Reds win 1961 NL BBW replay

Having provided the settings, I used on the AL recap I am going to go right to the details on this.  Only pausing to say that I let the computer handle almost all the other teams except for the Cubs.

Final National League Standings

And for the individual winners’ congratulations to:

Reds 85-55 .607

Cincy had a fine year, but had to hold off a tough Pittsburgh squad, but in the end, they beat the Pirates 2 games to 1 in the final series of the year, not clinching until the final day of the year.

Frank Robinson, who I submitted for Monster Monday almost won the MVP, but came up 4 votes shy.  Frank had an epic year for the Reds.  He hit .362, bashed 47 homers and drove in 158.  Pitchers clearly didn’t like that as he got hit by 12 pitches too.

Frank had plenty of support from fellow MVP candidate Vada Pinson (.349 16 86), Wally Post .318 28 92), Gene Freese (.279 30 92) and Gordy Coleman (.271 21 85).

The bench players were very productive as well.  Darrell Johnson (.366), Eddie Kasko (.303), Jerry Lynch (.282) and Elio Chacon (.274)

Perhaps the reason the Reds had to beat off the Pirates all year was their pitching, while solid, was not really dominating.  Jim O’Toole (18-4 3.34) and Joey Jay (12-9 2.95) were outstanding, but Bob Purkey (12-11 4.84) and Ken Hunt (10-11) left room for improvement.

The bullpen was shaky at times, but good enough to get to the closer.  Jim Brosnan was 6-5 with a 3.08 ERA as the setup man, and Sherman Jones (20-13 3 SV 5.24) was the most versatile pitcher of the year working in the rotation and closing when regular closer Bill Henry (2-0 49 SV 1.26) needed rest.

Pirates 84-56 .600

Pittsburgh really hung in this season, being eliminated on the final day of the year.  While the Pirates had solid hitting, led by MVP Dick Stuart (.345 43 136), Dick Groat (.295), and hitters who could both hit for average and power in Don Hoak (.328 22 103) and Roberto Clemente (.355 28 89).

I have one MAJOR complaint about this replay.  I didn’t sit in on any games for the Pirates and somehow, they let weak hitting Bill Mazeroski to hit 27 homers and 92 RBI. 

Smokey Burgess hit .361.  I would have been interested to see how he would have done without spending over a month on the DL.  Bob Skinner (.280) and Don Leppert (.339) led the bench players.

The Starters were consistent all year and that ensured they would never have any significant losing streaks.  Tom Sturdivant (15-8 2.72), Bob Friend (12-7 3.28), Harvey Haddix (14-8 3.52) and Joe Gibbon (15-9 3.65) were probably the best front four in baseball.  Clem Labine (10-9 4.76) struggled at times, but was never truly bad.

The bullpen while not exactly a weakness, did occasionally let the team down, especially in the final game of the year.  Al McBean (6-8 1 SV 3.75) was the 7th inning guy, Wilmer Mizell (3-0 10 SV 4.81) was given the chance to close early in the year but lost the job to Bobby Shantz (3-0 34 SV 3.17) and that’s when they really took off.

Giants 79- 61 .564

San Francisco was treated to a good offensive club this year.  Led by two MVP candidates in Willie Mays (.320 35 103) and Orlando Cepeda (.335 32 105), who got excellent support from Harvey Kuenn (.308), Jim Davenport (.302), Ed Bailey (.282 21 87).

They also had some good bench players in Jose Pagan (.270 12 HR), an aging Willie McCovey still hit .264 with 13 homers.  Matty Alou hit .283, and John Orsino hit .294 in mostly limited play.

The Giants pitching was good, but there were some holes in the rotation.  Juan Marichal (17-1 3.27) received many pitcher of the year votes, as did Mike McCormick (13-8 3.42).  Jack Sanford (11-9 3.70) could be counted on at times.

The bullpen was very good, but Jim Duffalo (4-7 1 SV 6.34) seemed to give up runs when they hurt the most.  His poor season was offset by Billy O’Dell (8-1 s 2V 1.76), Dick LeMay (3-2 2.80) and closer Stu Miller (0-1 34 SV 2.49).

Cardinals 72-68 .514

St. Louis certainly could be entertaining at times.  Led by an attack focused more on OBP than power, and when the pitching came along for the ride they were a tough team to deal with.

Team MVP Carl Sawatski (.374 23 96) led the way, and got plenty of help from Curt Flood (.334), Stan “The Man” Musial (.322 17 HR), Ken Boyer (.318 31 109) and Bill White (.276 16 HR).  Hal Smith hit .280 in a pinch hit role.

My first replay with the legend Bob Gibson (15-5 3.67), and he lived up to the hype.  If he had a little better defense behind him he probably wins the POY award.  Curt Simmons (11-9 3.00) was every bit as good.  Larry Jackson (11-10 3.54) and Ray Sadecki (10-12 3.81) were tolerable on the back end of the rotation.

The bullpen had some issues, but Lindy McDaniel (2-4 1 SV 3.17) and closer Craig Anderson (2-4 38 SV 2.68) were certainly not the problem.

Braves 69-71 .493

The Braves in this replay remind me of Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.  There were Jekyl games where they got their brains bashed in, and then there were Hyde games where they pounded their opponents silly.  It is reflected in both their pitching and hitting numbers as there are plenty of very good stats and plenty of really awful stats.

The top of the order is where Milwaukee did the most damage.  Joe Adcock (.323 37 113), Joe Torre (.301), Hank Aaron (.300 27 117), Eddie Mathews (.288 20 HR) did in many a pitcher.  Frank Bolling (.285 15 HR), Lee Maye (.296 17 HR) were solid support players, as were backups Felix Mantilla and Sammy White who each hit .289.

First let’s congratulate Warren Spahn (20-5 2.15 ERA .95 WHIP) for a truly dominating season.  With a team this weak to have those numbers is incredible.  Lew Burdette (12-8 3.65) not only did it on the mound, but at the plate as well.  Lew hit .212 with 4 dingers too. 

Unfortunately, the bullpen was rotten almost to the core.  Other than Don Nottebart (4-2 2 SV 3.91 ERA) everyone else had an ERA over 6.

Dodgers 66-74 .471

Moving from the east coast to the west coast didn’t change fortunes for the Dodgers yet.  I never really paid much attention to this period in their history, and it appears to be a team in transition, with many of the names made famous in Brooklyn, but with some of the names that would become famous in Los Angeles.

Ron Fairly (.383) was a strong MVP candidate with a year that far exceeded his real numbers.  In addition to the very high batting average he had a .492 OBP and 1.044 OPS.

Tommy Davis (.310 15 92), Wally Moon (.304 13 97) were solid every day performers.  Johnny Roseboro (.267 27 83) led the team in homers.  Norm Larker (.274), and Daryl Spencer (.316) were good pinch hit/defensive replacements.

The Dodgers were building their staff of the future here, so there is plenty of work to do.  Johnny Podres (12-8 3.66), Sandy Kofax 15-6 3.87) and Don Drysdale (13-9) had to carry the bulk of the load for the rotation.

Norm Sherry (5-7 4 SV 2.96) and Ron Perranoski 1-2 30 SV 3.16) unfortunately were the only art of the bullpen that was useful.  All other relievers had ERA’s over 6.

Cubs 66-74 .471

So, the Cubs had a terrible season, but yet I still managed to have a lot of fun with this team.  Ernie Banks (.313 39 108) was as expected the star of this show, while George Altman (.313 25 91), Ron Santo (.295 24 83) and Billy Williams, who overcame a terrible first half to finish at .280 with 28 HR and 102 RBI.

The computer was very kind to Don Zimmer (.256 21 91), allowing him a much better season than he should have had.  Ed Bouchee (.295), Dick Bertell (.272) were the support for the regulars.

Don Cardwell (15-12 3.95) was the lone reliable pitcher, but Dick Ellsworth (14-11 4.25) would occasionally have a good game.  The bullpen is when things really went south in a hurry, but closer Barney Schultz (3-1 15 SV 3.91) was great in the few games the Cubs had the lead late.

Phillies   39-101.279

And once again a Windows replay has the Phillies not only in last, but with easily the worst record in baseball.  The few bright spots revolved around a couple of players.  Lee Walls (.284 11 HR) would be the team MVP if anyone deserved the term.  Ruben Amaro hit .268.  Nobody else on the team hit above .240. 

Pancho Herrera and Don Demeter tied for the team lead in homers with 13, and Tony Gonzalez led the team in steals with 26.  As evidenced by the team’s .224 batting average nobody else was very good.

And given the weak offense, combined with a bad pitching staff, you have well not much to speak of pitching wise.  Dallas Green (8-17 1 SV 5.65) was the team’s swing man, and ended up leading the team in wins.

The bullpen was really awful, but Jack Baldschun (4-5 4 SV 3.63) was a good set up man, and closer Don Ferrarese (4-6 21 SV 3.81) was better than could be hoped for given the teams struggles.