1944 NL Mathewson Award

More war-time baseball this year. The St. Louis Cardinals owned this period of NL history; they won their third straight pennant, and their second World Series in three years (defeating their cross-town rivals, the Browns). Remarkably, this was also the third straight year that the Cardinals won at least 105 games. Their offense was great, led by Stan Musial; but their pitching could only be described as awesome- at least, it was by war-time standards.

1944 National League Pitchers

		WN	LS	GP	GS	CG	SH	SV	IP	HIT	BB	SO	ERA
B WALTERS	CIN	23	8	34	32	27	6	1	285	233	87	77	240
M COOPER	STL	22	7	34	33	22	7	1	252	227	60	97	246
T WILKS	STL	17	4	36	21	16	4	0	208	173	49	70	264
B VOISELLE	NY	21	16	43	41	25	1	0	313	276	118	161	302
E HEUSSER	CIN	13	11	30	23	17	4	2	193	165	42	42	238
R SEWELL	PIT	21	12	38	33	24	3	2	286	263	99	87	318
H BRECHEEN	STL	16	5	30	22	13	3	0	189	174	46	88	286
R MUNGER	STL	11	3	21	12	7	2	2	121	92	41	55	134
M LANIER	STL	17	12	33	30	16	5	0	224	192	71	141	265

         I think the above chart says it all. Five St. Louis pitchers, all of them outstanding. Mort Cooper was the best; this was his third consecutive 20+ win season. It was also the last big year of his career; Cooper began to have injury problems, and was traded to the Braves midway through the next season, where injuries would continue to plague him. Another Cardinal pitcher who had a great year was Ted Wilks; a classic replacement player, Wilks was a 28-year-old rookie. This was his only good year as a starter; when the regular players returned from the war, Wilks was shuffled to the bullpen, where he had some very effective years in relief.
        Though the Cardinals had the best pitching staff, the top pitcher in the NL was Reds' hurler Bucky Walters. Bucky was 35 years old; after his big years in 1939 and 1940, his career had gone into decline. He made a comeback this year, probably helped to a considerable extent by the decline in competition in the league. No matter; he was still the best in the league, and led all pitchers in the MVP vote.
        My top three choices are Walters, Cooper, and Wilks. In the fourth spot, I will take Bill Voiselle of the Giants, who actually tied with Walters in the MVP vote. This was the only big year of his career, though he did help the Braves win the pennant in 1948. Consideration could also be given to Rip Sewell, who pitched well but probably not as well as Voiselle; and Ed Heusser, an unremarkable pitcher who was nicknamed "The Wild Elk Of The Wasatch" (I wonder what kind of behaviour in a person would draw comparisons to a wild elk?)