There was a notable absence as the season began. That vacancy was in St.Louis. The owners of the American League club there moved the club to Baltimore - a town that hadn't been in the majors since 1902, when the franchise had been moved to New York.
Beyond the franchise shifts, which are now beginning to unsettle baseball's complacency, there is a more immediate problem to handle. Can anyone topple the Chicago White Sox, the team that had won three World Series in the last nine seasons, from becoming a juggernaut? The answer as 1954 unfolded was no. The Pale Hose, behind the #1 scoring lineup in the AL, spotted the rest of the league the first few months then took the lead in July and blew away the competition. Chicago won by 12 games thanks to a lineup lead by the AL's MVP, Stan Musial (.348-43-143) and Bobby Avila (.337-7-84) and a mound staff lead by Eddie Lopat (21 wins). The newly planted Baltimore Orioles finished in second place thanks to the pitching of the junior circuit's Outstanding Pitcher Award winner, Bill Sayles (21-9, 2.14 era). The Cleveland Indians ended the season in third place, a whopping 20 games behind Chicago, behind the hitting of Mickey Mantle (.285-21-70) and Hank Thompson (.271-21-86).
The National League pennant race was somewhat closer than the AL's. The Pittsburgh Pirates took the lead early on with the Cincinnati Redlegs right on their tails. Cincinnati overtook the Bucs at the beginning of August and clinched the NL title with about a week to go in the season. The Reds, who won their last NL title ten seasons ago, were led by the hitting of the NL's MVP, Joe Cunningham (.339-29-89) and the pitching of both Dizzy Trout (2.65 ERA) and Virgil Trucks (2.90 ERA). The New York Giants, who sat in third place for most of the season, passed Pittsburgh to a second place finish, 6 games behind the Giants, and were led by the hitting of up and coming superstar in the rising, Ernie Banks (33 HR, 102 RBI). Pittsburgh ended up in third place, 1 game behind New York, led by the hitting of slugger Ralph Kiner (.268-28-96) and the pitching of Camilo Pascual (17 wins, NL leading 2.19 ERA).
The World Series saw the White Sox and Redlegs split the first two games in Chicago and then the first two of three in Cincinnati to a 2-2 game deadlock. Cincinnati then took game 5 at home and game 6 in Chicago to win the world's championship by a final 4 games to 2 margin thanks to the hitting display of Joe Cunningham, who batted .476 for the series.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
Chicago 98 56 .636 -- Cincinnati 89 65 .578 --
Baltimore 86 68 .558 12 New York 83 71 .539 6
Cleveland 78 76 .506 20 Pittsburgh 82 72 .532 7
Detroit 76 78 .494 22 Chicago 80 74 .519 9
Washington 75 79 .487 23 Philadelphia 79 75 .513 10
New York 70 84 .455 28 Brooklyn 75 79 .487 14
Boston 67 87 .435 31 St.Louis 65 89 .422 24
Philadelphia 66 88 .429 32 Milwaukee 63 91 .409 26
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
S.Musial,CHI .348 T.Kluszewski,STL .341
B.Avila,CHI .337 J.Cunningham,CIN .339
M.Vernon,NY .329 D.O'Connell,MIL .315
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
W.Mays,DET 52 T.Kluszewski,STL 35
S.Musial,CHI 43 E.Banks,NY 33
E.Mathews,BOS 36 J.Cunningham,CIN 29
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
S.Musial,CHI 143 V.Power,PHI 111
G.Hodges,PHI 120 E.Banks,NY 102
W.Mays,DET 113 R.Kiner,PIT 96
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
S.Musial,CHI 125 J.Cunningham,CIN 107
W.Mays,DET 117 J.Jensen,PIT 94
D.Snider,PHI 107 L.Doby,CIN 92
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
M.Minoso,BAL 12 J.Jensen,PIT 20
J.Robinson,BOS 12 C.Bernier,PIT 18
E.Mathews,BOS 11 S.Jethroe,BRO 16
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
B.Sayles,BAL 2.14 C.Pascual,PIT 2.19
D.Gross,CLE 2.34 D.Trout,CIN 2.65
H.Score,WAS 2.63 V.Trucks,CIN 2.90
Wins W Wins W
E.Lopat,CHI 21 B.Pierce,NY 20
B.Sayles,BAL 21 D.Newcombe,MIL 19
C.Dean,BAL 18 H.Dorish,PHI 18
Saves SV Saves SV
R.Narleski,CLE 23 L.West,CIN 21
D.Mossi,CHI 18 F.Hutchinson,PIT 19
R.Negray,PHI 18 N.King,PHI 17
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
H.Score,WAS 223 K.Spooner,CHI 216
M.Garcia,WAS 186 B.Pierce,NY 205
V.Mizell,NY 185 T.Sturdivant,CHI 180
1953 World Series
Game #1
Cincinnati 1 0 0 0 5 3 1 1 1 - 12 13 1
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 - 2 8 0
D.Conger, H.Fox (8) and S.Lollar
R.Gomez, F.Thompson (5), D.Bessent (7) and P.Gillespie
WP - D.Conger (1-0)
LP - R.Gomez (0-1)
HR - CIN: G.Kell (1)
Game #2
Brooklyn 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 - 2 5 0
Chicago (A) 0 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 x - 6 10 2
F.Sullivan, J.Orrell (5) and S.Lollar
A.Ditmar, D.Bessent (8) and P.Gillespie
WP - A.Ditmar (1-0)
LP - F.Sullivan (0-1)
HR - CHI: S.Musial (1)
Game #3
Chicago (A) 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 8 2
Cincinnati 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - 1 7 2
W.Spahn and P.Gillespie
K.Raffensberger and S.Lollar
WP - W.Spahn (1-0)
LP - K.Raffensberger (0-1)
HR - none
Game #4
Chicago (A) 0 0 0 1 4 0 0 1 0 - 6 6 0
Cincinnati 0 0 1 2 0 3 0 0 1 - 7 11 2
E.Lopat, F.Thompson (6), D.Bessent (8) and P.Gillespie, H.Naragon (6)
D.Trout, J.Orrell (8) and S.Lollar
WP - J.Orrell (1-0)
LP - D.Bessent (0-1)
HR - CIN: D.Spencer (1) CHI: B.Nieman (1)
Game #5
Chicago (A) 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 2 5 1
Cincinnati 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 2 x - 4 4 4
R.Gomez and P.Gillespie
D.Conger, J.Orrell (8) and S.Lollar
WP - J.Orrell (2-0)
LP - R.Gomez (0-2)
HR - CIN: J.Cunningham (1)
Game #6
Cincinnati 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 0 - 4 7 0
Chicago (A) 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - 2 5 1
K.Raffensberger and S.Lollar
A.Ditmar, D.Bessent (8) and P.Gillespie
WP - K.Raffensberger (1-1)
LP - A.Ditmar (1-1)
HR - CIN: B.Nieman (2) CHI: T.Brown (1)
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Code:
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Year: 1954
Batting Average Earned Run Average
.312 P.Runnels 2.91 H.Dorish
.294 V.Power 3.82 S.Consuegra
.251 W.Lockman 4.00 B.Lemon
.243 E.Yost 4.14 V.Raschi
5.26 M.Parnell
Home Runs Wins
21 V.Power 18 H.Dorish
9 H.Chiti 14 M.Parnell
9 W.Lockman 10 B.Lemon
8 W.Marshall 9 S.Consuegra
7 E.Yost 9 V.Raschi
Runs Batted In Saves
111 V.Power 17 N.King
68 E.Yost 12 B.Birrer
52 W.Lockman 7 B.Donovan
43 P.Runnels 2 M.Parnell
39 H.Chiti 1 V.Raschi
Runs Scored Strikeouts
79 E.Yost 114 M.Parnell
77 P.Runnels 107 H.Dorish
74 W.Lockman 100 B.Lemon
74 V.Power 89 V.Raschi
37 C.Silvera 54 S.Consuegra
Stolen Bases
7 W.Lockman
6 E.Yost
4 R.Repulski
4 P.Runnels
3 V.Power