1959 Baseball Season

 

Session 5:

 

Presley Division:

 

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia raced to the finish with Pittsburgh unseating the Freedom from their accustomed perch atop the division in the final series of the season courtesy of Calumet.  As they both have advanced to the post season tournament, however, it must be said that Philadelphia held a 10-4 edge in head to head play with the Vikings.  The clubs were so very close in runs per game, ERA and fielding percentage that there is truly not a dime's worth of difference between them.  What difference there was is likely found "Inland" in California where the Vikings took 13 of 14 from the Inland Empire while Philadelphia was only able to win 8 of 14.

 

Brando Division:

 

Mars Hill finished in the middle of the league in every statistical category but their 87 wins resulted in a 12 game lead over a Calumet team that simply went South down the stretch.  The Mules were a team of solid and inconsistent performers as the pitching was essentially the work of four good men.  Sam Jones (20-9 3.04) and Vernon Law (17-9 3.08) were the only reliable starters while Ryne Duren (5-5-12 2.33) and Stu Miller (11-5-3 2.94) carried the bullpen.  Ernie Banks (.318-45-129) was the rock upon whom the offense relied while Wally Moon (.275-27-80) and Charley Neal (.273-24-81)  provided steady support.  Calumet was third best in runs scored per game but outside of Early Wynn (19-15 2.96) and Don Newcombe (13-10 3.59) there really was no pitching to speak of as evident in their 11th place finish in both ERA and runs allowed.

 

Dean Division:

 

Surf City posted the best overall record in the league (99-55) as they breezed to the division crown with a seventeen game advantage over Highland.  The posted the best ERA of any team, 3.02 to Pittsburgh's 3.07, but did not allow the fewest runs as their defense was in the lower half of the league.  While that may hurt them in the post season, they certainly pack some punch as they averaged the most runs scored (5.1) per game.  The offense was led by Harmon Killebrew's 39 homers and 122 RBI and Frank Robinson's 38 and 118.  Second place Highland had some solid performances from Don Drysdale (20-12 2.49) and Frank Lary (18-12 3.52) on the mound while Henry Aaron (.335-36-124) dominated the offense.  Joe Cunningham (.332-11-77) provided solid support but after that the lineup was a patchwork of part timers and disappointing performances from players counted on to repeat their work in 1958.

 

Highlight Games:

 

Surf City's Art Ditmar tossed the fifth no hitter of this season on September 15th.  However, the most unusual game in anyone's APBA playing memory was a game involving Surf City when a double injury to the Beach Boys in the bottom of the 19th inning resulted in less than nine players available for them and a forfeit to Crimson. 

 

Individual Leaders:

Although Henry Aaron led in the batting race for almost all of the season, he was overtaken by Harvey Kuenn (.348) and Tito Francona (.347) in the final round in what became a batting race decided by .0009.  This trend would continue while Henry had the higest total average (1.018) and led in virtually all of the SABRmetric categories, he fell short in all of the counting stats of the rea.  Ernie Banks led in RBI with 129 to Henry's 124 and homers with 45 to Eddie Mathews' 40.  Vada Pinson tied Aaron with 47 doubles, Nelson Fox tied him for the league lead with 217 hits although he did edge Dick Groat, Ken Boyer and Bobby Richardson with 11 triples to thier 10.

 

Five 20 game winners were the most we had since the 1956 season, and, they represented five different teams.  Philadelphia's Johnny Antonelli (26-10) was the top winner but Surf City's Camilo Pascual (22-6) led the league with a 1.86 ERA in 261 innings pitched.  Of course, Wexford's Bud Daley (20-2) was almost unbeatable, while Division winner Mars Hill's Sam Jones (20-9) and Highland's Don Drysdale (20-12) completed the quintet.  Each post season participant with the exception of Pittsburgh is represented on that list although Don Mossi (19-6) fell one win shy for the Vikings.

 

Post Season:

 

1959 saw a changing of the guard as one team that had previously never made the post season tournament, Surf City, matched up with a second time participant and first time finalist, Pittsburgh, to become the first teams to battle through a final series of seven games before Pittsburgh emerged as the winner.

 

Both clubs dispensed with their semi-final round opponents in five games.  Surf City, featuring the power hitting of Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Charlie Maxwell and several part time sluggers contrasted with the slashing style of Pittsburgh who were led by batting champion Harvey Kuenn and batsmen Dick Groat, Roberto Clemente and Bob Skinner.  While Pittsburgh did pack some punch of its own in first baseman Orlando Cepeda and third baseman Ken Boyer, the team focus was upon a blend of high average hitting and defense.

 

Surf City brought pitching aces Camilo Pascual, Hoyt Wilhelm and Art Ditmar to the series and while Pittsburgh had a solid rotation in Don Mossi, Harvey Haddix, Cal McLish and the seemingly "Lucky Penny", Billy Pierce, in a short series Surf City's quality appeared ready to surpass Pittsburgh's quantity.

 

What a series it was!  Not only was it the first final series to go seven games; five of the seven were decided by one run; four were decided in extra innings, including the final three games as neither team was willing to concede to the other.

 

The question of if this series will signify a "changing of the guard" within the league has yet to be determined.  However, all future final post season series will be judged against the high drama of the battle between these two teams in 1959.