The Browns finished last in the American League with a 52–102 record, meaning Garver recorded the win in 38% of his team's victories. He was the first pitcher to win 20 games with a last-place team since Sloppy Thurston did so for the White Sox in 1924, and he was one of two pitchers in the 20th century to win 20 or more games for a team which lost 100 or more games in the same season, along with Irv Young, who went 20-21 for the 51-103 1905 Boston Braves. He led the AL with 24 complete games, the second year in a row he had thrown the most. In Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award voting, Garver received the same amount of first-place votes as New York Yankees players Yogi Berra and Allie Reynolds, though Berra ultimately took the most shares on ballots and won the award. Views on the reserve clause Over the 1951-52 offseason, the United States House of Representatives held hearings on the legality of MLB's exemption from antitrust laws. New York Representative Emanuel Celler wrote Garver a letter asking him to testify before Congress on the subject. Garver was unable to appear because he was on a barnstorming tour with Satchel Paige, but he did write a letter back to Celler with his views on the subject. Regarding baseball's reserve clause, Garver felt there was no adequate substitute to prevent one team from stockpiling all of the good players by offering them the most money. He did propose an arbitration system, in which player's with at least three years experience could have a panel determine their salary. "I do not care where I play baseball as long as I feel I am getting paid what I am worth," Garver said in an interview with The Sporting News. 1952 Before the 1952 season, Veeck made Garver the highest paid member in team history with a salary of $25,000. Brimming with confidence at the start of the year, Garver threw shutouts in his first two starts, against the Tigers on April 15 and the White Sox on April 20. As he was throwing batting practice between that and his next game, he suffered a pinched vertebra in his neck. The injury affected how he threw, and he battled arm fatigue, suffering further injury to the arm as he continued to try to pitch. On June 9, the Browns