Yankees History

You have to love Joe DiMaggio.  How often do you have great teams that are ten years apart and the best player on those two teams is the same guy.  1947 was nowhere close to the numbers he put up in 1937 for DiMaggio but it was still good enough for his third and final Most Valuable Player award.

DiMaggio’s OPS says it all in 1947.  While a lot of his numbers looked like they were down (like only hitting 20 homeruns), he finished the season with a .913 OPS and 154 OPS+. Both of those were second in the league to Ted Williams that year.  Regardless, DiMaggio was the best hitter on the best team in baseball and that’s worth something, namely an MVP.  Williams had better numbers, but he played for a Red Sox team that came in a distant third place in the American League.  Not that the MVP race wasn’t close because DiMaggio edged Williams by a single point.

As in past seasons, DiMaggio did it all.  He walked twice as many times as he struck out (64/32) and his 20 homeruns were good for sixth in the league.  He drove in 97 runs (third in AL) and he scored 97 times (fifth in the AL).  And it was his sixth season in which he had double figures in doubles, triples and homeruns. 

Here’s a look at DiMaggio’s numbers in 1947:

Games 141
AB 534
Runs 97
Hits 168
Doubles 31
Triples 10
Homeruns 20
RBIs 97
Walks 64
Strikeouts 32
Stolen Bases 3
Caught Stealing 0
BA .315
OBA .391
SLG% .522
OPS .913
RC 112
RCAA 51
RCAP 49
RC/G 7.96
ISO .208