[jksander]

NOVEMBER 10, 1955 . . . Stay tuned in the coming months for details, but Jackie Robinson is working with me and owner John Hollingsworth as we launch an official Cubs charity called the Robinson Fund, to help Jackie to meet his philanthropic goals within the community. Details are still in the planning stages, but this has been Robinson’s big focus thoughtout the fall, and I think it’s going to lead to good things for all involved.

In other news, the Gold Glove winners have been announced! Del Crandall won at Catcher, Al Rosen won at 1B, Jackie Robinson took 3B honors, and our fielders cannot be beat -- Willie Mays took the award at center, and Al Kaline won it running away at right field. None of it is particularly shocking -- we dominated the league last year, and it was as much to do with our solid team defense as it was for our slugging. Bob Friend (Pittsburgh) took the pitching Gold Glove, in a close race against Saul Rogovin. Their second-baseman, Sandy O’Connell got the Gold Glove at that position as well, and Rocky Colavito dominated the vote for left field Gold Glove. The New York Giants’ shortstop Willy Miranda won the award as the only non-Cub or Pirate to get enough votes.

NOVEMBER 11, 1955 . . . Harry Dorish won Reliever of the Year in the NL running away, getting 15 of the 16 first-place votes, with Milwaukee’s Ray Crone getting the other. Even at 34, his performances were spectacular all season, and it was no shock to anyone that he won the honor. He finished the season with four saves in 40 appearances, 93 K’s in 80.2 innings and an 8-0 record overall to go with a 1.00 ERA. Whether he is able to continue to perform at that level, he has proven to be incredibly valuable to this ballclub and deserves all the attention he’s getting. He’s on contract to make $57,000 this year in the final year of his deal, and we’re working on an extension to keep him here another season beyond that at $44,000.

NOVEMBER 12, 1955 . . . The Platinum Stick awards have been announced, and we as a club picked up four! Jackie Robinson (3B), Ernie Banks (SS), Willie Mays (CF) and Al Kaline (RF) all took home some shiny hardware at the ceremony. Cincy’s Ted Kluszewski won at 1B (no shock!) while Hank Aaron (2B, Milwaukee), Dick Hall (P, Pittsburgh), Roy Campanella (C, Brooklyn) and Rocky Colavito (LF, Pittsburgh) took the award at the other positions.

NOVEMBER 13, 1955 . . . Sandy Koufax was officially named NL Rookie of the Year in a ceremony this afternoon! Koufax put up a record of 8-3 including five starts, recording a 2.16 ERA with 56 K’s against 50 walks through 79 innings. He received 12 of the 16 first place votes, finishing ahead of Johnny Kucks (Pittsburgh), Ray Crone (Milwaukee), Seth Morehead (Giants) and Pidge Browne (Giants) in the voting.

In other news, we’ve officially got paperwork back confirming that Alonso Perry will be donning a Cubs uniform starting next spring! He’s got all the bat skills you can ask for, and he’s got reasonable defensive skill at first base as well. He’s inked a deal worth $595,000 to play here for four years, earning $130,000 this year, increasing to $160,000 in the third and fourth years of the deal. He’ll start at 1B, moving Rosen back to third base and giving Robinson a shot at playing second base defensively.

NOVEMBER 14, 1955 . . . For the second year in a row, I was named NL Manager of the Year, as we improved from 110-44 to 118-36 and won our first World Championship since 1908. But the job only gets harder from here, with seven rival NL teams fighting to see who can topple us from our perch atop the league.

NOVEMBER 15, 1955 . . . Hy Cohen was the unanimous choice for the NL’s Cy Young Award, receiving all 16 first-place votes! Saul Rogovin finished second in the voting, with Bob Rush of the Phillies finishing third. Cohen started 37 times this year for us, finishing 28-4 with 288 K’s through 316.1 innings. The 24-year-old narrowly lost out on the award last year, and has set himself up as the best young pitcher in baseball. With his contract only running through the 1957 season, we’re going to have to work hard next year to convince him to stay in Chicago long-term or that magnificent arm could soon be working against us! He’s made it clear that he will not negotiate on any extension until the 1956 season is complete.

NOVEMBER 16, 1955 . . . The good news for Hy Cohen keeps coming! He won the NL’s Most Valuable Player award, getting 14 of the 16 first place votes. Jackie Robinson got the other two first place votes but finished fourth overall. Willie Mays finished second, Rogovin finished third, and Philadelphia’s Bob Rush finished fifth. Mays joked that he was glad to let the honor pass to aother Cub, though I’m sure he’ll be fighting to be back in the conversation this coming season as well. Mays hit .312/.382/.576 with 33 doubles, 11 triples and 34 homers, putting together a 10.5 WAR season, giving him 34.1 WAR through his first five seasons, also at age 24!

Hall of Fame voting begins in a couple weeks, and Winter Meetings begin on December 7th. We’re also hard at work on our draft board, with the first year player draft coming up fast on December 15! So there’s still plenty to accomplish before we get spring training games going in a couple months and start our championship defense.