Week 22 Summary (09/09/1957 - 09/15/1957)

Willie Mays

Week 22 is in the books and the season has definitely moved into wind-down mode. Every team has passed the 140 games played mark and one-by-one teams are wrapping up their season series against their opponents. Currently, the AL east teams are hosting the AL Midwest teams on their last wing through the east, and in the NL, it is the east teams making their last swing through the Midwest. These road trips will be completed by the middle of the upcoming week, meaning the final 1.5 weeks it will be east-vs-east and Midwest-vs-Midwest in both leagues until the end.

Mickey Mantle

In the AL, the magic number for Chicago is down to five. Of course, anything can happen, but the White Sox are on a five-game winning streak and show no signs of slowing down. New York is playing well, but if the White Sox keep it up there really isn’t much they can do. Boston took two from Detroit on Sunday and has a two-game lead in the battle for third place, and the rest of the division looks pretty set at this point. The Senators had nosed into seventh place recently, but their current six-game losing streak pretty much condemns them to last place.

 

Milwaukee's magic number is six as all of the NL teams have been playing right around .500 for the past few weeks. St. Louis appears to have a solid grip on second-place, while Brooklyn has cooled off a little but has maintained a 2.0 game lead over fourth-place Pittsburgh. Cincinnati (no pitching) has a 3.0 game lead over Philadelphia (no hitting) but their season series is done so I am not expecting any change here. Chicago and New York are both secure in their positions at seventh and eighth-place.

 

Duke Snider

Before talking about leaders, it is worth a reminder that Ted Williams has been out the last two weeks and won’t return until the middle of this upcoming week. Stan Musial was out for two weeks, returned to pinch-hitting duties early this past week, and returned to the starting lineup on Sunday. Mickey Mantle was been limited to pinch-hitting duties for much of the last two weeks and just returned to the starting lineup on Friday. Obviously not playing doesn’t affect one’s batting average, but hits, runs, RBI’s, and homerun totals don't budge either.

 

In the AL, Williams (.421) is almost guaranteed to hit .400 for the season and is well ahead of Minnie Minoso (.368) and Mantle (.361). Mantle (114) has maintained his lead in runs, ahead of Billy Gardner (108) and Williams (105), and Williams (114) still leads in RBI’s over Mantle (107) and Jackie Jensen and Roy Sievers, both with 105. Minoso has the lead in hits (196) ahead of teammate Nellie Fox (181) and Gardner (176). Gardner (43) has the lead in doubles over Minoso (36) and Al Kaline (30). Mantle and Hank Bauer both have 13 triples, just ahead of teammate Harry Simpson and Sievers (45) leads in homeruns ahead of Williams and Vic Wertz, both with 36. Billy Pierce (22-6, 2.65), Jim Bunning (20-6, 2.36), and Dick Donovan (20-6, 2.52) lead the AL in wins while Frank Sullivan (19-5, 1.71) has the ERA lead.

 

Bob Lemon

In the NL, Musial (.375) lead in hitting, well ahead of Frank Robinson (.325) and Willie Mays (.320). Hank Aaron and Red Schoendienst lead in hits (182), just ahead of Musial (181). Aaron leads in runs (118) over Eddie Mathews (106) and Musial (101), and Aaron leads in RBI’s (140) over Mathews (120), Frank Thomas (114), and Musial (100). Teammates Bill Virdon (38) and Dick Groat (35) lead in doubles, ahead of Walt Moryn and Robinson, both with 29. Despite having been injured and not having played for the past Bill Bruton still leads in triples (15), although Mays (14) and Richie Ashburn (13) have finally gotten close. Aaron (45) leads in homeruns, ahead of Ernie Banks (38), Mathews (37), and Musial (37). Bob Friend (26-7, 2.53) and three pitchers from Milwaukee – Warren Spahn (19-7, 3.25), Bob Buhl (18-6, 1.67), and Lew Burdette (18-9, 3.40) – lead the NL in wins, with Buhl having the ERA lead.

 

After week 22 the percentage of games played is still greater than the percentage of weeks played, so these last two weeks will be able to proceed in an orderly fashion without teams having to do anything crazy to squeeze in their last few games in somewhere. Chicago (AL) and Kansas City both have a total of thirteen games remaining to play, while in the NL Pittsburgh and New York have only eight games remaining, with everybody else somewhere in between. It's just about time to wrap this thing up.