November 27, 1947: The MVP "Robbery" of Ted Williams

Ted Williams (left) and Joe DiMaggio

November 27, 1947: Despite it being Thanksgiving Day, the vote for the American League’s Most Valuable Player is announced. Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees wins for the 3rd time, despite the fact that Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox won the Triple Crown. Why?

The official reason is that one sportswriter, who didn't like Ted, and whose name has never been revealed, left him off his ballot completely. Had he given Ted even a 10th-place vote, he would have won.

There were previous MVP controversies involving Ted. In 1941, with his 56-game hitting streak, Joe put the Yankees on his back, and carried them to glory. On Game 3 of the streak, on May 17, the Yankees were 7 1/2 games out of 1st place in the American League. The day the streak ended, exactly 2 months later, they were in 1st place by 7 games, a 14 1/2-game swing.

Don't tell me Ted was the most valuable player, capitalized or otherwise, in the AL that season. His .406 batting average didn't help his team come anywhere near a Pennant. The latest in the season that the Boston Red Sox were in 1st place was April 22. After June 25, they were never within 3 games of 1st place. From July 13 onward, they were never within 10. From August 9 onward, they were never within 14. On September 4, they bottomed out at 20 1/2 back. And when the regular season ended on September 28, they were 84-70, not a bad record, and in 2nd place, not a bad finish -- but 17 games behind the Yankees.

Ted batted .406, with an on-base percentage of .553, a slugging percentage of .735, a 235 OPS+, and hit 37 home runs, all of which led both major leagues. He had 120 RBIs. In comparison, Joe's "slash line" for the season was .357/.440/.643, his OPS+ was 185, and he hit 30 homers, but led both Leagues with 125 RBIs.

But with the streak, DiMaggio put the Yankees on his back, and carried them to glory. On Game 3 of the streak, on May 17, the Yankees were 7 1/2 games out of 1st place in the American League. When it was stopped in Game 57, exactly 2 months later, they were in 1st place by 7 games, a 14 1/2-game swing.

The Yankees went 41-13, with a game tied when called due to darkness and another tied when called due to rain, over those 56 games, including winning streaks of 14 and 8. Of those 56, 4 went to extra innings, but Joe got his 1st hit within the 1st 9 each time; and 4 were shortened due to rain, making it even more impressive that Joe got at least 1 hit in each.

For those of you who believe in "WAR," Wins Above Replacement: Ted's was 10.4, Joe's was 9.3. More evidence that WAR is misleading, and should be ignored.

In 1942. Ted batted .356, hit 36 home runs, and had 137 RBIs. Each of these led the League, giving him the Triple Crown. But the Sox finished 2nd to the Yankees, a not-very-close 9 games back, and the MVP went to Joe Gordon, who did bat .302 with 103 RBIs, though only 18 home runs, and played 2nd base superbly. How do you deny a Triple Crown winner the MVP? Again: Most Valuable Player, not Most Outstanding Player.

In 1946, the Red Sox ran away with the Pennant. This time, there was no denying Ted: He batted .342, hit 38 home runs, and had 123 RBIs (oddly, none of these led the AL), and he was an easy choice for MVP.

Then came the World Series. The opposition was the St. Louis Cardinals. Led by the NL's answer to Ted, Stan Musial, the Cards were in their 4th World Series in 6 years, having won in 1942 and 1944, and lost in 1943. But Ted was nursing an elbow injury, and only batted .200, 5-for-25. Stan didn't hit well, either, and neither would end up the big story of the Series. The Cards won in 7 games.

Ted won the Triple Crown again in 1947, as he batted. .343, hit 32 home runs and had 114 RBIs. But, again, the Sox didn't win the Pennant, finishing 3rd, 14 games behind the Yankees (and 2 behind the Tigers). Joe batted .315, hit 20 homers, had 97 RBIs, and led his team to the Pennant, and then to the World Series.

The National League's MVP went to Bob Elliott, the 3rd baseman for the Boston Braves. He batted .317, hit 22 homers, and had 113 RBIs. The Braves finished 3rd, 8 games behind the Pennant-winning Brooklyn Dodgers. Ewell Blackwell of the Cincinnati Reds finished 2nd in the voting, going 22-8, including a 16-game winning streak, the 9th game of which was a no-hitter; and led the major leagues with 193 strikeouts.

Johnny Mize of the New York Giants finished 3rd, batted .302, led the majors with 138 RBIs, and shared the major league lead in home runs with Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates, who finished 6th, with 51. Finishing 4th and 5th were members of the Pennant-winning Dodgers: Catcher Bruce Edwards, and 1st baseman Jackie Robinson, the 1st black player in modern baseball, who received the 1st-ever Rookie of the Year award.

Personally, I think Jackie should have gotten it: He was the biggest reason the Dodgers won. Only twice has a player ever gotten the MVP and the ROY in the same season: Fred Lynn of the 1975 Boston Red Sox, and Ichiro Suzuki of the 2001 Seattle Mariners. Ichiro, who had starred in Japan, and Jackie, who had played in the Negro Leagues and had starred in football at UCLA, were both 28, and only "rookies" by the letter of the law.

In 1949, the Sox and Yanks battled for the Pennant all the way to the final weekend. The Sox led the Yanks by 1 game with 2 to go, against each other, at Yankee Stadium. All the Sox had to do was win 1 of the 2. The Yankees won them both, 5-4 and 5-3. Ted went 1-for-3 with a walk in the Saturday game, and 0-for-2 with 2 walks in the Sunday game.

In spite of the Sox not winning the 1949 Pennant, the Yanks didn't have any single player who stood out above the others -- DiMaggio being hurt much of the year, keeping his power stats down -- so Ted got his 2nd MVP. But he had also begun to get a reputation as coming up small in big games. This ignores the fact that, in those 3 end-of-season games in '48 and '49, he did reach base 5 times. But, in those days, you rarely heard the cliché, "A walk is as good as a hit."

Ted hit 43 home runs and had 159 RBIs. His .343 slightly trailed George Kell of the Tigers for the batting title, costing him a record 3rd Triple Crown by the slimmest of margins. But he got 13 of a possible 16 1st-place votes, and won the MVP.

Among the Yankees, Phil Rizzuto finished 2nd, reliever Joe Page 3rd, and Tommy Henrich 6th. But the Scooter just didn't have big stats, and as for Page, nobody was willing to give the MVP to a relief pitcher to that point. The next year, Jim Konstanty of the Philadelphia Phillies became the 1st, in the NL. No AL reliever would get the award until Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981.

So Ted didn't help his team win the Pennant. Yogi Berra finished 15th in the voting, but, giving the Yankees their 1st good year from a catcher since 1943, he was probably the best choice.

In 1978, Jim Rice got the MVP in a year when Ron Guidry may have been more valuable to the Yankees than any player has ever been to a single team for a single season. So Red Sox fans who say Ted was robbed of one or more MVPs can put a red sock in it.

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November 27, 1947, like all Thanksgiving Days, was a Thursday. The Chicago Bears beat the Detroit Lions, 34-14 at Briggs Stadium (later Tiger Stadium) in Detroit. In the All-America Football Conference, the Cleveland Browns beat the Los Angeles Dons, 27-17; and the San Francisco 49ers beat the Brooklyn Dodgers, 21-7 at Ebbets Field. Yes, from 1930 to 1948, there were 2 different professional football teams named the Brooklyn Dodgers.

There were 14 college football games played, including some major rivalries:

* Rivalry: Number 7 Texas beat Texas A&M, 32-13 at Kyle Field in College Station.

* Number 8 University of Pennsylvania beat Cornell, 21-0 at Franklin Field in Philadelphia.

* Rivalry: Number 14 William & Mary beat Richmond, 35-0 at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia.

* Rutgers beat Brown, 27-20 at Brown Stadium in Providence, Rhode Island.

* George Washington University beat the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, 40-0 at Griffith Stadium in Washington.

* Rivalry: Virginia Military Institute (VMI) beat Virginia Tech, 28-14 at Victory Stadium in Roanoke. It would be several more years before VMI became a "small college team," and the University of Virginia replaced them as Tech's main rival.

* South Carolina beat Wake Forest, 6-0 at American Legion Memorial Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina.

* Davidson University beat Furman University, 20-6 at Sirrine Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.

* North Texas beat Chattanooga, 14-7 at Chamberlain Field in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

* Saint Louis University beat Duquesne, 14-13 at Walsh Stadium in St. Louis.

* The Municipal University of Wichita (now Wichita State University) beat Colorado College (not to be confused with the University of Colorado or Colorado State), 62-6 at Veterans Field in Wichita, Kansaas.

* Arkansas beat the University of Tulsa, 27-13 at Skelly Stadium (now Skelly Field at H.A. Chapman Stadium) in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

* Rivalry: The University of Denver beat the University of Colorado, 26-20 at DU Stadium at Denver.

* Rivalry: Utah beat Utah State, 40-14 at Ute Stadium (later Robert Rice Stadium) in Salt Lake City.

These days, the NBA does not play on Thanksgiving. In the 1947-48 season, still using the name of the Basketball Association of America, they did, playing 2 games. The New York Knicks beat the Philadelphia Warriors, 81-59 at the Philadelphia Arena. And the Baltimore Bullets beat the Providence Steam Roller, 76-61 at the Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence.

The NHL also does not play on Thanksgiving in the modern era. But, on this day, they also played 2 games. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 2-0 at the Montreal Forum. And the Detroit Red Wings beat the Boston Bruins, 4-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. Boston has a tradition of high school football on Thanksgiving Day, which is probably why the Bruins did not play at home. The New York Rangers and the Chicago Black Hawks did not play.