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Week 8 Summary (06/03/1957 - 06/09/1957)

Week eight is in the books and the season has reached its one-third point. Several teams have surpassed the 50-games-played mark, most will be there in a few more days, and by the end of the week all will be there (the Cubs are the ones lagging behind).


The Chicago White Sox (37-10) continue to have an amazing season. They finally got their tenth loss of the season this past week and are still playing just under .800 ball. They win big, they win small, they win early, they win late, they just keep winning. Luis Aparicio got off to a slow start (as he did in 1957) and Larry Doby has missed most of the past two weeks … no matter. They don’t have anyone truly hitting way over their head and they are always willing to share the spotlight and let different players come through with the clutch hit - as they repeatedly do.

 

Detroit (32-18) is off to a good start, actually have a 4-3 record versus the White Sox, but still find themselves 6.5 games out of first. New York (27-21) lead the AL in hitting and fielding and are second in pitching, and yet find themselves 10.5 games out of first. Boston has played well too, but they have the same record as the Yankees.

 

Can Chicago keep it up? Of course not. But I have been saying that for the past 4-5 weeks already and still they soldier on. They have played a disproportionate amount of home games at this point and they do have plenty of games remaining with those teams nipping at their heel's, plus while they are a good team, they aren’t that good. The baseball gods will have their say in this eventually.

 

Pittsburgh Manager
Bobby Bragan
At this point in 1957 the Pirates were 16-32. Manager Bobby Bragan saw that he had a lot of good young talent, but the youngsters were often overmatched. There were constant lineup maneuvers and Bragan looked for a winning combination. The Pirates are currently 29-19 for me, +13 versus 1957, and as the White Sox, show no signs of letting up. I keep expecting their bubble to burst at any moment, but instead, they end the week sweeping a doubleheader from the charging Milwaukee Braves.

 

Also, like the White Sox, they are getting great pitching (second in the NL) and while their hitting is nothing to write home about, they seem to specialize in clutch hits and doing just enough to win. St. Louis (29-18) is in first and is still hitting over .300 as a team. That won't last either, but it is where they sit now. Brooklyn (24-23) is currently in sixth place, but are only five games behind the first-place Cardinals (as opposed to second place Detroit who is 6.5 games out). The top six teams all do a good job of beating each other up and not letting any one team build up a head of steam.

 

Stan Musial still leads the NL in hitting (.396) and in hits (78), ahead of Roy McMillan (.382) and Wally Moon (.368). Moon is second in hits with 70. Hank Aaron leads in runs (45), RBI's, (60), and homeruns (25), just ahead of Musial in all three categories - Runs (43), RBI's (46), and homeruns (18).

 

Ted Williams (.390) also fell out of the .400 club this past week but still leads the AL in hitting, ahead of Mickey Mantle (.368) and Minnie Minoso (.366). Minoso leads in hits (67), but Mantle still leads in runs (42) and RBI's (47). The two Washington highlights are Eddie Yost leading in doubles (19) and Roy Sievers has the homerun lead (19) and is second in RBI's (44).

 

The AL batting average is up by 7 points over actual and in the NL the difference is 12 points, while both league ERA's exceed their actual by about a third of a run. On the other hand, there were ten shutouts this past week and my projections for shutouts far exceeds the actual. I expect the shutouts will level off as the season progresses, but the batting average and ERA … we'll have to wait and see where it ends up I suppose. I am not really positive it will level off enough to be close to actual.


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Comments

  1. steveoSeptember 12, 2020 at 6:01 PM

    Went to a couple of games at Forbes every year of my youth. Parking was in the yards of the neighborhood. When the game was over, fans were invited to walk on the field, using the warning track and then exit in the outfield to their cars. Saw Dick Thomas (Dr. Strangeglove or Clank due to fielding issues) hit a ball over the center field wall - no easy task. 442 feet.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Roger L. MillsSeptember 13, 2020 at 8:04 PM

    Mr. Western PA (AKA steveo, a friend of the program) conflated Frank "Donkey" Thomas and Dick "Dr. Strangeglove" Stuart in his comment above. I have made him aware of his error and have assigned him his penance.

    ReplyDelete

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