Tag Archives: Jackie Jensen

How Red Sox MVP’s Have Fared the Following Season

1912

Tris Speaker won the Most Valuable Player Award in 1912. The award then was not the modern MVP award. From 1911-1914 it was named the Chalmers Award, for the automobile company. However, just like now, baseball writers were the ones who determined the winner. The modern award was started in 1931.

As for Tris Speaker, he batted .383 and led the league in doubles, home runs and on-base percentage in 1912. It was easily his finest season with the Red Sox. However, he did not suffer that big of a drop-off in 1913. Speaker still batted .363 with a .974 OPS. He stole 46 bases and tripled 22 times.

1938

Jimmie Foxx was the recipient of the Red Sox first “modern” MVP Award. Foxx had won two MVP Awards while playing with the Philadelphia Athletics. 1938 was his third season in Boston after being traded.

In 1938, Foxx led the league in batting average, on-base percentage, slugging percentage, runs batted in and walks. His 175 RBI that season is still a franchise record. His 50 home runs remained a franchise record for nearly seven decades, and his 398 total bases was a franchise record for 40 years.

In 1939 he was almost as good, just in less playing time. He upped his batting average to .360 and still led the league in on-base and slugging percentage. His 35 home runs led the league despite him only garnering 467 at-bats. Foxx finished second in the MVP vote that season.

1946

By the time Ted Williams won his first MVP Award in his first year back from war, he had already been robbed of two MVP’s. His lack of MVP’s, all things considered, has largely been attributed to him not getting along with the media members who voted for the awards.

In 1941, he batted .406, yet finished second to Joe DiMaggio for the award. DiMaggio batted .408 during his famous 56 game hit streak, just .002 better than Williams did for the entire season.

In 1942, Williams won the Triple Crown and led the league in just about every conceivable batting statistic. Somehow, he lost out to another Yankee on the Award. Joe Gordon won the award despite trailing in every statistic. His OPS was 237 points lower and he hit half as many home runs. Hmmm.

Williams finally got his due after returning from war. He led the league in on-base and slugging percentage and batted .342 with 38 home runs. As an encore, he led the league in even more categories, again winning the Triple Crown. Yet again, Williams somehow managed to finish second in the MVP vote while winning the Triple Crown. Joe DiMaggio was handed the award despite only hitting .315 with 20 home runs and 97 RBI.

Ted Williams of the Boston Red Sox receives his 1946 American League MVP Award from Joe Cashman of the BBWAA. (Photo by B Bennett/Getty Images)

1949

After a third-place finish in 1948, Williams won his second MVP Award in 49. He led the league in on-base and slugging percentage, home runs, doubles and runs batted in.

In 1950 he was having another great season before breaking his elbow at the All-Star Game after crashing into the outfield wall. Williams only played 89 games that year yet managed to hit 28 home runs and drive home 97 runs. He would have been his typical MVP deserving self had he not broken his elbow.

1958

A Red Sox not named Ted Williams managed to win the MVP before Williams’ playing days were over. Jackie Jensen won the Award in 1958, his fifth season with the Red Sox. Jensen hit 35 home runs and led the league with 122 RBI.

As a follow-up, Jensen again led the league in RBI in 1959 while hitting 28 home runs. He surpassed 100 runs batted in for the fifth time in six seasons with the team, finishing at 97 in the other season. Jensen also had his second 20-20 season with the Red Sox in 1959, stealing 20 bags while being caught just five times.

1967

We all know of Carl Yastrzemski’s 1967 season. He won the Triple Crown and led the Red Sox to the American League pennant that season. It was a career year for Yaz, but how did he finish the following season?

Well, his statistics dropped off quite a lot, but so did a lot of the league in the offensively-challenged 1968 season. In fact, Yaz won the batting title that season with a .301 average. He also led the league in on-base percentage and OPS. The biggest drop-off was his power, falling from 44 home runs in 1967 to 23 in 1968. With it, his RBI and slugging percentage tumbled.

1975

In 1975, Fred Lynn became the first rookie to win the MVP Award. To this day, he is joined only by Ichiro Suzuki, who at 27 was hardly a real rookie. Lynn led the league in doubles, on-base percentage and OPS that rookie season.

In 1976, although Lynn played well, his offense took a noticeable dip. Lynn batted an excellent .314, but with 10 home runs his total was less than half of his rookie season. Lynn also hit 15 less doubles and walked less. So, it was a solid season, but a far cry from his MVP campaign.

Lynn actually was the best player in the league in 1979, arguably his best season. Don Baylor won MVP after leading the league in RBI and making the playoffs. However, the Red Sox actually won three more games than the Angels, yet missed the playoffs. Lynn led the league in batting, on-base percentage and slugging that season while hitting 39 home runs. Somehow, he finished fourth in the voting.

1978

In the midst of a monster three-year stretch, Jim Rice put up his best season in 1978. He won the MVP Award that season and broke Jimmie Foxx’ 40-year-old franchise record for total bases in a season. Rice led the league in hits, home runs, RBI, triples, total bases, slugging and OPS.

Hi follow-up season wasn’t much worse. Rice hit a career high .325 in 1979 and launched 39 home runs. He again led the league in total bases and eclipsed 200 hits for the third season in a row.

Over the three year stretch he batted .320 with a .972 OPS. His average season had 207 base hits, 41 home runs, 12 triples and 128 RBI.

1986

Roger Clemens won the MVP in addition to the Cy Young Award in 1986. He is still the only pitcher in Red Sox history to do so, thanks to Pedro Martinez being robbed of the MVP in 1999. Clemens had a breakout season, leading the league in wins, ERA and WHIP. He struck out a record 20 batters in April of that season, a feat he would match ten years later.

Clemens did not disappoint in 1987. He again led the league in wins and won the Cy Young Award. He was 20-9 that year with a 2.97 ERA and 256 strike outs. His strike outs placed him second to Mark Langston and he finished third in ERA.

1995

Mo Vaughn wasn’t really the best player in the American League in 1995, but he had an excellent season and it led to the MVP Award. The Red Sox won the division title in large part to Mo’s bat. Mo batted .300 that year with 39 home runs and a league leading 126 runs batted in.

Mo was even better in his quest to win back-to-back MVP’s in 1996. Unfortunately, the team didn’t quite measure up. Vaughn had a career high 207 base hits, 44 home runs and 143 runs batted in that season. His batting line was an exquisite .326/.420/.583/1.003. This led to a fifth-place finish in the MVP voting despite the Red Sox third-place finish in the American League East.

2008

Following up his Rookie of the Year Award in 2007, Dustin Pedroia added every other award to his cabinet in 2008, taking home the MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger. He led the league with 213 base hits and 54 doubles while playing great defense. His .326 average was tops on the team and he was a near perfect 20-21 on stolen bases.

In 2009 he fell off some, but he pretty much had to. Pedroia still batted .296 with 48 doubles. He stole 20 bases for the second straight season and played his usual stellar defense. His play led to a second straight all-star berth.

2018

Mookie Betts had a phenomenal 2018 season, leading the league in hitting (.346) and slugging (.640). He had a 30-30 season and bashed 48 doubles to boot. On top of it all, he won a Gold Glove for his continued excellence in right field.

So how will Mookie Betts follow up his MVP season? As you can see, most former Red Sox MVP’s only suffered small drop-offs the following season. All of them were still very good the following year. Betts was so good last year he almost has to drop off a little, but not much of one should be expected, and nothing in this history changes that viewpoint.

Featured picture from Masslive.com

The Greatest Red Sox Legends by Uniform Number: 1-5

Number 1 – Bobby Doerr

The greatest second baseman in franchise history, Bobby Doerr made the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1986 and has his number one retired by the Red Sox. Doerr played on some great teams in the forties with pals Ted Williams, Johnny Pesky and Dom DiMaggio. He had a smooth glove at second base and was one of the finest offensive players at the keystone position the game had seen.

Doerr batted .318 in 1939, his third season in the big leagues. By the next season, he had surpassed 20 home runs and 100 runs batted in for the first time. He would make four straight All-Star Games from 1941-44 before joining the fight overseas in World War II and missing the 1945 season. After returning, Doerr made three straight All-Star Games and five times in six seasons to close out his career. He drove in more than 100 runs in four of the five seasons following World War II, finishing with 95 the season he fell short.

Unfortunately, Doerr was forced into early retirement due to a bad back. He had actually become more consistent at the plate later in his career, posting an OPS between .886 and .891 each year between 1948 and 1950. He still finished with a very solid .826 OPS in his final season. From his first full season in 1938 through his last in 1951, Bobby Doerr averaged a season of .289 with 17 home runs and 95 RBI.

Honorable Mentions: George Kell, Bernie Carbo, Billy Conigliaro, Joe Foy

BOBBY DOERR from the Boston Red Sox. (Photo by Sporting News via Getty Images)

Number 2 – Jacoby Ellsbury

Ellsbury’s career has spiraled, but that’s a good thing since he’s eating up the Yankees payroll to do nothing. With the Red Sox, he was a good player when healthy and helped the Red Sox win two World Series. Ellsbury came up that year and was so successful down the stretch that he was put on the postseason roster. He then batted .438 in the World Series. Ellsbury was solid again in the 2013 postseason, winning a second World Series with the Red Sox.

Ellsbury spent parts of seven seasons with the Red Sox, but only had four relatively full seasons. He led the league in stolen bases in three of his four healthy seasons. He batted .300 twice and stole 50 bases three times. In 2011, Ellsbury had a career season, finishing second in the MVP vote, winning a Gold Glove and the Silver Slugger. While the rest of the team collapsed down the stretch, Ellsbury was white hot and would have won the MVP if the team hadn’t fallen apart and missed the playoffs.

Honorable Mentions: Rick Ferrell, Xander Bogaerts, Jerry Remy, Mike Andrews

Number 3 – Jimmie Foxx

Foxx is one of the most powerful right-handed bats of all-time. The greatest first baseman in Red Sox history, Foxx won one of his three MVP Awards with the Red Sox and finished second in another season. He homered 35 or more times in each of his first five seasons with the team, averaging 40 home runs and 134 runs batted in per season. There is a reason Foxx was referred to as “The Beast.”

In 1938, his third season in Boston, Foxx won the MVP Award. That season he hit 50 home runs and drove in a league high 175 runs. His slash line that season was .349/.462/.704/1.166, leading the league in each category. The next season he batted .360 and led the league in on-base percentage, slugging percentage and home runs. Cumulatively, Foxx batted .320 with the Red Sox and is second in franchise history in on-base percentage and slugging percentage behind only Ted Williams.

Honorable Mentions: Pete Runnels, Jody Reed, Jeff Frye, Walt Dropo

Number 4 – Joe Cronin

Another retired number, as the Sox retired the number four in honor of Cronin. Cronin spent seven seasons as a full-time player before he started focusing more on managing the club and being limited to mostly pinch-hitting. Despite this role, Cronin batted over .300 with an OPS over .900 each of his first two seasons doing so.

Cronin made five all-star teams with the Red Sox and had two top ten MVP finishes. From 1937-41 he batted over .300 four times, posting a .307/.404/.504/.909 line during that time period. He averaged 19 home runs and 103 runs batted in during that time. He was the Red Sox manager from 1935-47. After, Cronin went on to become general manager, president and treasurer of the team before moving on to the role of American League president.

As a close second, Jackie Jensen deserves a few words. Jensen hit 20+ home runs in each of his first six seasons with the Red Sox, averaging a season of .285 with 26 home runs and 111 RBI. He was the 1958 MVP and won a Gold Glove the following season.

Honorable Mentions: Jackie Jensen, Butch Hobson, Tommy Harper, Carney Lansford

Number 5 – Nomar Garciaparra

During his time in Boston, Nomar was one of the most popular players the franchise had ever seen. Around Fenway Park, around the city, you could hear people yell “Nomaaahhh!” Arguably the greatest shortstop in franchise history, the uniform number five is synonymous with Nomar for an entire generation of fans.

Nomar came up with much fanfare and won the Rookie of the Year in 1997. He hit 30 home runs and led the league in hits that season. In year two, Nomar finished runner-up for the MVP Award. The following two seasons he was batting champion, hitting .357 and .372. Nomar was getting better and better, before an Al Reyes pitch hit him on the wrist, requiring surgery the following season. Nomar was still an excellent player when he came back, but wasn’t quite the same. His averages fell to .310 and .301 his next two full seasons. However, he did hit 52 home runs and drove in 225 runs over those two seasons. He also led the league with an astounding 56 doubles in 2002.

Things didn’t end on the best terms in Boston for Nomar, but he should be remembered for what he did with the team and for how much the fans loved him. He batted .323 with a .923 OPS during his time in Boston. Nomar hit 50 doubles twice and eclipsed 40 two other seasons. In his six full seasons with the Sox, Nomar hit over 20 home runs in all six. He is truly a Red Sox legend.

Honorable Mentions: George Scott, Vern Stephens, Jim Tabor

Featured picture from NBC News

The Greatest Right Fielders in Red Sox History

Dwight Evans

Dwight Evans is both the greatest offensive and greatest defensive right fielder in Red Sox history. Personally, I am a strong advocate of “Dewey” getting his number retired. Always underrated nationally, Dewey received frighteningly little support for the Hall of Fame and has not been brought up by any veteran’s committee for election. I believe if he had hit in the 70’s like he did during the 80’s he would probably be a Hall of Famer.

Evans batted .272 with 379 home runs, 1346 RBI and 2373 base hits as a Red Sox. He walked a lot, leading the league in walks three times. This helped him to a .369 on base percentage and .842 OPS. In Boston Red Sox history he ranks 5th in home runs, 4th in base hits, 4th in doubles, 5th in RBI, 3rd in runs scored and 3rd in walks. As I stated earlier, Dewey developed as a hitter over time and was a dangerous one at the plate in the 80’s. During that decade he hit 30 home runs three times and drove in over 100 runs four times. His average season was .280 with 26 home runs, 90 RBI and a .385/.497/.882. A great fielder who can put up numbers like that? How did he fall off the ballot after three years?

When it comes to fielding, Dwight Evans not only had a strong glove but a strongarm. He accumulated 155 assists from right field. He led the league in this category three times and in putouts four times. Evans had a career .987 fielding percentage in right field. All of this led to Dewey winning a total of eight Gold Gloves.

Evans twice finished in the top five for MVP votes. In 1981, a season shortened by a strike, Evans led the league in home runs, walks, OPS and WAR. He finished third in the MVP vote that year, but probably deserved better. Had he won the MVP like some statistics suggest he should have, maybe he would have garnered more respect from Hall of Fame voters. He was also batting .341 with a 1.031 OPS at the time of the strike on June 11th, so it interrupted a fantastic start to the season for him.

Jackie Jensen

I am giving Jackie Jensen the nod at number two given his dominance over a six-year stretch. Jensen spent seven years with the Sox after returning for one season following a short retirement. He batted .282 with the Red Sox, hitting 170 home runs. Jensen had an excellent .374/.478/.852 slash line.

During his first six seasons, 1954-59, Jensen batted .285 and averaged 26 home runs and 111 runs batted in per season. He had two 20-20 seasons and led the league in RBI three times in five seasons. The only season he didn’t reach 100 RBI was 1956, when he drove in 97 and led the league with 11 triples. He won the MVP in 1958 when he bashed 35 homers and drove in 122 runs. The next season he hit 28 home runs and won the Gold Glove Award.

Following the 1959 season Jackie Jensen abruptly retired. A large reason for his retirement during his prime and at the age of 32 was due to a fear of flying. The Major Leagues were expanding and new teams were popping up on the other side of the country. Flying was becoming more constant and Jensen could hardly bear it. The other reason was being away from his family so many months of the year, but I’m sure if he didn’t have to fly he would not have retired. Jensen came back in 1961 after a year off. However, following a year layoff he was only okay. Jensen batted .263 with 13 home runs and decided to retire for good.

Harry Hooper

Hooper played with the Red Sox for 12 seasons during the dead-ball era. He was a part of the “golden outfield” with Tris Speaker and Duffy Lewis. The three of them formed one of the greatest outfields in the early days. Hooper was considered a great defender, leading the league in putouts seven times and assists three times. He had 30 outfield assists in 1910.

At the plate, Hooper batted .272 with 1707 base hits. Having played in the dead-ball era, Hooper did not hit many home runs. However, Hooper did hit 130 triples as a Red Sox. Hooper also stole 300 bases during his 12 seasons with the team. He also came up with some clutch hits, batting .293 in World Series play. In 1915 he batted .350 and hit two homers during the series against the Phillies. Hooper won four World Series with the Red Sox.

Outfielder Harry Hooper of the Boston Red Sox bats before a game during the 1909 season at Huntington Avenue Grounds. (Photo by National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

Tony Conigliaro

Everyone knows Tony C’s story. It is my belief had he not been hit by that pitch in the eye, Conigliaro would have hit 500 home runs and potentially threatened 600. It is practically a guarantee he would be at least number two on this list, if not first. As it stands, he is one of the biggest what-ifs in sports history. However, do not think he is only on here for what might have been. During the time he had with the Red Sox, Conigliaro hit 162 home runs. He hit 32 home runs at the age of 20 in 1965. He would then go on to become the youngest American Leaguer to ever reach 100 career home runs.

Conigliaro had 104 home runs at the time of his beaning. This came over the course of two full seasons and two partial seasons. He had averaged 35 home runs per 162 games played. In 1970, his second season back from the horrific beaning, Conigliaro hit a career high 36 home runs. Still just 25 years old, he seemed to have recuperated and be entering his prime. Unfortunately his eyesight took a turn for the worse in the offseason and he was never able to have success again. Despite the what-ifs, Tony C was still one of the bigger power hitters Fenway Park has seen.

Trot Nixon

The ultimate “dirt dog” rounds out the top five. Trot was seemingly a prospect forever, having been drafted seventh overall in 1993. Trot didn’t become a full-time Major Leaguer until 1999. He proceeded to have a few solid seasons and a couple excellent ones. Nixon was a .278 hitter in Boston with 133 home runs and 912 base hits. He had some very nice rate stats, hitting to a .366/.478/.845 slash line.

From 2001-2003, Nixon hit 79 home runs. 2003 was his best season, batting .306 with 28 home runs and a .975 OPS. He was also very good in 2004, when he was on the field. Nixon missed a lot of time that year but was able to contribute to the Red Sox breaking the curse. Thanks in part to his “all out” play, Nixon missed a lot of time over those next couple seasons with injuries.