1967 Season

Baseball Player Won-Loss Records
Home List of Articles

1967 Season

The 1967 Season as seen through the Prism of Player Won-Lost Records

This article takes a look at the 1967 season as measured by Player won-lost records.

The Best of 1967

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	Carl Yastrzemski	27.7	17.8	8.1	10.3	1	Carl Yastrzemski	27.7	17.8	8.1	10.3
2	Orlando Cepeda	22.7	13.8	7.0	8.8	2	Orlando Cepeda	22.7	13.8	7.0	8.8
3	Harmon Killebrew	22.9	14.2	6.9	8.7	3	Harmon Killebrew	22.9	14.2	6.9	8.7
4	Roberto Clemente	25.9	17.9	6.5	8.7	4	Roberto Clemente	25.9	17.9	6.5	8.7
5	Joe Horlen	16.5	11.4	5.9	7.5	5	Hank Aaron	26.4	19.1	5.7	8.0
6	Hank Aaron	26.4	19.1	5.7	8.0	6	Joe Horlen	16.5	11.4	5.9	7.5
7	Al Kaline	21.3	14.2	5.7	7.5	7	Al Kaline	21.3	14.2	5.7	7.5
8	Willie McCovey	18.5	11.5	5.6	7.1	8	Ron Santo	23.3	17.2	5.3	7.3
9	Ron Santo	23.3	17.2	5.3	7.3	9	Willie McCovey	18.5	11.5	5.6	7.1
10	Jim Bunning	19.2	15.1	5.1	7.0	10	Jim Bunning	19.2	15.1	5.1	7.0

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	Carl Yastrzemski	28.1	17.4	8.7	11.0	1	Carl Yastrzemski	28.1	17.4	8.7	11.0
2	Harmon Killebrew	23.0	14.1	7.1	8.9	2	Harmon Killebrew	23.0	14.1	7.1	8.9
3	Ron Santo	23.7	16.8	6.1	8.1	3	Ron Santo	23.7	16.8	6.1	8.1
4	Roberto Clemente	25.5	18.3	5.7	7.9	4	Roberto Clemente	25.5	18.3	5.7	7.9
5	Bill Freehan	17.5	12.6	5.6	7.1	5	Bill Freehan	17.5	12.6	5.6	7.1
6	Jim Ray Hart	24.1	18.2	4.8	6.9	6	Jim Ray Hart	24.1	18.2	4.8	6.9
7	Dick McAuliffe	21.7	17.7	4.6	6.5	7	Dick McAuliffe	21.7	17.7	4.6	6.5
8	Al Kaline	20.7	14.8	4.6	6.3	8	Hank Aaron	25.7	19.8	4.3	6.5
9	Willie McCovey	17.9	12.1	4.5	6.0	9	Al Kaline	20.7	14.8	4.6	6.3
10	Orlando Cepeda	21.5	15.0	4.5	6.3	10	Orlando Cepeda	21.5	15.0	4.5	6.3

I take a look at some of the most interesting players of 1967 at the end of this article.

1967 World Series

The 1967 World Series was a matchup of contrasts. The NL representative made the second of their three appearances in five seasons between 1964 and 1968.

The AL representative improved by 20 wins and 8 positions in the standings from the year before for their first winning season in nine years and first pennant in 21 years.

The result was a 7-game series.

Player	Team	pWins	pLosses	Net Wins
	1967 World Series

Bob Gibson	SLN	1.9	0.9	0.9
Roger Maris	SLN	1.4	0.6	0.7
Jim Lonborg	BOS	1.8	1.3	0.6
Curt Flood	SLN	1.2	0.7	0.4
Nelson Briles	SLN	0.8	0.5	0.3

Best of 1967 by Factor and Position

Next, let's look at the top players 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 1967 in wins over positional average (WOPA) by factor were as follows.


Batting
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Carl Yastrzemski	19.0	10.2	8.4	1	Harmon Killebrew	19.6	10.8	8.4
2	Harmon Killebrew	19.3	11.0	7.9	2	Carl Yastrzemski	18.7	10.5	7.8
3	Frank Robinson	15.4	9.2	5.9	3	Orlando Cepeda	18.4	10.5	7.4
4	Hank Aaron	17.3	11.3	5.6	4	Hank Aaron	18.0	10.6	7.0
5	Jim Ray Hart	18.4	12.4	5.5	5	Roberto Clemente	17.2	10.0	6.8
6	Roberto Clemente	16.5	10.7	5.4	6	Willie McCovey	16.2	9.0	6.8
7	Willie McCovey	15.5	9.8	5.3	7	Frank Robinson	15.3	9.3	5.7
8	Orlando Cepeda	17.2	11.7	5.0	8	Al Kaline	14.6	8.7	5.6
9	Ron Santo	16.6	11.2	4.9	9	Jim Ray Hart	18.5	12.3	5.6
10	Al Kaline	14.2	9.1	4.8	10	Dick Allen	14.2	8.4	5.5

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Baserunning
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA
1	Adolfo Phillips	2.1	1.1	1.0	1	Adolfo Phillips	2.1	1.1	0.9
2	Bert Campaneris	2.9	1.9	1.0	2	Dick McAuliffe	2.1	1.2	0.9
3	Dick McAuliffe	2.1	1.2	0.9	3	Al Kaline	1.6	0.8	0.7
4	Joe L. Morgan	2.1	1.2	0.9	4	Willie Mays	1.4	0.6	0.7
5	Glenn Beckert	1.7	0.9	0.7	5	Cesar Tovar	2.6	1.8	0.7
6	Roberto Clemente	2.0	1.3	0.7	6	Matty Alou	2.1	1.3	0.7
7	Horace Clarke	2.0	1.3	0.7	7	Willie Davis	2.0	1.3	0.7
8	Sonny Jackson	1.8	1.0	0.7	8	Sonny Jackson	1.8	1.1	0.6
9	Willie Davis	2.0	1.3	0.7	9	Glenn Beckert	1.7	1.0	0.6
10	Jimmy Wynn	1.6	0.9	0.6	10	Joe L. Morgan	2.0	1.3	0.6

Positional Average excludes pitcher offense


Pitching
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLoss	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLoss	Net pWins
1	Ted Abernathy	9.0	5.6	3.3	1	Joe Horlen	14.7	9.7	5.0
2	Gaylord Perry	17.7	14.7	3.0	2	Ted Abernathy	9.7	4.9	4.7
3	Jim Bunning	16.5	13.6	2.8	3	Jim Bunning	17.3	12.7	4.6
4	Joe Horlen	13.5	10.9	2.6	4	Jim Lonborg	17.3	13.3	3.9
5	Catfish Hunter	16.1	13.8	2.4	5	Dick Hughes	12.9	9.3	3.6
6	Dean Chance	16.8	14.6	2.2	6	Gary Nolan	14.1	10.7	3.4
7	Gary Peters	14.9	12.8	2.2	7	Jim Maloney	13.9	10.5	3.4
8	Gary Nolan	13.4	11.4	2.1	8	Minnie Rojas	9.9	6.6	3.3
9	Steve Hargan	13.4	11.4	2.0	9	Fergie Jenkins	18.2	15.0	3.2
10	Bob Gibson	10.6	8.9	1.8	10	Hoyt Wilhelm	7.1	4.0	3.0

Fielding by Position


Fielding, P
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Joe Horlen	0.6	0.2	0.4	1	Joe Horlen	0.6	0.2	0.4
2	Gary Peters	0.9	0.6	0.4	2	Gaylord Perry	0.6	0.3	0.3
3	Gaylord Perry	0.6	0.3	0.3	3	Gary Peters	0.9	0.6	0.3
4	Bucky Brandon	0.6	0.3	0.3	4	Earl Wilson	0.5	0.3	0.3
5	Frank Linzy	0.5	0.3	0.3	5	Fergie Jenkins	0.5	0.2	0.3


Fielding, C
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Joe Torre	1.9	1.4	0.5	1	Jerry McNertney	1.1	0.5	0.6
2	Jerry McNertney	1.0	0.6	0.4	2	Randy Hundley	2.0	1.5	0.5
3	Jerry Zimmerman	1.4	1.1	0.4	3	Tim McCarver	1.8	1.3	0.5
4	Paul Casanova	2.2	1.8	0.3	4	Paul Casanova	2.2	1.8	0.5
5	Jake Gibbs	1.5	1.2	0.3	5	Clay Dalrymple	1.3	0.9	0.4


Fielding, 1B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Ramon Webster	1.5	1.0	0.4	1	Orlando Cepeda	2.6	1.6	0.9
2	Lee May	1.7	1.3	0.4	2	Lee May	1.8	1.1	0.7
3	Orlando Cepeda	2.2	1.9	0.3	3	Norm Cash	2.2	1.8	0.4
4	Bill DeKova White	1.6	1.4	0.2	4	Tommy McCraw	2.1	1.7	0.4
5	Norm Cash	2.1	1.9	0.2	5	Ramon Webster	1.4	1.1	0.4


Fielding, 2B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Glenn Beckert	5.9	5.1	0.8	1	Glenn Beckert	5.9	5.1	0.8
2	Bernie Allen	3.0	2.4	0.6	2	Woody Woodward	4.9	4.2	0.7
3	Hiraldo 'Chico' Ruiz	2.1	1.6	0.5	3	Tommy Helms	3.5	2.8	0.7
4	Vern Fuller	2.2	1.8	0.4	4	Julian Javier	5.3	4.7	0.6
5	Cookie Rojas	5.5	5.1	0.4	5	Bernie Allen	2.9	2.4	0.5


Fielding, 3B
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Brooks Robinson	6.3	4.2	2.1	1	Ron Santo	6.3	4.4	1.9
2	Ron Santo	5.8	4.8	1.0	2	Brooks Robinson	6.1	4.5	1.6
3	Maury Wills	5.7	4.8	0.9	3	Ken McMullen	5.4	4.6	0.8
4	Ken McMullen	5.4	4.6	0.8	4	Jim Davenport	1.7	1.0	0.7
5	Don Wert	3.4	3.0	0.4	5	Don Wert	3.5	2.9	0.6


Fielding, SS
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Hal Lanier	5.4	4.5	0.9	1	Hal Lanier	5.8	4.2	1.6
2	Dal Maxvill	6.2	5.6	0.6	2	Dal Maxvill	6.6	5.3	1.3
3	Ed Brinkman	4.5	3.9	0.6	3	Ron Hansen	8.2	7.3	1.0
4	Bud Harrelson	6.5	6.0	0.5	4	Leo Cardenas	5.2	4.2	0.9
5	Ruben Amaro Sr.	5.9	5.4	0.5	5	Don Kessinger	6.1	5.3	0.8


Fielding, LF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Lou Brock	8.2	7.3	0.9	1	Carl Yastrzemski	7.4	5.8	1.5
2	Rick Reichardt	6.4	5.5	0.9	2	Rick Reichardt	6.6	5.3	1.4
3	Carl Yastrzemski	7.0	6.2	0.9	3	Ron E. Davis	3.5	2.1	1.3
4	Tony Gonzalez	4.7	3.9	0.8	4	Tony Gonzalez	4.9	3.8	1.2
5	Ken Berry	1.5	1.0	0.5	5	Lou Johnson	3.9	3.3	0.6


Fielding, CF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Paul Blair	5.4	4.3	1.1	1	Mickey Stanley	3.4	2.2	1.3
2	Vic Davalillo	3.2	2.3	0.8	2	Tommie Agee	4.7	3.9	0.8
3	Cleon Jones	2.6	2.0	0.6	3	Rick Monday	4.5	3.8	0.7
4	Mickey Stanley	3.1	2.5	0.6	4	Adolfo Phillips	6.1	5.5	0.6
5	Mack Jones	4.0	3.4	0.5	5	Curt Flood	5.4	4.8	0.6


Fielding, RF
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	Net eWins		Player	pWins	pLosses	Net pWins
1	Johnny Callison	7.2	6.3	0.9	1	Johnny Callison	7.5	5.9	1.6
2	Tony Oliva	6.3	5.4	0.9	2	Roger Maris	4.6	3.5	1.1
3	Jimmie Hall	4.0	3.2	0.8	3	Tony Oliva	6.4	5.3	1.0
4	Tommy Harper	3.7	2.9	0.8	4	Tommy Harper	3.8	2.8	1.0
5	Roger Maris	4.3	3.8	0.5	5	Bobby Tolan	0.9	0.3	0.6

Best by Position

Next, we look at 1967 Major-League leaders by position. The figures shown here only include Player decisions earned while playing this particular position.


Catcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Bill Freehan	15.8	11.7	5.0	1	Tim McCarver	14.4	10.7	4.5
2	Joe Torre	12.7	10.2	3.2	2	Bill Freehan	15.2	12.2	3.8
3	Tim McCarver	13.6	11.6	2.8	3	Tom Haller	12.7	11.0	2.4
4	Tom Haller	12.6	11.1	2.2	4	Randy Hundley	14.6	13.3	2.2
5	Randy Hundley	14.4	13.5	1.9	5	Joe Torre	12.0	10.9	1.9


First Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Harmon Killebrew	22.8	14.0	6.9	1	Harmon Killebrew	22.8	13.9	7.1
2	Orlando Cepeda	21.1	15.1	4.0	2	Orlando Cepeda	22.4	13.8	6.7
3	Willie McCovey	17.3	11.7	4.0	3	Willie McCovey	18.0	11.0	5.6
4	Mickey Mantle	15.0	11.4	2.2	4	Don Mincher	17.8	12.5	3.7
5	Don Mincher	17.0	13.3	2.0	5	Mickey Mantle	14.8	11.6	1.8


Second Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Dick McAuliffe	17.3	14.3	3.3	1	Julian Javier	18.2	14.3	4.2
2	Joe L. Morgan	17.5	14.9	2.8	2	Dick McAuliffe	17.4	14.3	3.4
3	Julian Javier	17.2	15.4	2.2	3	Mike Andrews	17.4	15.1	2.5
4	Glenn Beckert	18.7	17.7	1.3	4	Glenn Beckert	19.0	17.4	1.9
5	Ron Hunt	11.7	10.8	1.1	5	Tommy Helms	10.7	9.2	1.7


Third Base
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Ron Santo	23.5	17.0	5.7	1	Ron Santo	23.3	17.2	5.3
2	Dick Allen	18.9	14.5	3.9	2	Dick Allen	19.0	14.4	4.0
3	Brooks Robinson	21.6	18.2	2.5	3	Tony Perez	17.3	14.5	2.1
4	Jim Ray Hart	12.3	10.0	1.8	4	Mike Shannon	16.5	14.3	1.6
5	Tony Perez	17.0	14.8	1.4	5	Ken McMullen	19.4	17.2	1.5


Shortstop
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jim Fregosi	20.5	19.0	3.0	1	Jim Fregosi	21.5	18.0	4.9
2	Gene Alley	18.5	17.1	2.7	2	Rico Petrocelli	16.4	14.7	2.8
3	Rico Petrocelli	16.1	14.9	2.4	3	Ron Hansen	19.2	17.6	2.8
4	Dick McAuliffe	4.1	3.6	0.8	4	Hal Lanier	14.5	12.9	2.6
5	Ron Hansen	18.2	18.6	0.8	5	Dal Maxvill	15.2	13.8	2.4


Left Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Carl Yastrzemski	27.5	17.8	8.0	1	Carl Yastrzemski	27.5	17.8	7.9
2	Jim Ray Hart	11.6	8.2	2.5	2	Jim Ray Hart	12.2	8.2	3.7
3	Frank Howard	18.9	15.0	2.4	3	Billy Williams	23.5	19.2	3.3
4	Lou Brock	24.4	20.5	1.9	4	Willie Horton	15.5	11.9	2.9
5	Curt Blefary	12.6	9.9	1.8	5	Lou Brock	24.8	20.5	2.8


Center Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Jimmy Wynn	23.8	19.5	3.1	1	Jimmy Wynn	23.9	19.4	3.4
2	Adolfo Phillips	19.2	15.7	2.6	2	Adolfo Phillips	19.5	15.3	3.3
3	Willie Mays	17.4	14.1	2.4	3	Willie Mays	17.7	13.8	3.1
4	Paul Blair	19.3	16.1	2.1	4	Vada Pinson	24.2	20.3	2.7
5	Curt Flood	17.0	14.7	1.4	5	Don Lock	12.5	9.4	2.6


Right Field
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Roberto Clemente	25.3	18.0	5.7	1	Roberto Clemente	25.7	17.5	6.7
2	Al Kaline	20.6	14.9	4.2	2	Al Kaline	21.3	14.2	5.7
3	Frank Robinson	15.6	11.0	3.6	3	Hank Aaron	24.9	17.8	5.5
4	Hank Aaron	23.9	18.8	3.3	4	Frank Robinson	15.6	11.0	3.5
5	Tony Oliva	21.2	17.2	2.4	5	Roger Maris	14.4	10.6	2.9


Starting Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Gaylord Perry	17.7	14.4	3.3	1	Joe Horlen	15.3	9.8	5.5
2	Joe Horlen	14.1	11.0	3.1	2	Jim Bunning	17.7	13.2	4.5
3	Jim Bunning	16.9	14.0	3.0	3	Jim Lonborg	17.6	13.7	4.0
4	Gary Peters	15.7	13.3	2.5	4	Jim Maloney	14.1	10.4	3.8
5	Catfish Hunter	16.5	14.2	2.4	5	Dick Hughes	12.9	9.2	3.7
6	Steve Hargan	13.9	11.8	2.2	6	Fergie Jenkins	18.8	15.3	3.5
7	Gary Nolan	13.7	11.7	2.1	7	Gary Nolan	14.3	11.0	3.4
8	Dean Chance	17.0	15.2	1.9	8	Jim Merritt	12.2	9.0	3.3
9	Bob Gibson	10.9	9.1	1.9	9	Mike McCormick	15.2	12.1	3.1
10	Jim Merritt	11.5	9.7	1.9	10	Nelson Briles	6.8	3.9	3.0


Relief Pitcher
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Ted Abernathy	9.6	6.2	3.4	1	Ted Abernathy	10.4	5.4	4.9
2	Frank Linzy	6.3	4.8	1.4	2	Minnie Rojas	10.1	6.9	3.1
3	Bob Locker	7.4	6.0	1.3	3	Hoyt Wilhelm	7.2	4.2	2.9
4	Turk Farrell	5.5	4.3	1.2	4	Bob Locker	8.2	5.2	2.9
5	Minnie Rojas	9.0	7.9	1.1	5	Dave Baldwin	5.2	3.6	1.6
6	Hoyt Wilhelm	6.2	5.2	1.0	6	Dooley Womack	5.4	3.8	1.6
7	Eddie Watt	5.1	4.1	1.0	7	Moe Drabowsky	6.2	4.8	1.4
8	Moe Drabowsky	6.0	5.0	0.9	8	Don McMahon	5.6	4.2	1.4
9	Dave Baldwin	4.9	4.0	0.9	9	Darold Knowles	7.0	5.6	1.3
10	Dick Hall	4.4	3.5	0.9	10	Turk Farrell	5.6	4.3	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
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Earl Wilson	1.7	2.1	0.7	1	Earl Wilson	2.0	1.8	1.0
2	Claude Osteen	2.0	2.7	0.6	2	Claude Osteen	2.3	2.4	1.0
3	Gary Peters	1.6	1.9	0.6	3	Gary Peters	1.8	1.7	0.9


Pinch Hitter
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Rich Reese	2.1	1.2	1.0	1	Rich Reese	2.3	0.9	1.5
2	Jim Davenport	1.9	1.2	0.8	2	Jim Davenport	2.1	1.0	1.2
3	Jimmie Hall	1.0	0.3	0.7	3	Bob Allison	0.7	0.0	0.7


Pinch Runner
		Context-Neutral					Context-Dependent
	Player	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA		Player	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA
1	Bill Voss	0.2	0.0	0.2	1	Tommie Agee	0.2	0.1	0.2
2	Tommie Agee	0.2	0.1	0.1	2	Bill Voss	0.2	0.0	0.2
3	Alex Johnson	0.2	0.0	0.1	3	Dick Tracewski	0.2	0.0	0.2

Noteworthy Players of 1967

Triple Crown Winners

Probably the biggest individual story in 1967 was Carl Yastrzemski winning the American League Triple Crown.

The next table shows Player won-lost records for every Triple Crown winner for whom I have calculated Player won-lost records.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Rogers Hornsby, 1922	154	27.2	18.1	9.1	11.1	27.3	18.1	9.1	11.2
Rogers Hornsby, 1925	138	20.4	14.3	5.8	7.5	21.0	13.7	6.8	8.5
Chuck Klein, 1933	152	25.6	20.7	2.9	5.2	27.0	19.3	5.9	8.2
Jimmie Foxx, 1933	149	22.1	12.9	8.3	10.0	22.3	12.7	8.7	10.4
Lou Gehrig, 1934	154	26.4	13.4	11.0	13.1	25.1	14.6	8.3	10.4
Joe Medwick, 1937	156	28.2	19.3	8.0	10.6	27.3	20.3	6.4	9.0
Ted Williams, 1942	150	28.7	16.3	11.0	13.5	28.0	17.0	9.4	11.9
Ted Williams, 1947	156	27.4	17.8	8.0	10.1	27.6	17.6	8.7	10.8
Mickey Mantle, 1956	150	25.2	14.7	9.5	11.6	25.2	14.6	9.6	11.7
Frank Robinson, 1966	155	24.9	17.0	6.4	8.3	24.7	17.2	5.8	7.7
Carl Yastrzemski, 1967	161	27.7	17.8	8.1	10.3	28.1	17.4	8.7	11.0
Miguel Cabrera, 2012	161	22.0	17.7	4.0	5.9	21.9	17.8	3.8	5.8

National League MVP Contenders: Orlando Cepeda vs. Ron Santo

Using Player won-lost records, the most valuable player in the National League differs depending on whether you look in or out of context. The top National League player in pWins over either positional average or replacement level was the unanimous winner of the 1967 National League MVP, Orlando Cepeda.

Neutralizing for context, however, the top player in eWins over either positional average or replacement level was Ron Santo.

The next table compares Cepeda's and Santo's 1967 seasons in and out of context.

	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Orlando Cepeda	151	22.7	13.8	7.0	8.8	21.5	15.0	4.5	6.3
Ron Santo	161	23.3	17.2	5.3	7.3	23.7	16.8	6.1	8.1

The 1967 season was fairly clearly the best season of Orlando Cepeda's career. In contrast, the 1967 season was more typical for Ron Santo in two ways.

First, the fact that Santo earned more eWOPA/eWORL than pWOPA/pWORL was fairly typical of his career. Overall, for his career, Santo earned 63.0 eWORL, but only 53.3 pWORL.

Second, while 1967 was something of an outlier in Cepeda's career (although his 1961, 1963, and 1964 seasons were comparable to Cepeda's 1967 season, when measured in eWORL), Santo's 1967 was essentially a typical Ron Santo season from between 1963 and 1969. The next table presents Ron Santo's career as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Ron Santo Basic Player Won-Lost Records
										Value Decomposition
1960	CHN	20	95	10.3	10.3	-0.5	0.6	10.1	10.6	-0.9	0.2
1961	CHN	21	154	17.2	18.6	-1.7	0.3	18.5	17.3	0.9	2.9
1962	CHN	22	162	17.2	21.7	-4.7	-2.7	18.5	20.4	-2.1	-0.1
1963	CHN	23	162	22.8	20.6	1.9	4.0	23.7	19.7	3.7	5.8
1964	CHN	24	161	22.9	18.6	3.6	5.7	24.0	17.5	5.8	7.9
1965	CHN	25	164	23.6	19.0	3.7	5.8	24.3	18.3	5.3	7.4
1966	CHN	26	155	21.5	18.6	2.0	3.8	22.9	17.2	4.8	6.6
1967	CHN	27	161	23.3	17.2	5.3	7.3	23.7	16.8	6.1	8.1
1968	CHN	28	162	24.1	18.1	5.6	7.7	23.4	18.9	4.3	6.4
1969	CHN	29	160	23.3	18.2	4.7	6.9	22.7	18.8	3.8	6.0
1970	CHN	30	154	20.5	17.0	2.5	4.4	19.9	17.6	1.2	3.1
1971	CHN	31	154	19.9	17.4	1.6	3.4	19.6	17.8	0.9	2.7
1972	CHN	32	133	17.0	14.4	2.3	3.8	17.4	14.0	3.1	4.7
1973	CHN	33	149	19.6	18.3	0.2	2.1	19.4	18.5	-0.2	1.7
1974	CHA	34	117	10.1	11.0	-0.7	0.4	9.7	11.4	-1.5	-0.4
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			2,243	293.3	259.0	25.7	53.3	297.6	254.7	35.4	63.0
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			0	0.0	0.0		0.0	0.0	0.0		0.0
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			2,243	293.3	259.0		53.3	297.6	254.7		63.0

Forgotten Ace: Joe Horlen

The 1960s are sometimes referred to as the "second Deadball Era". It was an era the featured big pitchers and big pitching numbers. When you think of 1960s pitchers, there are lots of big names to choose from. Sandy Koufax retired the previous offseason; Bob Gibson was World Series MVP; Gaylord Perry was just coming into his own; Jim Bunning had his last great season; Tom Seaver was Rookie of the Year.

But the best pitcher in the major leagues in 1967, at least as measured by pWins over either positional average or replacement level, was a guy who never even appeared on a Hall-of-Fame ballot: Joe Horlen.

Joe Horlen's 1967 was excellent and Horlen had several other very good seasons as well. But Horlen's last above-average season was at age 31 and he was out of baseball after his age 34 season.

Still, he had a solid major-league career that is well worth remembering. The next table presents Joe Horlen's career as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Joe Horlen Basic Player Won-Lost Records
										Value Decomposition
1961	CHA	23	5	1.1	2.0	-0.8	-0.6	1.1	2.0	-0.8	-0.6
1962	CHA	24	20	6.4	7.1	-0.3	0.6	6.3	7.3	-0.5	0.4
1963	CHA	25	33	8.3	7.8	0.9	1.9	8.0	8.0	0.4	1.5
1964	CHA	26	32	13.3	10.5	3.6	5.2	14.0	9.8	5.2	6.7
1965	CHA	27	34	14.7	13.5	2.0	3.7	14.4	13.7	1.7	3.4
1966	CHA	28	64	12.4	13.0	0.1	1.7	12.9	12.6	1.1	2.7
1967	CHA	29	51	16.5	11.4	5.9	7.5	15.2	12.7	3.6	5.2
1968	CHA	30	41	14.3	14.4	0.6	2.1	13.9	14.8	-0.1	1.4
1969	CHA	31	36	13.8	16.6	-2.0	-0.1	15.0	15.5	0.3	2.2
1970	CHA	32	28	10.5	13.9	-2.9	-1.5	11.7	12.7	-0.3	1.1
1971	CHA	33	35	6.8	7.6	-0.5	0.5	6.8	7.6	-0.3	0.6
1972	OAK	34	32	3.5	4.2	-0.5	0.1	3.9	3.8	0.4	0.9
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			411	121.6	122.2	6.2	21.1	123.2	120.6	10.7	25.6
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			2	0.0	0.2		-0.1	0.1	0.1		-0.1
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			413	121.7	122.4		21.0	123.3	120.8		25.5

Notable Debuts

The 1967 season saw the debut of four Hall-of-Famers who would go on to win 4 MVP and 3 Cy Young awards over the next decade.

Their careers, as measured by Player won-lost records, are shown next.

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Rod Carew					Tom Seaver
1967	137	16.3	16.9	-0.2	1.5	36	16.7	14.2	3.4	5.1
1968	127	14.7	14.9	0.5	2.0	38	16.8	14.3	3.3	4.9
1969	123	16.6	12.9	4.2	5.7	39	20.6	13.4	7.9	9.9
1970	51	6.8	6.3	1.0	1.7	42	20.4	15.4	6.1	8.0
1971	146	18.4	17.7	1.1	2.9	39	19.5	13.0	7.4	9.2
1972	142	18.6	16.2	3.1	4.8	36	18.7	16.4	3.5	5.6
1973	149	20.2	18.8	2.0	3.9	39	19.9	13.8	7.1	8.9
1974	153	22.2	19.0	4.2	6.1	32	14.0	14.5	0.3	1.8
1975	143	18.8	16.1	3.1	4.8	37	18.3	13.3	6.2	7.9
1976	156	20.6	15.1	4.5	6.3	35	16.4	14.0	3.3	5.0
1977	155	19.7	13.6	5.3	6.9	33	19.0	12.3	7.7	9.6
1978	152	16.8	14.9	1.1	2.6	36	15.9	15.1	1.6	3.3
1979	110	11.3	11.6	-0.9	0.2	33	14.0	11.8	3.0	4.4
1980	144	15.5	14.0	0.8	2.3	26	10.0	11.9	-1.3	-0.1
1981	93	10.4	10.1	-0.1	1.0	23	10.5	7.5	3.5	4.6
1982	138	14.3	13.1	0.5	1.7	22	6.5	10.1	-2.9	-2.0
1983	129	11.6	11.2	-0.1	1.0	34	12.6	14.8	-1.3	0.2
1984	93	8.7	8.3	-0.0	0.8	34	13.4	11.7	1.8	3.3
1985	127	12.1	11.5	-0.3	0.8	35	14.5	10.9	3.7	5.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,468	293.7	262.1	29.8	57.0	649	297.7	248.2	64.1	94.9

Season	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL	Games	pWins	pLoss	pWOPA	pWORL
	Reggie Jackson					Johnny Bench
1967	35	2.8	4.0	-1.6	-1.2	26	1.9	2.6	-0.5	-0.2
1968	154	21.5	18.3	1.8	3.8	154	15.2	13.6	2.1	3.5
1969	152	24.8	16.3	6.7	8.9	148	15.4	11.3	4.7	6.1
1970	149	16.4	15.4	0.0	1.6	158	21.9	15.1	6.6	8.5
1971	150	23.1	15.9	6.0	7.9	149	16.0	15.4	0.7	2.3
1972	135	20.9	15.7	4.3	6.1	147	20.1	13.2	6.9	8.6
1973	151	24.1	16.4	7.2	9.2	152	19.8	14.1	5.8	7.5
1974	148	22.5	17.3	4.5	6.4	160	21.9	15.7	6.5	8.2
1975	157	25.9	19.0	5.9	8.1	142	17.9	13.6	4.3	5.8
1976	134	22.3	16.2	5.5	7.4	135	12.8	11.0	2.2	3.4
1977	146	21.9	15.5	5.3	7.3	142	16.8	12.5	4.0	5.5
1978	139	19.2	14.5	4.0	5.6	120	12.4	9.7	2.8	3.8
1979	131	18.6	15.7	2.0	3.7	130	15.6	11.9	3.8	5.1
1980	143	19.7	14.0	5.2	6.9	114	11.4	9.9	1.6	2.6
1981	94	10.6	9.9	0.2	1.4	52	6.2	4.3	1.8	2.3
1982	153	19.9	17.5	1.8	3.5	119	11.7	13.1	-2.0	-0.9
1983	116	9.4	11.4	-2.3	-1.2	110	10.2	10.1	-0.3	0.6
1984	143	13.5	11.9	0.9	2.5
1985	143	14.9	12.8	1.8	3.3
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER RECORDS	2,573	351.9	277.6	59.3	91.0	2,158	247.2	196.8	51.1	72.7

Last Hurrahs

Finally, 1967 was the final season for longtime Yankees ace Whitey Ford. The final table shows his career, as measured by Player won-lost records.

Season	Team	Age	Games	pWins	pLosses	pWOPA	pWORL	eWins	eLosses	eWOPA	eWORL
Whitey Ford Basic Player Won-Lost Records
										Value Decomposition
1950	NYA	21	20	7.2	4.7	2.7	3.5	6.5	5.4	1.5	2.4
1953	NYA	24	33	12.4	11.1	1.7	3.1	11.5	12.0	-0.2	1.2
1954	NYA	25	34	14.7	11.3	3.8	5.6	13.6	12.4	1.9	3.7
1955	NYA	26	39	17.2	13.6	4.2	6.0	15.8	15.0	1.7	3.5
1956	NYA	27	31	16.9	11.2	6.2	8.0	15.9	12.2	4.4	6.2
1957	NYA	28	24	8.8	6.8	2.4	3.3	7.9	7.7	0.6	1.6
1958	NYA	29	30	14.3	10.9	4.2	5.5	14.3	10.9	4.1	5.5
1959	NYA	30	35	14.2	12.4	2.1	3.7	13.8	12.8	1.4	3.0
1960	NYA	31	33	13.7	11.7	2.5	4.1	13.3	12.1	2.0	3.5
1961	NYA	32	39	19.0	12.8	6.9	8.7	16.3	15.5	1.9	3.8
1962	NYA	33	38	16.4	11.8	5.5	7.3	14.9	13.3	2.7	4.4
1963	NYA	34	38	16.8	13.4	4.2	6.1	16.0	14.2	2.9	4.7
1964	NYA	35	39	17.1	11.2	6.6	8.5	16.1	12.2	5.0	6.9
1965	NYA	36	38	14.8	15.0	0.8	2.6	14.9	14.8	1.2	3.0
1966	NYA	37	22	3.3	4.4	-0.9	-0.4	3.5	4.2	-0.6	-0.0
1967	NYA	38	7	2.6	2.4	0.4	0.7	2.6	2.4	0.4	0.7
------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------	------
CAREER (reg. season)			500	209.4	164.7	53.1	76.3	197.0	177.1	30.9	54.1
			------	------	------			------	------
PostSeason (career)			22	9.7	8.8		2.7	9.9	8.7		2.9
			------	------	------		------	------	------		------
COMBINED			522	219.1	173.5		79.0	206.9	185.8		57.0

Article last updated: October 29, 2020

Wins over positional average and replacement level are calculated using data only for the 1967 season. Positional averages for starting pitching and relief pitching are calculated using single-year data for all starting pitchers and all relief pitchers.

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