NDF 2003-04 Winter Fun - 1914 Award Winners - AL

[sweaver]

For the season referenced in the subject line of this thread, who would be your pick for Best Positional Player (Include defense and position played in your determination), Best Pitcher, Best First Year Player and any other topics of discussion from this season.

We essentially have the same six hitters as 1913. Collins, Speaker, Baker, Cobb, Jackson and Crawford. that's the order I'd put them in - Collins and Speaker Split the Average, OBA, SLG. Speaker's RCAA is better and Collin's RCAP is better. I'll hide behind the 2B vs. CF argument and take Collins this year - a few extra steals and Runs.....

I'd have to go with Dutch Leonard's fine 19-5 sophomore season with a 1.00 ERA. Over Walter Johnson (as usual), Chief Bender's fine 17-3 year.

[sweaver]

Win Shares leaderboard:
Players; Tris Speaker (Boston) 45, Eddie Collins (Philadelphia) 43, Frank Baker (Philadelphia) 35, Sam Crawford (Detroit) 31, Tilly Walker (St. Louis) 28, Ty Cobb (Detroit) and Del Pratt (St. Louis) 26, Eddie Murphy (Philadelphia) and Eddie Foster (St. Louis) 23, Donie Bush (Detroit) 22.

Pitchers; Walter Johnson (Washington) 38, Dutch Leonard (Boston) 29, Carl Weilman (St. Louis) 24, Harry Coveleski (Detroit) 23, Ray Caldwell (New York) and Earl Hamilton (St. Louis) 22.

WARP3: Speaker 13.2, Collins 12.6, Baker 9.0, Crawford 9.5, Walker 8.8, Cobb 7.1 (he played only 98 games), Pratt 7.7, Murphy 4.8, Foster 3.9, Bush 7.5. Pitchers; Johnson 13.7, Leonard 9.6, Weilman 7.2, Coveleski 7.2, Caldwell 7.0, Hamilton 6.4.

Award voting:
MVP;

Place  Name 1st Place Team  Points
1 Eddie Collins     PHA    7     63              
  2 Sam Crawford      DET    0     35                
  3 Frank Baker       PHA    0     17                  
  3 Donie Bush        DET    0     17                
  5 Joe Jackson       CLE    0     15          
  6 Ray Schalk        CHW    0     13            
  7 Eddie Foster      WSH    0     11        
  7 Stuffy McInnis    PHA    0     11           
  7 Buck Weaver       CHW    0     11                    
 10 Del Pratt         SLB    0     10            
 10 Wally Schang      PHA    0     10          
 12 Tris Speaker      BOS    0      9       
 12 Tilly Walker      SLB    0      9               
 14 Ty Cobb           DET    0      7              
 14 Everett Scott     BOS    0      7              
 16 Jack Barry        PHA    0      6           
 16 Dutch Leonard     BOS    0      6   
 18 George McBride    WSH    0      5                           
 18 Eddie Plank       PHA    0      5  

[sweaver]

Speaker or Collins, Collins or Speaker.....the voters at the time thought it was clearly Collins. I'm not so sure.

Top player; Tris Speaker

Top pitcher; Walter Johnson. Walter looks great, except in comparison with himself the year before. Sure, Dutch Leonard had an 0.96 ERA, and he also had Speaker to run everything down behind him. Walter pitched over 100 more innings.

[WiredTiger]

Best Batter: Eddie Collins
Cobb didn't play that many games in 1914, Speaker was good but Collins was the best. He finished second to Cobb in OBP and was fifth in SLG% as he led the Athletics to the pennant.

Collins was one of the great ones and is probably even a little underrated.

Best Pitcher: Dutch Leonard
An ERA+ of 279! Dutch went 19-5 with an ERA of .96. His ERA+ ranks third on the all time list behind Pedro's 200 season and Tim Keefe's 1880 season. Walter Johnson had a good year but Dutch Leonard was awesome.