Blast From The Past: Your 1951 New York Giants!

I've always loved to look at lineups in boxscores and try to figure out what role each hitter played and how they contributed or didn't contribute to the success or failure of the team.  We've see mini-biographies for several key players on the legendary 1951 New York Giants team.  I'd like to finish that series up by posting their playoff lineup(it was the same for all 3 playoff games against the Dodgers) along with their stat lines.  It's fun to compare with other Giants lineups.  No offense to the great Giants lineups of the 1960's or the championship teams of the 2010's, but I think the 1951 lineup might be the best in Giants history!  Let's see what you think.

Starting Lineup:

Eddie Stanky(R) 2B  .247/.401/.369, 17 2B, 2 3B, 14 HR, 8 SB, 88 R, 43 RBI, 654 PA.
Al Dark(R) SS          .303/.352/.454, 41 2B, 7 3B, 14 HR, 12 SB, 114 R, 69 RBI, 700 PA.
Don Mueller(L) RF  ..277/.307/.431, 10 2B, 7 3B, 16 HR, SB, 58 R, 69 RBI, 493 PA.
Monte Irvin(R) LF    .312/415/.514, 19 2B, 11 3B, 24 HR, 12 SB, 94 R, 121 RBI, 657 PA.
Whitey Lockman(L) 1B  .282/.339/.407, 27 2B, 7 3B, 12 HR, 4 SB, 85 R, 73 RBI, 673 PA.
Bobby Thomson(R) 3B  ..293/.385, 562, 27 2B, 8 3B, 32 HR, 5 SB, 89 R, 101 RBI, 603 PA.
Willie Mays(R) CF  .274/.356/.472, 22 2B, 5 3B, 20 HR, 7 SB, 59 R, 68 RBI, 523 PA.
Wes Westrum(R) C  .219/.400/.418, 12 2B, 20 HR, SB, 59 R, 70 RBI, 474 PA.

Bench:

Hank Thompson(L) 3B/OF  .235/.342/.386, 8 2B, 4 3B, 8 HR, SB, 308 PA.
Ray Noble(R) C  .234/.265/.383, 6 2B, 5 HR, 148 PA.
Bill Rigney(R) IF  .232/.321/.435, 2 2B, 4 HR, 80 PA.

Starting Rotation:

Sal Maglie(R)  23-6, 298 IP, 2.93 ERA.
Larry Jansen(R)  23-11, 278.2 IP, 3.04 ERA.
Jim Hearn(R)  17-9, 211.1 IP, 3.62 ERA.

Swingmen:

George Spencer(R)  10-4, 132 IP, 3.75 ERA, 6 Saves(57 Games, 4 Starts).
Dave Koslo(L)  10-0, 149.2 IP, 3.31 ERA, 3 Saves(39 Games, 16 Starts).
Sheldon Jones(R)  6-11, 120.1 IP, 4.26 ERA, 4 Saves(41 Games, 12 Starts).
Al Corwin(R)  5-1, 59 IP, 3.66 ERA, 1 Save(15 Games, 8 Starts).
Monty Kennedy(L)  1-2, 68 IP, 2.25 ERA(29 Games, 5 Starts).
Al Gettel(R)  1-2, 57.1 IP, 4.87 ERA(30 Games, 1 Start).
Roger Bowman(L)  2-4, 26.1 IP, 6.15 ERA(9 Games, 5 Starts).

Notes:

The Giants starts the 1951 season with Bobby Thomson in CF and Hank Thompson at 3B.  Perhaps Willie Mays biggest contribution to the team was on defense which was a huge upgrade on Thomson in CF but Thomson was a better fielder at 3B than Thompson so that upgraded the defense at two positions.  Hank Thompson then became the first bat off the bench and a lefthanded one at that.

Part of the reason for Wes Westrum's high OBP was opposition pitchers pitched around him to get to the pitcher batting 9'th.

Have the Giants ever had a better 1-2 combo at the top of the lineup than Eddie Stanky and Al Dark in 1951?

Although Bobby Thompson was a better hitter with more power than either Don Mueller or Whitey Lockman the lefthanded batters in the 3 and 5 holes gave better balance to the lineup.

Interesting that the #4 and #5(seldom used) SP's and Closer were both by committee with the same multiple pitchers both closing and starting, which I think was fairly standard practice in those days.

So, there you have it.  Your 1951 New York Giants!