The New York Yankees won the pennant with ease this year, their last with Casey Stengel as manager. In the World Series, they beat up on the Pittsburgh Pirates, but lost some close games; they then lost the Series on a game-winning home run by Bill Mazeroski. Stengel was relieved of his duties after the season.
        It's a good thing that there was a famous World Series this year, because the regular season in the AL was very boring. Can you name a single feat by any AL player this year? The pitchers were even worse; not a single AL pitcher received a vote in the Cy Young balloting, won by NL hurler Vern Law.

         These are the best AL pitchers from 1960. Who do you choose? Chuck Estrada of Baltimore led all pitchers in MVP voting; he led the league in wins, and was the toughest pitcher to hit. Estrada was a rookie, 22 years old. He began his career with two outstanding seasons with the Orioles; in his third season, the wheels began to fall off, and he lost 17 games. Estrada's career was then ruined by arm injuries; he won only eight games past age 24.
        Maybe Jim Perry of Cleveland. He worked more often than Estrada, had better control, and threw more shutouts. Perry was the older brother of Hall Of Famer Gaylord Perry; they combined to win 529 games in their careers (Jim winning 215). Only the Niekro brothers have combined for more wins. Unlike his younger brother, Jim relied on a good slider and didn't add the spitball to his repetoire.
        The reality is that the best pitcher in the league this year was Jim Bunning of Detroit. But his team had a poor offence, and stuck their ace with a losing record. Bunning was the premier power pitchers in baseball; he was also second in both ERA and WHIP, and was among the hardest working pitchers in the league.
        The Yankees' best pitchers were Whitey Ford and Art Ditmar. Ford had an off-season by his own standards, but was still pretty good. Ditmar began his career with the Athletics, and pitched badly. He then was dealt to New York, where he pitched well for four years. He then started to pitch badly again, and was returned to the Athletics. Such is life.
        Gerry Staley also had a fine season. Staley was 40 years old, and had only one more year left in him; he had been the best reliever in the league for the past five seasons, and helped the White Sox win the pennant in 1959. Staley began his career as a starter with the Cardinals, and was a good one. He switched to the bullpen in mid-career, and was very successful in that role.
        Despite his losing record, I have to choose Bunning for the award. If I could go back in time and draft one pitcher from this season, Bunning would be my choice, and he would be yours, too. After Jim, I'll take Estrada and Perry, then Frank Baumann; there are many other combinations that I think are easily defendable.