We made it to the 1960s now on our second MLB Monday miniseries, and this is a doozy of a year, of course. The Fall Classic is still etched in the minds of Baby Boomers everywhere, and even Generation X is well aware of it—despite not being born yet. You’ll see why below … either way, it’s taken us a little bit more than a year on this miniseries to get here, and we’re almost to the halfway point. What a project! Enjoy it today …

1960 World Series MVP: Bobby Richardson, 2B, New York (original); Harvey Haddix, P, Pittsburgh (revised)

The New York Yankees lost the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates in a crazy matchup that went down to the final frame of regulation in Game 7: it’s pretty memorable, if you’re unfamiliar with it. The Yankees outscored the Pirates, 55-27, in the seven games—and lost. Game 7 itself was a back-and-forth affair, with 10 runs scored by both teams combined in the final two innings of Pittsburgh’s 10-9 victory. What a series!

So, clearly, no Pirates pitchers were up for the MVP Award? The media voted on New York second baseman Bobby Richardson (1.054 OPS, 12 RBI), and he remains the only winner of this official award from the losing team—even though we have done that already ourselves three times with unofficial awards (1912, 1945, 1947). But his own teammate, centerfielder Mickey Mantle (1.345 OPS, 11 RBI), may have been better.

In fact, when we consider that Richardson made two errors in the World Series, we definitely would pick Mantle over his infield teammate. The Mick had more HRs (3 to 1), more walks (8 to 1), the higher batting average (.400 to .367), etc. But what about the Pirates hitters? The best one was the walk-off hero, 2B Bill Mazeroski (2 HRs, 5 RBI, .960 OPS). Those numbers pale in comparison to Mantle’s stats, though.

Yankees starting pitcher Whitey Ford also went 2-0 with both victories being complete-game shutouts (Game 3, Game 6). The latter was huge, on the road, as New York was down 3-2 in the Series at the time. That’s an equally impressive performance to Mantle’s efforts, we think. This is really hard to do, as two Pirates pitchers also went 2-0: Vern Law (18 1/3 IP, 3.44 ERA) and Harvey Haddix (7 1/3 IP, 2.45 ERA).

Haddix won Game 5 on the road as a starter, which gave Pittsburgh the 3-2 edge going back to the Pirates home field, and then he won Game 7 in relief. Technically, he blew the save in the top of the ninth inning, but he inherited a ridiculous situation (first and second, no one out, two-run lead) and only gave up one hit. If we had to pick a Pittsburgh player for this award, it would be Haddix, in truth. But is his IP just too low?

The Yankees should have won this Series, so we can’t give the award to any New York player who “failed” in Game 7. Ford is safe, since he pitched the game of the year to even get the Yankees to Game 7, and Mantle had three hits and two RBI in Game 7 for this team—albeit no homers. That would be nitpicking if we held that against him. In the end … drumroll … we go with Haddix for his key innings in key games at key times.

1960 AL MOTY: Casey Stengel, New York

With the Yankees winning the pennant by 8 games and New York Manager Casey Stengel posting the best PPP mark—plus-8—in the league, it’s easy to hand him the hardware here … again. To think the Yankees fired the Ol’ Perfessor after the Series loss is somewhat crazy, but someone had to take the fall, right? This is his fourth trophy from us, so never it let be said that a robot could have managed these Yankees as well.

1960 NL MOTY: Danny Murtaugh, Pittsburg

With the Pirates outpacing the Milwaukee Braves by 7 games for the NL flag, this comes down to the two managers: Pittsburgh Manager Danny Murtaugh (plus-3 PPP) and Milwaukee Manager Chuck Dressen (plus-4 PPP). We also could consider St. Louis Cardinals Manager Solly Hemus (plus-6 PPP), as he was the best in the senior circuit. But his team finished 9 games out. We go with Murtaugh for doing just enough.