Evening star., 1953-11-27
Al Sets Record
With Votes;
Vernon Third
Berro Edges Mickey;
PorterfieId Seventh,
Yost Tied for 23d
By the Assoeiated Press

baSeman, was named the most
valuable player of the American
League today by an unprece-
dented unanimous vote.
All "a members of the COM
mittee of the Baseball Writers
Association, three from each
American. League city, named
Rosen first on their ballots. Thus
the 28-year-old infielder won the
award in a landslide with a max
imum 336 points.
The highest previous total
was run up by Lou Boudreau
with 324 points in 1948. the year
he led Cleveland to the pennant
and world championship. Best
score in National League history
was Stan Musial'S 319 in 1916.
To touch off this demonstra-
ton of solid. support. Rosen had
led the league in home runs with
43, runs batted in with 145 and
just missed nipping Washing
tons Mickey Vernon for the
batting championship. Vernon
finished with an unofficial 1897
to Rosen's 1886.
Fourth Full Season.
This was Rosen's fourth full
season in the majors although
he also appeared briefly in 1947,
1948 and 1949. 1t was by far his
most impressive performance.
When AL first came to the
majors, his fielding left much to
be desired, but he worked hard
to improve himself to move out
of the "chest fielder" category.
Rosen's Observation-Disclosures
victory was no surprise as he had
been the outstanding candidate,
just as Roy Campanella had
been expected to win in the Ma
tional League. Campanella, of
course. had much sitter COM
petition from Eddie Mathews,
Milwaukee hird-baseman.
Bobby Shantz, the Phila-
delphia Athletics little left
handler who won the American
League award in 1852, didn't get
vote because he was sidelined
most of the year due to arm
trouble.
Yogi Berra, New York Yankees
catcher and 1851 winner, finished
second to Rosen with 167 points.
Vernon was third with 165. Ac-
tually, Vernon polled 10 seconds
to only five for Berra, but the
votes for third, fourth and so
on gave Berra more points.
Berra hit .297, drove in 108 runs
and hit 27 homers. Vernon
knocked in 116 runs, second to
RoSen.
Under the scoring system, a
first-place vote counts IA points,
with drop to nine for second
and so on down on a 8-7-6-5-4-
3-2-1 basis.
Minnie MinosO Fourth.
Orestes (Minnie) Minoso, Chi
cago left fielder-third baseman,
.313 hitter, was the fourth
place choice with 100 points.
Minnie was an important factor
in the third-place finish of the
White Sox.
Virgil Trucks, another Chicago
candidate, drew 81 for fifth place
for his sensational pitching
after he was traded to the White
Sox by st. Louis. He finished
with a 2O-10 record.
Phil Rizzuto, Yankee short
stop, was sixth despite a .271
batting average. Rizzuto had 76
points. Then came Bob Porter
field, Washington'S z2-game win
ming right-hander, with 81
points
Ray Boone, who found him
self after he was traded by
Cleveland to Detroit, drew IS
points for eighth place, just
ahead of Jim Piersall. acrobatie
Boston outfielder, with Sc anc
Chicago's Billy Pierce with s.
points.
A total of % players received
votes. with nine members of the
Yankees fifth straight pennant
winning team getting the nod
In addition to Berra and Rizzu-
to, who finished in the top 10
Allie Reynolds. Hank Bauer, &c
Lopat, Whitley Ford, Mickey
Mantle, Gene Woodling and Billy
Martin were mentioned. Mantle
incidentally, received only foul
points, one seventh-place vote.
YOst Tied for 23rd.
Six Boston players were
named, four from Chicago anc
three from Washington as Eddie
Yost tied Woodling for 23rc
place. Cleveland, Philadelphia
and Detroit each had two mer
on the list. Only st. Louis Co
should it be Baltimore? wa,
missing. On a team point basis
Cleveland topped New York, 35;
to 352.
4 The writer's went heavily fol