1951 AL Mathewson Award

The Yankees won their third straight pennant and World Series. The Yanks were managed by Casey Stengel at this time, and Casey loved to use his entire pitching staff. He used a five-man rotation, and only two starters (Ed Lopat and Vic Raschi) made more than 30 starts. He used his bullpen more often than any other manager in baseball, and had some veteran pitchers (Allie Reynolds, Johnny Sain) who worked as starters and relievers. The system worked beautifully, and changed the way that managers use their pitching staffs.

1951 American League Pitchers

		WN	LS	GP	GS	CG	SH	SV	IP	HIT	BB	SO	ERA
E LOPAT	NY	21	9	31	31	20	4	0	235	209	71	93	291
E WYNN	CLE	20	13	37	34	21	3	1	274	227	107	133	302
A REYNOLDS	NY	17	8	40	26	16	7	7	221	171	100	126	305
M GARCIA	CLE	20	13	47	30	15	1	6	254	239	82	118	315
M PARNELL	BOS	18	11	36	29	11	3	2	221	229	77	77	326
N GARVER	STL	20	12	33	30	24	1	0	246	237	96	84	373
B FELLER	CLE	22	8	33	32	16	4	0	250	239	95	111	349
V RASCHI	NY	21	10	35	34	15	4	0	258	233	103	164	328
S ROGOVIN	DET-CHI	12	8	27	26	17	3	0	217	189	74	82	278
E KINDER	BOS	11	2	63	2	1	0	14	127	108	46	84	255

1951 American League

Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Athletics
St. Louis Browns
Washington Senators

         Ned Garver almost won an MVP Award this season. Garver won 20 games for the St. Louis Browns, a team that won only 52 games in total. That means Garver won 40% of his team's games, which impressed a lot of voters. On the other hand, his ERA wasn't great, and he walked more batters than he struck out. Garver had a good year...but there were better ones.
         After Garver, the top vote getters were Reynolds, Bob Feller, Ellis Kinder, Raschi, and Lopat. I don't know what it was the voters didn't like about Lopat. He was second in the AL in wins, next to Feller, and had a much better ERA than Feller. Lopat was also second in ERA, next to Saul Rogovin, and he had many more wins than Rogovin. Lopat was second in shutouts, third in complete games. He allowed the fewest baserunners per nine innings. I think he is a pretty clear choice.
        Lopat pitched for 12 years, and was consistently among the better pitchers in the league. He began his career in Chicago, but had his glory years for the Yankees. Lopat was a crafty left-hander who could be described as the Jimmy Key of the 50's; he retired with 166 career wins, and numerous World Series rings.
         The Cleveland Indians also had a fine year, and had the best pitching staff in the league. They were led by Early Wynn, Feller, Mike Garcia, and Bob Lemon. Wynn pitched a lot of innings, won a lot of games, and was third in the AL in ERA. He is a clear choice for runner-up. Feller and Garcia had similar numbers; Feller won a couple more games, but I think that Garcia pitched a little better.