As the war was won first in Europe and then in Asia, some of the first players into the armed services began coming back as the season progressed. First among these was Hank Greenberg, who got in half a season with Detroit and sparked the Tigers to the pennant. Detroit beat out Washington by a game and a half, with St. Louis third and New York 4th. Cleveland was 5th, followed by Chicago and Boston, while Philadelphia was last. A controversy developed when Hank Borowy, a Yankee and All-Star, was exposed to waivers at mid-season and picked up by the Cubs. AL teams had passed, not expecting the Yankees to let go of a quality pitcher for the waiver price.
Snuffy Stirnweiss edged Tony Cuccinello for the batting title, .309 to .308. Stirnweiss also led in slugging, with Eddie Lake the leader in on-base. Stirnweiss led in runs with 107, hits with 195, triples with 22, and steals with 33. Wally Moses had 35 doubles, Vern Stephens 24 homers, Nick Etten 111 RBI.
Hal Newhouser won the pitching Triple Crown with 25 wins, 212 strikeouts, and a 1.81 ERA. Jim Turner had 10 saves. Second placers were Dave Ferriss with 21 wins, Al Benton had a 2.02 ERA, Nels Potter had 129 strikeouts.
Win Shares leaders, players; Snuffy Stirnweiss (New York) 34, Roy Cullenbine (Cleveland/Detroit) 31, Wally Moses (Chicago) 28, Eddie Lake (Boston) and Vern Stephens (St. Louis) 27, Joe Kuhel (Washington) 25, George Myatt (Washington) 23, Eddie Mayo (Detroit) and Nick Etten (New York) 22, Oscar Grimes (New York) and George Case (Washington) 21.
Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Hal Newhouser (Detroit) 38, Nels Potter (St. Louis) 27, Dave "Boo" Ferris (Boston), Steve Gromek (Cleveland) and Roger Wolff (Washington) 24, Dutch Leonard (Washington) 19, Thornton Lee (Chicago) and Dizzy Trout (Detroit) 18.
WAR (Wins Against Replacement) scores: Stirnweiss 8.0, Lake 5.7 (best year), Stephens 5.2, Cullenbine 5.1, Moses 4.8 (last good year), Kuhel 4.2 (last hurrah at 39), Mayo 4.1 (best year at 35), Myatt (best year) and Jeff Heath (Cleveland) 3.7, Buddy Lewis (Washington) 3.7, Case and Tony Cuccinello (Chicago) 3.2, Etten (Etten had a lousy glove) and Lou Boudreau (Cleveland) 3.1.
Pitchers, Newhouser 8.9, Potter 5.7 (best year), Wolff 5.3 (career year), Gromek 4.6, Lee 3.4 (last hurrah), Leonard, Al Hollingsworth (St. Louis), and Al Benton (Detroit) 2.9, Ferris 2.8 (rookie), Joe Berry (Philadelphia) 2.6.
Actual award voting: MVP Top 20
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+---+-----+--+
1 Hal Newhouser DET 9 236 336 0.70 | 109 28 0 .257 .623 0| 25-9 313 1.81 1.114 212 2
2 Eddie Mayo DET 7 164 336 0.49 | 501 143 10 .285 .752 7
3 Snuffy Stirnweiss NYY 4 161 336 0.48 | 632 195 10 .309 .862 33
4 Dave Ferriss BOS 2 148 336 0.44 | 120 32 1 .267 .734 0| 21-10 265 2.96 1.315 94 2
5 George Myatt WSH 1 98 336 0.29 | 490 145 1 .296 .744 30
6 Vern Stephens SLB 0 94 336 0.28 | 571 165 24 .289 .825 2
7 Roger Wolff WSH 0 78 336 0.23 | 84 9 0 .107 .286 0| 20-10 250 2.12 1.012 108 2
8 Lou Boudreau CLE 0 70 336 0.21 | 345 106 3 .307 .783 0
9 George Case WSH 0 60 336 0.18 | 504 148 1 .294 .717 30
10 Paul Richards DET 0 35 336 0.10 | 234 60 3 .256 .670 4
11 Mike Tresh CHW 0 33 336 0.10 | 458 114 0 .249 .617 6
12 Joe Kuhel WSH 1 29 336 0.09 | 533 152 2 .285 .778 10
13 Roy Cullenbine TOT 0 26 336 0.08 | +536 146 18 .272 .846 2
14 Hank Greenberg DET 0 25 336 0.07 | 270 84 13 .311 .948 3
15 Nick Etten NYY 0 21 336 0.06 | 565 161 18 .285 .824 2
16 Tony Cuccinello CHW 0 18 336 0.05 | 402 124 2 .308 .780 6
17 Dizzy Trout DET 0 17 336 0.05 | 102 25 2 .245 .632 1| 18-15 246 3.14 1.344 97 2
18 Dutch Leonard WSH 0 16 336 0.05 | 78 18 0 .231 .497 0| 17-7 216 2.12 1.125 96 1
19 Roy Schalk CHW 0 13 336 0.04 | 513 127 1 .248 .595 3
20 Jeff Heath CLE 0 10 336 0.03 | 370 113 15 .305 .906
Best player: Snuffy Stirnweiss led the league in OPS, and was the top player. He was oddly behind Mayo in the MVP voting. Stirnweiss led the league in average, runs, hits, triples, and steals. He was a wartime wonder, though.
#1 Snuffy Stirnweiss, #2 Roy Cullenbine, #3 Eddie Lake, #4 Vern Stephens, #5 Wally Moses.
Best pitcher: What is odd is that Newhouser was not a unanimous MVP. Perhaps that is because he won the award the year before. He was the best in the league, and won the pitching Triple Crown.
#1 Hal Newhouser, #2 Roger Wolff, #3 Boo Ferris, #4 Nels Potter, #5 Steve Gromek.
Best Rookie: Boo Ferris had a short career, but he was very effective in those few years, starting here.
Best manager: Steve O'Neill gladly got Greenberg back in the lineup and won the World Series.
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