Philly Front Office

The Phillies are about to play the Braves with one team taking off and the other bathing in the swill at the bottom of baseball. Because I have nothing nice to say about either of the current teams, let’s take a look at the one Brave no one hates, Henry Aaron, and the absurdity of Mr. 755 only having a single MVP award on his shelf.

Friday, April 24 at 7:15p – Andrew Painter vs Grant Holmes (R)
Saturday, April 25 at 7:15p – Zack Wheeler vs Bryce Elder (R)
Sunday, April 26 at 1:35p – Aaron Nola vs Chris Sale (L)

Truist Park – Atlanta, GA

The year was 1957 and the Milwaukee Braves just won the World Series in 7 games against the New York Yankees. Aaron was 23 and coming off his 4th season in the Majors. He smacked 44 HRs, scored 118 runs, and knocked in 132, leading the NL in all three categories. His .322 average was good for 3rd in the league. He was named MVP in what was his finest season so far, but not nearly the finest season of his 23 year career.

Teddy Ballgame

Before we get to his individual seasonal greatness, let’s look at the all-time totals. His 23 seasons, 21 with the Braves and 2 with the Brewers, landed him as the MLB career RBI (2,297) and total bases leader (6,856). He used to be known for catching Babe Ruth in total HRs before eventually being passed by Barry Bonds. His 755 HR record stood for 34 years and is currently #2 and in no real jeopardy this generation. Aaron is tied for 4th all time in runs scored (2,174), 5th in WAR (143.3), 3rd in games played (3,298), and 3rd in hits (3,771). He played in two World Series with the Braves with that 1957 year being the only winner. As for single seasons, Aaron led the league in batting average twice, HRs four times, and has a smattering of bold type in a bunch of other categories on his Baseball Reference page. He made it to the All-Star game 21 times and received MVP votes in 19 seasons, including 7 Top 3 finishes. Just one win though.

In terms of WAR, Aaron had 7 seasons better than or equal to his 8.0 in 1957, with two more coming in at 7.9. we aren’t starting with those though. Aaron’s last great season was 1971. His biggest problem that year was missing 23 games due to injury. Still, he hit 47 HRs, with 118 RBI, and a .327 average. The winner though was Joe Torre and his .363 average. Aaron’s OPS was 100 points higher and he doubled Torre’s HRs in far less games. Had he played a full season, it would have been very close.

The worst voting travesty came in 1961 when he finished 8th behind Frank Robinson of the Reds. Aaron led the league in WAR (9.5) by a lot but suffered from not leading any other categories. While others took their individual stat leads, Aaron merely finished top 5 in damn near all of them. Maybe he shouldn’t have won, but the 8th place finish shows how underappreciated his skill set was in his time.

In 1956, Aaron finished 3rd, but was highest among position players. He lost out to Don Newcombe and Sal Maglie, both of Brooklyn. The thing that year is that the voters simply didn’t acknowledge that they got the wrong Dodger. Duke Snider finished 10th despite leading the league in WAR at 7.6. Aaron was 2nd at 7.2.

Things were similar in 1963, but to the extreme. Aaron came .007 points from the triple crown but only finished 3rd for MVP. The big problem was that Sandy Koufax went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA and 306 Ks. How Dick Groat finished 2nd is anyone’s guess. His 9.1 WAR that season was actually 2nd to position players behind Willie Mays and his 10.6. Willie has some gripes himself…

Phillies Series Preview: Willie Mays Only Had How Many MVPs???

What happened in 1963 summed up much of Aaron’s bridesmaid but never the bride career. There seemed to always be someone that just had a better single season as opposed to Aaron’s steady greatness. Aaron was great in 1958, but both Earnie Banks and Willie Mays were better. In 1967, Aaron finished 5th. While the top two of Orlando Cepeda and Tim McCarver didn’t deserve it, the 3rd and 4th finishes of Roberto Clemente and Ron Santo probably did. In 1969, Willie McCovey was simply a force for the Giants, though Aaron was right behind him across the board. Then there’s 1959…

1959 may have been his best hitting season as his .355 won the batting title by a good amount and he paced the NL in hits, slugging, OPS, OPS+, and total bases. His 39 HRs and 123 RBI both finished 3rd. The problem was two fold. First, Mr. Cub Earnie Banks led the NL in RBI and WAR, but nobody cared about WAR back then. The second problem was Aaron’s teammate Eddie Matthews. He finished 2nd in voting but led the league in HRs with 46. The two probably split the vote and let Banks runaway with the win. Imagine a player nowadays hitting .355 with that many HRs and not winning MVP?