1953 American League

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The 1953 season of the American League was the fifty-third season of the league.

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Standings

Bold indicates league champion, Italics indicates World Series champion

Rank	Team	G	W	L	T	WPCT	GB	RS (RS/G)	RA (RA/G)	AVG	OBP	SLG	ERA	FPCT
1	New York Yankees	151	99	52	0	.656	-.-	801 (5.30)	547 (3.62)	0.273	0.355	0.417	3.20	0.979
2	Cleveland Indians	155	92	62	1	.594	8.5	770 (4.97)	627 (4.05)	0.270	0.345	0.410	3.64	0.979
3	Chicago White Sox	156	89	65	2	.571	11.5	716 (4.59)	592 (3.79)	0.258	0.335	0.364	3.41	0.980
4	Boston Red Sox	153	84	69	0	.549	16.0	656 (4.29)	632 (4.13)	0.264	0.328	0.384	3.58	0.976
5	Washington Senators	152	76	76	0	.500	23.5	687 (4.52)	614 (4.04)	0.263	0.339	0.368	3.66	0.979
6	Detroit Tigers	158	60	94	4	.380	40.5	695 (4.40)	923 (5.84)	0.266	0.328	0.387	5.25	0.979
7	Philadelphia Athletics	157	59	95	3	.376	41.5	632 (4.03)	799 (5.09)	0.256	0.318	0.372	4.67	0.978
8	St. Louis Browns	154	54	100	0	.351	46.5	555 (3.60)	778 (5.05)	0.249	0.315	0.363	4.48	0.974

League leaders

Bold indicates league record, Italics indicate all-time record

Batting

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Games Played	Dave Philley	Philadelphia Athletics	157
At Bats	Harvey Kuenn	Detroit Tigers	679
Runs Scored	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	115
Hits	Harvey Kuenn	Detroit Tigers	209
Doubles	Mickey Vernon	Washington Senators	43
Triples	Jim Rivera	Chicago White Sox	16
Home Runs	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	43
Total Bases	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	367
Runs Batted In	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	145
Stolen Bases	Minnie Minoso	Chicago White Sox	25
Caught Stealing	Minnie Minoso	Chicago White Sox	16
Walks	Eddie Yost	Washington Senators	123
Hit by Pitch	Minnie Minoso	Chicago White Sox	17
Strikeouts	Larry Doby	Cleveland Indians	121
Sacrifice Hits	Jim Piersall	Boston Red Sox	19
Grounded into Double Plays	Minnie Minoso	Chicago White Sox	23
Batting Average	Mickey Vernon	Washington Senators	0.337
On-Base Percentage	Gene Woodling	New York Yankees	0.429 *
Slugging Percentage	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	0.613
On-Base plus Slugging	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	1.035
On-Base plus Slugging Plus	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	180

Pitching

Statistic	Leader	Team	Number
Wins	Bob Porterfield	Washington Senators	22
Losses	Harry Byrd	Philadelphia Athletics	20
Win-Loss Percentage	Ed Lopat	New York Yankees	0.800
Appearances	Ellis Kinder	Boston Red Sox	69
Games Started	Harry Byrd	Philadelphia Athletics	37
Complete Games	Bob Porterfield	Washington Senators	24
Shutouts	Bob Porterfield	Washington Senators	9
Games Finished	Ellis Kinder	Boston Red Sox	51
Saves	Ellis Kinder	Boston Red Sox	27
Innings Pitched	Bob Lemon	Cleveland Indians	286.2
Batters Faced	Bob Lemon	Cleveland Indians	1216
Hits Allowed	Bob Lemon	Cleveland Indians	283
Home Runs Allowed	Ted Gray	Detroit Tigers	25
Base-on-Balls Allowed	Mel Parnell	Boston Red Sox	116
Hit Batsmen	Harry Byrd	Philadelphia Athletics	14
Strikeouts	Billy Pierce	Chicago White Sox	186
Wild Pitches	Alex Kellner	Philadelphia Athletics	10
Balks	21 players tied		1
Runs Allowed	Harry Byrd	Philadelphia Athletics	155
Earned Runs Allowed	Harry Byrd	Philadelphia Athletics	145
Earned Run Average	Ed Lopat	New York Yankees	2.42
Walks plus Hits per Inning Pitched	Ed Lopat	New York Yankees	1.127

All-Star Game

The American League lost the twentieth midsummer classic at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, OH on Tuesday, July 14, 1953 by a score of 5 to 1. The league's manager was Casey Stengel.

Postseason

In the World Series, the American League champion New York Yankees defeated the National League's Brooklyn Dodgers, 4 games to 2.

Award winners

The winner of the league's Most Valuable Player Award, given its Most Valuable Player, was Al Rosen, a third baseman with the Cleveland Indians. In the award's voting, he had 336 out of a possible 336 points and 24 first place votes.

The winner of the league's Rookie of the Year Award, given its best rookie player, was Harvey Kuenn, a shortstop with the Detroit Tigers. In the award's voting, he had 23 out of a possible 24 points and 23 first place votes.

Hall of Fame Game

The twelfth annual Hall of Fame Game was played on July 27 at Doubleday Field in Cooperstown, NY near the National Baseball Hall of Fame. In the game, the American League's Chicago White Sox lost to the Cincinnati Reds of the National League by a score of 16 to 6.

Umpires

• Charlie Berry
• Jim Duffy
• Red Flaherty
• Grover Froese
• Bill Grieve
• Jim Honochick
• Eddie Hurley
• Bill McGowan
• Bill McKinley
• Larry Napp
• Joe Paparella
• Art Passarella
• Scotty Robb
• Eddie Rommel
• Hank Soar
• Johnny Stevens
• Bill Summers