In the American League, the Detroit Tigers took the early lead and led by as many as 5 1/2 games over the New York Yankees and the St.Louis Browns as summertime rolled around. As Independence Day arrived and the weather started getting hot, so did the Browns and by the trade deadline, Detroit's lead was down to 2 1/2 games with the Yankees 4 1/2 back. St.Louis overtook the Tigers and held a 1 1/2 game lead over New York and 2 games over the now third place Tigers on Labor Day. The Browns continued their surge as both New York and Detroit faultered and St.Louis clinched the AL pennant with 3 games to go. The Browns were led by slugger Vic Wertz (.276-23-91) and AL Rookie of the Year, second baseman Jim Gilliam (.273-11-78, 36 sb). The New York Yankees finished a franchise high second place, 5 games behind St.Louis. The Pinstrippers were led at the plate by the AL's MVP, Jackie Robinson (.318-17-80, 23 sb) and on the mound by Bobby Shantz (17 wins, 2.37 ERA) The Detroit Tigers limped home in third place, 8 games behind the Browns. The Bengals were led at the plate by Smoky Burgess (.314 avg, 3rd in AL) and Willie Mays (.269-21-94) and on the mound by Max Surkont, the AL's Outstanding Pitcher Award winner (21 wins, 169 strikeouts).
In the National League, 154 games weren't enough. The Brooklyn Dodgers took the lead at the beginning of July and, on Labor Day, held a 3 game lead over their arch rivals, the New York Giants. New York climbed their way to the top with just 5 games to go before the Dodgers evened things with 2 games left. Both teams won their last two games to still be deadlocked on top of the NL. The Giants went to Ebbets Field and took a 2-0 lead after 3 innings then held on to defeat Brooklyn, 2-1, to take the NL pennant. The Giants were led at the plate by Bobby Thomson (23 HRs, 95 RBIs) and on the mound by Billy Pierce (23-9, 2.10 ERA, 206 strikeouts), who was the senior circuit's Outstanding Pitcher Award winner. Brooklyn was led once again by Ted Williams (.287-34-91), the NL's MVP winner at the plate and Allie Reynolds (19 wins, 197 Ks), who threw a no-hitter on July 23rd. The Philadelphia Phillies finished in third place, 5 1/2 games behind the winning Giants, and were led at the plate by Yogi Berra (.256-22-94) and on the mound by Robin Roberts (2.80 ERA, 14 wins) and Bob Lemon (18 wins, 2.81 ERA).
The World Series was anticlimatic as the Giants rode their momentum and swept the first two games at Sportsman's Park before returning to the Polo Grounds and taking games 3 and 5 to win the series 4 games to 1. Giants' catcher Roy Campanella and outfielder Bobby Thomson each hit 2 HRs during the series.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
St.Louis 92 62 .597 -- New York 88 67 .568 --
New York 87 67 .565 5 Brooklyn 87 68 .561 1
Detroit 84 70 .545 8 Philadelphia 82 72 .532 5.5
Chicago 79 75 .513 13 Cincinnati 81 73 .526 6.5
Cleveland 72 82 .468 20 Boston 76 78 .494 11.5
Philadelphia 69 85 .448 23 Pittsburgh 72 82 .468 15.5
Boston 67 87 .435 25 St.Louis 72 82 .468 15.5
Washington 66 88 .429 26 Chicago 59 95 .383 28.5
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
J.Robinson,NY .318 W.Lockman,BOS .295
B.Avila,CHI .317 B.Goodman,BRO .289
S.Burgess,DET .314 T.Williams,BRO .287
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
D.Rhodes,PHI 26 R.Kiner,PIT 39
A.Rosen,WAS 24 L.Doby,CIN 36
V.Wertz,STL 23 T.Williams,BRO 34
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
S.Musial,CHI 100 R.Kiner,PIT 111
W.Mays,DET 94 L.Doby,CIN 110
V.Wertz,STL 91 L.Easter,CIN 106
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
J.Robinson,NY 102 L.Doby,CIN 108
J.Gilliam,STL 100 J.Jensen,NY 87
M.Vernon,NY 91 M.Minoso,PIT 87
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.Gilliam,STL 36 J.Jensen,NY 39
P.Reese,BOS 27 D.Fondy,NY 35
B.Avila,CHI 26 M.Minoso,PIT 30
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
J.Collum,DET 2.35 C.Nichols,NY 2.08
B.Shantz,NY 2.37 B.Pierce,NY 2.10
E.Lopat,CHI 2.60 D.Stone,CHI 2.63
Wins W Wins W
J.Dobson,STL 21 B.Pierce,NY 23
M.Surkont,DET 21 P.Roe,BOS 20
E.Lopat,CHI 19 A.Reynolds,BRO 19
Saves SV Saves SV
J.Antonell,NY 17 B.Byerly,NY 18
B.Donovan,STL 17 E.Yuhas,BOS 17
F.Martin,WAS 17 L.West,CIN 14
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
V.Mizell,NY 198 B.Pierce,NY 206
J.Dobson,STL 170 A.Reynolds,BRO 197
M.Surkont,DET 169 H.Haddix,BOS 196
1952 World Series
Game #1
New York (N) 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 4 5 2
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 2 0
D.McCall, D.Johnson (5), H.Freeman (8), B.Byerly (9) and R.Campanella
C.Dean and A.Seminick
WP - D.Johnson (1-0)
LP - C.Dean (0-1)
SV - B.Byerly (1)
HR - NY: B.Thomson (1)
Game #2
New York (N) 1 0 4 1 2 1 0 2 0 - 11 16 1
St.Louis (A) 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 - 3 10 1
B.Pierce, D.Hoskins (9) and R.Campanella
H.Brecheen, E.Singleton (4), J.Lane (7) and A.Seminick
WP - B.Pierce (1-0)
LP - H.Brecheen (0-1)
HR - NY: E.Yost (1), B.Thomson 2 (3), J.Jensen (1), J.Busby (1)
STL: C.Rikard (1), J.Gilliam (1)
Game #3
St.Louis (A) 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 - 2 6 0
New York (N) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 - 3 8 2
D.Conger, B.Donovan (9) and A.Seminick, D.Wilber (9)
C.Nichols, D.Johnson (6) and R.Campanella
WP - D.Johnson (2-0)
LP - B.Donovan (0-1)
HR - STL: A.Seminick (1) NY: R.Campanella (1)
Game #4
St.Louis (A) 4 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 10 9 1
New York (N) 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 2 - 6 11 3
J.Dobson, R.Scarborough (9) and A.Seminick
D.Hoskins, L.Griffeth (2), H.Freeman (5), B.Byerly (8) and R.Campanella
WP - J.Dobson (1-0)
LP - D.Hoskins (0-1)
HR - STL: A.Seminick (2), J.Collins (1) NY: P.Mullin (1)
Game #5
St.Louis (A) 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 1
New York (N) 1 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 x - 5 8 0
C.Dean, R.Scarborough (7) and A.Seminick
D.Johnson, L.Griffeth (7) and R.Campanella
WP - D.Johnson (3-0)
LP - C.Dean (0-2)
SV - L.Griffith (1)
HR - NY: R.Campanella (2)
Philadelphia Phillies
Code:
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Year: 1952
Batting Average Earned Run Average
.256 Y.Berra 2.80 R.Roberts
.239 E.Torgeson 2.81 B.Lemon
.231 G.Woodling 3.19 N.Garver
.225 W.Westlake 3.90 C.Simmons
Home Runs Wins
22 Y.Berra 18 B.Lemon
12 G.Woodling 15 N.Garver
11 E.Torgeson 14 R.Roberts
11 W.Westlake 11 C.Simmons
5 H.Edwards 7 W.Main
Runs Batted In Saves
94 Y.Berra 7 W.Main
55 G.Woodling 7 F.Thompson
51 E.Torgeson 5 H.Perkowski
47 W.Westlake 3 J.Sain
42 D.Groat 1 G.Elliott
Runs Scored Strikeouts
75 Y.Berra 141 C.Simmons
68 E.Torgeson 130 R.Roberts
50 W.Westlake 120 B.Lemon
43 J.Grant 100 N.Garver
43 G.Woodling 59 J.Sain
Stolen Bases
11 J.Grant
4 Y.Berra
3 E.Torgeson
2 D.Groat
2 W.Westlake