The Yankees made another trip to the World Series, and won another championship. Their best player, Mickey Mantle, had another big season. But Jackie Jensen, a power-hitting outfielder with the Boston Red Sox, won the MVP Award. Did Jensen deserve to win?

         I think that Mantle got robbed. Mantle had just won back-to-back MVP Awards, so perhaps the writers felt like passing the honour around. Mickey was once again the best player in the league; his team, the Yankees, won yet another World Series, their sixth of the decade (and last with Casey Stengel as manager). I can't imagine making an MVP argument for any other player in the league except Mantle.
        Jackie Jensen was also a very good player. This was his best year, one of three seasons that Jensen led the American League in RBI. Unlike many of the slow-footed sluggers from the 1950's, Jensen was also an outstanding athlete. He hit 199 career homers and also stole 143 bases, and was regarded as an exceptional defensive outfielder. He had another big season in 1959, but then his career ended abruptly. Baseball was expanding to the West Coast, and Jensen had a fear of flying. He tried to make a comeback in 1961, but wasn't effective, and his career was over.
        Roy Sievers had one of his best years with the bat. Sievers was yet another slow-footed slugger from the 50's, similar to Hank Sauer and Vic Wertz and Gus Zernial, and numerous other sluggers from the era who had interchangeable careers. Sievers played for 17 years; he hit 318 career home runs, and was an All-Star four times. He spent the bulk of his career playing with the lowly Browns and the lowly Senators, and never reached the post-season.
        At age 40, Ted Williams was still a devastating hitter, though he barely had enough at bats to qualify to win the batting title. Next year, he hit .254, his only sub-.300 average in his career. If you take out his 1959 season (which I think is fair, given that he was 41 years old and probably hung on too long), his lowest batting average in any year was .316; his lowest on-base percentage was .436; his lowest slugging percentage was .556. That's how great a hitter Williams was, that his lowest numbers would still rank him among the best hitters ever.
         Pete Runnels turned 30, and couldn't have been given a better birthday present. Runnels had toiled for years with the awful Washington Senators, and his career was stuck in neutral. A talented hitter, he was dealt to Boston, and took full advantage of his new opportunity. Runnels had a string of outstanding seasons with the Red Sox, and won two batting titles. He was a good player, a career .291 hitter. But he was also made for Fenway Park. After his second batting title in 1962, Runnels was dealt to the expansion Astros; his career ended a year later.
        Runnels' teammate in the Boston infield was Frank Malzone, who had one of his better seasons. Malzone played for twelve years, most of them with Boston, and was an All-Star six times. He wasn't a very good hitter, but he was very durable, and was an outstanding defensive player. Malzone won three Gold Gloves at third base before Brooks Robinson took over the award, and always had a fine defensive reputation.