For the second straight year, a displaced franchise won the pennant. The old St. Louis Browns never won the World Series, and only once won the pennant. The franchise moved to Baltimore in 1953, and they became the Orioles. This year, Baltimore won the pennant, and swept the Dodgers in the World Series, the first championship in franchise history.

         The Orioles swept the Dodgers on the strength of their pitching; they allowed only two runs the whole series! This is surprising, because their pitching during the season wasn't all that great. They had some talented young pitchers (Dave McNally, Jim Palmer) who would eventually be great, but for now their greatest strength was their hitting.
         No AL pitcher received a vote in the Cy Young Award balloting this year, which was won by Sandy Koufax. In the MVP vote, Jim Kaat of Minnesota received the most support. This isn't surprising; he was the AL's hardest worker, had a fine ERA, and won 25 games. I think he's the best choice for the award; some other guys had slightly better ERAs, but Kaat clearly has the best overall numbers.
         Jim Kaat is not in the Hall Of Fame at this writing, nor is he even a good candidate. He won 283 games in his career, and it is unlikely that too many pitchers in the near future will surpass that total. He was a left-handed Don Sutton, a guy who was rarely considered among the best in the league, but who threw lots of innings, and won more than he lost. Sutton has now been elected to the Hall, which may help Kaat's chances.
        I would not be offended if Kaat were elected to the Hall Of Fame. He's a guy who I think narrowly but clearly fell short of greatness; on the other hand, inferior players get elected all the time (Vic Willis?), so Kaat's day should arrive. In recent years, Kaat has emerged as one of the top television analysts in the game, and maybe that will help his cause (that's how Phil Rizzuto got in, isn't it?).
         After Kaat, it's a bit of a crapshoot. The guys with the best ERAs, Gary Peters, Sam Hargan, Tommy John, Jim Perry... that all have boring records. I'll give Peters the nod only because his peripheral numbers are so spectacular, and he pitched for a team (Chicago) that didn't score many runs. After Peters, I'll take Earl Wilson, who had a fine year for both Boston and Detroit.
         Next I'll take Jack Aker, who had a terrific year in the bullpen for the Kansas City Athletics. Denny McLain won 20 games, but his ERA was quite high, the result of him giving up 42 home runs during the season. Consideration could also be given to Jim Nash, who began his career with a 12-1 record, and six years later finished with a 1-9 record.