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FINAL EDITION

The Baseball Once-Upon-A Times.

THURSDAY, NOV. 1, 1951

VOL. 1, No.178

Newcombe (Triple) Crowned as

National Leagues Most Valuable
The only thing certain about the 1951 National League MVP award, announced
Wednesday, was that it would go to a Triple
Crown winner.
There were two to chose from. The Cardinals Stan Musial, a three-time MVP, won the
most frequently referenced Triple Crown, becoming the fourth hitter to lead the National
League in batting average (.354), home runs
(38) and RBI (146).
Dodgers hurler Don Newcombe won the less
-trumpeted pitching Triple Crown, leading the
majors in wins (22), strikeouts (186) and ERA
(1.93) while carrying Brooklyn to the pennant
and, ultimately, the World Series title.
Clearly, team success mattered to the committee of 24 writers who cast ballots prior to
the World Series, as they elected Newcombe
the fifth Dodger and eighth N.L. pitcher to be
awarded the Kenesaw M. Landis plaque.
Newcombe, 36-19 in his first two major seasons after compiling a 52-18 mark in the Dodgers farm system, finally broke through the 20win barrier in 1951. He completed 24 of 35
starts, went 13-1 in his final 16 regular season
starts, and fired a complete game win in the
pennant-clinching victory over the Phillies.
While it didnt factor in the MVP voting, Newcombe won both his World Series starts.
Musial finished second in the balloting. He
led the majors in runs scored (133) and slugging percentage (.649) while winning his fifth
batting title and setting a career-best in RBI.
Three of Newcombes Brooklyn Dodger
teammates followed in the voting. Center fielder Duke Snider, who hit 37 home runs (tied for
second in the loop), drove in 126 and batted .326 was third. Snider also had a 26-game
hit streak, longest in the majors in 1951.
Catcher Roy Campanella (28 homers, 107
RBI) was fourth, followed by second sacker

Jackie Robinson (24 homers, 107 RBI).

Rounding out the top 10 were Giants pitcher
Larry Jansen (18-9, 2.41) in sixth place, Dodgers
hurler Preacher Roe (17-9, 3.24) in seventh,
Braves outfielder Sid Gordon (26 homers, 121
RBI) in eighth, Cubs outfielder Hank Sauer (34
homers, 122 RBI) in ninth, and Brooklyns Gil
Hodges and Carl Furillo tied for 10th.

Views
Of

Sport
By Red Smith
Ford Frick A Boon to Baseball
NEW YORK John Drebinger, a gentleman
from The Times announced there would be no
speeches and set out to prove it by calling Dan
Topping, president of the Yankees, to the microphone first. I think it is fine of you fellows, Mr.
Topping said, to give Ford Frick a baseball. At
that early hour, some of his audience remained
sharp enough to understand that Mr. Topping had
meant to say a dinner but the slip of the tongue
wasnt important and it wasnt the evenings last.
Before the party ended, if it has ended, some
tongues would skid clean off the highway.
This was a party for Ford Frick, who used to
be a newspaper man himself before he quit work
and became commissioner of baseball, tossed by
his old friends among the New York baseball
writers at Toots Shors.
There were lots of people present who were
around this town when the new commissioner
came here as a young man from Colorado, but
Bugs Baer was the only one who was working on
the same newspaper that Ford joined. The office,
Mr. Baer explained, was in an old building that
had served as a prison during the revolutionary
war and only the personnel had changed since.

Notes on the Scorecard

Lopez Likes Williams,

But Not at High Price
CLEVELAND (AP) Sure Id like to have
Ted Williams, manager Al Lopez of the
Cleveland Indians said Wednesday, but Id
say no very clear and loud to any proposal
the Tribe give up pitcher Bob Lemon and
catcher Jim Hegan for the Boston slugger.
Lopez was commenting from his home in
Tampa, Fla., to a Cleveland News reporter who
sought the Senors opinion in rumors Lou Boudreau, new BoSox manager, was angling for
such a player swap.
At Harvey, Ill., Boudreau refused to verify
the reports he was after the Lemon-Hegan battery in exchange for Williams but he didnt
deny them either.
Minus Joe DiMaggio, who suffered a slight
back injury to his back when he slipped and
fell in his Tokyo hotel room, the touring Major
League All-Stars managed to win a 6-2 decision over the Japanese Central League AllStars in Toyoma.
Mel Parnell of the Red Sox pitched six-hit
ball and kept the Japanese scoreless until the
ninth inning. Joe Tiptons 400-foot home run
was the big hit for the U.S. team.
It was the fifth straight victory for the touring Americans.

Including final
results of all ball
games
FIVE CENTS

Final 1951 Major League Standings

AMERICAN

PCT.

GB

NATIONAL

PCT.

GB

Chicago

98

56

.636

---

Brooklyn

98

56

.636

---

Boston

88

66

.571

10

New York

90

64

.584

Cleveland

85

69

.552

13

St. Louis

83

71

.539

15

New York

83

71

.539

15

Philadelphia

81

73

.526

17

Philadelphia

77

77

.500

21

Boston

72

82

.468

26

Detroit

72

82

.468

26

Chicago

69

85

.448

29

Washington

63

91

.409

35

Pittsburgh

67

87

.435

31

St. Louis

50

104

.325

48

Cincinnati

56

98

.364

42

There came a time, Bugs related, when his

young colleague was blue and discouraged about
the newspaper business, as everybody gets now
and then on every job, and Bugs gave him a lecture full of fatherly advice.
Leaves Radio Business
It was a very effective talk, Mr. Baer recalled. I stayed on the paper.
Mr. Frick, of course, quit. He went into the
radio business and then into the National League
office and then succeeded John Heydler as president of the league and, at long last, the baseball
owners suffered a rush of intelligence to the head
and elected him commissioner.
Long before Ford was elected it had been
proved that anybody could become commissioner of baseball. The point that seemed mildly important was that here, for the first time in a long
time while in these circumstances, was a genuinely friendly dinner of genuine friends who just
got together to have fun for the hell of it.
For the first time in a long while, newspaper
men were able to joke around with and shoot the
breeze with the commissioner and occasionally
make sense on a basis of complete informality
and understanding and trust. And because it is
the newspaper men, the baseball writers, who
interpret the game to the fans, establishing a kind
of liaison between the sport and the public, this
spoke well for the future administration of baseball.
One came away with the conviction that from

Final 1951 Major League Leaders

AMERICAN

AB

AVG.

NATIONAL

AB

AVG.

Fain, Phi.

117

443

93

153

.345

Musial, St.L

152

593

133

210

.354

Fox, Chi.

150

625

108

212

.339

Ashburn, Phi.

154

667

121

227

.340

Minoso, Chi.

140

556

118

181

.326

Hemus, St.L

130

466

86

154

.330

DiMaggio, Bos. 147

652

124

209

.321

Wyrostek, Cin.

138

561

73

184

.328

Kell, Det.

150

622

84

199

.320

Snider, Bro.

146

585

109

191

.326

Avila, Cle.

144

563

85

180

.320

Schoendienst, St.L

143

576

100

188

.326

Groth, Det.

125

462

52

147

.318

Gordon, Bos.

150

574

91

186

.324

Coleman, Chi.

135

555

88

176

.317

Jethroe, Bos.

145

581

127

185

.318

Doby, Cle.

136

470

98

149

.317

Sisler, Phi.

116

441

67

140

.317

Pesky, Bos.

133

494

95

155

.314

Furillo, Bro.

153

666

109

207

.311

HR: Zernial (Phi.) 41; Robinson (Chi.) 30;

Vollmer (Bos.) 28; Williams (Bos.) 26; Easter
(Cle.) 25; Wertz (Det.) 25.
RBI: Zernial (Phi.) 158; Robinson (Chi.) 128;
Williams (Bos.) 126; Vernon (Was.) 113; Rosen
(Cle.) 103.
Wins: Wynn (Cle.) 18-12; Pierce (Chi.) 17-6;
Lopat (N.Y.) 17-10; Lemon (Cle.) 17-13; Raschi
(N.Y.) 16-9.
Strikeouts: Raschi (N.Y.) 180; McDermott
(Bos.) 144; Reynolds (N.Y.) 140; Gray (Det.)
139; Wynn (Cle.) 125 .
ERA: Pierce (Chi.) 2.70; Lopat (N.Y.) 2.74;
Hutchinson (Det.) 2.77; McDermott (Bos.) 2.77;
Marrero (Was.) 2.87.

HR: Musial (St.L) 38; Snider (Bro.) 37; Hodges (Bro.) 37; Kiner (Pit.) 34; Sauer (Chi.) 34.
RBI: Musial (St.L) 146; Snider (Bro.) 126; Sauer (Chi.) 122; Gordon (Bos.) 121; Hodges
(Bro.) 120.
Wins: Newcombe (Bro.) 22-6; Jansen (N.Y.)
18-9; Roberts (Phi.) 18-14; Roe (Bro.) 17-9;
Hearn (N.Y.) 17-10.
Strikeouts: Newcombe (Bro.) 186; Rush
(Chi.) 144; Queen (Pit.) 140; Maglie (N.Y.) 135;
Roberts (Phi.) 127.
ERA: Newcombe (Bro.) 1.93; Jansen (N.Y.)
2.41; Rush (Chi.) 2.85; Wehmeier (Cin.) 2.99;
Roe (Bro.) 3.24.

now on the public who support baseball will

know and understand what is going on in the
upper echelons of the game. There will be no
more star chamber proceedings, no swapping
of favors, no attacks and retaliations behind the
scenes. If it ever becomes necessary to suspend
a manager for a year, the facts will be made
public in fairness to both the culprit and the
fans, and there will be no rule of silence invoked to cover up stupidity or malice on the
part of the commissioner.
New Deal in Baseball
During a somewhat lucid interval that settled upon the gathering, the new commissioner
promised that if any such decisions become
necessary he will make them without regard to
the parties involved. He said he hoped hed
rule fairly and wisely but he gave no flat promise to that effect because he is a guy who
doesnt consider himself infallible.
Ford made a fine short talk in which he deplored a rather common tendency to picture all
baseball men as brigands who are kept in line
only by the big bludgeon swung by the cop in
commissioners office.
He said he didnt think all baseball men
were burglars. He prefers to think that the
great majority of them, not only the owners of
big league clubs but everybody in the game
from the village grocer who has a piece of the
home town team to the gold-plated tycoons in
the majors, are reasonably decent working
stiffs with an enthusiasm and respect for the
sport and an awareness that theyve got hold of
something thats pretty good.
A fellow determined to believe the worst
could read these remarks and say sure, heres a
guy who has been working for the National
League owners for years and now that hes
been called upstairs to work for all the owners
hes shilling for them. Such a fellow could say
the owners chose Frick because he was their
man and they knew they could get away with
just about anything with him in the top job.
There would, however, be a technical flaw
in this view. It just happens to be incorrect.
Ford Frick is a man of stature and intelligence
and integrity. He may not always be right as
commissioner but hes always going to be honest and independent.
It is a small thing of staggering unimportance, but did you notice there wasnt a
single argument, scarcely the tiniest peep of
protest in the World Series? That wasnt because Chuck Dressen and Paul Richards and
their players had been struck dumb. Undoubtedly it was because they had their orders from
the commissioner. It is noted that the orders
were obeyed.
A lot of baseball men joined the writers in
toasting Frick. One who had to telegraph regrets was Warren Giles, Fords successor as
National League president. He was tied down,
he wired, by the vast bulk of work left undone
by his predecessor.

Phillies Skipper Sawyer Signs Three-Year Contract, Promises a General Shake-Up

PHILADELPHIA (AP) Eddie Sawyer,
newly re-signed as manager of the Philadelphia
Phillies, has his job cut out for him justifying
the boss faith in his ability to get the Phils
back in the game as pennant contenders.
The 41-year-old one-time college professor
became the first manager in modern Phils history to win a three-year managerial contract.
I signed him for three years to show my
confidence in his ability as a manager, and to
put an end to all rumors that have been circulating since mid-season, said Bob Carpenter,
young owner of the National League club.
There will be a general shake-up, Sawyer
said. We must, in fact, strengthen every posi-

tion if we hope to get back in the running. The

team will have to get down to earth or go to
Baltimore. The Baltimore Orioles, of the International League, is a Phillies farm club.
Receives Attendance Bonus
Terms of the contract were not disclosed, but
Carpenter did say they provide a bonus based on
attendance during the next three seasons. Unconfirmed reports have it that Sawyer will be paid a
salary of $25,000 a year.
I am more than pleased with his work, Carpenter resumed. I feel he has done a great job.
He won a pennant in 1950 by the fine handling of
young men when they were not ready to win and
he did an excellent job last season when they

failed to live up to expectations.

Sawyer took over as Phillies pilot in midseason of 1948, hoisting the club from last to
sixth place at the finish. Two years later, the
Phils won their first pennant in 35 years, and
Sawyer was named the National League manager
of the year. Fans said this hustling, likable club
was potentially one of the great teams of all time.
But it was clear all too soon last season that
the old zing was gone. The pitching staff badly
needed the services of stylish Curt Simmons, in
the Army now. The relief hurling of Jim Konstanty, a star of 1950, was something less than
brilliant. Sluggers slumped. And what wouldnt
Eddie have given for a fine second baseman?

The Phils finished the season a forlorn

fourth. And it was the ignominy of that skidding which started talk of Sawyers being
through as a skipper.
Team Spoiled by Success
As a whole, our club was spoiled, Sawyer
says frankly. Too much success too quickly.
Apart from Robin Roberts and the sensational Richie Ashburn afield and at bat, Sawyer says anyone on the team is available for a
profitable deal.
Long-ball hitters are needed. The mound
staff must be strengthened (Simmons may be
out of the service come next summer). That
second base job has to be filled.