Campanella set the standard for catchers in 1953 MVP season
When Roy Campanella was named the National League’s Most Valuable Player on Nov. 19, 1953, he became the first catcher to win the award in more than one season.
But even that distinction did not do justice to Campanella’s year, which might have been the greatest offensive campaign ever by a catcher.
Campanella led the Brooklyn Dodgers to the National League pennant in 1953 by hitting .312 with 41 home runs and an NL-leading 142 RBI. All but one of his home runs came as a catcher (the lone exception was as a pinch-hitter), which set a new high-water mark for MLB backstops.
His RBI total also set a record, and though the home run mark has since been broken, Campanella remains the only catcher in history with a season with at least 40 home runs, 125 RBI, 100 runs scored (he totaled 103) and an OPS of at least 1.000 (1.006).
The regular eight starters for the 1953 Dodgers featured five future Hall of Famers (Gil Hodges, Pee Wee Reese, Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider and Campanella), presenting a nightmare for opposing pitchers. The lineup totaled 955 runs scored, and since then, only two Colorado Rockies teams (1996 and 2000) have surpassed that total in the National League.
“The whole Brooklyn team deserves as much credit as I do,” Campanella told the United Press after winning the award. “I wouldn’t have got all those hits if there hadn’t been those other guys in the lineup to help soften up the pitchers.”
Batting in the No. 5 spot in the lineup for most of the season, Campanella had three hits on Opening Day and never saw his average drop below .289. He paired his offensive fireworks with his usual stellar defense, throwing out 53.7 percent of runners who tried to steal – which was the lowest figure of his NL career to that date.
Campanella learned about finishing on top of the MVP voting on his 32nd birthday – a fact that many found hard to believe because of his eight-year career in the Negro National League (and one in the Mexican League) prior to his debut with the Dodgers in 1948.
But Campanella broke into the big leagues at age 15 with the Washington Elite Giants in 1937, quickly becoming one of the best hitters in the Negro National League. Following the 1945 Negro National League season – where Campanella led the league with 51 runs scored and 47 RBI – Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey signed Campanella and sent him to Class B Nashua of the New England League. By 1948, Campanella was catching for Brooklyn, and he won his first NL MVP in 1951.
“(I feel) like a kid who could go on forever,” Campanella told the International News Service after being named MVP.
In 1954, injuries caught up with Campanella, who played in only 111 games while hitting .207. But in 1955, Campanella won his third NL MVP in five seasons while helping Brooklyn win another NL pennant and its first World Series title.
Campanella’s career came to an end when he was paralyzed in an automobile crash following the 1957 season. The eight-time NL All-Star was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1969.
He passed away on June 26, 1993.
Craig Muder is the director of communications for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
