This was one strange season with several historic events. In the American League, the Red Sox came out of the gate fast and by the beginning of July, held an 11-game lead over the nearest competitor, the now contending New York Yankees. Things started going wrong for the beantowners as they became plagued by injuries to key players and started collapsing as New York climbed to within 1.5 games by the beginning of September. The Yankees overtook Boston and with ten games remaining held a 3.5 game lead over the Red Sox. Boston battled back to within 2 games with 2 games to play but New York held on and won the AL pennant for the first time in franchise history. Joe Adcock was the leader of the attack as he batted .300 with 39 home runs and 106 RBIs. The mound staff was led by 22-game winner Seth Morehead and 17-game winner Johnny Antonelli. Boston finished in second place, 4 games behind, and were led by Harry Anderson (.295 avg) and Eddie Mathews (38 HR, 102 RBI) at the plate and the AL's Cy Young Award winner, Tom Poholski (22 wins, 2.62 era). The Detroit Tigers finished in third place, 6 games behind the Yankees, thanks to the hitting of AL Rookie of the Year, Ron Fairly (.363 avg) and AL MVP Willie Mays (34 HR, 105 RBI, 42 SB) and the pitching of Billy O'Dell (18 wins, 2.93 ERA).
In the National League, it was less exciting as the Milwaukee Braves, led by Hank Aaron (.340-26-110) and NL Cy Young Award winner Don Kaiser (21 wins, .677 winning pct.) with mound help from Harvey Haddix (3.19 ERA, NL leading 224 strikeouts), overtook the St.Louis Cardinals, who had led from opening day, at the beginning of September and never looked back, winning by 10 games. The St.Louis Cardinals finished 10 games back and in second place thanks to the slugging of Mickey Mantle (.334 avg, 41 HR) and Rocky Colavito (39 HR, 110 RBI). The Philadelphia Phillies and Chicago Cubs tied for third place, 11 games behind. The Phillies were led by the hitting of Dick Groat (.311 avg) and Ed Bouchee (81 RBI, .472 slg%) and the pitching of Early Wynn (15 wins, 2.86 ERA). The Cubs were led by rookie Orlando Cepeda (.322-29-76) at the plate and Connie Johnson (19 wins, 2.97 ERA) on the mound. The rest of the league saw several key events. Brooklyn's 38-year old Ted Williams replaced Babe Ruth as the All-Time leader in both home runs (694) and runs batted in (2,014). Brooklyn's Dick Stuart, the NL Rookie of the Year, came out blaring as he belted an amazing 64 home runs, tying Babe Ruth for the single season home run record. It wasn't a good year for the Babe.
The series saw the world championship fly back north to Milwaukee as the Braves knocked off the Yanks in seven games. The star of the series was Hank Aaron, who batted over .380 and belted 3 home runs.
Outside of the finish of the two pennant races and the World Series, the most far reaching story of the year was the decision of the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to abandon their traditional turf for the new California scene. Unlike previous franchises, both teams were still good gate drawers but they each cited outdated ball parks for the move and wanted the unlimited potential that Los Angeles and San Francisco offered.
Code:
American League W L PCT GB National League W L PCT GB
New York 92 62 .597 -- Milwaukee 92 62 .597 --
Boston 88 66 .571 4 St.Louis 82 72 .532 10
Detroit 86 68 .558 6 Chicago 81 73 .526 11
Chicago 75 79 .487 17 Philadelphia 81 73 .526 11
Cleveland 74 80 .481 18 Pittsburgh 74 80 .481 18
Washington 71 83 .461 21 New York 72 82 .468 20
Baltimore 65 89 .422 27 Cincinnati 70 84 .455 22
Kansas City 65 89 .422 27 Brooklyn 64 90 .416 28
Batting AVG AVG Batting AVG AVG
R.Fairly,DET .363 H.Aaron,MIL .340
M.Minoso,BAL .319 M.Mantle,STL .334
W.Mays,DET .318 E.Banks,NY .326
Homeruns HR Homeruns HR
J.Adcock,NY 39 D.Stuart,BRO 64
E.Mathews,BOS 38 E.Banks,NY 57
F.Robinson,KC 37 T.Williams,BRO 46
Runs Batted In RBI Runs Batted In RBI
J.Adcock,NY 106 E.Banks,NY 144
W.Mays,DET 105 D.Stuart,BRO 138
E.Mathews,BOS 102 T.Williams,BRO 113
Runs Scored RS Runs Scored RS
W.Mays,DET 112 E.Banks,NY 112
M.Minoso,BAL 99 T.Williams,BRO 103
F.Robinson,KC 99 D.Stuart,BRO 99
Stolen Bases SB Stolen Bases SB
W.Mays,DET 42 B.White,NY 23
G.Geiger,CHI 18 L.Aparicio,CHI 22
J.Rivera,BOS 18 T.Francona,NY 22
Earned Run Average ERA Earned Run Average ERA
T.Poholsky,BOS 2.62 H.Brown,STL 2.71
S.Morehead,NY 2.85 M.Garcia,PIT 2.81
J.Antonelli,NY 2.88 E.Wynn,PHI 2.86
Wins W Wins W
S.Morehead,NY 22 D.Kaiser,MIL 21
T.Poholsky,BOS 22 B.Fischer,STL 19
B.O'Dell,DET 18 C.Johnson,CHI 19
Saves SV Saves SV
B.Birrer,NY 18 C.Labine,MIL 20
R.Brickner,WAS 17 D.McMahon,STL 20
D.Besset,CHI 16 W.McCall,MIL 18
Strikeouts SO Strikeouts SO
B.Pierce,WAS 222 H.Haddix,MIL 224
J.Antonelli,NY 209 W.Ford,NY 204
B.O'Dell,DET 204 S.Jones,PIT 197
1957 World Series
Game #1
New York (A) 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 - 2 6 0
Milwaukee 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 x - 4 6 0
M.Drabowsky, B.Birrer (8) and E.Averill
D.Newcombe, C.Labine (9) and G.Triandos
WP - D.Newcombe (1-0)
LP - M.Drabowsky (0-1)
SV - C.Labine (1)
HR - MIL: H.Aaron 2 (2)
Game #2
New York (A) 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 - 3 9 1
Milwaukee 0 0 0 3 4 0 0 0 x - 7 8 0
L.Jackson, B.Purkey (5) and E.Averill
S.Overmire, W.McCall (7), A.Schallock (8) and G.Triandos
WP - S.Overmire (1-0)
LP - L.Jackson (0-1)
HR - NY: J.Adcock (1) MIL: E.Bressoud (1), S.Amoros (1)
Game #3
Milwaukee 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 4 16 1
New York (A) 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 9 1
H.Haddix, C.Labine (9), W.McCall (11), A.Schallock (13) and G.Triandos
S.Morehead, B.Birrer (8), B.Latman (12), B.Purkey (14) and E.Averill, J.Tipton (10)
WP - A.Schallock (1-0)
LP - B.Purkey (0-1)
HR - MIL: H.Aaron (3), NY: D.Blasingame (1)
Game #4
Milwaukee 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0 - 5 6 1
New York (A) 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 1 x - 6 15 0
D.Kaiser, S.Cary (7) and G.Triandos
J.Antonelli, H.Shuman (7) and E.Averill
WP - H.Shuman (1-0)
LP - S.Cary (0-1)
HR - MIL: G.Triandos 2 (2)
Game #5
Milwaukee 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 2 3 1
New York (A) 0 0 3 1 0 0 0 0 x - 4 7 0
D.Newcombe, W.McCall (8) and G.Triandos
M.Drabowsky and E.Averill
WP - M.Drabowsky (1-1)
LP - D.Newcombe (1-1)
HR - P.Ward (1)
Game #6
New York (A) 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 - 1 10 0
Milwaukee 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 4 0
B.Purkey, B.Latman (9) and E.Averill
S.Overmire, W.McCall (8) and G.Triandos
WP - B.Purkey (1-1)
LP - S.Overmire (1-1)
SV - B.Latman (1)
HR - none
Game #7
New York (A) 1 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 - 7 10 0
Milwaukee 1 0 0 2 2 1 0 3 x - 9 17 0
S.Morehead, H.Shuman (6), B.Birrer (8) and E.Averill, J.Tipton (8)
H.Haddix, S.Cary (5), C.Labine (9) and G.Triandos
WP - S.Cary (1-1)
LP - B.Birrer (0-1)
SV - C.Labine (2)
HR - NY: E.Averill (1), D.Blasingame (2) MIL: L.Walls (1)
Philadelphia Phillies
Code:
Philadelphia Phillies Leaders
Year: 1957
Batting Average
.311 D.Groat
.306 E.Bouchee
.216 B.Allison
Home Runs
18 B.Thurman
16 B.Allison
14 B.Thomson
12 E.Bouchee
11 B.Mazeroski
Runs Batted In
81 E.Bouchee
57 J.Davenport
56 B.Nieman
52 D.Groat
51 B.Allison
Runs Scored
84 D.Groat
78 E.Bouchee
69 B.Allison
63 E.Yost
48 J.Davenport
Stolen Bases
12 B.Allison
5 R.Repulski
3 B.Mazeroski
3 B.Nieman
3 T.Umphlett
Earned Run Average
2.86 E.Wynn
3.79 G.Witt
4.78 J.Buzhardt
Wins
15 E.Wynn
11 G.Witt
10 J.Buzhardt
9 B.Milliken
8 K.Lehman
Saves
17 S.Consuegra
10 H.Dorish
7 K.Lehman
7 B.Shantz
3 R.Valdez
Strikeouts
149 E.Wynn
108 G.Witt
99 J.Buzhardt
71 K.Lehman
69 B.Shantz