NDF 2003-04 Winter Fun - 1963 Award Winners – NL

[WiredTiger]

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.

[WiredTiger]

Best Hitter: Willie Mays
Tough contest between Mays and Aaron. Aaron was a little better with the bat but I think Mays defense in CF is enough to overcome Aaron's advantage.

Best Pitcher: Dick Ellsworth
I think it's years like this that give me pause about Sandy Koufax's greatness. He led Ellsworth by .23 runs per game in ERA but Ellsworth ERA+ was 6 points higher. They pitched a similar number of innings and Ellsworth had 22 wins on a average Cubs team to Koufax's 25 on a pennant winning club.

Best Rookie: Pete Rose
Future con man Rose had a good rookie year playing 2b for the Reds.

[sweaver]

Win Shares leaders, players; Hank Aaron (Milwaukee) 41, Willie Mays, (San Francisco) 38, Johnny Callison (Philadelphia) 32, Vada Pinson (Cincinnati), Eddie Mathews (Milwaukee) and Dick Groat (St. Louis) 31, Orlando Cepeda (San Francisco) 30, Tommy Davis (Los Angeles) and Willie McCovey (San Francisco) 29, Billy Williams (Chicago) and Junior Gilliam (Los Angeles) 28.

WS leaders, pitchers; Dick Ellsworth (Chicago) and Sandy Koufax (Los Angeles) 32, Juan Marichal (San Francisco) 27, Larry Jackson (Chicago), Jim Maloney (Cincinnati) and Warren Spahn (Milwaukee) 22.

WARP3: Aaron 12.7, Mays 12.0, Callison 12.5, Pinson 9.0, Mathews 10.5, Groat 10.1, Cepeda 9.7, Davis 7.2, McCovey 8.0, Williams 10.5, Gilliam 7.6. Ellsworth 10.3, Koufax 10.7, Marichal 9.4, Jackson 6.9, Maloney 6.8, Spahn 7.2.

Actual award voting:
MVP (top 12)

Place  Name  Team  1st place  Points
1 Sandy Koufax      LAD   14    237   
  2 Dick Groat        STL    4    190        
  3 Hank Aaron        MLN    1    135              
  4 Ron Perranoski    LAD    0    130   
  5 Willie Mays       SFG    0    102            
  6 Jim Gilliam       LAD    1     62              
  7 Bill White        STL    0     56             
  8 Tommy Davis       LAD    0     41                
  8 Ron Santo         CHC    0     41         
 10 Vada Pinson       CIN    0     32       
 11 Juan Marichal     SFG    0     31    
 12 Warren Spahn      MLN    0     30

Cy Young: Koufax was a unanimous choice.
Rookie

Place  Name  Team  Points
1 Pete Rose         CIN   17              
  2 Ron Hunt          NYM    2             
  3 Ray Culp          PHI    1  

[sweaver]

Best player: Hank Aaron. By a small margin over Mays, with Callison not far behind.

Best pitcher: Sandy Koufax. Ellsworth's 22-10, 2.10 in Wrigley is almost as good as Koufax's 25-5, 1.88 in Dodger Stadium. Almost. Going with the winner here.

Best rookie: Pete Rose. Guy had "star" written all over him.