Philadelphia Phillies: Taking Another Look at the MVP of 1950, Jim Konstanty

People like to talk about six degrees of separation. People like to know how close they are to famous people, and since I am indeed a person, I can understand why.

So, imagine my surprise when I discovered because of a small-town newspaper sidebar the MVP of the “Whiz Kids,” Jim Konstanty, grew up in the same town that my mom’s side of the family is from.

This prompted me to the little bit more research into who Konstanty was.

This town—Arcade, New York—was not technically where Konstanty was born, but he that is where he played his high school baseball.

Because of his success as a two sport athlete, he continued his career at Syracuse University as both a baseball and basketball player while receiving his bachelor of science in physical education.

This is where his story gets really interesting.

He graduated college in 1939, but he spent a few years as a physical education teacher before he even got into minor league baseball in 1941. After a few more years in minor league baseball, he finally made it up to the Cincinnati Reds in 1944, but he then went to World War II the following year.

When he returned from the war, he had a few unremarkable years until 1950 rolled around. He joined what has been dubbed as the “Whiz Kids” featuring the likes of Robin Roberts, Richie Ashburn, and Del Ennis.

This amazing group would lead the Phillies to only their second World Series appearance to that point, and Konstanty was a large part of that success.

He came out of the bullpen and pitched in 74 games while pitching 152 innings. He managed to win 16 games while saving 22 (even though that wasn’t a statistic at this point in history, it can be determined by looking through the box scores) and posting an ERA of 2.66.

He made his one and only All-Star game in that season, but it was even more impressive when he was named the MVP of the National League, the Sporting News Pitcher of the Year, and the Associated Press Athlete of the Year.

Surprisingly, he also started game one of the World Series that year but was outdueled 1-0 after going eight innings and only giving up one run on four hits. He appeared in that World Series two other times out of the bullpen, but the Phillies were swept by the New York Yankees.

Although he was in Major League Baseball for six more seasons, he never regained the success that he had that one season. He retired after the 1956 season with a career record of 66-48 and a 3.46 career ERA.

Of course, who doesn’t love the story of a small town guy becoming a hero for their favorite team?

This was a miracle season for the Phillies and for their MVP who led them to play in their second World Series ever. They brought new life to Phillies nation even though it would be 30 more years until a World Series victory appeared.

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