Counting Stars
I got involved in a Twitter discussion this morning about Yogi Berra and the number of star players the Yankees had in the 1950s, and, because I didn’t feel like doing actual work, I did a quick and dirty follow-up study of the issue.
Suppose that we said that any season in which a player earns 30 Win Shares is a Superstar Quality Season, 25-29 Win Shares is a Star Quality Season (with Superstar seasons also counted as star quality seasons), and 20-24 Win Shares is a High Quality Regular season (with Superstars and Stars also counted as High Quality Regulars.) That was my initial definition, but it really bothered me that Billy Pierce never had what qualified as a star-quality season. Few other pitchers did, so modified the rules to count 29 as a Superstar season by a catcher or pitcher, 24 as a Star quality season by a catcher or a pitcher, and 19 as a High Quality Regular season by a catcher or a pitcher.
Using those standards—take it for what it is worth—but using those standards, my assertion that Cleveland had far more "Star" seasons than the Yankees is clearly true. Cleveland beat the Yankees in Star-Quality seasons during the 1950s, 27 to 19.
In terms of Superstar seasons, the Yankees dominate. There were 28 Superstar quality seasons in the American League in the 1950s, of which the Yankees had 13—7 by Mantle, 5 by Yogi Berra, and 1 by Phil Rizzuto. The Indians were second with 7:
NY
|
13
|
|
Mantle 7, Berra 5, Rizzuto 1
|
Cle
|
7
|
|
Doby 3, Rosen 2, Avila 1, Colavito, 1
|
Chi
|
3
|
|
Fox 2, Minoso 1
|
Bos
|
2
|
|
Ted Williams-2
|
Det
|
1
|
|
Kaline
|
|
Phil
|
1
|
|
Shantz
|
|
Was
|
1
|
|
Sievers
|
|
But in terms of star seasons, the Indians lead easily, with 27:
Cle
|
27
|
|
Doby 5, Rosen 5, Lemon 3, Wynn 3, Al Smith 2, Colavito 2, Minoso 2,
|
|
|
|
Avila 1, Score 1, Woodling 1, Garcia 1, Francona 1
|
NY
|
19
|
|
Mantle 8, Berra 7, DiMaggio 1, Rizzuto 1, McDougald 1, Allie Reynolds 1
|
Det
|
13
|
|
Kaline 3, Kuenn 2, Hoot Evers 1, Kell 1, Wertz 1, Houtteman 1,
|
|
|
|
Maxwell 1, Bunning 1, Yost 1, Gromek 1
|
Chi
|
11
|
|
Minoso 4, Fox 4, Eddie Robinson 1, Landis 1, Pierce 1
|
Bos
|
8
|
|
Williams 5, Jensen 1, Runnels 1, Tom Brewer 1
|
Was
|
6
|
|
Sievers 2, Vernon 1, Yost 1, Busby 1, Pascual 1
|
Phi
|
4
|
|
Joost 2, Shantz 1, Fain 1
|
KC
|
2
|
|
Cerv 1, Vic Power 1
|
StL
|
1
|
|
Ned Garver
|
By my count there were 91 Star Quality seasons in the American League in the 1950s. Baltimore did not have one.
And in terms of Quality Regular Seasons, the Indians again lead easily:
Cleveland
|
51
|
New York
|
43
|
Chicago
|
34
|
Detroit
|
30
|
Boston
|
30
|
Washington
|
24
|
Baltimore
|
7
|
Philadelphia
|
7
|
St Louis
|
2
|
Kansas City
|
2
|
A total of 230 "Quality Regular" seasons in the league—about three per team per season. The most by any team in a season was 8, by Cleveland in 1952.
I won’t do the National League, but I’ll do the Dodgers. I credit the Dodgers with 8 Superstar seasons, more than any team except the Yankees (Duke Snider, 4; Jackie Robinson, 2; Roy Campanella, 2.) I have them with 25 Star-Quality Seasons, two less than the Indians but 6 more than the Yankees (Snider, 7; Robinson, 4; Hodges, 4; Campanella, 3; Gilliam, 2; Newcombe, 2; Reese, 1; Wally Moon, 1; Charlie Neal, 1. They had 52 Quality Regular Seasons, one more than the Indians, and they also had 8 in 1951 and 8 in 1953.