Philly Front Office

Willie Mays is on the short list of best baseball players ever and is probably considered the greatest 5 tool athlete the game ever saw. His Baseball Reference page is littered with bold, italicized ink and is something everyone should dive into at some point. At 156.2 WAR, he ranks 3rd all-time for position players, only behind Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds. Looking over his career for this post, something hit me for the first time, inexplicably Willie Mays only has 2 MVP awards. How is that possible?

Monday, July 7 at 9:45p – Cristopher Sanchez v. Landen Roupp (R)
Tuesday, July 8 at 9:45p – Taijuan Walker v. Robbie Ray (L)
Wednesday, July 9 at 3:45p – Jesus Luzardo v. Justin Verlander (R)

at Oracle Park in San Francisco

[Before we get started in the rundown of his greatness, it has to be noted that Mays played his first 6 seasons in the Polo Grounds. For anyone who doesn’t know, the stadium featured short porches in left and right at around 280 and 260 feet. The “power alleys” though were anything but at around 450 feet. The farthest part of the ballpark though was dead center at 483 feet.]

The MVP Years

Willie Mays won National League MVP in 1954 and 1965, 11 years apart. He had won Rookie of the Year in 1951 as a 20 year old, and even though greatness seemed destined, it would have to wait. After about 6 weeks of the 1952 season, Mays had to fulfill his Korean War draft duties and reported to a military base in Virginia. Thankfully he never had to see combat and instead played for the Military baseball team. He would miss 275 games for the Giants.

In 1954, Mays was now 23 and fresh off his military discharge. To say he wasn’t rusty is an understatement. Mays led the league in WAR with 10.4, his first of 11 times doing so.¹ He also won his only batting title at .345. Despite so many seasons he was robbed of MVP, this was one of the few where you could at least squint and see the argument. Ted Kluszewski of the Reds only needed a better average of .019 to overtake Mays for the title and to win the Triple Crown. It would have been an offense only award though as the first baseman couldn’t match Mays’ value in centerfield. The league was still 3 years from awarding Gold Gloves, but Mays was busy making the play of the century in the sprawling lawn of the Polo Grounds. The MVP award was the capper on a World Series title, his only one.

In 1965, Mays was 34. The previous 10 years had seen him do everything on a baseball field, but no more MVP awards somehow. 1965 though was statistically his best season. He led the league and had career bests with 11.2 WAR, 52 HRs, and a 185 OPS+. Despite the stats, he damn near lost the award to Sandy Koufax. No hitters came within a mile of him statistically, but the Dodgers pitcher and his 2.04 ERA in 335 innings only missed out by 3 first place votes. Maybe Mays has Maury Wills to thank? The Dodgers shortstop finished 3rd thanks to his 94 stolen bases and may have split the vote for Koufax. Thankfully he did so as to not spoil Mays’ finest season.

Everything in Between

In 1955, Mays finished 4th in the voting despite leading the league in WAR (9.2), HRs (51), and OPS (1.059) and finishing 2nd in Avg, Runs and RBIs. Who won? Roy Campanella the catcher for the Dodgers, his 3rd time winning the award. The cross town Dodgers had won the World Series and finished 9 games ahead of the Giants in the standings. This apparently makes up for Mays nearly doubling up Campanella in WAR. He received ZERO first place votes.

In 1956, Mays finished 17th in voting despite leading the league again in WAR at 7.6. Duke Snider probably deserved the award, but he finished 10th behind his teammate Don Newcombe. Mays led the league in stolen bases (40) and 3rd in HRs (36).

Mays would finish 4th in 1957 behind Hank Aaron (winner) and Stan Musial, but his 8.3 WAR still paced the league as did his 173 OPS+, 38 steals and 20 triples. Still, you can’t fault voters for giving the award to Aaron and his 44 HRs, 132 RBI, and .322 average. Mays still had the better all around season though adding in 35 HRs and a .333 average to his league leading marks.

In 1958, Ernie Banks of the Cubs beat out Mays thanks to his 47 HRs and 129 RBI, but Mays crushed him in average, missing the batting title by only .003 to Richie Ashburn. Mays had the edge in WAR too 10.3 to 9.3, but voters overwhelmingly chose Banks with 16 first place votes to Mays’ 3. Banks would handily and deservedly win the award in 1959 with Mays finishing 6th.

You could make solid arguments for Mays in 1955, 1957, and 1958, but 1959 was a robbery. Dick Groat won the award and the batting title with a .325 average. Mays would basically lap Groat in every other statistical category. Groat’s Pittsburgh teammate Don Hoak would finish 2nd with even worse stats. The two of them would take 21 of 22 1st place votes. Mays finished 3rd and received none despite a .319 AVG and his usual full statistical line of 29 HRs, 125 Runs, and 103 RBIs

Frank Robinson would deservedly win the award in 1961.

1959 was bad, but Maury Wills beating Mays in 1962 might be worse. Mays led the league with 10.5 WAR and 49 HRs, but voters were apparently overwhelmingly impressed with the 104 SBs of Wills. The vote was damn close, 209-202 (8-7 first place votes) but it shouldn’t have been.

There were 3 deserving winners in 1963, but Sandy Koufax and his 1.88 ERA won the award over a near Triple Crown effort from Hank Aaron and a league leading 10.6 WAR of Mays. The Dodgers sweeping the Yankees out of the World Series though makes this one understandable. He also no-hit the Giants and Mays on May 11th that year.

Somehow Mays finished 6th in the voting in 1964 despite leading the league in WAR with an unreal 11 (!!!), HRs with 47, and an OPS of .990. He also finished 2nd in Runs with 121 and 3rd in RBIs with 111. Ken Boyer of St. Louis win the award going away despite having worse stats than Mays in everything except his 119 RBI. This one is baffling.

1966 was Mays’ last truly elite season but the MVP award could have gone to a few different players. Mays’ 9 WAR led position players, but just ahead of Roberto Clemente, who won the award, and Dick Allen whol ed the league in OPS. Mays was 3rd in HRs, but otherwise didn’t factor into any other leaderboards. Koufax had the most first place votes thanks to his 1.73 ERA in 323 innings, but finished 2nd overall. Mays just solidly did his job as he always did.

Overall

So that’s 2 MVP awards, 4 robberies, and 5 other years you could make an argument. Just astonishing that maybe the best player of all time could have been considered even better and clearly wasn’t valued as high as he should have been in his prime.

1. In 1956, he ties Duke Snider but it doesn’t show up in Baseball-Reference, probably due to percentage points ↩︎