1952 Cy Young Awards

1952 American League - Bobby Shantz, Philadelphia Athletics

24-7, 2.48 ERA, 152 K

This was a close call both for me and for the MVP voters in 1952, but I ended up agreeing with them and giving the Retroactive Cy Young Award to Shantz, who led the league in wins, winning percentage (.774), and WHIP (1.048).  New York's Allie Reynolds also had a great season, though.  He led the league in ERA (by nearly a half a run over third place Shantz) and strikeouts, but overall their ERA+ stats were pretty close, with Reynolds leading over Shantz 162 to 160.  This is because Reynolds had one distinct advantage; he didn't have to pitch against the 1952 Yankees.  Shantz did have to, and he excelled nonetheless.  The MVP voters agreed with me; he received 16 first place votes to Reynolds's 4, and the WAR figures agree as well; Shantz led all pitchers at 8.7, compared to Reynolds, who finished at 4.5, tied for fifth place.  Interestingly, to this day Shantz, at 5'6", remains the shortest player ever to win an MVP Award.  He is also the first living player who I have recognized with a Retroactive Cy Young Award; all of the winners before 1952 died before I started working on this blog.

1952 National League - Robin Roberts, Philadelphia Phillies

28-7, 2.59 ERA, 148 K

I don't know how Hank Sauer won the MVP Award over Roberts in 1952, but it was close; Robin Roberts finished second, although I would have to say he deserved it over Sauer or anyone else.  Roberts was a workhorse who pitched over 300 innings for six seasons in a row, including 1952, when he led the league with 330.0.  To put that into perspective, no pitcher has pitched 300 innings in a season since Steve Carlton in 1980.  For Roberts though, it was his second of five consecutive years of leading in innings pitched, and the first of four seasons in which he led in wins.  And he led in wins by a lot - his 28 wins were 10 more than the runner up.  He also had a decent ERA, which was good for third in the league, and he finished second in WHIP despite actually leading the league in hits allowed.  Overall, it was a great season for the future Hall of Famer, whose peak unfortunately occurred right before the Cy Young Award was instituted.