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Pittsburgh Pirates: Ranking the Team’s Eight MVP Seasons
By Noah Wright
1960 National League MVP – Dick Groat
Dick Groat’s 1960 NL MVP Award was definitely a product of the era. Although he was not an awful batter that season, it really was not an MVP worthy season.
Groat finished out the 1960 campaign with a .325/.371/.394 line, a 110 OPS+ and 116 wRC+. In today’s game, this would be like if Francisco Cervelli was an MVP candidate in 2015, or Jack Wilson was an MVP candidate in 2007. Overall, not what you would expect from a modern MVP, but remember this was 1960.
Groat’s batting average led the league, which carried him to an MVP award, along with the Pittsburgh Pirates going to the World Series, despite being 29th in wRC+ and 36th in wOBA (.347) that season.
However, Groat was mainly known for his glove. Groat was a gifted defender at short with +16 total zone runs above average. Groat’s 5.8 fWAR in 1960 ranked 9th in the MLB and 8th in the National League. However, like I said earlier, this was really an MVP product of the era. While Eddie Mathews, Frank Robinson, Willie Mays, and Ernie Banks out did Groat in every meaningful offensive category and WAR, the batting average plus the World Series appearance really helped him secure voters’ ballots.