Ned Garver Was The MVP of The 1951 St. Louis Browns

Former big league pitcher Ned Garver passed away on February 26th at the age of 91. Garver pitched in MLB from 1948-1961 with the St. Louis Browns, Detroit Tigers, Kansas City Athletics and the expansion Los Angeles Angels.

Garver's 129-157 record was misleading as he was a good pitcher on bad teams. Despite a 13-18 record during the 1950 season, he led the AL in complete games with 22. But his career year came in 1951.

When one discusses the 1951 St. Louis Browns one invariably thinks of Eddie Gaedel, the dwarf who made one plate appearance for the team that August. Gaedel walked on four pitches and his uniform 1/8 walked into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The Gaedel stunt was, of course, the brainchild of Bill Veeck who had bought the Browns earlier that year. Veeck needed all the publicity stunts he could use. The Browns were a terrible team and getting worse. At the end of the 1953 season, Veeck sold the team and it moved east and became the Baltimore Orioles.

Despite losing 102 games in 1951 and finishing 46 games back of the New York Yankees, the Browns could have been worse if not for pitcher Ned Garver. Somehow Garver went 20-12 with a 3.74 ERA. Garver is the only MLB pitcher in the last century who has won 20 games for a team that lost 100 or more games. His performance earned him a runner up status in the AL MVP balloting as he was narrowly beaten out by Yogi Berra. Garver might not have won the AL MVP, but he was certainly the MVP of the 1951 St. Louis Browns.

With the Browns losing money, Veeck traded Garver late in the 1952 season to the Tigers. Garver would pitch for another decade but was never the same pitcher again. The video above was filmed in 2011 and shows Garver reminiscing about the 1951 season. R.I.P.