MVP Profile: Dazzy Vance, 1924

Pitcher, Brooklyn Robins

Age:  33

3^rd season with Robins

Bats – Right, Throws – Right

Height: 6’2”    Weight: 200 

Prior to 1924:

An Iowa native, Charles Arthur Vance grew up near the Kansas state line and attended Hardy High School, followed by local semipro pitching. Sources differ as to how he acquired the nickname “Dazzy”. Some say it was obtained during childhood and others that it was short for “the Dazzler”, in reference to his excellent fastball. Vance broke into professional baseball with the York Prohibitionists of the Class D Nebraska State League at the age of 21 in 1912. He produced an 11-12 record for York and stayed in the Nebraska State League with the Superior Brickmakers in 1913. Vance divided 1914 between Hastings of the Nebraska State League and St. Joseph of the Class A Western League and compiled a combined tally of 26-12. During this time, he strained his arm and experienced soreness every time he pitched. The Pittsburgh Pirates purchased his contract in 1915, but following a poor start in April he was traded to the New York Yankees. He lost all three of his decisions with the Yankees and found himself back in the minors with St. Joseph, where he went 17-15 with a 2.93 ERA. Advancing to Columbus of the American Association in 1916, he was sidelined by arm soreness and bounced between teams in Class A and AA in 1917 and ’18 with little success and another trial with the Yankees was another failure. Stops in Sacramento and Memphis yielded unimpressive results for the sore-armed hurler. Moving on to the New Orleans Pelicans of the Southern Association in 1920, Vance hit his arm against the edge of a table while playing poker, causing him severe pain. A doctor visit the following morning led to surgery that allowed Vance to finally pitch pain free. In 1921 he put together a 21-11 record with a 3.52 ERA. Brooklyn, interested in obtaining Vance’s teammate, catcher Hank DeBerry, agreed to purchase Vance as well. At the age of 31, he was finally in the major leagues to stay. With the Robins in 1922 he went 18-12 with a 3.70 ERA and league-leading 134 strikeouts. He followed up in 1923 with an 18-15 tally and a 3.50 ERA, and again topped the NL with 197 strikeouts.

1924 Season Summary

Appeared in 35 games

[Bracketed numbers indicate NL rank in Top 20]

Pitching

Games – 35 [17, tied with seven others]

Games Started – 34 [3]

Complete Games – 30 [1, tied with Burleigh Grimes]

Wins – 28 [1]

Losses – 6

PCT - .824 [2]

Saves – 0

Shutouts – 3 [7, tied with Pete Donohue, Tony Kaufmann & Lee Meadows]

Innings Pitched – 308.1 [2]

Hits – 238 [14, tied with Carl Mays]

Runs – 89

Earned Runs – 74

Home Runs – 11 [11, tied with Jack Bentley]

Bases on Balls – 77 [6]

Strikeouts – 262 [1]

ERA – 2.16 [1]

Hit Batters – 9 [2, tied with Pete Donohue]

Balks – 0

Wild Pitches – 4 [7, tied with seven others]

League-leading wins were +6 ahead of runner-up Burleigh Grimes

League-leading strikeouts were +127 ahead of runner-up Burleigh Grimes

League-leading ERA was -0.53 lower than runner-up Hugh McQuillan

Midseason Snapshot: 13-4, ERA - 2.19, SO - 119 in 156.1 IP

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Most strikeouts, game – 15 (in 9 IP) at Chi. Cubs 8/23

10+ strikeout games – 8

Fewest hits allowed, game (min. 7 IP) – 3 (in 9 IP) vs. Chi. Cubs 8/1, (in 9 IP) at Cincinnati 8/14, (in 9 IP) at Boston Braves 9/4

Batting

PA – 125, AB – 106, R – 7, H – 16, 2B – 0, 3B – 0, HR – 2, RBI – 11, BB – 10, SO – 29, SB – 0, CS – 0, AVG - .151, GDP – N/A, HBP – 1, SH – 8, SF – N/A

Fielding

Chances - 75

Put Outs – 16

Assists – 58

Errors – 1

DP – 3

Pct. - .987

Awards & Honors:

NL MVP: League Award

Top 5 in NL MVP Voting:

Dazzy Vance, Brook.: 74 points – 93% share

Rogers Hornsby, StLC.: 62 points – 78% share

Frankie Frisch, NYG: 40 points – 50% share

Zack Wheat, Brook.: 40 points – 50% share

Ross Youngs, NYG: 35 points – 44% share

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Robins went 92-62 to finish second in the NL, 1.5 games behind the pennant-winning New York Giants. The pitching staff led the league in complete games (96) and strikeouts (638). Driven by the pitching combination of Vance and Burleigh Grimes who combined for 50 wins, Brooklyn rode a 15-game winning streak into a first-place tie with the Giants on Sept. 4. The Robins fell behind but stayed close, only to come up short in the end. There was a scandal in that New York outfielder Jimmy O’Connell and a coach, Cozy Dolan, offered a bribe to a Phillies player to “go easy” in Philadelphia’s season-ending series against the Giants. Despite protests from the American League, Commissioner Landis let New York’s first-place finish stand although O’Connell and Dolan were banned from baseball.   

Aftermath of 1924:

Vance followed up with another solid season in 1925, compiling a 22-9 record with a 3.53 ERA and league-leading 221 strikeouts and 4 shutouts among his 26 complete games. Along the way he recorded 17 strikeouts in a ten-inning stint against the St. Louis Cardinals. He also no-hit the Phillies in September. Fun-loving and irreverent, but all business on the mound, Vance wore a tattered and stained sweatshirt under his uniform shirt that he was accused of cutting at the right sleeve to make it flap and distract hitters (which he firmly denied). With his long arms and legs, typically pitching with a straight overhand motion and utilizing a high leg-kick, he had command of his outstanding fastball and an excellent curve. In 1926 his record dropped to 9-10 with a 3.89 ERA but he still paced the NL in strikeouts with 140. In 1927 he topped the league in strikeouts (184) and complete games (25) while finishing with a 16-15 tally and 2.70 ERA. In 1928 with a sixth-place Brooklyn club, Vance posted a 22-10 mark with a league-leading 2.09 ERA and 200 strikeouts. His record fell to 14-13 in 1929 with a 3.89 ERA and 126 strikeouts, which, for once, was not a league-leading total. In 1930 he led the NL in ERA (2.61) and shutouts (4) to go along with a 17-15 record and 173 strikeouts. In 1931 at age 40, Vance fell below .500 with his 11-13 mark and had a 3.38 ERA with 150 strikeouts as he reached 200 innings for the last time with 218.2. With a third-place Brooklyn team in 1932, Vance went 12-11 with a 4.20 ERA and 103 strikeouts over 175.2 innings. Prior to the 1933 season, he was traded to the St. Louis Cardinals. He started 11 of his 28 appearances and finished with a 6-2 tally. With a much-diminished fastball, he was released after the season and signed with the Cincinnati Reds in 1934. Rarely used by the Reds, Vance was waived in June and returned to the Cardinals who typically used him out of the bullpen on their drive to the NL pennant. He made only one relief appearance in the World Series victory against Detroit, which was the only postseason action of his career. Released by the Cardinals in 1935, he returned to Brooklyn to finish his career as a reliever at age 44. For his major league career, Vance compiled a 197-140 record with a 3.24 ERA, 217 complete games, 29 shutouts, and 2045 strikeouts in 2966.2 innings. He led the NL in strikeouts seven consecutive times. With Brooklyn he was 190-131 with 213 complete games, 29 shutouts, and 1918 strikeouts over the course of 2757.2 innings. He also won 133 minor league games on his long and difficult trek to major league stardom. A popular player with Brooklyn fans, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1955, six years prior to his death in 1961 at age 69.

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MVP Profiles feature players in the National or American leagues who were winners of the Chalmers Award (1911-14), League Award (1922-29), or Baseball Writers’ Association of America Award (1931 to present) as Most Valuable Player.