Mickey Mantle Almost Won a World Series Award That Didn't Exist in 1952

Mickey Mantle finished the 1952 season, his second with the New York Yankees, batting .311/.394/.530. He led the league with a .924 OPS, but no one knew it at the time. The Yankees were getting set to face the Brooklyn Dodgers in the World Series.

The baseball writers decided that Mantle was the player most likely to be the World Series' star.

Candidates from the Dodgers included Jackie Robinson, Pee Wee Reese and rookie right-handed pitching sensation Joe Black. Phil Rizzuto, ace right-hander Allie Reynolds and, of course, Yogi Berra were among the Yankees mentioned besides Mantle.

In the 1951 World Series, when the Yankees took care of Bobby Thomson and the New York Giants, Phil Rizzuto was acclaimed as the outstanding star.

When the Yankees swept Philadelphia’s “Whiz Kids” in 1950, second baseman Jerry Coleman was the outstanding player, and in 1949 against the Dodgers, Allie Reynolds’ solid pitching earned him the honor.

If the writers' prediction proved to be correct, Mantle would become the fourth consecutive Yankee to win the honor of being the World Series' outstanding player.

During the season, one in which he was excoriated for striking out 111 times, Mantle led the Yankees in hits, total bases and extra base hits. Only Berra topped Mantle in home runs and runs batted in.

The writers felt that Mantle, to whom center field was a relatively new position, was becoming an outstanding defensive player.

According to an Associated Press article, “Mantle has picked up the finer points of outfielding so rapidly, he is now rated as one of the best defensive centerfielders in the league.”

The Yankees won their fourth consecutive world championship, beating Brooklyn in a hard-fought, nail-biting, seven-game Series. Mantle batted .345/.406/.655, including a pair of home runs.

In those days, Sport Magazine awarded an automobile to the World Series' outstanding star. There was no official award until 1955.

Johnny Mize, who hit three home runs and had a 1.567 OPS, was the 1952 World Series outstanding player.