1962 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
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The 1962 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 1962 season. The 1962 season saw the National League join the American League in expanding to ten teams and a 162-game schedule. In fact, not only did the National League go to a 162-game schedule in 1962, but the top two teams in the National League - San Francisco and Los Angeles - played 165 games apiece, after ending the first 162 games with identical 101-61 records.

The Best of 1962

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	Willie Mays	29.3	18.5	4.8	6.6	1	Willie Mays	29.3	18.5	4.8	6.6
2	Bob Purkey	19.5	12.7	3.9	5.3	2	Maury Wills	26.0	19.8	3.6	5.3
3	Mickey Mantle	19.9	11.3	3.8	5.0	3	Bob Purkey	19.5	12.7	3.9	5.3
4	Maury Wills	26.0	19.8	3.6	5.3	4	Mickey Mantle	19.9	11.3	3.8	5.0
5	Camilo Pascual	19.2	13.8	3.3	4.7	5	H. Tommy Davis	27.5	19.3	3.2	5.0
6	Ray Herbert	17.2	11.8	3.3	4.5	6	Frank Robinson	26.3	17.5	3.2	4.9
7	Frank Robinson	26.3	17.5	3.2	4.9	7	Camilo Pascual	19.2	13.8	3.3	4.7
8	H. Tommy Davis	27.5	19.3	3.2	5.0	8	Hank Aaron	26.9	19.7	2.7	4.5
9	Don Drysdale	19.4	14.9	2.9	4.4	9	Ray Herbert	17.2	11.8	3.3	4.5
10	Whitey Ford	16.5	11.7	2.8	4.0	10	Don Drysdale	19.4	14.9	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	Mickey Mantle	19.5	11.7	3.4	4.6	1	Hank Aaron	27.4	19.2	3.2	5.0
2	Hank Aaron	27.4	19.2	3.2	5.0	2	Mickey Mantle	19.5	11.7	3.4	4.6
3	Willie Mays	27.2	20.6	2.7	4.5	3	Willie Mays	27.2	20.6	2.7	4.5
4	Camilo Pascual	18.4	14.6	2.6	4.0	4	Frank Robinson	25.6	18.3	2.5	4.1
5	Frank Robinson	25.6	18.3	2.5	4.1	5	Camilo Pascual	18.4	14.6	2.6	4.0
6	Bob Gibson	17.4	13.6	2.5	3.8	6	Bob Gibson	17.4	13.6	2.5	3.8
7	Eddie Mathews	20.4	15.3	2.4	3.7	7	Maury Wills	24.5	21.3	2.1	3.8
8	Ray Herbert	16.1	12.9	2.1	3.4	8	Rocky Colavito	25.4	19.2	2.1	3.8
9	Rocky Colavito	25.4	19.2	2.1	3.8	9	Eddie Mathews	20.4	15.3	2.4	3.7
10	Maury Wills	24.5	21.3	2.1	3.8	10	H. Tommy Davis	26.0	20.8	1.7	3.4

Let's take a look at a few of the more interesting players on the above lists.

Willie Mays

The 1962 NL MVP vote was extremely close, coming down to 1 first-place vote and seven overall points. The winner was Dodgers' shortstop Maury Wills who had a fine season, punctuated by an eye-popping major-league record 104 stolen bases.

Based on Player won-lost records, the most valuable player in the National League was almost certainly MVP runner-up Willie Mays. Willie Mays's 1962 season was one of the finest seasons, as measured by Player won-lost record, of any season for which I have calculated Player won-lost records in both raw pWins as well as pWins over replacement level (pWORL). The top 10 seasons in these two stats since 1951 (Willie Mays's rookie season) are shown in the next two tables.

Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Top 10 Single-Season pWin Totals, since 1951
Willie Mays	1962	29.3	18.5	4.8	6.6
Barry Bonds	2001	28.0	15.5	5.3	7.2
Minnie Minoso	1954	27.6	18.1	4.0	5.9
Hank Aaron	1968	27.5	20.4	2.6	4.6
H. Tommy Davis	1962	27.5	19.3	3.2	5.0
Kevin Mitchell	1989	27.2	17.2	4.1	5.7
Carl Yastrzemski	1967	27.2	18.0	3.5	5.4
George Foster	1977	27.1	19.5	3.0	4.9
Willie Mays	1955	27.0	17.7	3.8	5.6
Bobby Bonds	1973	27.0	19.6	3.0	4.9

Player	Season	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL
Top 10 Single-Season pWORL Totals, since 1951
Sandy Koufax	1965	25.0	14.5	5.9	7.6
Steve Carlton	1972	25.1	14.9	5.8	7.6
Dwight Gooden	1985	21.3	11.0	5.9	7.3
Barry Bonds	2001	28.0	15.5	5.3	7.2
Joe L. Morgan	1972	25.8	16.0	5.3	7.0
Mickey Mantle	1957	24.8	12.8	5.3	6.9
Jackie Robinson	1951	25.7	15.2	5.3	6.9
Sandy Koufax	1963	22.6	13.2	5.2	6.9
Barry Bonds	2002	25.4	13.2	5.3	6.8
Joe L. Morgan	1973	26.9	17.1	5.0	6.8

Bob Purkey

From 1956 - 1966, only one Cy Young award was given out each year for the entire major leagues. In 1962, this award was won by Don Drysdale. As the tables above show, Drysdale had an excellent season in 1962. Based on pWins, however, the best pitcher in the major leagues in 1962 was Cincinnati Reds ace Bob Purkey.

The next table shows Bob Purkey's 1962 season both in and out of context.

Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
37	19.5	12.7	0.605	3.9	5.3	16.9	15.3	0.524	1.3	2.7

Controlling for context, Purkey's 1962 season was pretty good. But in terms of how Purkey's performance translated into Reds' victories, it was outstanding - as indicated, for example, by Bob Purkey's traditional won-lost record in 1962 of 23-5. There are two different types of context associated with pWins: inter-game, which measures the relative importance of situations within a game, and intra-game, which ties how player wins translate into team wins. Bob Purkey's performance benefited from both types of context.

As an example of the improvement in Bob Purkey's inter-game performance, in low-leverage situations Purkey allowed an OPS of .686; in medium-leverage, Purkey allowed an OPS of .621; in high-leverage situations, Purkey allowed an OPS of .600. With two outs and runners in scoring position, batters batted .167/.241/.245 against Purkey. With the bases loaded, Purkey allowed one hit (a single) in 14 plate appearances.

At the game level, Purkey's runs allowed translated into more wins than expected based on how he tied them to the runs scored by the Reds. For example, the Reds went 6-3 in one-run games started by Purkey, including 1-0, 2-1, and 2-1 wins in which Purkey pitched a combined 28 innings and allowed 2 runs. At the other end of the spectrum, the Reds went 5-4 in games in which Purkey allowed 5 or more runs as (by dumb luck or otherwise) these tended to occur disproportionately in games in which the Reds scored plenty of runs themselves.

The next table shows Purkey's career Player won-lost records, excluding 1962.

Games	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWin Pct.	eWOPA	eWORL
350	107.8	112.1	0.490	0.6	10.6	108.8	111.2	0.494	1.6	11.5

Purkey's "ability" to play better in the clutch did not persist across the rest of his career. But in 1962, it translated into real wins for the Reds.

Mickey Mantle

The winner of the 1962 American League MVP was Mickey Mantle. On the one hand, this is no surprise: Mickey Mantle was one of the greatest players in major-league history and, as seen above, Mickey Mantle led American League players in all four of the above tables: pWOPA, pWORL, eWOPA, and eWORL. On the other hand, Mickey Mantle was the best player in the American League more often than not during his career and yet, somewhat surprisingly to me, 1962 was only the third (and last) season in Mantle's career when he was voted MVP.

The next table compares Mickey Mantle to the AL MVP winner for the prime of Mantle's career: 1952 - 1964.

Season	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Mickey Mantle				AL MVP Winner
1952	22.3	14.8	3.3	4.8	19.0	12.6	3.8	5.2
1953	20.2	13.0	3.1	4.5	26.6	17.2	4.0	5.8
1954	24.0	15.2	3.6	5.2	19.0	12.3	3.4	4.7
1955	24.6	14.1	4.5	6.1	18.2	12.8	3.0	4.3
1956	24.9	15.1	4.2	5.9	24.9	15.1	4.2	5.9
1957	24.8	12.8	5.3	6.9	24.8	12.8	5.3	6.9
1958	23.0	15.9	2.8	4.3	25.0	18.8	2.2	3.9
1959	20.3	15.0	2.0	3.4	22.4	16.0	3.5	5.0
1960	23.3	13.5	4.2	5.6	22.5	13.8	3.8	5.2
1961	25.8	14.9	4.8	6.6	26.9	15.5	4.5	6.3
1962	19.9	11.3	3.8	5.0	19.9	11.3	3.8	5.0
1963	9.0	4.9	1.8	2.4	16.6	11.5	2.6	3.7
1964	21.0	13.8	3.1	4.5	24.5	17.5	3.1	4.8
-----	-----	-----	-----	-----	-----	-----	-----	-----
Total	282.9	174.3	46.6	65.2	290.4	187.1	47.2	66.6

Mickey Mantle could have easily won three times as many MVP awards as he actually did and arguably deserved every one of them.

1962 Postseason

The 1962 World Series was a 7-game thriller between the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants. The hero of the World Series, as measured by Player won-lost records, was Yankee pitcher Ralph Terry, who won 2 of his 3 starts including a complete-game 4-hit shutout in Game 7, which the Yankees won 1-0. The final out of the final game was immortalized in a Peanuts strip.

	1962 World Series: Top Player Performances
		pWins	pLosses	pWORL
Ralph Terry	NYA	2.0	1.1	0.6
Chuck Hiller	SFN	1.3	0.8	0.4

Best of 1962 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 1962 in eWOPA by factor were as follows.

	Batting
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Mickey Mantle	13.2	6.6	3.1
Frank Robinson	17.6	10.9	3.1

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

	Baserunning
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Maury Wills	4.0	1.4	1.2

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense

Maury Wills's 1962 season was the 2nd-best baserunning season, as measured by Player won-lost records, for seasons over which I have calculated Player won-lost records.

Wills's basestealing numbers in 1962 were eye-popping: a then-record 104 stolen bases against only 13 caught stealing (an 88.9% success rate!). Player won-lost records are divided into nine components for calculation purposes. Stolen bases are Component 1. Maury Wills's 1962 season was the best Component 1 baserunning season of all time, measured by net baserunning wins. But he was also above average in the other components of baserunning.

	Pitching
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Hank Aguirre	11.8	8.3	3.6
Billy O'Dell	14.6	11.9	2.6
Bob Gibson	12.8	10.3	2.6

	Fielding, P
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Frank Baumann	0.6	0.2	0.3
Jim Kaat	0.8	0.5	0.3
Jack S. Sanford	0.6	0.3	0.3
Marshall Bridges	0.5	0.2	0.3

In 1962, Jim Kaat won his first Gold Glove. According to Player won-lost records, he deserved this one. According to Player won-lost records, this was also by far Jim Kaat's best fielding season. Nevertheless, Jim Kaat proceeded to win 15 more Gold Gloves between 1963 and 1977.

	Fielding, C
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Johnny Edwards	1.9	1.4	0.6

	Fielding, 1B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Ernie Banks	3.1	2.6	0.5

	Fielding, 2B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Julian Javier	5.6	4.9	0.7

	Fielding, 3B
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Brooks Robinson	5.4	4.0	1.4

	Fielding, SS
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Zoilo Versalles	7.6	6.5	1.1

	Fielding, LF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Rocky Colavito	7.7	6.1	1.6

	Fielding, CF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Willie Davis	6.6	4.9	1.6

	Fielding, RF
	eWins	eLosses	Net Wins
Johnny Callison	7.9	6.5	1.4

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1962 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
Tom Haller	8.4	6.1	1.2

	First Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Norm Siebern	19.8	14.7	1.6

	Second Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Jerry Lumpe	20.3	18.8	1.3

	Third Base
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Eddie Mathews	18.7	14.4	2.0

	Shortstop
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Maury Wills	24.6	22.0	1.8

	Left Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Rocky Colavito	24.2	18.7	1.8

	Center Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Mickey Mantle	14.3	8.7	2.5

	Right Field
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Frank Robinson	23.7	16.9	2.3

	Starting Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Hank Aguirre	9.5	6.7	1.4
Bob Gibson	12.9	10.2	1.4
Don Drysdale	17.3	14.6	1.3
Billy O'Dell	14.9	12.2	1.3
Warren Spahn	14.4	11.9	1.2
Ray Herbert	13.1	10.7	1.2

	Relief Pitcher
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Dick Radatz	7.2	5.2	1.0

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 1962 in context, in terms of pWins and pWOPA.

Player	pWins	pLosses	pWin Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Top Relief Pitchers of 1962, based on pWORL
Dick Radatz	9.0	6.8	0.569	1.3	2.2
Roy Face	7.8	5.8	0.573	1.1	1.9
Terry Fox	5.0	2.6	0.659	1.3	1.7
Ron Perranoski	6.7	5.1	0.569	0.9	1.6
Jack Baldschun	7.1	5.9	0.547	0.7	1.5

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
Camilo Pascual	1.8	2.1	0.5

	Pinch Hitter
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Vic Wertz	1.6	0.9	0.4

	Pinch Runner
	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA
Rod Kanehl	0.4	0.1	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 1962

Finally, let's take a look at some players who had noteworthy 1962 seasons.

Notable Debuts

Two players made their major-league debut in 1962 who would go on to be elected to the Baseball Hall-of-Fame: Willie Stargell and Gaylord Perry. Both Stargell and Perry hold an unfortunate place in my early baseball fanhood: when I was 9 years old, Perry started (and pitched 9 shutout innings in) the first major-league baseball game I ever attended live; when I was 11 years old, Willie Stargell was the captain, face, and co-NL MVP for the 1979 Pittsburgh Pirates who overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat my favorite team in the World Series.

Setting aside my personal grudges (which I've outgrown anyway), both Perry and Stargell were well-deserving Hall-of-Famers. Their careers, as measured by Player won-lost records, are shown in the next table.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Willie Stargell						Gaylord Perry
1962	10	0.6	1.0	0.394	-0.2	-0.1	13	2.3	2.4	0.484	-0.0	0.2
1963	108	9.2	10.2	0.476	-0.9	-0.1	32	3.2	4.8	0.397	-0.7	-0.3
1964	117	12.4	12.4	0.500	-0.5	0.5	46	12.4	10.5	0.540	1.2	2.5
1965	144	18.7	16.3	0.534	0.5	1.9	49	11.4	12.7	0.473	-0.3	0.9
1966	140	20.7	14.0	0.596	2.8	4.1	36	17.5	12.6	0.583	2.9	4.2
1967	133	16.6	15.2	0.522	-0.0	1.3	42	18.0	17.9	0.502	0.6	2.1
1968	127	16.4	16.1	0.505	-0.6	0.7	39	15.7	14.6	0.518	1.0	2.2
1969	145	19.1	15.8	0.547	0.9	2.4	40	20.9	18.8	0.527	1.7	3.5
1970	136	18.2	16.1	0.531	0.2	1.7	41	22.3	19.7	0.531	2.1	3.8
1971	141	22.8	14.1	0.617	3.6	5.0	38	16.3	16.0	0.505	0.7	2.1
1972	138	20.2	13.0	0.608	2.5	3.8	41	24.3	18.5	0.568	3.7	5.5
1973	148	25.2	17.6	0.589	2.9	4.6	41	20.0	18.5	0.520	0.8	2.5
1974	140	21.6	15.7	0.580	2.3	3.7	37	17.5	15.1	0.537	1.2	2.6
1975	124	15.7	10.8	0.593	1.7	2.7	37	17.3	15.8	0.522	0.7	2.3
1976	117	11.3	10.2	0.526	0.0	0.8	32	13.8	10.4	0.571	1.7	2.8
1977	63	5.7	4.0	0.585	0.6	1.0	34	14.9	12.5	0.543	1.2	2.6
1978	120	13.8	9.8	0.586	1.5	2.4	37	16.1	12.0	0.573	2.5	3.7
1979	126	14.4	10.3	0.583	1.5	2.5	32	13.9	12.4	0.527	1.1	2.2
1980	67	6.4	5.3	0.545	0.3	0.7	34	11.1	11.5	0.490	-0.2	0.8
1981	38	1.6	1.7	0.483	-0.1	0.1	24	8.6	8.3	0.507	0.4	1.2
1982	74	2.3	2.6	0.472	-0.1	0.2	32	10.9	11.8	0.481	-0.4	0.6
1983							30	9.3	12.4	0.430	-1.5	-0.5
1984
1985
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,356	292.9	232.1	0.558	18.7	39.9	787	317.7	289.2	0.523	20.3	47.6

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 1962 was the final season for two Hall-of-Famers: Richie Ashburn and Red Schoendienst. Their career records, as measured by Player won-lost records, are shown in the next table.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	Win Pct.	pWOPA	pWORL
	Richie Ashburn						Red Schoendienst
1945							137	18.9	17.4	0.521	0.3	1.7
1946							142	18.0	16.5	0.522	0.9	2.3
1947							151	18.4	18.2	0.504	0.7	2.1
1948	117	17.2	15.7	0.523	0.2	1.5	119	12.4	12.9	0.489	-0.2	0.9
1949	154	20.3	21.3	0.488	-1.0	0.7	151	20.2	18.7	0.520	0.8	2.3
1950	151	19.9	17.6	0.531	0.7	2.2	153	17.9	19.7	0.477	-0.7	0.7
1951	154	22.4	20.6	0.521	0.5	2.2	135	17.8	16.7	0.517	0.7	2.0
1952	154	21.2	19.8	0.518	0.3	2.0	152	22.0	17.6	0.555	2.4	3.9
1953	156	22.2	20.1	0.525	0.4	2.2	146	20.8	16.8	0.554	2.2	3.8
1954	153	21.5	18.6	0.535	0.6	2.2	148	18.9	19.1	0.498	0.1	1.7
1955	140	18.0	17.0	0.514	-0.2	1.3	145	17.3	17.6	0.496	0.3	1.7
1956	154	19.9	21.2	0.485	-1.3	0.4	132	13.1	15.1	0.465	-0.6	0.6
1957	156	21.2	20.5	0.508	-0.3	1.4	150	20.7	17.8	0.537	1.7	3.3
1958	152	20.8	19.5	0.516	-0.0	1.5	106	11.7	12.3	0.488	0.0	0.9
1959	153	16.7	21.7	0.435	-3.1	-1.6	5	0.0	0.1	0.097	-0.1	-0.1
1960	150	17.8	19.4	0.478	-1.6	-0.1	67	6.3	6.2	0.503	0.2	0.7
1961	109	7.9	10.2	0.437	-1.4	-0.5	72	3.1	3.9	0.438	-0.3	0.1
1962	135	12.0	13.9	0.463	-1.4	-0.3	98	3.8	4.5	0.459	-0.2	0.2
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,188	279.1	277.2	0.502	-7.5	14.9	2,209	261.3	251.0	0.510	8.1	28.9

Neither Ashburn's nor Schoendienst's career records look all that impressive for Hall-of-Famers.

Schoendienst's Hall-of-Fame case was enhanced by a 14-year maangerial career that included back-to-back pennant winners.

Richie Ashburn's career does not look as good in Player won-lost records at least in part because of how I calculate positional averages. Specifically, I calculate positional averages empirically based on the specific players who played a specific position in a specific season. Richie Ashburn played center field in a league in which Willie Mays and Duke Snider play the same position. In addition, Hall-of-Famers Hank Aaron, Frank Robinson, Stan Musial, and Roberto Clemente all played at least some center field in the National League during Ashburn's prime. Meanwhile, over in the American League, Mickey Mantle and Larry Doby were putting together Hall-of-Fame careers in CF as well.

From 1950 - 1958, in his prime, Richie Ashburn amassed a pWinPct of 0.517 against a positional average of 0.515, good for 0.7 pWOPA and 15.2 pWORL (I tie replacement level to positional average). Had Richie Ashburn played, say, 50 years later, from 2000 - 2008, the positional average for center fielders was only 0.504. Replacing Ashburn's positional average with that number would have boosted his record for those nine seasons to 4.8 pWOPA and 19.4 pWORL.

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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