The Cy Young Award winner was Chicago ace Early Wynn, who was 39 years
old. Wynn also finished third in the MVP vote, behind Nellie Fox and Luis
Aparicio, the vacuum cleaners who patrolled second base and shortstop for
the White Sox. Wynn may not have been the best pitcher in the league, but
there was no one who is clearly better. Camilo Pascual was probably the league's
best pitcher; he had an ERA a half run lower than Wynn, and had a good record
for the worst team in the baseball.
But I'll stick with Wynn as the winner. The
difference between him and Pascual was fairly small, plus Wynn was the
acknowledged warhorse of a team that probably overachieved. This was Wynn's
last big season; he hung on for four more years, and pitched very well at
times; he finished the 1962 season with 299 wins, then came back in 1963
to get number 300 before retiring.
After Wynn and Pascual, the next best pitcher
was Bob Shaw, who also pitched for the White Sox. Shaw had a very unpredictable
career; he pitched poorly after this season, then pitched well for Milwaukee,
then struggled again, then pitched well for San Francisco, then was finally
forced out of the league. Another old guy who had a great year was knuckleballer
Hoyt Wilhelm; Wilhelm was 36 years old, but still had more than a decade
ahead of him. He retired in 1972, at age 49.
The Yankees returned to the World Series in
1960. In the late 1950's they developed a crooked arrangement with the Kansas City Athletics, and always seemed to end up with the Athletics' best
players. Both Ryne Duren and Art Ditmar were former Kansas City pitchers;
Bud Daley, who pitched very well for KC this year, would be in New York
within a couple of years.
