Casey Stengel's Yankees returned to the top of the league this year. Their streak of five consecutive World Series had been broken, but now they began a new streak of four straight pennants. In this year's World Series, the Yankees faced the Brooklyn Dodgers, whom they had always beaten in the past. But the "Bums" got the better of them this year; the Dodgers won the Series in seven games, the only championship they would win in Brooklyn.
        Yankee catcher Yogi Berra won his third MVP Award this year, but I don't agree with the selection. The reason: Mickey Mantle had ascended to the position of the league's best player, a title he would hold a long time.

         Mantle finished fifth in the MVP vote, behind all of the players listed above. How can you vote for Al Smith ahead of Mickey Mantle? Ted Williams was great, but he played in only 91 games. He didn't have enough plate appearances to qualify for the batting title. Kaline was outstanding — but better than Mantle?
        To be fair, Al Smith was a pretty good player, and this was his best year. He began playing pro ball as a teenager in the Negro Leagues, and was also a star football player in high school. His destiny appeared to be as a football player, but the Indians convinced him to sign with them in 1947 — a decision that was obviously influenced by Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier.
        He didn't reach the majors for another six years, his progress slowed by service time in the Korean War. He debuted with Cleveland in 1953 at age 25, and was a solid contributor to the 1954 team that won the pennant. This year, he was the team's best. He was strong and fast, but didn't hit a lot of home runs and wasn't a good base stealer. He greatest assets were his versatililty (he played six different positions this year) and his plate discipline.
        Smith had three solid years for the Indians, then had a mid-career crisis that the three years after that; he rebounded to have some solid years with the White Sox in the early 60's before age caught up with him.
        It is possible that no player in baseball history had more pressure put on them at such a young age as Mickey Mantle. When he debuted with the club at age 19, the press raved about his amazing athletic ability. Three years later, there were accusations from the press that the Yankees had rushed Mickey to the majors too fast, retarding his development, and counter-accusations from the Yankees that the press had overhyped Mantle, creating unreasonable expectations — all this negativity over a player who at age 20 established himself as a consistent .300 hitter with power and great plate discipline.
        Mantle suffered from chronic osteomyelitis in his left leg, and injured his knee in the 1951 World Series. He was healthy for the bulk of this season, but suffered another leg injury in the World Series and only played three games. Even after this great season, many New Yorkers still considered Mantle more potential than production — talk that would end a year later after his magnificent 1956 season.
        Ray Boone had 116 RBI this year, and scored only 61 runs, one of the oddest ratios of those two numbers I have ever seen. Boone had a good career, was a strong power hitter for four years in his prime. He replaced Lou Boudreau as the shortstop in Cleveland in 1950, but struggled both at bat and in the field. He was traded to Detroit in early 1953; the Tigers moved him to third base, and his power stroke came to life.
        Boone played for 13 seasons, and has also left an impressive baseball legacy; he is the father of catcher/manager Bob Boone, and the grandfather of current players Bret and Aaron Boone.
        Nellie Fox and Harvey Kuenn had very similar hitting stats, but the similarity ends there. Fox was a brilliant defensive second baseman, while Kuenn was less than mediocre on defense. Kuenn was a fine hitter; he had a career .303 batting average, and more than 2000 hits. The Tigers used him at shortstop for five years, and if he could have played the position, he could have been a big star. Unfortunately, he was a very poor infielder; the Tigers had to move him to the outfield, where he played better, and had his best years at the plate.
        Kuenn had his best year in 1959; in the off-season, he was traded to the Indians for Rocky Colavito. It was a great trade for the Tigers, not so good for Cleveland, where Kuenn spent only one year. He moved to San Francisco, where the Giants made an ill-advised decision to try Kuenn at third base. It was a disaster, and Harvey's career ended quickly. His playing days ended ingloriously, but Kuenn was not done with baseball; he coached the Milwaukee Brewers for eleven years, then took over as manager in 1982, leading them to their first and only pennant. After another good year in 1983, Kuenn was forced to retire because of health problems.
        Berra was terrific, again, but to be honest this wasn't one of his very best years; he needed really big stats to beat out Mantle for this year's MVP honours, and didn't have them.