Major League Leaders Who Weren't 1961's Unbalanced Schedule
by Fred Worth
A member of the Society for American Baseball Research more info
The major league season of 1961 was different from any other in since 1901. It is the only season in which the number of scheduled games in the National League and American League differed substantially. Since 1901, there have been only 13 times, excluding years with an unplanned playoff) that the most games played by a National League team differed from the most games played by an American League team. Strikes account for the differences in 1981 (1 game) and 1994 (2 games). In 1912, 1913, 1918, 1934 and 1935 the difference was one game. In 1902, 1906, 1907 and 1938 the difference was two games. In 1901 it was three games. In all of these cases, as is variation amongst teams in the same league, the difference was likely due to postponed games that were never made up.
However, in 1961 the eight team National League was scheduled to play 154 games while the ten team American League was scheduled to play 162.
For obvious reasons, the number of games a player plays can affect his chances of leading the league in something. Similarly affected will be his chances of leading the major leagues. Many years there will be differences in the number of games played by individual teams in each league due to rainouts or other such events. Similarly, individual players will play different numbers of games due to manager's choices, injuries or need for rest. Those differences are part of the nature of the game and strategy. But 1961 was unique in that there was a planned imbalance in the schedule. While that would not affect a player's chances to lead his league in anything it could affect his chances of leading the major leagues.
Clearly for things like games played and at bats, the fewer the number of scheduled games the less likely a player can be the leader. For things like batting average or earned run average it is not as clear how such an imbalance would affect things. Much would depend on whether a player closed the season strongly or in a slump. Because of that I will ignore such categories here.
What I have done here is look at the National League leaders and adjusted their totals as if they played a 162-game schedule. In some cases this would produce a new Major League leader. In some it would not. I will admit this is not precise for a number of reasons. Some players may have been injured near the end of the season and would not have played the remaining 8 games if they had been scheduled. Additionally, just because a person was hitting home runs at a certain rate during the season does not mean he would hit them at the same rate in an additional 8 games. Another concern is what is reasonable. Brooks Robinson led the Major Leagues with 668 at bats while Maury Wills led the National League with 613. With the adjustment we can guess that Wills would have finished with 645 at bats. Brooks Robinson would still be the leader. Of course, if the Dodgers, in those mythical 8 games, had played 8 18-inning games it is possible that Wills could have picked up 56 more at bats and been the Major League leader. Such an event is, of course, highly unlikely. Ignoring those problems I will simply do the adjustment and see what happens.
Categories Where No Change Occurred
The following are categories where the National League leader was also the Major League leader so the adjustment would simply enlarge his lead.
Hitting
Hits - Vada Pinson, Cin. 208 (adjusted total - 219) (AL leader - Norm Cash, Det. 193)
Errors - 2B - Jake Wood, Det. 25 (NL Leader - Bill Mazeroski, Pit. 23) (adjusted total - 24)
Errors - SS - Dick Howser, KC 38 (NL Leader - Dick Groat, Pit. 32) (adjusted total - 34)
Errors - OF - Ken Hunt, LA 14 (NL Leader - Billy Williams, Chi. 11) (adjusted total - 12)
There is one category, Double Plays - OF, where there was a tie both before and after the adjustment. Willie Kirkland, Cle. and Roberto Clemente, Pit. both had 5 and the adjustment did not change Clemente's total.
Categories Where Changes Occurred
The following categories ended up with a tie between the American League leader's total and the National League leader's adjusted total.
Hitting
Games - 163 Brooks Robinson/Rocky Colavito, Bal./Det. and Hank Aaron, Mil. (original NL total - 155)
Doubles - 41 Al Kaline, Det. and Hank Aaron, Mil. (original NL total - 39)
Pitching
Complete Games - 22 Frank Lary, Det. and Warren Spahn, Mil. (original NL total - 21)
Losses - 20 Pedro Ramos, Min. and Bob Friend/Art Mahaffey, Pit./Phi. (original NL total - 19)
The following categories had ties before the adjustment and led to the National League leader being the sole Major League leader.
Hitting
RBI - Orlando Cepeda, SF adjusted to 149 over Roger Maris, NY after both had 142
Pitching
Games - Jack Baldschun, Phi. adjusted to 68 over Luis Arroyo, NY after both had 65
The following categories had a clear Major League leader from the American League who was replaced by an adjusted National Leader's total.
Hitting
Runs - Willie Mays, SF adjusted from 129 to 136 over Roger Maris/Mickey Mantle, NY/NY 132
Total Bases - Hank Aaron, Mil. adjusted from 358 to 377 over Roger Maris, NY 366
Pitching
Innings - Lew Burdette, Mil. adjusted from 272 to 286 over Whitey Ford, NY 283
Fielding
Putouts - 2B - Bill Mazeroski, Pit. adjusted from 410 to 431 over Nellie Fox/Bobby Richardson, Chi./NY 413
Putouts - OF - Vada Pinson, Cin. adjusted from 391 to 411 over Billy Bruton, Det. 410
Double Plays - 1B - Dick Stuart, Pit. adjusted from 141 to 148 over Bill Skowron, NY 146
Assists - 3B - Ken Boyer, St.L. adjusted from 346 to 364 over Clete Boyer, NY 353
Summary
The only "glamorous" categories that saw a change were RBI, Runs and Total Bases. Orlando Cepeda would not have beaten Roger Maris to 61 home runs. Of the 47 categories considered, 13 of them saw changes in leaders.
»Fred Worth is a professional mathematician and amateur baseball fan.
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