1. materials characteristic of baseball and the culture of baseball; 2. collectible baseball Americana
1948
Player-manager Lou Boudreau is selected the American League Most Valuable Player. Boudreau had almost been traded to the St. Louis Browns earlier in the year, but protests by fans kept Lou in Cleveland. He would manage the Tribe for two more seasons.
1957
Warren Spahn of the World Champion Milwaukee Braves wins the Cy Young Award as MLB’s top pitcher almost unanimously. The only competition for the 21-game winner is White Sox hurler Dick Donovan, who receives one vote.
1949
Ted Williams of the Red Sox, who lost the Triple Crown when his batting average was .0002 below that of the Tigers’ George Kell, wins the Most Valuable Player vote in a landslide.
Happy 69th birthday to Greg “The Bull” Luzinski. He was 19 years old when he broke into the big leagues with the Philadelphia Phillies. And a 15 year career (4 with the White Sox) saw him mash 307 home runs!
1972
Boston’s Carlton Fisk is the first-ever unanimous choice for American League Rookie of the Year. The catcher hit 22 home runs and led the American League East with a .293 average. His Hall of Fame career would span 24 years.
1989
Bret Saberhagen of the Royals becomes the fourth pitcher ever to win the American League Cy Young Award twice, getting 27 of a possible 28 first-place votes for his 23-6, 2.16 ERA season. He also won the award in the Royals World Championship season of 1985.
1990
Oakland A’s pitcher Bob Welch wins the American League Cy Young Award. His 27 wins were the most in the majors since Steve Carlton in 1972.
1965
Willie Mays of the Giants, with 52HRs and 112 RBI, is named National League Most Valuable Player. Mays has 224 votes to 177 for Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers, who had a 2.04 ERA, won 26 games, and struck out 382.
1961
With only one Cy Young Award given for the two leagues, Whitey Ford of the Yankees, the American League leader in wins (25) and innings (283), gets the honor ahead of Warren Spahn of the Braves, who led the National League with 21 wins and a 3.02 ERA.
1997
In an unprecedented move, Davey Johnson resigns the same day he is named AL Manager of the Year. Despite the fact that Johnson ended the Orioles 13-year playoff drought in 1996 and led them to the league’s best record in 1997, a dispute over $10,500 in fines of second baseman Roberto Alomar ends Johnson’s time in Baltimore.
…Continue readingOn This Day: November 5