The Chicago White Sox, after going from best in 1950 to worst in 1951, continued to bounce back up and took the early lead in 1953. Their lead grew to as many as 11 games before the 2nd place Yankees started getting hot. The Pale Hose's lead was cut to 4.5 games by New York and it wasn't until there was only three games left in the season before Chicago could finally put away the pesky Yankees. The White Sox hitting attack was led by AL MVP Stan Musial (.355-25-113) and Wally Moon (.348-20-126), who led the league in RBI and was named the junior circuit's Rookie of the Year. The mound staff was led by a pair of 20-game winners, Eddie Lopat (21 wins) and Warren Spahn (20 wins). The New York Yankees finished 6 games behind the front running White Sox and in second place. New York was led at the plate by Jackie Robinson (.329-15-76) and Willie "Puddin' Head" Jones (.286-20-91) and on the mound by the AL's Outstanding Pitcher Award winner, Bobby Shantz (22 wins, 3.23 ERA, 172 k). The Boston Red Sox were a very distant third place, 20 games behind Chicago and were led at the plate by slugger Eddie Mathews (.315-43-124).
In the NL, the Philadelphia Phillies grabbed the early lead before Brooklyn took the lead at the beginning of July. The league was a 3-team race as the Phillies, Dodgers and Reds all fought each other and they were joined by a surging New York Giants team with a week and a half to go to make it a 4-way race. It stayed that way into the last week of the season with New York being eliminated on the next to last day and both Cincinnati and Philadelphia only a single game behind the Dodgers. Both teams were eliminated on the final day of the season as Brooklyn took the NL pennant. The Dodgers were led by the NL's MVP, Ted Williams (.338-47-108) with help from Harvey Kuenn (.312 avg, 3rd in NL). The Cincinnati Reds edged out the Phillies for second place and finished only 1 game behind. Cincinnati was led by the NL's Rookie of the Year, Joe Cunningham, who led the senior circuit in average (.340), and Larry Doby (41 HR, 115 RBI). The Phillies ended up in 3rd place, 2 games behind Brooklyn, thanks to the pitching of Bob Lemon and Robin Roberts, who each won 18 games, and the hitting of Yogi Berra (.311-32-99).
During the World Series, Brooklyn swept the first two games in Chicago then the White Sox won the next four straight to win the world's championship, 4 games to 2, thanks to the pitching of Warren Spahn, Eddie Lopat, Ewell Blackwell and Atlee Donald, as they allowed only 6 runs total in those four games.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Chicago 97 57 .630 -- Brooklyn 85 69 .552 --
New York 91 63 .591 6 Cincinnati 84 70 .545 1
Boston 77 77 .500 20 Philadelphia 83 71 .539 2
St.Louis 76 78 .494 21 New YOrk 81 73 .526 4
Detroit 75 79 .487 22 Pittsburgh 76 78 .494 9
Philadelphia 73 81 .474 24 Chicago 70 84 .455 15
Cleveland 70 84 .455 27 Milwaukee 70 84 .455 15
Washington 57 97 .370 40 St.Louis 67 87 .435 18
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
S.Musial,CHI .355 J.Cunningham,CIN .340
W.Moon,CHI .348 T.Williams,BRO .338
F.Fain,DET .336 H.Kuenn,BRO .312
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
E.Mathews,BOS 43 T.Williams,BRO 47
D.Snider,PHI 40 L.Doby,CIN 41
G.Hodges,PHI 34 R.Campanella,NY 34
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
W.Moon,CHI 126 R.Campanella,NY 117
E.Mathews,BOS 124 L.Doby,CIN 115
S.Musial,CHI 113 T.Williams,BRO 108
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
S.Musial,CHI 132 L.Doby,CIN 109
E.Mathews,BOS 119 R.Campanella,NY 107
M.Minoso,STL 111 S.Jethroe,BRO 105
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
J.Buzas,PHI 20 S.Jethroe,BRO 28
J.Rivera,NY 18 J.Jensen,NY 16
M.Minoso,STL 14 J.Temple,CIN 12
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
V.Mizell,NY 2.65 K.Spooner,CHI 2.64
T.Poholsky,CHI 2.79 T.Gray,BRO 2.92
M.Garcia,WAS 2.97 A.Carter,BRO 3.10
Wins W Wins W
B.Shantz,NY 22 B.Lemon,PHI 18
E.Lopat,CHI 21 R.Roberts,PHI 18
W.Spahn,CHI 20 K.Spooner,CHI 18
Saves SV Saves SV
D.Mossi,CHI 18 H.Freeman,NY 16
R.Narleski,CLE 18 T.Gorman,STL 16
T.Hurd,STL 17 G.Eyrich,BRO 15
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
B.Shantz,NY 172 K.Spooner,CHI 256
W.Spahn,CHI 169 H.Haddix,MIL 206
V.Mizell,NY 149 R.Roberts,PHI 188
1953 World Series
Game #1
Brooklyn 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 - 7 9 4
Chicago (A) 0 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 - 5 11 1
T.Gray, H.Pollet (4), A.Kellner (8) and D.Crandall, W.Cooper (9)
E.Lopat, E.Blackwell (5), F.Caligiuri (7) and P.Gillespie
WP - H.Pollet (1-0)
LP - E.Blackwell (0-1)
SV - A.Kellner (1)
HR - BRO: A.Pafko (1), S.Jethroe (1)
Game #2
Brooklyn 1 2 1 0 0 0 0 4 0 - 8 13 1
Chicago (A) 1 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 - 5 10 1
N.Garver, A.Kellner (8) and D.Crandall
A.Donald, F.Thompson (8), F.Caligiuri (8) and P.Gillespie
WP - N.Garver (1-0)
LP - F.Thompson (0-1)
SV - A.Kellner (2)
HR - none
Game #3
Chicago (A) 0 0 2 0 1 1 1 0 0 - 5 7 1
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 3 3
E.Blackwell, F.Caligiuri (8) and C.Silvera, P.Gillespie (9)
A.Carter, D.Carlsen (8) and D.Crandall
WP - E.Blackwell (1-1)
LP - A.Carter (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Chicago (A) 1 0 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 5 9 1
Brooklyn 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 - 2 5 2
W.Spahn and P.Gillespie
B.Porterfield, D.Carlsen (7) and D.Crandall
WP - W.Spahn (1-0)
LP - B.Porterfield (0-1)
HR - CHI: G.Shuba (1)
Game #5
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 - 6 8 1
Brooklyn 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 2
E.Lopat and C.Silvera
T.Gray, D.Carlsen (8) and D.Crandall
WP - E.Lopat (1-0)
LP - T.Gray (0-1)
HR - CHI: C.Silvera (1) BRO: D.Crandall (1)
Game #6
Brooklyn 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 2 10 0
Chicago (A) 1 0 3 1 0 0 2 0 x - 7 11 0
N.Garver, D.Carlsen (5) and D.Crandall
A.Donald, F.Caligiuri (8) and P.Gillespie
WP - A.Donald (1-0)
LP - N.Garver (1-1)
HR - CHI: G.Shuba 2 (3)
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Code:
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Year: 1953
Batting Average Earned Run Average
.311 Y.Berra 3.13 H.Dorish
.258 B.Sommers 3.15 B.Lemon
3.16 R.Roberts
3.51 M.Parnell
Home Runs Wins
32 Y.Berra 18 B.Lemon
17 R.Repulski 18 R.Roberts
10 W.Lockman 15 H.Dorish
9 B.Sommers 10 M.Parnell
9 G.Woodling 7 N.King
Runs Batted In Saves
99 Y.Berra 14 B.Donovan
64 G.Woodling 7 N.King
59 W.Lockman 6 F.Thompson
57 R.Repulski 2 H.Hudson
49 B.Sommers 1 W.Main
Runs Scored Strikeouts
81 Y.Berra 188 R.Roberts
71 G.Woodling 133 B.Lemon
59 B.Lewis 123 H.Dorish
57 B.Sommers 118 M.Parnell
55 W.Lockman 45 N.King
Stolen Bases
8 B.Lewis
6 E.Torgeson
5 D.Philley
4 W.Lockman
3 R.Sullivan