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 1943 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Charlie Keller	16.1	9.7	3.0
Bill Nicholson	16.8	10.8	2.8

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
George Case	2.8	1.6	0.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Spud Chandler	12.1	8.8	3.4
Mort Cooper	13.8	10.9	2.9
Whit Wyatt	8.9	6.1	2.8

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Claude Passeau	1.0	0.4	0.5
Jim Bagby Jr.	1.0	0.5	0.5

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Ray Mueller	2.2	1.4	0.7

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Joe Kuhel	3.0	2.4	0.6

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Lonny Frey	6.8	6.1	0.7

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Billy Johnson	6.0	4.6	1.4

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Eddie R. Miller	9.1	7.2	1.9

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Jim Russell	7.3	6.0	1.4

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Vince DiMaggio	7.7	6.5	1.2

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Mel Ott	5.7	4.9	0.9
Wally Moses	5.7	4.9	0.9

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1943 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
Bill Dickey	7.7	5.3	1.3
Ray Mueller	12.8	10.8	1.3

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Rudy York	20.0	14.9	1.8

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bobby Doerr	21.6	18.7	1.5

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bob Elliott	20.5	17.2	1.7

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Luke Appling	23.9	19.8	2.2

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Charlie Keller	23.3	16.9	2.5

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Augie Galan	14.8	11.4	1.5

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Bill Nicholson	25.2	18.7	2.3

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Spud Chandler	12.7	9.3	1.7
Mort Cooper	14.1	11.1	1.5

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Clyde Shoun	6.0	4.9	0.5
Harry Brecheen	2.6	1.6	0.5
Vern Kennedy	2.2	1.3	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 1943 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1943, based on pWORL
Clyde Shoun	9.4	6.3	0.601	1.8	2.7
Gordon Maltzberger	8.0	4.6	0.634	1.9	2.7
Murry Dickson	5.8	4.8	0.550	0.7	1.3
Joe Beggs	5.6	4.9	0.532	0.5	1.1
Ace Adams	6.0	6.0	0.502	0.1	0.9

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
Bucky Walters	2.1	1.7	0.6

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Joe Cronin	1.9	0.8	0.6

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Andy Karl	0.1	0.0	0.1

Notable Debuts

One player debuted in 1943 who went on to be elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame: George Kell.

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

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
George Kell Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1943	PHA	20	1	0.2	0.1	0.644	0.0	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.569	0.0	0.0
1944	PHA	21	139	14.4	16.8	0.461	-1.4	-0.1	14.4	16.8	0.461	-1.4	-0.1
1945	PHA	22	147	16.9	18.6	0.476	-1.0	0.3	18.3	17.3	0.514	0.3	1.7
+– 1946		23	131	16.3	15.1	0.519	0.7	1.9	16.8	14.6	0.535	1.2	2.4
	DET		105	13.8	12.0	0.535	1.0	2.0	13.9	12.0	0.536	1.0	2.0
	PHA		26	2.5	3.1	0.444	-0.3	-0.1	3.0	2.6	0.528	0.2	0.4
1947	DET	24	152	20.4	17.5	0.539	1.2	2.7	20.2	17.7	0.532	0.9	2.5
1948	DET	25	92	11.8	10.8	0.522	0.2	1.1	11.7	10.8	0.520	0.1	1.0
1949	DET	26	134	17.8	14.5	0.551	1.4	2.7	17.9	14.4	0.553	1.5	2.8
1950	DET	27	157	20.8	17.0	0.550	1.3	2.7	20.6	17.2	0.545	1.1	2.6
1951	DET	28	147	19.4	17.6	0.525	0.4	1.8	19.2	17.8	0.519	0.2	1.6
+– 1952		29	114	14.1	13.4	0.513	0.2	1.3	14.7	12.7	0.536	0.8	1.9
	BOS		75	10.4	8.5	0.548	0.8	1.6	10.3	8.6	0.545	0.7	1.5
	DET		39	3.7	4.8	0.433	-0.6	-0.3	4.4	4.1	0.517	0.1	0.4
1953	BOS	30	134	17.7	14.5	0.549	1.0	2.4	17.3	14.9	0.538	0.7	2.1
+– 1954		31	97	10.2	10.4	0.497	-0.4	0.4	10.8	9.8	0.523	0.1	1.0
	BOS		26	2.7	3.2	0.453	-0.4	-0.1	3.0	2.9	0.509	-0.0	0.2
	CHA		71	7.5	7.1	0.514	-0.0	0.6	7.8	6.9	0.529	0.2	0.8
1955	CHA	32	128	15.8	12.3	0.561	1.3	2.5	14.7	13.3	0.525	0.3	1.5
+– 1956		33	123	11.8	13.2	0.472	-0.9	0.1	12.7	12.2	0.511	0.1	1.1
	BAL		102	9.5	10.9	0.466	-0.8	-0.0	10.3	10.0	0.508	0.0	0.9
	CHA		21	2.3	2.3	0.498	-0.1	0.1	2.4	2.2	0.523	0.1	0.2
1957	BAL	34	99	9.4	9.5	0.499	-0.1	0.7	9.9	9.0	0.525	0.4	1.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			1,795	217.0	201.2	0.519	3.9	20.7	219.4	198.8	0.525	6.4	23.2
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			0	0.0	0.0			0.0	0.0	0.0			0.0
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			1,795	217.0	201.2	0.519		20.7	219.4	198.8	0.525		23.2

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.

Home List of Articles