1917 National League

New York returned to the winner's circle, beating out Philadelphia, while St. Louis finished a surprising third. The rest of the standings went Cincinnati, Chicago, Boston, Brooklyn, with Pittsburgh last at 103 losses.

Edd Roush led the league with a .341 average, with Rogers Hornsby second at .327. Hornsby led in OPS and slugging, Heinie Groh in on-base average. George Burns led with 103 runs, Groh was second with 91, Benny Kauff third with 89. Groh led with 182 hits and 39 doubles; Burns was second with 180 hits, Edd Roush third with 178. Red Smith and Fred Merkle were second with 31 doubles. Hornsby led with 17 triples, Gavy Cravath was second with 16. Heinie Zimmerman topped the loop with 102 RBI, followed by Hal Chase with 86 and Cravath with 83. Max Carey had 46 steals.

Pete Alexander nearly won another pitching Triple Crown. He won 30 games, was second with a 1.83 ERA, and struck out 200. Fred Toney won 24 games and Hippo Vaughn 23. Fred Anderson led with a 1.44 ERA in just 162 innings. Pol Perrit was third with a 1.88 ERA. Ferdie Schupp was next at 1.95. Vaughn had 195 strikeouts, Phil Douglas 151.

Win Shares leaders, players: Rogers Hornsby (St. Louis) 38, Heinie Groh (Cincinnati) 37, George Burns (New York) 34, Edd Roush (Cincinnati) and Benny Kauff (New York) 30, Art Fletcher (New York) 27, Heinie Zimmerman (New York) and Gavy Cravath (Philadelphia) 26.

WS leaders, pitchers: Pete Alexander (Philadelphia) 40, Hippo Vaughn (Chicago) 24, Ferdie Schupp (New York) 23, Wilbur Cooper (Pittsburgh) 22, Leon Cadore (Brooklyn) 21, Eppa Rixey (Philadelphia) 20.

WARP3: Groh 8.1, Hornsby 7.4, Burns 7.2, Fletcher 5.4, Zimmerman 5.3, Max Carey (Pittsburgh) 4.8, Cravath 4.6 (last big year), Kauff 4.1, Rabbit Maranville (Boston) 3.6, Roush and Casey Stengel (Brooklyn) 3.4.

Pitchers: Alexander 10.9, Vaughn 7.2, Cooper 6.3, Cadore 5.5, Rixey 4.5, Schupp (his career year) and Lefty Tyler (Boston) 4.4, Art Nehf (Boston) 4.3, Jeff Pfeffer (Brooklyn) 4.2, Fred Toney (Cincinnati) 3.9.

WAR leaders, position players: Hornsby 10.0, Burns 7.6, Groh 7.5, Fletcher 7.3, Kauff 6.2, Carey 6.1, Zimmerman 5.9, Roush 5.6, Maranville 5.4, Cravath 5.2. Pitchers: Alexander 8.4, Vaughn 5.7, Cooper 5.5, Schupp 4.9, Pfeffer 4.6, Cadore 4.2, Toney 4.0, Bender 3.3, Rixey 3.2, Anderson and Perrit 3.0.

Best player: Rogers Hornsby, in his arrival as the best player in the NL. He would continue to be that good for over a decade. Second is Heinie Groh, and people have forgotten he was that good. George Burns would be #3 and Art Fletcher #4, with Benny Kauff #5.

Best pitcher: Pete Alexander, in the third of his three 30-win seasons. No one else comes close. Hippo Vaughn, 23-13 and 2.01, is a distant 2nd. Wilbur Cooper #3, Ferdie Schupp #4, Leon Cadore #5.

Best rookie: No one I can see.

Best manager: John McGraw, back in the winners' circle.