1952 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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The 1952 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 1952 season.

The Best of 1952

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	Jackie Robinson	23.0	14.8	4.3	5.8	1	Jackie Robinson	23.0	14.8	4.3	5.8
2	Robin Roberts	20.7	13.5	4.3	5.7	2	Robin Roberts	20.7	13.5	4.3	5.7
3	Bobby Shantz	19.0	12.6	3.8	5.2	3	Allie Reynolds	19.2	12.5	3.8	5.2
4	Allie Reynolds	19.2	12.5	3.8	5.2	4	Bobby Shantz	19.0	12.6	3.8	5.2
5	E. Mike Garcia	20.9	14.9	3.5	5.2	5	E. Mike Garcia	20.9	14.9	3.5	5.2
6	Mickey Mantle	22.3	14.8	3.3	4.8	6	Al Rosen	22.8	15.7	3.3	4.8
7	Al Rosen	22.8	15.7	3.3	4.8	7	Mickey Mantle	22.3	14.8	3.3	4.8
8	Yogi Berra	18.1	11.8	3.2	4.4	8	Bob Lemon	20.3	15.9	2.9	4.5
9	Roy Campanella	16.2	10.4	3.0	4.1	9	Yogi Berra	18.1	11.8	3.2	4.4
10	Larry Doby	21.7	15.1	2.9	4.4	10	Larry Doby	21.7	15.1	2.9	4.4

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	Jackie Robinson	22.7	15.1	4.0	5.5	1	Jackie Robinson	22.7	15.1	4.0	5.5
2	Mickey Mantle	21.7	15.4	2.8	4.3	2	Mickey Mantle	21.7	15.4	2.8	4.3
3	Larry Doby	21.5	15.2	2.8	4.2	3	Larry Doby	21.5	15.2	2.8	4.2
4	Bob Rush	17.7	13.3	2.7	4.1	4	Bob Rush	17.7	13.3	2.7	4.1
5	Bobby Shantz	17.9	13.7	2.7	4.0	5	Bobby Shantz	17.9	13.7	2.7	4.0
6	Al Rosen	21.9	16.7	2.4	3.9	6	Bob Lemon	19.8	16.4	2.4	4.0
7	Yogi Berra	17.2	12.6	2.4	3.6	7	Al Rosen	21.9	16.7	2.4	3.9
8	Bob Lemon	19.8	16.4	2.4	4.0	8	Stan Musial	22.5	16.9	2.2	3.8
9	Billy Pierce	16.2	12.5	2.4	3.6	9	Robin Roberts	18.6	15.6	2.2	3.7
10	Gil Hodges	18.1	12.1	2.2	3.4	10	Eddie Joost	21.3	17.5	2.1	3.6

Measured by eWins over either positional average or replacement level, the top player in both leagues in 1952 was the first African-American player to appear in the league (five years earlier). I compare Jackie Robinson and Larry Doby (and some other early integration pioneers) in a separate article.

The best pitcher in the major leagues in 1952 was pretty clearly Robin Roberts. Robin Roberts had an outstanding 6-year peak that was somewhat ill-timed, ending in 1955, the season before the Cy Young award was introduced. He did manage to place in the top 10 in NL MVP voting in five of those six seasons, including second place in 1952. That's the right place for Roberts, but he lost to Hank Sauer, who is notably absent from all of the above tables. Somehow Jackie Robinson managed to finish 7th in the MVP voting that year.

Robin Roberts's career record, as measured by Player won-lost record, is shown in the table below. Retrosheet is missing play-by-play data for a few games of the first three years of Roberts's career.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
Robin Roberts Basic Player Won-Lost Records
												Value Decomposition
1948	PHI	21	21	9.7	9.8	0.497	0.2	1.0	9.8	9.7	0.503	0.3	1.2
1949	PHI	22	43	14.1	13.5	0.511	0.6	1.7	14.0	13.7	0.505	0.5	1.6
1950	PHI	23	40	19.8	14.4	0.579	3.1	4.7	18.2	16.0	0.532	1.5	3.1
1951	PHI	24	44	20.9	16.8	0.555	2.5	4.2	21.0	16.7	0.558	2.6	4.3
1952	PHI	25	39	20.7	13.5	0.606	4.3	5.7	18.6	15.6	0.545	2.2	3.7
1953	PHI	26	44	24.8	18.0	0.580	4.1	5.9	24.8	17.9	0.580	4.1	5.9
1954	PHI	27	45	20.7	17.5	0.541	2.2	4.0	20.7	17.5	0.541	2.2	4.0
1955	PHI	28	51	21.8	17.7	0.552	2.6	4.1	20.7	18.8	0.523	1.5	3.0
1956	PHI	29	43	19.0	19.1	0.499	0.5	2.3	18.3	19.8	0.481	-0.2	1.6
1957	PHI	30	39	14.2	20.1	0.413	-2.5	-1.1	16.0	18.3	0.467	-0.6	0.7
1958	PHI	31	36	18.1	15.0	0.547	2.1	3.4	17.2	15.9	0.520	1.2	2.5
1959	PHI	32	35	17.8	17.4	0.506	0.7	2.2	17.5	17.7	0.498	0.5	1.9
1960	PHI	33	35	14.0	14.9	0.484	-0.0	1.2	14.2	14.7	0.493	0.2	1.4
1961	PHI	34	26	5.1	8.1	0.385	-1.4	-0.8	5.6	7.5	0.430	-0.8	-0.2
1962	BAL	35	27	10.3	8.8	0.539	1.0	1.9	10.1	9.1	0.527	0.8	1.6
1963	BAL	36	35	14.6	15.8	0.480	-0.1	1.3	15.0	15.4	0.493	0.3	1.7
1964	BAL	37	31	13.6	11.2	0.548	1.6	2.8	12.2	12.6	0.491	0.2	1.4
+– 1965		38	30	11.0	10.8	0.505	0.5	1.5	11.6	10.3	0.529	1.0	2.0
	BAL		20	6.4	7.6	0.459	-0.3	0.3	6.6	7.4	0.473	-0.1	0.5
	HOU		10	4.6	3.2	0.588	0.9	1.2	4.9	2.9	0.630	1.2	1.5
+– 1966		39	24	6.7	7.2	0.483	-0.1	0.6	6.1	7.9	0.437	-0.7	-0.1
	CHN		11	2.6	2.6	0.497	0.0	0.3	2.3	3.0	0.432	-0.3	-0.1
	HOU		13	4.2	4.6	0.475	-0.1	0.3	3.8	4.9	0.439	-0.4	-0.0
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			688	296.9	269.7	0.524	22.1	46.6	291.6	275.0	0.515	16.8	41.3
			------	------	------				------	------
PostSeason (career)			2	0.4	0.7	0.403		-0.0	0.6	0.5	0.538		0.1
			------	------	------	------		------	------	------	------		------
COMBINED			690	297.3	270.3	0.524		46.5	292.2	275.5	0.515		41.4

1952 Postseason

The best player in the 1952 World Series, as measured by pWins over replacement level, was Duke Snider, of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who lost the World Series in seven games. It is somewhat unusual for the best player in the World Series to come from the losing team, although the 1952 Series was extremely close (with the Yankees winning Games 6 and 7 by a combined 3 runs).

And it's not like Snider's performance in the 1952 World Series was subtle or his record here all that surprising: he batted .345/.387/.828 with a series-best 4 home runs and 8 RBIs. He even tied for the series lead in runs scored with 5.

The most valuable Yankees in the 1952 World Series were Reynolds and Raschi, who earned two pitcher wins apiece in the Series.

	1952 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Duke Snider	BRO	1.4	0.8	0.4
Allie Reynolds	NYA	1.7	1.2	0.4
Vic Raschi	NYA	1.2	0.8	0.3
Gene Woodling	NYA	1.2	0.6	0.3
Johnny Mize	NYA	0.7	0.2	0.3
Pee Wee Reese	BRO	1.1	0.8	0.3
Mickey Mantle	NYA	1.0	0.7	0.2
Preacher Roe	BRO	0.8	0.6	0.2
Yogi Berra	NYA	0.9	0.7	0.2
Bob Kuzava	NYA	0.3	0.0	0.2

Best of 1952 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 1952 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Gil Hodges	15.5	10.3	2.4
Jackie Robinson	15.7	10.7	2.2
Larry Doby	14.5	9.6	2.2
Stan Musial	15.8	10.8	2.2

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Jackie Robinson	2.2	1.2	0.4
Jim Rivera	1.6	0.8	0.4

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Robin Roberts	16.4	12.9	3.6
Bobby Shantz	13.9	10.8	3.1
Billy Pierce	13.0	10.1	3.0
Warren Spahn	15.8	12.9	2.9
Bob Lemon	15.5	12.6	2.9
Bob Rush	13.4	10.5	2.9
E. Mike Garcia	15.1	12.5	2.6

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Billy Loes	0.5	0.2	0.3
Jim Hearn	0.6	0.3	0.3
Art Houtteman	0.4	0.1	0.3
Robin Roberts	0.7	0.4	0.3
Sid Hudson	0.6	0.4	0.3
Joe Nuxhall	0.3	0.1	0.3

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Yogi Berra	1.9	1.4	0.5

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Gil Hodges	3.2	2.3	0.9

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Jackie Robinson	5.3	4.1	1.2

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Bobby Adams	5.8	5.3	0.5

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Pee Wee Reese	5.5	4.4	1.1

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Hank Sauer	6.9	5.8	1.2

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Duke Snider	5.5	4.1	1.4

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Carl Furillo	5.8	4.4	1.4

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1952 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	16.4	12.2	2.2

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Gil Hodges	19.5	13.3	2.3

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Jackie Robinson	23.0	16.0	3.7

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Al Rosen	20.1	15.6	2.0

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Joost	20.5	17.1	1.8

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Hank Sauer	22.5	18.0	1.3

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Larry Doby	21.0	15.4	2.4

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Hank Bauer	17.3	14.2	1.1

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Robin Roberts	17.0	13.2	1.9

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Joe Black	7.8	6.4	0.7

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 1952 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1952, based on pWORL
Hoyt Wilhelm	10.0	6.9	0.592	1.7	2.9
Joe Black	9.1	7.1	0.562	1.2	2.2
Harry Dorish	6.5	3.7	0.635	1.5	2.1
Al Brazle	9.1	7.3	0.555	1.1	2.1
Satchel Paige	10.1	9.8	0.507	0.4	1.6

The player whose record sticks out here to me is Satchel Paige who managed to amass double-digits in both pWins and pLosses as primarily a relief pitcher (although Paige did start 6 games this season). The next table shows every pitcher who earned at least 10 pWins and at least 10 pLosses in a season in which they had more Player decisions as a relief pitcher than as a starting pitcher (or as a batter).

Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
Mike G. Marshall	1974	13.9	12.3	0.530	1.0	2.6
Terry Forster	1973	11.8	10.3	0.534	0.8	2.0
John Montague	1977	10.2	10.7	0.489	-0.2	1.0

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
Johnny Sain	1.4	1.2	0.5

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Allie Clark	0.8	0.3	0.3
Kite Thomas	1.2	0.8	0.3

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Putsy Caballero	0.3	0.0	0.1
Wally Westlake	0.2	0.0	0.1

Noteworthy Players of 1952

Finally, let's take a look at some players who had noteworthy 1952 seasons.

Notable Debuts

Two Hall-of-Famers made their major-league debuts in 1952: Eddie Mathews and Hoyt Wilhelm. Mathews was 10 years younger than Wilhelm, but retired three years earlier.

Their careers, as measured by Player won-lost records, are compared in the final table of this article.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Eddie Mathews						Hoyt Wilhelm
1952	145	16.5	16.3	0.504	-0.0	1.3	71	10.0	6.9	0.592	1.7	2.9
1953	157	24.6	15.9	0.607	3.7	5.4	68	8.3	8.8	0.487	-0.1	1.0
1954	138	20.8	13.9	0.599	2.8	4.2	57	6.2	4.1	0.599	1.1	1.8
1955	141	20.7	14.2	0.593	2.8	4.3	59	3.3	4.0	0.451	-0.3	0.2
1956	151	20.3	15.4	0.568	2.2	3.6	64	5.7	5.9	0.492	-0.1	0.7
1957	147	20.8	14.7	0.587	3.0	4.5	42	3.2	2.7	0.544	0.3	0.7
1958	149	21.9	15.6	0.584	3.0	4.4	39	7.4	7.8	0.487	-0.0	0.7
1959	148	22.8	15.8	0.591	2.9	4.5	32	14.4	13.0	0.527	1.2	2.3
1960	153	22.5	14.8	0.603	3.4	4.9	41	9.8	8.9	0.524	0.7	1.6
1961	152	19.4	14.7	0.569	2.2	3.7	51	9.0	6.3	0.588	1.5	2.4
1962	152	20.2	15.5	0.567	2.3	3.6	52	7.0	6.0	0.540	0.6	1.4
1963	158	22.6	16.9	0.572	2.5	4.0	55	8.3	7.3	0.531	0.7	1.6
1964	141	17.6	13.6	0.564	1.7	2.9	73	9.6	6.5	0.595	1.7	2.8
1965	156	19.7	15.6	0.558	1.6	3.0	66	7.7	5.8	0.570	1.1	1.9
1966	134	14.7	12.8	0.535	0.6	1.7	46	3.9	3.6	0.519	0.2	0.7
1967	137	14.4	13.8	0.511	-0.3	0.9	49	7.4	4.4	0.629	1.6	2.3
1968	30	1.2	1.3	0.483	-0.1	0.1	72	4.1	3.3	0.551	0.4	0.9
1969							52	5.7	4.0	0.587	0.9	1.5
1970							53	6.0	5.4	0.527	0.4	1.1
1971							12	1.0	0.8	0.570	0.1	0.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,389	320.9	240.8	0.571	34.3	57.0	1,054	138.0	115.5	0.544	13.5	28.8

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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