1940 American League

The Detroit Tigers won the pennant, the only interruption of the Yankees' run of six pennants in seven years. It wasn't easy, as this was the best AL pennant race in years, with the Indians one game back and the Yankees two games back. Chicago and Boston tied for 4th, just 8 behind. Boston led the early going, then Detroit and Cleveland swapped the lead back and forth. The Yankees made a run at the end. St. Louis and Washington were also-rans, while Philadelphia lost 100. The Yankee offense struggled as the loss of Lou Gehrig was felt, especially when Bill Dickey got old and Frankie Crosetti hit just .194. The pitching also struggled a bit.

Joe DiMaggio won another batting title at .352, edging Luke Appling at .348 and Ted Williams at .344. Williams led in on-base, while Hank Greenberg led in slugging and OPS, as well as total bases, doubles (50), home runs (41) and RBI (150). Williams led with 134 runs. Playing in the toughest hitters' park, DiMaggio led in OPS+. Barney McCoskey led with 19 triples and George Case with 35 steals.

Bob Feller dominated the pitching categories again with another Triple Crown. He had 27 wins, 261 strikeouts, and a 2.61 ERA. Bobo Newsom was second in all categories with 21 wins, 164 strikeouts, and a 2.83 ERA. Al Benton led with 17 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Hank Greenberg (Detroit) and Joe DiMaggio (New York) 31, Ted Williams (Boston) and Lou Boudreau (Cleveland) 30, Luke Appling (Chicago) 28, Hal Trosky (Cleveland) 27, Rudy York (Detroit) and Joe Gordon (New York) 26, Joe Cronin and Jimmie Foxx (Boston), Barney McCosky (Detroit) and Charlie Keller (New York) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Feller (Cleveland) 34, Bobo Newsom (Detroit) 26, Johnny Rigney (Chicago) 24, Eldon Auker (St. Louis) 22, Dutch Leonard and Ken Chase (Washington) 20, Thornton Lee (Chicago) 19, Eddie Smith (Chicago) and Schoolboy Rowe (Detroit) 18.

WAR scores: DiMaggio 7.3, Greenberg 6.4, Williams 6.0, Gordon 5.8, Appling 5.6, Boudreau (first year as regular) and Keller 5.4, Foxx 4.6, York 4.4, McCosky 4.0, Harlond Clift (St. Louis) 3.9, Joe Kuhel (Chicago) 3.5, Trosky (last good year), Frankie Hayes (Philadelphia) and Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) 3.4.

Pitchers, Feller 9.4, Newsom 7.3, Rigney 6.0, Auker 5.0 (last good year), Leonard and Rowe 4.9, Chase (career year) and Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 4.8, Lee and Johnny Babich (Philadelphia) 4.4, Smith 3.9.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+--
1 Hank Greenberg DET 16 292 336 0.87 | 573 195 41 .340 1.103 6
2 Bob Feller CLE 6 222 336 0.66 | 115 18 2 .157 .481 0| 27-11 320 2.61 1.133 261 4
3 Joe DiMaggio NYY 0 151 336 0.45 | 508 179 31 .352 1.051 1
4 Bobo Newsom DET 1 120 336 0.36 | 107 23 0 .215 .484 0| 21-5 264 2.83 1.269 164
5 Lou Boudreau CLE 1 119 336 0.35 | 627 185 9 .295 .814 6
6 Jimmie Foxx BOS 0 110 336 0.33 | 515 153 36 .297 .993 4
7 Schoolboy Rowe DET 0 62 336 0.18 | 67 18 1 .269 .752 1| 16-3 169 3.46 1.260 61
8 Rudy York DET 0 61 336 0.18 | 588 186 33 .316 .993 3
9 Rip Radcliff SLB 0 55 336 0.16 | 584 200 7 .342 .858 6
10 Luke Appling CHW 0 54 336 0.16 | 566 197 0 .348 .862 3

Top player: Hank Greenberg. Almost a dead heat between Greenberg and DiMaggio, but Greenberg holds the trump card of the pennant-winning team.
#1 Hank Greenberg, #2 Joe DiMaggio, #3 Ted Williams, #4 Lou Boudreau, #5 Luke Appling.

Top pitcher: Bob Feller by a margin rarely seen. Triple crown winner.
#1 Bob Feller, #2 Bobo Newsom, #3 Johnny Rigney, #4 Elden Auker, #5 Dutch Leonard.

Best rookie: Walt Judnich edges out Dom DiMaggio. Both lost significant parts of their careers, and a shot at the Hall of Fame, to war service. Judnich hit .303 with 24 HR and 89 RBI for St. Louis, and DiMaggio hit .301 and played great defense for Boston.

Best manager: Del Baker brought the Tigers home in front after a terrific pennant race.

1939 National League

The Cincinnati Reds won their first pennant in 20 years by beating out the Cardinals; the margin was 4.5 games. The Reds had a comfortable lead for much of the summer, with the Cardinals making a run at the end. Brooklyn was third, Chicago fourth, and New York 5th. Pittsburgh and Boston trailed, while Philadelphia finished last, losing 106 times. Cincy and St. Louis fought it out, with the best pitching defeating the best hitting. But each team was 2nd in the other's specialty.

Johnny Mize won the batting title at .349, and also led with 28 home runs. He led the league in slugging, OPS, and total bases as well. Billy Werber led with 115 runs, Frank McCormick with 209 hits and 128 RBI. Enos Slaughter had 52 doubles, Billy Herman 18 triples, while Stan Hack and Lee Handley tied with 17 steals.

Bucky Walters won a pitching Triple Crown, leading the league with 27 wins and a 2.29 ERA, and tying Claude Passeau with 117 strikeouts. Paul Derringer had 25 wins, Curt Davis 22, Luke Hamlin 20. Bob Bowman had a 2.60 ERA, Carl Hubbell 2.75.

Win Shares leaders, players; Johnny Mize (St. Louis) 33, Dolph Camilli (Brooklyn) and Mel Ott (New York) 28, Harry Danning (New York) 27, Billy Herman (Chicago), Lonnie Frey, Ival Goodman, Frank McCormick, and Billy Werber (all Cincinnati) and Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 25, Joe Medwick (St. Louis) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bucky Walters (Cincinnati) 38, Paul Derringer (Cincinnati) 26, Curt Davis (St. Louis) 22, Hugh Casey (Brooklyn) and Claude Passeau (Philadelphia/Chicago) 21, Bill Lee (Chicago) 20, Luke Hamlin (Brooklyn) and Bob Bowman (St. Louis) 19, Mort Cooper (St. Louis) 18.

WAR scores: Mize 7.4, Camilli 6.2, Frey 6.0, Ott 5.8, Goodman 5.4, McCormick and Billy Myers (Cincinnati) 5.2, Vaughan 4.9, Werber 4.5, Herman 4.3, Danning (career year), Max West (Boston) and Billy Jurges (New York) 4.2, Medwick 4.1.

Pitchers, Walters 7.7 (career year), Passeau 5.3, Derringer 4.8, Bowman 4.6 (rookie, only good year), Lee 4.5, Casey 4.4 (rookie), Hamlin 4.1 (career year), Larry French (Chicago) 3.7, Junior Thompson (Cincinnati) 3.2, Cooper 3.1 (rookie).

WAR, position players: Mize 7.9, Camilli 6.8, Frey 6.2, Ott 5.9, Goodman and Myers 5.5, McCormick 5.4, Vaughan 5.3, Werber 4.8, Medwick 4.7, West 4.6, Herman 4.4, Slaughter 4.3. Pitchers: Walters 7.7, Passeau 5.3, Derringer 4.8, Bowman 4.6, Lee 4.5, Casey 4.4, Hamlin 4.1, French 3.7, Thompson 3.2, Cooper 3.1.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+-
1 Bucky Walters CIN 18 303 336 0.90 | 120 39 1 .325 .790 1| 27-11 319 2.29 1.125 137
2 Johnny Mize STL 1 178 336 0.53 | 564 197 28 .349 1.070 0
3 Paul Derringer CIN 2 174 336 0.52 | 110 23 0 .209 .453 0| 25-7 301 2.93 1.183 128
4 Frank McCormick CIN 2 159 336 0.47 | 630 209 18 .332 .869 1
5 Curt Davis STL 0 106 336 0.32 | 105 40 1 .381 .855 0| 22-16 248 3.63 1.319 70 7
6 Jimmy Brown STL 1 99 336 0.29 | 645 192 3 .298 .719 4
7 Joe Medwick STL 0 81 336 0.24 | 606 201 14 .332 .886 6
8 Leo Durocher BRO 0 52 336 0.15 | 390 108 1 .277 .695 2
9 Harry Danning NYG 0 33 336 0.10 | 520 163 16 .313 .838 4
10 Luke Hamlin BRO 0 32 336 0.10 | 103 13 1 .126 .319 0| 20-13 270 3.64 1.146 88

Top hitter: Johnny Mize, the top man on the top offense. If the Cards win the pennant, he wins the MVP. The pitcher from the pennant winners beat him out. Mize led the league in average and homers, and was 3rd in RBI.
#1 Johnny Mize, #2 Dolph Camilli, #3 Mel Ott, #4 Lonny Frey, #5 Ival Goodman, #6 Frank McCormick.

Top pitcher: Bucky Walters swept the Reds along to the pennant, winning the pitchers' triple crown.
#1 Bucky Walters, #2 Paul Derringer, #3 Claude Passeau, #4 Bill Lee, #5 Hugh Casey.

Top rookie: Hugh Casey of Brooklyn was quite effective, beating out one-year wonder and reliever Bowman. Mort Cooper would have the best career.

Top manager: Bill McKechnie got the Reds back to the top.

1939 American League

The Yankees won their fourth straight pennant and then won their fourth straight World Series by sweeping the Reds. They took the pennant by a 17-game margin, with Lou Gehrig forced to the sidelines by the disease that would take his life and now bears his name. It was easy to believe that New York would continue to win the Series for the foreseeable future. Boston finished second, followed by Cleveland, Chicago and Detroit, all over .500. Washington was mediocre, Philadelphia lost 97 games, and St. Louis lost 111.

Joe DiMaggio won the batting title with a .381 average. Veteran Jimmie Foxx was second at .360, and led in other percentage categories; on-base, slugging, and OPS. Yankees third baseman and leadoff man Red Rolfe led in runs with 139, hits with 213, and doubles with 46. Foxx led in home runs with 35, and rookie teammate Ted Williams led in RBI with 145. DiMaggio had 126, Bob Johnson 114, Hank Greenberg 112. George Case led with 51 steals.

Veteran Lefty Grove led in ERA with a 2.51 mark, but phenom Bob Feller led in innings, wins with 24 and strikeouts with 246. Feller and Bobo Newsom tied for the lead in complete games, while Red Ruffing led with five shutouts. Johnny Murphy led with 19 saves, edging Clint Brown at 18.

Win Shares leaders, players; Joe DiMaggio (New York) 34, Ted Williams (Boston) 32, Jimmie Foxx (Boston) and Red Rolfe (New York) 30, Bob Johnson (Philadelphia) 29, Bill Dickey (New York) 27, Ken Keltner (Cleveland) 26, Joe Gordon and George Selkirk (New York) 25, Luke Appling (Chicago) and Hank Greenberg (Detroit) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bob Feller (Cleveland) 32, Bobo Newsom (St. Louis/Detroit) 26, Lefty Grove (Boston) 23, Red Ruffing (New York) 22, Dutch Leonard (Washington) 21, Ted Lyons and Johnny Rigney (Chicago) 20, Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 19, Thornton Lee (Chicago) and Al Milnar (Cleveland) 18.

WAR (Wins Against Replacement) scores: DiMaggio 8.9, Foxx 7.1, Rolfe 6.9, Williams 6.8 (rookie), Gordon 6.5, Johnson 6.0 (best year), Selkirk 5.9 (best year), Dickey (last great season) and Buddy Lewis (Washington) 5.3, Greenberg 5.2, Hal Trosky (Cleveland) and Charlie Keller (New York) 5.1, Keltner (breakthrough year) and Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) 4.6, Appling 4.3.

Pitchers, Feller 8.6, Newsom 7.5, Grove 6.5 (last strong year), Ruffing 5.1 (last 20-win season), Bridges 4.8, Leonard 4.6, Mel Harder (Cleveland) 4.5, Lyons 4.4, Rigney 4.3, Milnar 3.9 (best year), Lefty Gomez (New York) 3.8, Lee 3.7.

WAR, position players: DiMaggio 9.1, Foxx 8.0, Williams 7.9, Gordon and Rolfe 7.3, Johnson 7.2, Greenberg 6.6, Selkirk 6.4, Lewis 6.2, Dickey and Trosky 5.9, Keller and Keltner 5.5. Pitchers: Feller 8.6, Newsom 7.5, Grove 6.5, Ruffing 5.1, Bridges 4.8, Leonard 4.6, Harder 4.5, Lyons 4.4, Rigney 4.3, Milnar 3.9, Gomez 3.8, Lee 3.7.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+--
1 Joe DiMaggio NYY 15 280 336 0.83 | 462 176 30 .381 1.119 3
2 Jimmie Foxx BOS 1 170 336 0.51 | 467 168 35 .360 1.158 4| 0-0 1 0.00 0.000 1
3 Bob Feller CLE 3 155 336 0.46 | 99 21 0 .212 .599 0| 24-9 297 2.85 1.244 246 1
4 Ted Williams BOS 0 126 336 0.38 | 565 185 31 .327 1.045 2
5 Red Ruffing NYY 0 116 336 0.35 | 114 35 1 .307 .689 1| 21-7 233 2.93 1.226 95
6 Bill Dickey NYY 3 110 336 0.33 | 480 145 24 .302 .915 5
7 Dutch Leonard WSH 1 71 336 0.21 | 95 21 0 .221 .482 0| 20-8 269 3.54 1.233 88
8 Bob Johnson PHA 0 52 336 0.15 | 544 184 23 .338 .993 15
9 Joe Gordon NYY 0 43 336 0.13 | 567 161 28 .284 .876 11
10 Mike Kreevich CHW 1 38 336 0.11 | 541 175 5 .323 .826 23

Top player: Joe DiMaggio, as the voters were right on the money. Joe D. was right behind Foxx in OPS, and was also one of the greats with the glove.
#1 Joe DiMaggio, #2 Jimmie Foxx, #3 Ted Williams, #4 Red Rolfe, #5 Bob Johnson, #6 Bill Dickey.

Top pitcher: Bob Feller led in wins and strikeouts and was 3rd in ERA, and threw a lot more innings than the guys ahead of him.
#1 Bob Feller, #2 Bobo Newsom, #3 Lefty Grove, #4 Red Ruffing, #5 Dutch Leonard.

Top rookie: Ted Williams posted one of the great rookie seasons ever.

Top manager: Joe McCarthy guided the Yankees to the pinnacle again.

1938 National League

Chicago pulled out the last of their string of every-third-year pennants, in a terrific pennant race, with Pittsburgh finishing two back, New York five back, and Cincinnati six back in overcoming a mediocre decade. The Giants and Pirates led most of the way, and the Cubbies did not take first until the last days of the season, overtaking the Pirates on September 28. Boston also finished above .500, St. Louis and Brooklyn trailed, while Philadelphia lost 105 games.

Ernie Lombardi won the batting title at .342, with Johnny Mize close behind at .337. Mize led in slugging and OPS, Mel Ott led on on-base. Ott also led with 116 runs and 36 homers. Mize led with 16 triples and 326 total bases. Joe Medwick had 47 doubles and 122 RBI to lead, coming off his Triple Crown season. Frank McCormick led with 209 hits, and Stan Hack did so with a mere 16 stolen bases.

The Cubs' Bill Lee won two legs of the pitcher's Triple Crown, with 22 wins and a 2.66 ERA. Paul Derringer was second with 21 wins, and Charlie Root with a 2.86 ERA. Clay Bryant topped the league with 135 strikeouts, and Dick Coffman paced the loop with 12 saves. Johnny Vander Meer pitched no-hitters in consecutive starts in June, the only time this has been done.

Win Shares leaders, players; Mel Ott (New York) 36, Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 34, Stan Hack (Chicago) 33, Ival Goodman (Cincinnati) and Johnny Mize (St. Louis) 28, Dolph Camilli (Brooklyn) 25, Ernie Lombardi (Cincinnati) 24, Johnny Rizzo (Pittsburgh) 23, Joe Medwick (St. Louis) 22, Gus Suhr (Pittsburgh) 21, Vince DiMaggio and Elbie Fletcher (Boston) and Billy Herman (Chicago) 20.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Bill Lee (Chicago) 28, Paul Derringer (Cincinnati) 25, Clay Bryant (Chicago) 23, Russ Bauers (Pittsburgh) 19, Jim Tobin (Pittsburgh) 17, Lou Fette and Danny MacFayden (Boston) and Johnny "Double No-Hit" Vander Meer (Cincinnati) 16.

WAR (Wins Against Replacement) leaders, players: Ott 8.7, Vaughan 8.5, Mize 6.5, Hack 5.6, Goodman 5.5, Lombardi 5.1, Medwick 4.4, Camilli 4.3, Young 4.0, Dick Bartell (New York) 3.9, Rizzo 3.8.

WAR leaders, pitchers: Lee 7.1, Derringer 5.5, Bryant 4.8, Freddie Fitzsimmons (Brooklyn) 3.8, Bauers and Vander Meer 3.2, MacFayden 3.1, Bill McGee (St. Louis) and Luke Hamlin (Brooklyn) 3.0, Fette, Charlie Root (Chicago) and Carl Hubbell (New York) 2.9.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+
1 Ernie Lombardi CIN 10 229 336 0.68 | 489 167 19 .342 .915 0
2 Bill Lee CHC 5 166 336 0.49 | 101 20 0 .198 .476 1| 22-9 291 2.66 1.220 121 2
3 Arky Vaughan PIT 0 163 336 0.49 | 541 174 7 .322 .876 14
4 Mel Ott NYG 0 132 336 0.39 | 527 164 36 .311 1.024 2
5 Frank McCormick CIN 0 130 336 0.39 | 640 209 5 .327 .773 1
6 Johnny Rizzo PIT 0 96 336 0.29 | 555 167 23 .301 .882 1
7 Stan Hack CHC 0 87 336 0.26 | 609 195 4 .320 .843 16
8 Paul Derringer CIN 0 70 336 0.21 | 119 21 2 .176 .425 0| 21-14 307 2.93 1.186 132 3
9 Mace Brown PIT 0 62 336 0.18 | 38 5 0 .132 .316 0| 15-9 133 3.80 1.500 55 5
10 Gabby Hartnett CHC 0 61 336 0.18 | 299 82 10 .274 .825 1

Top player: Mel Ott was the best player in the league, leading in runs, HR, and on-base average. But the Giants did not win the pennant after winning the previous two, so a New York player was unlikely to win. Ernie Lombardi won because he won the batting title and the Reds were a surprise team. He wasn't the top player, however.
#1 Mel Ott, #2 Arky Vaughan, #3 Johnny Mize, #4 Ernie Lombardi, #5 Ival Goodman, #6 Stan Hack.

Top pitcher: Bill Lee led the league in wins and ERA. Teammate Clay Bryant led in strikeouts.
#1 Bill Lee, #2 Paul Derringer, #3 Clay Bryant, #4 Rick Bauers, #5 Johnny Vander Meer.

Top rookie: Johnny Rizzo was a pleasant surprise for the Pirates, but he was never this good again.

Top manager: Gabby Hartnett took over the Cubs from Charley Grimm down the stretch and urged them to the pennant.

1938 American League

New York won its third straight pennant and swept the Cubs in the World Series. Boston made a respectable showing, finishing 9.5 games back, but that was as close as anyone could get to the Yankee juggernaut. Cleveland finished third and Detroit fourth, followed by Washington and Chicago. St. Louis and Philadelphia both barely missed losing 100 games.

Jimmie Foxx led the league with a .349 average, followed by Jeff Heath at .343 and Ben Chapman at .340. Foxx also led the league in on-base, slugging, and OPS, and with 175 RBI. Hank Greenberg led in runs with 144 and challenged Babe Ruth's single-season record with 58 home runs in a tougher hitting park. Joe Vosmik led with 201 hits, Joe Cronin with 51 doubles, Heath with 18 triples, and Frankie Crosetti with 27 steals.

For pitching leaders, Red Ruffing had 21 wins, and Bobo Newsom won 20. Rookie Bob Feller gained 240 strikeouts, with Newsom second again at 226. Lefty Grove led with a 3.08 ERA, followed by Ruffing at 3.31. Newsom had 31 complete games. Johnny Murphy had 11 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Jimmie Foxx (Boston) and Hank Greenberg (Detroit) 34, Joe Cronin (Boston) and Joe DiMaggio (New York) 30, Charlie Gehringer and Rudy York (Detroit) and Bill Dickey (New York) 27, Earl Averill (Cleveland) 26, Hal Trosky (Cleveland), Lou Gehrig (New York) and Harlond Clift (St. Louis) 25, Buddy Myer (Washington) 24.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Red Ruffing (New York) 25, Bob Feller (Cleveland) 22, Bobo Newsom (St. Louis) 21, Mel Harder (Cleveland) 20, Thornton Lee (Chicago), Lefty Gomez (New York) and George Caster (Philadelphia) 19.

WARP3 scores: Cronin 8.5, Myer 7.4 in his last full season, Foxx 7.0, Greenberg 6.6, Dickey 6.4, Clift 6.2, Cecil Travis (Washington) 6.0, DiMaggio and Jeff Heath (Cleveland) 5.7, Joe Gordon (New York) 5.2, Ben Chapman (Boston) 5.0, Bob Johnson (Philadelphia) 4.8, Averill 4.7 in his last full season, Gehringer 4.5, York 4.4, Trosky 4.3.

Pitchers, Caster 6.2, Newsom 6.0, Ruffing 5.9, Feller 5.2 in his first full year (19, but not a rookie), Lee 5.0, Harder 4.7, Gomez 4.5 in his last good year, also Dutch Leonard (Washington) 4.5, Lefty Grove (Boston) and Monte Stratton (Chicago) 4.2.

WAR leaders, position players: Foxx 9.4, Greenberg 8.8, Cronin 7.7, Clift 7.1, DiMaggio 7.0, Dickey 6.4, Gehringer 6.3, Averill, Gehrig, and Myer 6.0, York 5.9, Johnson 5.8. Pitchers: Ruffing 5.7, Feller 5.3, Caster, Grove, Harder, and Lee 4.8, Gomez 4.6, Lyons and Newsom 4.2, Rigney 4.1.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----
1 Jimmie Foxx BOS 19 305 336 0.91 | 565 197 50 .349 1.166 5
2 Bill Dickey NYY 3 196 336 0.58 | 454 142 27 .313 .981 3
3 Hank Greenberg DET 0 162 336 0.48 | 556 175 58 .315 1.122 7
4 Red Ruffing NYY 0 146 336 0.43 | 107 24 3 .224 .695 0| 21-7 247 3.31 1.326 127
5 Bobo Newsom SLB 0 111 336 0.33 | 124 31 0 .250 .538 0| 20-16 330 5.08 1.595 226 1
6 Joe DiMaggio NYY 0 106 336 0.32 | 599 194 32 .324 .967 6
7 Joe Cronin BOS 0 92 336 0.27 | 530 172 17 .325 .964 7
8 Earl Averill CLE 0 34 336 0.10 | 482 159 14 .330 .965 5
9 Cecil Travis WSH 0 33 336 0.10 | 567 190 5 .335 .833 6
10 Charlie Gehringer DET 0 27 336 0.08 | 568 174 20 .306 .911 14

Top player: The big hitters Foxx and Greenberg were the best in the AL in 1938, with Foxx leading the league in average and RBI, Greenberg threatening Ruth's record with a 58 homer season. It's a tough choice between them.

#1 Jimmie Foxx, #2 Hank Greenberg, #3 Joe Cronin, #4 Joe DiMaggio, #5 Bill Dickey.

Top pitcher: Not a good overall year for AL pitchers. Youngster Bob Feller didn't draw any voting support in spite of stellar stats including the strikeout lead. Old pro Ruffing was the best of the lot.
#1 Red Ruffing, #2 Bob Feller, #3 Bobo Newsom, #4 Lefty Gomez, #5 George Caster.

Top rookie: Joe Gordon batted but .255 for the Yankees, but hit 25 HR and played stellar defense for the champs, who didn't miss Tony Lazzeri at all. Sam Chapman of Philadelphia also had a good year.

Top manager: Joe McCarthy did it again.

1937 National League

The Giants overcame the Cubs in a close race to the finish, with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Boston all over .500. Brooklyn, Philadelphia, and last-place Cincinnati all lost at least 90 games with the Reds losing 98. The Cubs had the best offense and Boston the best pitching, but the Giants claimed the best combination, finishing third and second respectively.

Joe "Ducky" Medwick of St. Louis dominated the leader boards, leading the NL in batting at .374, runs with 111, hits with 237, doubles with 56, RBI with 154, and a tie with Mel Ott in homers at 31. Medwick also led in slugging, OPS, total bases, and Runs Created. That didn't leave much, but Arky Vaughan led with 17 triples and Augie Galan with 23 steals. Johnny Mize was second in batting average at .364 while Gabby Hartnett and Paul Waner checked in at .354. Dolph Camilli had 27 homers, Frank Demaree had 115 RBI.

On the pitching side, Carl Hubbell led with 22 wins and 159 strikeouts, while Jim Turner led with a 2.38 ERA. Turner, Cliff Melton, and Lou Fette won 20 each, Melton was second in ERA at 2.61 and Dizzy Dean third with a 2.69 mark.

Win Shares leaders, players; Joe Medwick (St. Louis) 40, Johnny Mize (St. Louis) 34, Mel Ott (New York) 32, Billy Herman (Chicago) 29, Dick Bartell (New York) and Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 28, Gene Moore (Boston) 27, Frank Demaree (Chicago) 26, Gabby Hartnett (Chicago), Dolph Camilli (Philadelphia) and Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 25.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Jim Turner (Boston) 27, Cliff Melton (New York) 25, Lou Fette (Boston) and Carl Hubbell (New York) 23, Tex Carleton and Bill Lee (Chicago) and Claude Passeau (Philadelphia) 18, Danny MacFayden (Boston), Russ Bauers (Pittsburgh) and Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) 17.

WARP3: Medwick 8.3 (Triple Crown), Herman 8.2, Bartell 7.3, Ott 6.7, Tony Cuccinello (Boston) 6.5, Mize 6.3, Vaughan 5.7 (off year), Camilli 5.6, Moore 5.4 (peak, second of two years as an everyday player), Hartnett 5.3 (last big year), Stan Hack (Chicago) 5.0, Augie Galan (Chicago) 4.7, Waner 4.6 (last big year), Demaree 4.2 (last big year).

Pitchers, Turner 6.2 as a 33-year old rookie, Passeau 5.7, Lee Grissom (Cincinnati) 5.6, Dean 5.2, Van Lingle Mungo (Brooklyn) 5.1, Melton 4.9 as a 25-year old rookie, Bucky Walters (Cincinnati) 4.7, Fette 4.6 as a 30-year old rookie, Bauers 4.5 (as a 23-year old rookie), Carleton 4.3 (last good year), Bob Weiland (St. Louis) 4.0, Hubbell (last 20-win season), and Ed Brandt (Pittsburgh) 3.6, Lee 3.5, Paul Derringer (Cincinnati) 3.4.

WAR leaders, position players: Medwick 8.1, Ott 6.7, Bartell 6.5, Mize 6.1, Camilli 6.1, Herman 5.5, Moore 5.2, Vaughan 4.8, Hartnett 4.6, Waner 4.4, Cuccinello and Demaree 4.3. Pitchers: Turner 5.6, Melton 4.9, Dean 4.5, Carleton 4.4, Fette 4.3, Grissom 4.0, Bauers and Lee 3.9, Hubbell 3.8, Mungo 3.6.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-------+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Joe Medwick STL 2 70 80 0.88 | 633 237 31 .374 1.056 4
2 Gabby Hartnett CHC 3 68 80 0.85 | 356 126 12 .354 .971 0
3 Carl Hubbell NYG 1 52 80 0.65 | 97 21 0 .216 .474 0| 22-8 262 3.20 1.207 159 4
4 Jim Turner BSN 0 30 80 0.38 | 96 24 0 .250 .554 0| 20-11 257 2.38 1.091 69 1
5 Lou Fette BSN 0 29 80 0.36 | 92 22 0 .239 .521 0| 20-10 259 2.88 1.251 70
6 Dick Bartell NYG 1 26 80 0.32 | 516 158 14 .306 .836 5
7 Mel Ott NYG 0 24 80 0.30 | 545 160 31 .294 .931 7
8 Paul Waner PIT 0 21 80 0.26 | 619 219 2 .354 .855 4
9 Billy Herman CHC 0 19 80 0.24 | 564 189 8 .335 .875 2
10 Johnny Mize STL 0 18 80 0.22 | 560 204 25 .364 1.021 2

Top player: Triple-crown winner Joe Medwick (.371-31-154) just barely beat out Cub veteran Gabby Hartnett in the MVP voting, but Medwick was the best player by far. Ott (.294-31-95 with 102 walks) is second, Billy Herman and his .335 average next, Mize (.364-25-113) and Bartell (.306, 14 HR) in the honor slots.
#1 Joe Medwick, #2 Mel Ott, #3 Billy Herman, #4 Johnny Mize, #5 Dick Bartell.

Top pitcher: It was a year of rookies of all ages. Minor league veteran Jim Turner (20-11, 2.38) was the best in the league in his debut. Cliff Melton (20-9, 2.61) and Lou Fette ((20-10, 2.88) also made their debuts, and were quite spectacular.
#1 Jim Turner, #2 Cliff Melton, #3 Lou Fette, #4 Carl Hubbell, #5 Dizzy Dean.

Top rookie: I'll go with Melton as the youngest of the top debuting pitchers.

Top manager: Bill Terry edges out Charlie Grimm, as the Giants edged out the Cubs.

1937 American League

The Yankees ran away with their second straight pennant and then trashed the Giants in the World Series, clearly dominating the baseball world. The Yanks were in first to stay by June, and by August had the race well in hand. Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland and Boston all finished over .500, Washington was mediocre, while Philadelphia lost 97 games and St. Louis lost 108. The Yankees scored about a run more and allowed about a run less than the average AL team, finishing first both ways.

Charlie Gehringer won the batting title at .371, Joe DiMaggio led in slugging, and Lou Gehrig in on-base and OPS. DiMaggio led with 156 runs and 46 homers, Beau Bell of St. Louis with 218 hits and 51 doubles, and Hank Greenberg with 183 RBI. Mike Kreevich and Dixie Walker tied with 16 triples, and Ben Chapman and Billy Werber tied with 35 steals.

Lefty Gomez topped the pitching categories, with 21 wins to teammate Red Ruffing's 20, a 2.33 ERA to Monte Stratton's 2.40, and 194 strikeouts to Bobo Newsom's 166. Clint Brown of Chicago had 18 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players: Joe DiMaggio (New York) 39, Lou Gehrig (New York) 36, Hank Greenberg (Detroit) and Bill Dickey (New York) 33, Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) 30, Luke Appling (Chicago) 28, Joe Cronin (Boston), Earl Averill and Hal Trosky (Cleveland) 24, Jimmie Foxx (Boston), Mike Kreevich (Chicago), Lyn Lary (Cleveland) and Harlond Clift (St. Louis) 23.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers: Lefty Gomez (New York) 29, Lefty Grove (Boston) 27, Red Ruffing (New York) 24, Elden Auker (Detroit) 22, Jack Wilson (Boston) and Johnny Allen (Cleveland) 20, Monte Stratton (Chicago) and Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 19.

WARP3 scores: DiMaggio 10.5, Gehringer 9.6, Dickey 9.4, Gehrig 8.1, Greenberg 7.8, Cecil Travis (Washington) 6.7, Bob Johnson (Philadelphia) 6.4, Appling 6.1, Wally Moses (Philadelphia) 4.7, Kreevich 4.6 (best year), Red Rolfe (New York) and Billy Rogell (Detroit) 4.5.

Pitchers, Grove 8.1, Gomez 7.9, Allen 5.8 (as he went 15-1), Ruffing and Wilson (career year) 5.1, Stratton 4.9 (best year), Auker and Mel Harder (Cleveland) 4.6, Johnny Marcum (Boston) 4.3, Eddie Smith (Philadelphia) 4.1.

WAR leaders, position players: DiMaggio 10.1, Gehrig 9.5, Greenberg 9.2, Gehringer 8.4, Clift and Dickey 7.7, Appling 7.0, Johnson 6.3, Travis 5.6, Moses 5.5, Stone 5.3. Pitchers: Gomez 8.9, Grove 8.0, Ruffing 6.3, Allen 6.1, Stratton 4.9, Wilson 4.5, Auker 4.3, Lee 4.1, Bridges 3.7, Harder and Smith 3.4.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+---------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Charlie Gehringer DET 6 78 80 0.98 | 564 209 14 .371 .978 11
2 Joe DiMaggio NYY 2 74 80 0.92 | 621 215 46 .346 1.085 3
3 Hank Greenberg DET 0 48 80 0.60 | 594 200 40 .337 1.105 8
4 Lou Gehrig NYY 0 42 80 0.52 | 569 200 37 .351 1.116 4
5 Bill Dickey NYY 0 22 80 0.28 | 530 176 29 .332 .987 3
5 Luke Sewell CHW 0 22 80 0.28 | 412 111 1 .269 .700 4
7 Joe Cronin BOS 0 19 80 0.24 | 570 175 18 .307 .887 5
8 Red Ruffing NYY 0 18 80 0.22 | 129 26 1 .202 .523 0| 20-7 256 2.98 1.210 131
9 Lefty Gomez NYY 0 14 80 0.18 | 105 21 0 .200 .455 1| 21-11 278 2.33 1.171 194
10 Mike Kreevich CHW 0 13 80 0.16 | 583 176 12 .302 .818 10


Best player: Joe DiMaggio, who put up an impressive .346-46-167 line. Gehringer won the actual vote over DiMaggio, but Joltin' Joe was the AL's best player. Gehrig posted a .351-37-159 line, Gehringer a .371 average and 133 runs, Greenberg drove in 183 runs, Dickey was .332-29-133.
#1 Joe DiMaggio, #2 Lou Gehrig, #3 Charlie Gehringer, #4 Hank Greenberg, #5 Bill Dickey.

Best pitcher: Lefty Gomez won the pitching triple crown and is clearly the best of 1937. Grove and Ruffing had big years.
#1 Lefty Gomez, #2 Lefty Grove, #3 Red Ruffing, #4 Eldon Auker, #5 Johnny Allen.

Best rookie: There is a serious lack of rookies who played a full season, but the best of the group is Spud Chandler, 7-4 with a 2.84 record for the Yankees in 12 games. Tommy Henrich hit .320 in 206 AB to rank second.

Best manager: Joe McCarthy is the only serious candidate here.

1936 National League

The New York Giants won the pennant behind stars Carl Hubbell and Mel Ott, with St. Louis and Chicago tied for second, five games back, and Pittsburgh fourth, 8 games back. New York got off to an early lead, then fell as low as fifth in July, though staying over .500, and slowly worked their way back up the standings. After being introduced the previous year to the major league at Cincinnati, night baseball continued to spread and is often credited with saving baseball during the Depression. The Reds were fifth, followed by Boston and Brooklyn. Not much could help the Phillies, who lost 100 games.

Paul Waner won the batting title at .373, edging Babe Phelps at .367. Arky Vaughan led in on-base, with Ott leading in slugging and OPS. Vaughan led with 122 runs, just ahead of Pepper Martin's 121. Joe "Ducky" Medwick led the league in doubles with 64, hits with 223, and RBI with 138. Ott led with 33 homers, Ival Goodman with 14 triples, and Martin with 23 steals.

Hubbell led the league with 26 wins and a 2.31 ERA, while Van Lingle Mungo had 238 strikeouts to pace the loop. Dizzy Dean won 24 and logged 11 saves and 195 strikeouts. Danny MacFayden was second in ERA with a 2.87 mark.

Win Shares leaders, players: Mel Ott (New York) and Joe Medwick (St. Louis) 36, Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 35, Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 32, Billy Herman (Chicago) 29, Johnny Mize (St. Louis) 26, Gus Suhr (Pittsburgh) 25, Frank Demaree (Chicago), Kiki Cuyler (Cincinnati), Dick Bartell (New York) and Pepper Martin (St. Louis) 24, Wally Berger and Tony Cuccinello (Boston) and Jo-Jo Moore (New York) 23.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers: Carl Hubbell (New York) 37, Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) 31, Van Lingle Mungo (Brooklyn) 24, Danny MacFayden (Boston) 22, Larry French (Chicago) 21, Bill Lee (Chicago) 20, Bill Swift (Pittsburgh) 18.

WARP3 scores: Vaughan 10.2, Ott 9.0, Herman 8.5, Waner 8.4, Medwick 7.8, Cuccinello 6.9 (career year), Bartell 6.3, Demaree 5.4, Suhr (career year) and Gus Mancuso (New York) 4.8, Mize 4.6 (rookie), Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) 4.4, Moore 4.3, Dolph Camilli (Philadelphia) 4.2, Joe Stripp (Brooklyn) 3.9, Berger 3.8 in his last big year, .

Pitchers, Hubbell 9.7, Dean 8.2 in his last big year, Bucky Walters (Philadelphia) 6.6, Mungo 6.2, MacFayden 6.2 in his career year, Claude Passeau (Philadelphia) 5.4, Ed Brandt (Brooklyn) 4.7, French 4.3, Lee and Paul Derringer (Cincinnati) 4.2, Tex Carleton (Chicago) 4.1, Swift 4.0 (last good year).

WAR leaders, position players: Ott 7.7, Vaughan 7.2, Waner 6.7, Herman 6.5, Medwick 6.1, Bartell 6.0, Camilli 5.5, Cuccinello 5.3, Suhr 5.2, Demaree 4.8, Berger 4.2, Mize 4.1. Pitchers: Hubbell 9.0, Dean 6.3, Mungo 5.8, MacFayden 5.5, French and Lee 4.3, Brandt 4.1, Lucas 3.7, Frankhouse 3.5, Walters 3.4.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Carl Hubbell NYG 6 60 80 0.75 | 110 25 0 .227 .484 0| 26-6 304 2.31 1.059 123 3
2 Dizzy Dean STL 0 53 80 0.66 | 121 27 0 .223 .512 0| 24-13 315 3.17 1.152 195 11
3 Billy Herman CHC 0 37 80 0.46 | 632 211 5 .334 .862 5
4 Joe Medwick STL 0 30 80 0.38 | 636 223 18 .351 .964 3
5 Paul Waner PIT 0 29 80 0.36 | 585 218 5 .373 .965 7
6 Mel Ott NYG 0 28 80 0.35 | 534 175 33 .328 1.036 6
7 Frank Demaree CHC 0 17 80 0.21 | 605 212 16 .350 .896 4
8 Gus Mancuso NYG 0 13 80 0.16 | 519 156 9 .301 .755 0
9 Danny MacFayden BSN 0 12 80 0.15 | 83 8 0 .096 .266 0| 17-13 267 2.87 1.252 86
10 Leo Durocher STL 0 8 80 0.10 | 510 146 1 .286 .674 3

Top player: Mel Ott, missed in the voting again. He often got a year likMee this, when an impressive pitcher beat him out. That doesn't matter to us, using separate categories. Ott led the league in homers and OPS and had a .328-33-135 line. Arky Vaughan led the league in walks and runs and ranks #2. Joe Medwick #3 with a .351-18-138 performance that led the league in hits and RBI, and Paul Waner #4 with his batting crown at .373. Billy Herman, top player in the MVP voting, is #5.

Top pitcher: Carl Hubbell, the Meal Ticket earning his nickname at 26-6, 2.31 ERA leading the league in wins and ERA. Dizzy Dean pre-injury ranks #2 at 24-13, 3.17. Van Lingle Mungo led in strikeouts and will rank #3 in a down year for NL pitchers. Danny MacFayden had the year of his life to place #4 at 17-13 with the second-best ERA in the league. Larry French's 18-9 for the Cubs ranks #5.

Top rookie: John Mize, the Big Cat, debuted with a .329-19-93 line.

Top manager: Bill Terry got the Giants back to the winner's circle with a load of help from his stars.

1936 American League

The New York Yankees started a run of four straight pennants with an offensive juggernaut that also kept opposition runs off the board better than any other team in the AL. The Babe Ruth era was over, but Lou Gehrig was still around, new star Joe DiMaggio arrived, Bill Dickey came into his prime, and Red Ruffing and Lefty Gomez anchored the pitching staff. The Yankees won 102 games, defeating Detroit by 19.5 games, Washington and Chicago by 20, and Cleveland by 22.5. Boston was close to .500, while St. Louis and Philadelphia were the doormats. The Yankees also won the World Series in six games.

Chicago's Luke Appling led the league with a .388 average, with Earl Averill second at .378. Gehrig led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. He also led in runs with 167 and homers with 49. Averill led with 232 hits, and tied for the triples lead with DiMaggio, each having 15. Charlie Gehringer had 60 doubles. Hal Trosky had 162 RBI and also led in total bases. Lyn Lary had 38 steals.

For pitchers, Tommy Bridges had 23 wins; Vern Kennedy was second with 21, Wes Ferrell, Johnny Allen, and Red Ruffing won 20 each. Lefty Grove led with a 2.81 ERA, trailed by Allen at 3.44 and Pete Appleton at 3.53. Bridges led with 175 strikeouts with Allen next at 165 and Bobo Newsom at 156.

Win Shares leaders, players; Lou Gehrig (New York) 38, Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) 34, Luke Appling (Chicago) 29, Earl Averill (Cleveland) 27, Jimmie Foxx (Boston) 26, Bill Dickey and Joe DiMaggio (New York) 25, Zeke Bonura (Chicago), Frankie Crosetti and Red Rolfe (New York) 24, Goose Goslin (Detroit) and Harlond Clift (St. Louis) 23.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Lefty Grove (Boston) 29, Wes Ferrell (Boston) 27, Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 26, Johnny Allen (Cleveland) 25, Red Ruffing (New York) 23, Schoolboy Rowe (Detroit) 21, Vern Kennedy (Chicago), Monte Pearson (New York) and Harry Kelley (Philadelphia) 20.

WARP3 scores: Gehrig 8.1, Gehringer 7.9, Rolfe 6.0, Dickey 5.7, Appling 5.5, John Stone (Washington) 5.1, Averill and Odell Hale (Cleveland) 4.7, DiMaggio 4.4 (rookie), Crosetti 4.3, Foxx 4.0 (first year in Boston), Bob Johnson (Philadelphia) 3.9, Clift 3.6. RBI leader Hal Trosky had 21 Win Shares and a WARP3 of 2.4.

Pitchers: Grove 7.3, Allen 6.2 (first year in Cleveland), Ferrell (last good year), and Kelley (his only good year) 5.4, Bridges 5.2 in his best season, Ruffing 4.4, Pearson (best season) and Ivy Andrews (St. Louis) 4.1, Rowe 3.9.

WAR leaders, position players: Gehrig 10.8, Gehringer 8.6, Appling 8.1, Averill 7.9, Foxx 7.8, Clift 6.4, DiMaggio 6.2, Rolfe 6.1, Dickey and Hale 6.0, Bonura 5.8, Trosky 5.7. Pitchers: Grove 8.9, Allen 6.4, Bridges 6.3, Ferrell 6.2, Kelley 5.5, Pearson 4.7, Ruffing 4.5, Appleton 4.1, Andrews 3.9, Rowe 3.8.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10 | Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+------+---+-----+-----+---+--+
1 Lou Gehrig NYY 0 73 80 0.91 | 579 205 49 .354 1.174 3
2 Luke Appling CHW 0 65 80 0.81 | 526 204 6 .388 .981 10
3 Earl Averill CLE 0 48 80 0.60 | 614 232 28 .378 1.065 3
4 Charlie Gehringer DET 0 39 80 0.49 | 641 227 15 .354 .987 4
5 Bill Dickey NYY 0 29 80 0.36 | 423 153 22 .362 1.045 0
6 Vern Kennedy CHW 0 27 80 0.34 | 113 32 0 .283 .643 0| 21-9 274 4.63 1.564 99
6 Joe Kuhel WSH 0 27 80 0.34 | 588 189 16 .321 .893 15
8 Joe DiMaggio NYY 0 26 80 0.32 | 637 206 29 .323 .928 4
9 Tommy Bridges DET 0 25 80 0.31 | 118 25 0 .212 .494 0| 23-11 295 3.60 1.371 175
10 Hal Trosky CLE 0 19 80 0.24 | 629 216 42 .343 1.026 6

Top player: Lou Gehrig was the easy leader in OPS+ and posted a .354-49-152 line that included the leading home run total. He is a solid #1 for the pennant-winners. 2nd to Charlie Gehringer for a season where he hit .354 and scored 144 runs. #3 to Luke Appling, winning the batting title at .388. Earl Averill #4 with a .378 average, leading the league in hits. Bill Dickey, Yankee catcher in his breakthrough year, gets #5.

Top pitcher: Lefty Grove led in ERA by a wide margin, posting a 17-12 record with that 2.81 mark. Johnny Allen ranks #2 with a 20-10 record and 3.44 ERA. Tommy Bridges ranks #3 with a 23-11 record and 3.60 ERA. Wes Ferrell #4 at 20-15, 4.19. Red Ruffing #5 at 20-12, 3.85.

Top rookie: Joe DiMaggio in one of the easiest decisions in history. The 21-year-old Californian had a .323-29-125 line and stellar defense that gave the Yankees a spark and started a new version of the Yankee dynasty.

Top manager: Joe McCarthy began his string as the "Push-Button Manager" by pushing all the right buttons.

1935 National League

The Cubs won 100 games and the pennant, beating out defending champs St. Louis by four games. Came up short in the Series, though. New York was third, and Pittsburgh a solid 4th, followed by Brooklyn, Cincinnati, and Philadelphia, with Boston having one of the all-time worst seasons and losing 115 games in spite of stellar play from Wally Berger again. Most important, the first official major league night game was played, in Cincinnati. It would do a lot to boost attendance during the Depression, and after.

Arky Vaughan had a huge year, winning the batting title with a .385 average, leading the league in walks so that he was getting on base in nearly half his plate appearances, and also leading the league in slugging and OPS. He played a good shortstop, too. Joe Medwick was second in average with a .355 mark, and Gabby Hartnett third with a .344. Augie Galan led in runs with 133 and steals with 22. Billy Herman led in hits with 227 and doubles with 57. Ival Goodman had 18 triples. Wally Berger had 34 homers and 130 RBI for the sad-sack Braves. Mel Ott was second with 31 homers and Medwick second with 126 RBI.

Cy Blanton of Pittsburgh, no apparent relation to current pitcher Joe Blanton, led the league with a 2.58 ERA. Dizzy Dean had another great year, with 28 wins and 190 strikeouts to lead the league. Carl Hubbell was second with 23 wins, Paul Derringer third with 22. Bill Swift was second with a 2.70 ERA, Hal Schumacher third at 2.89.

Win Shares leaders, players; Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 39, Mel Ott (New York) 35, Joe Medwick (St. Louis) 33, Augie Galan and Billy Herman (Chicago) 32, Hank Leiber (New York) and Rip Collins (St. Louis) 28, Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) 26, Jo-Jo Moore (New York) 24, Bill Terry (New York) 23, Stan Hack (Chicago) and Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 22, Wally Berger (Boston) 21.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) 31, Carl Hubbell (New York) 26, Cy Blanton (Pittsburgh) 24, Hal Schumacher (New York) 23, Lon Warneke (Chicago) and Paul Dean (St. Louis) 22, Bill Lee (Chicago) and Curt Davis (Philadelphia) 21, Paul Derringer (Cincinnati) and Bill Swift (Pittsburgh) 20.

WARP3 scores: Vaughan 12.2 (best year), Ott 10.4, Herman 8.0 in his first big year, Galan 7.6 in his first full season, Hartnett 7.3, Medwick 6.8, Berger 5.8, Moore 5.5, Leiber 5.4 in his first full season, Collins (last good year) and Waner 5.2, Hack 5.1, Terry 4.9 in his last full season, Dick Bartell (New York) 4.6.

Pitchers, D. Dean 8.0, Davis 7.3, Blanton 6.4 as a rookie in his best year, Warneke 5.3, Hubbell and Swift in his best year 5.0, Schumacher, P. Dean in his last good year, and Syl Johnson (Philadelphia) 4.9, Derringer 4.8, Bob Smith (Boston) 4.5, Van Lingle Mungo (Brooklyn) 4.4.

WAR leaders, position players: Vaughan 9.7, Ott 7.8, Herman 7.3, Medwick 6.5, Galan 6.1, Berger 5.7, Leiber 5.2, Hartnett 5.1, Terry 5.0, Collins and Hack 4.8, Waner 4.4, Moore 3.7. Pitchers: Dean 7.1, Blanton 6.5, Davis 5.6, P. Dean 5.5, Schumacher and Swift 5.0, Hubbell 4.9, Warneke 4.7, French 4.6, Johnson 4.1.

Actual award voting: MVP Top 10
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----+---
1 Gabby Hartnett CHC 0 75 80 0.94 | 413 142 13 .344 .949 1
2 Dizzy Dean STL 0 66 80 0.82 | 128 30 2 .234 .559 2| 28-12 325 3.04 1.233 190 5
3 Arky Vaughan PIT 0 45 80 0.56 | 499 192 19 .385 1.098 4
4 Billy Herman CHC 0 38 80 0.48 | 666 227 7 .341 .859 6
5 Joe Medwick STL 0 37 80 0.46 | 634 224 23 .353 .962 4
6 Wally Berger BSN 0 20 80 0.25 | 589 174 34 .295 .903 3
6 Carl Hubbell NYG 0 20 80 0.25 | 109 26 1 .239 .556 0| 23-12 303 3.27 1.199 150
6 Bill Terry NYG 0 20 80 0.25 | 596 203 6 .341 .834 7
9 Augie Galan CHC 0 18 80 0.22 | 646 203 12 .314 .866 22
10 Pepper Martin STL 0 16 80 0.20 | 539 161 9 .299 .789 20

Top player: Arky Vaughan had one of the all-time great seasons for Pittsburgh. His .385 average led the league by 32 points, and he also led in walks, OPS and OPS+ while playing a strong shortstop. 19 HR and 99 RBI with 105 runs are also strong credentials. Mel Ott gets my #2 spot with the second-best OPS+ and 31 HR with 114 RBI. Billy Herman's .341 average for the pennant winners plus defense at second base gets him #3. Medwick is #4 with a .353-23-126 line, then Augie Galan's league-leading 133 runs for the Cubs gets him #5. Gabby Hartnett won the MVP mostly for sentimental reasons, although he did play well. I'd put him sixth.

Top pitcher: Dizzy Dean again, leading in wins and strikeouts with a 28-12 record and 3.04 ERA. Carl Hubbell ranks #2 with a 23-12 record and 3.15 ERA. Cy Blanton ranked #3 at 18-13 while leading the league with his 2.58 ERA. Hal Schumacher #4 at 19-9, 2.89. Lon Warneke's 20 wins for #5.

Top rookie: Blanton, but his career would decline from here. He was a 26-year old rookie.

Top manager: Charlie Grimm gets this award for managing the pennant winners.

1935 American League

The Tigers won their second straight pennant by again bludgeoning the league into submission with a superior offense. The Yankees were just three games back with the best pitching in the league. Babe Ruth was gone, off playing his final season with the Boston Braves. Cleveland ran third, and Boston played their best ball in nearly two decades to finish fourth. Then came Chicago, followed by Boston, St. Louis, and Philadelphia. Detroit topped one million in attendance, but the Browns slipped below 100K.

Buddy Myer of Washington won the batting title at .349, edging Joe Vosmik at .348 and Jimmie Foxx at .346. Lou Gehrig led in on-base, while Foxx led in slugging and OPS. Gehrig led in runs with 125, Vosmik in hits with 216 (beating Myer by one this time), and also led in doubles with 47 and triples with 20. Foxx and Hank Greenberg tied with 36 home runs, but Greenberg was all by himself with 170 RBI. Billy Werber led in steals again with 29.

Wes Ferrell topped the league with 25 wins (and also with 38 starts), Tommy Bridges led with 163 strikeouts, and Lefty Grove with a 2.70 ERA. With Grove and Ferrell, Boston had two top pitchers.

Win Shares leaders, players: Hank Greenberg (Detroit) and Lou Gehrig (New York) 34, Buddy Myer (Washington) 33, Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) 31, Jimmie Foxx (Philadelphia) 30, Joe Vosmik (Cleveland) 28, Luke Appling (Chicago) and Mickey Cochrane (Detroit) 24, Billy Rogell (Detroit) 23, Earl Averill (Cleveland) and Red Rolfe (New York) 22.

Win Shares leaders, pitchers; Wes Ferrell (Boston) 35, Lefty Grove (Boston) 29, Mel Harder (Cleveland) 27, Schoolboy Rowe (Detroit) 23, Red Ruffing (New York) 22, Willis Hudlin (Cleveland) and Ivy Andrews (St. Louis) 21, Ted Lyons (Chicago) 20.

WARP3 scores: Gehrig 8.4, Foxx 8.0 in his last season in Philly, Greenberg 7.6, Gehringer 7.0, Appling 6.7, Vosmik 6.4 in his best season, Rolfe 5.3 in his first full season. Myer 5.1 (his best season, at age 31), Cochrane 4.6 in his last full season, Bob Johnson (Philadelphia) 4.5, George Selkirk (New York) 4.3, Rogell 3.7.

For the pitchers, Ferrell 9.2, Grove 7.6, Harder 6.5, Rowe 5.5, Andrews 5.1 (best year), Johnny Marcum (Philadelphia) 4.8, Hudlin 4.7 in his last good year, Ruffing 4.2, Tommy Bridges (Detroit) and Bobo Newsom (St. Louis/Washington) 3.6, Lyons and Elden Auker (Detroit) 3.4.

WAR leaders, position players: Gehrig 9.6, Foxx 9.4, Greenberg 8.4, Gehringer 8.1, Appling 7.3, Myer 6.9, Vosmik 6.6, Rogell 5.2, Cochrane 5.1, Johnson 4.7, Hale 4.6. Pitchers: Grove 7.7, Ferrell 6.9, Harder 6.3, Andrews 5.3, Rowe 4.3, Lyons 4.2, Hudlin, Ruffing, and Whitehead 4.1, Gomez 3.8.

Actual award voting, for MVP: (Top 10)
Season Results
Rk Name Team 1st Place Points Max Points Share| AB H HR BA OPS SB| W-L IP ERA WHIP SO SV
+--+----------------+----+-----+------+------+-----+-----+---+--+-----+-----
1 Hank Greenberg DET 8 80 80 1.00 | 619 203 36 .328 1.039 4
2 Wes Ferrell BOS 0 62 80 0.78 | 150 52 7 .347 .960 0| 25-14 322 3.52 1.378 110
3 Joe Vosmik CLE 0 39 80 0.49 | 620 216 10 .348 .946 2
4 Buddy Myer WSH 0 36 80 0.45 | 616 215 5 .349 .907 7
5 Lou Gehrig NYY 0 29 80 0.36 | 535 176 30 .329 1.049 8
6 Charlie Gehringer DET 0 26 80 0.32 | 610 201 19 .330 .911 11
7 Mickey Cochrane DET 0 24 80 0.30 | 411 131 5 .319 .902 5
8 Doc Cramer PHA 0 18 80 0.22 | 644 214 3 .332 .789 6
9 Rollie Helmsley SLB 0 16 80 0.20 | 504 146 0 .290 .730 3
9 Moose Solters TOT 0 16 80 0.20 | +631 201 18 .319 .854 11

Top player: Hank Greenberg. Greenberg, Foxx and Gehrig are in almost a dead heat statistically, but Greenberg's team won. Also, those 170 RBI look mighty impressive. Make Foxx #2 with his tie with Greenberg for the home run lead, and I'll put Gehrig #3. Gehringer makes a fine #4 with his .330 average, and Buddy Myer gets #5 with his batting title. Vosmik would be sixth.

Top pitcher: Wes Ferrell had an impressive 25 wins for the rebuilding Red Sox, and teammate Lefty Grove edges Mel Harder for the #2 spot. Schoolboy Rowe is 4th with Red Ruffing 5th.

Top rookie: Wally Moses batted .325 in 85 games for Philadelphia. He had a good if unspectacular career and was a long-time hitting coach.

Top manager: Mickey Cochrane for bringing the Tigers home again.

1934 National League

The "Gas House Gang" Cardinals won a close pennant race by two games over the Giants, powered by a free-wheeling lineup and the Dean brothers on the mound. Chicago was third, eight games back. Boston was 4th, Pittsburgh 5th, followed by Brooklyn and Philadelphia. Cincinnati was again last.

Paul Waner won the batting title with a .362 average, just ahead of Bill Terry's .354. Waner also led in runs with 122 and hits with 217. Arky Vaughan led in on-base, while Rip Collins led in slugging and OPS. Ethan Allen and Kiki Cuyler had 42 doubles each, while Joe Medwick had 18 triples. Collins tied Mel Ott with 35 homers, while Ott led with 135 RBI. Pepper Martin led with 23 steals.

Dizzy Dean put up a big 30-win year, and also led with 195 strikeouts. Carl Hubbell led in ERA at 2.30. Hubbell also led the league in saves with 8, as well as complete games with 25. It was a different time then. Most games were loaded onto the weekend during the Depression, so that somebody would come out, so doubleheaders on both Saturday and Sunday were common. Aces might start on Friday and relieve on Sunday, or vice-versa.

Win Shares leaders, players; Mel Ott (New York) 38, Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 36, Wally Berger (Boston) 33, Ripper Collins (St. Louis) 32, Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 30, Bill Terry (New York) 29, Jo-Jo Moore (New York) 26, Billy Urbanski (Boston) 25, Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) and Ducky Medwick (St. Louis) 24.

WS leaders, pitchers; Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) 37, Carl Hubbell (New York) 32, Lon Warneke (Chicago) 26, Hal Schumacher (New York) and Curt Davis (Philadelphia) 24, Van Lingle Mungo (Brooklyn) and Paul Dean (St. Louis) 22.

WARP3: Ott 10.3, Vaughan 10.1, Waner 8.6, Hartnett 7.0, Len Koenecke (Brooklyn) and Dick Bartell (Philadelphia) 6.0, Collins 5.5 (career year), Kiki Cuyler (Chicago) 4.6, Urbanski (career year), Frankie Frisch (St. Louis) and Chuck Klein (Chicago) 4.5, Moore 4.4, Terry 4.2.

Pitchers; D. Dean 9.7, Davis 8.1 (as a 30-year-old rookie), Hubbell 7.6, Mungo 7.2, Benny Frey (Cincinnati) 6.8, Paul Derringer (Cincinnati) 6.5, Warneke 5.8, P. Dean 5.4 (as a 20-year-old rookie), Ed Brandt (Boston) 5.0, Schumacher and Waite Hoyt (Pittsburgh) 4.8.

WAR leaders, position players: Ott 7.5, Vaughan 7.2, Collins 6.8, Waner 6.5, Terry 6.1, Koenecke and Berger 5.1, Leslie 4.3, Cuyler and Jackson 4.0, Hartnett 3.9. Pitchers: D. Dean 8.1, Hubbell 7.4, Davis 6.8, Mungo and Warneke 5.0, P. Dean 4.8, Hoyt 4.4, Frey 3.8, Derringer 3.7, Collins and Walker 3.5.

Actual MVP voting (top 15):
Place Name Team Points
1 Dizzy Dean STL 78
2 Paul Waner PIT 50
3 Jo-Jo Moore NYG 42
4 Travis Jackson NYG 39
5 Mel Ott NYG 37
6 Ripper Collins STL 32
7 Bill Terry NYG 30
8 Curt Davis PHI 18
9 Paul Dean STL 16
9 Carl Hubbell NYG 16
9 Hal Schumacher NYG 16
12 Wally Berger BSN 13
13 Lon Warneke CHC 10
14 Gabby Hartnett CHC 9
15 Gordon Slade CIN 5

Best player: Mel Ott, although Arky Vaughan would make a good choice too. Ott was clearly the best hitter in the league, with a .326-35-135 line. Vaughan gets the #2 spot with his .333-12-94 season, although he got just one MVP vote. Paul Waner is #3 after leading the league in average and going .362-14-90. Ripper Collins of the pennant winner was #4 with a tie for Ott for the home run lead and a .333-35-128 line. Gabby Hartnett's .299-22-90 coupled with his excellent defense puts him 5th.

Best pitcher: Dizzy Dean, of course. His 30-7 year, plus a 2.66 ERA. Carl Hubbell led the league in ERA at 2.30 and went 21-12. Curt Davis was 19-17 with a 2.95 ERA in the hitter's haven of Philadelphia. Lon Warneke was 21-10, 3.21 for 4th, Van Lingle Mungo 18-16, 3.37 for 5th.

Best rookie: Paul Dean (or Daffy, if you prefer) since he was 20 to the more productive Curt Davis' 30. Didn't help him have a better career, though. Paul was 19-11 and had a 3.43 ERA. He had the most promise, but ended with 50 career wins to Davis' 158.

Best manager: Frankie Frisch had to coordinate the St. Louis wild bunch. That was a full-time job in itself.

1934 American League

The Tigers won the pennant by a seven-game margin over the Yankees, with an exceptional offense and good pitching. They lost the World Series in seven games, though. The emergence of a young Hank Greenberg gave the Tigers the push they needed. Cleveland was a distant third, while Boston was just at .500 and in fourth place. Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington (in a big falloff from the previous year's pennant) and Chicago made up the second division.

In a display of how different things were in 1934, consider these things: it was the middle of the depression, and before night baseball started, no team drew one million fans. The Tigers led in attendance with a little over 900,000. Only the Yankees and Tigers averaged over 11,000 fans per game. The Browns drew just over 100,000, or about 1500 per game. It was a tough time at the box office.

Mickey Cochrane won the MVP for the pennant winners, but Lou Gehrig won the Triple Crown for the second-place team. Gehrig had a .363 average, just ahead of the Tigers' Charlie Gehringer at .356, hit 49 homers to best Jimmie Foxx's 44, and drove in 165 runs to finish ahead of Hal Trosky's 142. Gehrig also led in on-base, slugging, OPS, and total bases. Gehringer led with 134 runs and 214 hits, Hank Greenberg had 63 doubles, Ben Chapman had 13 triples, and Billy Werber stole 40 bases.

The Yankees had another Triple Crown winner in pitcher Lefty Gomez, who had 26 wins, 158 strikeouts, and a 2.33 ERA to lead the league. Second-place finishers were Schoolboy Rowe with 24 wins, Tommy Bridges with 151 strikeouts, and Mel Harder with a 2.61 ERA.

Win Shares leaders, players; Lou Gehrig (New York) 41, Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) 37, Earl Averill (Cleveland) 33, Jimmie Foxx (Philadelphia) 32, Hank Greenberg (Detroit) 31, Hal Trosky (Cleveland) 28, Bill Werber (Boston) 26, Billy Rogell (Detroit) 24, Al Simmons (Chicago), Mickey Cochrane and Marv Owen (Detroit) 23.

WS leaders, pitchers; Lefty Gomez (New York) 31, Schoolboy Rowe (Detroit) 28, Mel Harder (Cleveland) 27, Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 22, Bobo Newsom (St. Louis) 21, Wes Ferrell (Boston) and Johnny Murphy (New York) 18, Fritz Ostermueller (Boston), Monte Pearson (Cleveland) and Red Ruffing (New York) 17.

WARP3: Gehrig 10.1, Gehringer 8.6, Averill 7.4 (best year), Foxx 6.4, Bob Johnson (Philadelphia) 5.2, Werber 5.0, Greenberg 4.7, Cochrane and Babe Ruth (New York) 4.6, Tony Lazzeri (New York) 4.5, Bill Dickey (New York) 4.4, Simmons 3.8 (last big year), Rogell and Rollie Helmsley (St. Louis) 3.7.

Pitchers; Gomez 6.6, Harder 6.5, Rowe 5.7 (first full year), Ostermueller 4.4 (rookie), Ferrell 4.3, Bobby Burke (Washington) 4.2, Newsom 4.1 (rookie), Bridges 3.8, George Earnshaw (Chicago) 3.4, Murphy (rookie, best year, by far his most use), and Johnny Welch (Boston) 3.3.

WAR leaders, position players: Gehrig 11.5, Foxx 9.6, Gehringer 9.2, Averill 7.4, Greenberg 7.1, Werber 6.3, Trosky 6.1, Rogell 5.4, Simmons and Johnson 5.3, Manush 5.2. Pitchers: Gomez 8.1, Harder 6.8, Rowe 5.8, Bridges 5.7, Newsom 4.9, Ostermueller 4.6, Murphy 4.4, Burke and Ferrell 3.9, Blaeholder 3.8.

Actual MVP voting(top 15):
Place Name Team Points
1 Mickey Cochrane DET 67
2 Charlie Gehringer DET 65
3 Lefty Gomez NYY 60
4 Schoolboy Rowe DET 59
5 Lou Gehrig NYY 54
6 Hank Greenberg DET 29
7 Hal Trosky CLE 18
8 Wes Ferrell BOS 16
9 Marv Owen DET 13
10 Jimmie Foxx PHA 11
11 Al Simmons CHW 9
12 Roy Johnson BOS 8
12 Billy Werber BOS 8
14 Goose Goslin DET 6
15 Sam West SLB 5
The voters zeroed in on a top five of three Tigers and two Yankees. Three more Tigers came in down-ballot. The Detroit team really impressed the BBWAA voters.

Best player: Lou Gehrig. Larrupin' Lou won the Triple Crown, but couldn't win the MVP. He gets this award, though, but I was tempted to vote for Gehringer. Gehrig's .363-49-165 line is too hard to ignore. Gehringer didn't have the same power, but his defense supplements his .356-11-127 line as he was second in batting average. Earl Averill had a terrific year at .313-31-113 and nets third place, with Jimmie Foxx #4 at .334-44-130. Hank Greenberg's first big year, with a .339-26-138 line and all those doubles, gets him #5.

Best pitcher: Lefty Gomez. Again, Lefty is the best pitcher in the league, but this time it is Gomez putting up Grove-like stats, with a 26-5 record and a league-leading ERA of 2.33. Mel Harder places second with a 20-12, 2.61 season. Schoolboy Rowe places 3rd in his first full year with a 24-8 record and 3.45 ERA. Tommy Bridges' 22-11, 3.67 earns him 4th, with Bobo Newsom's 16-20, 4.01 for the lowly Browns good enough for 5th.

Best rookie: Hal Trosky made a strong showing in his first full year, going .330-35-142. Bobo Newsom second with a 16-20 record and 4.01 ERA, which still meant a 124 ERA+. Johnny Murphy and Fritz Ostermueller also earn notice.

Best manager: Mickey Cochrane will take this trophy, for guiding the Tigers to their first pennant since 1909.

1933 National League

New York took the pennant in the first year of the post-McGraw era, with Bill Terry in charge. This despite an off year by Giants star Mel Ott. The Giants led most of the way but the competition kept close, with Pittsburgh finishing five games back, Chicago six back, Boston nine of the pace and St. Louis 9.5 away. Brooklyn was a poor sixth. Chuck Klein won the triple crown although the Phillies slipped back to 7th, ahead of only Cincinnati.

Chuck Klein's Triple Crown was significantly park-aided, but he still edged Wally Berger for the OPS+ lead. Klein's .368 average was ahead of teammate Spud Davis at .349, his 28 HR edged Berger's 27, and his 120 RBI was ahead of Berger's 106. Klein also led in on-base, slugging, OPS, hits (223) and doubles (44). Pepper Martin had 26 steals and 122 runs, while Arky Vaughan led with 19 triples.

Carl Hubbell was nearly taking a pitching triple at the same time, leading in wins with 23 and ERA at 1.66, and finishing second in strikeouts. Dizzy Dean led that with 199. Ben Cantwell, Guy Bush, and Dean each won 20, with Lon Warneke second in ERA at 2.00 and Hal Schumacher third at 2.16.

Win Shares leaders, players; Wally Berger (Boston) 36, Arky Vaughan (Pittsburgh) 34, Mel Ott (New York) 31, Chuck Klein (Philadelphia) 30, Pepper Martin (St. Louis) 29, Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 28, Joe Medwick (St. Louis) 24, Babe Herman (Chicago), Chick Hafey (Cincinnati) and Freddie Lindstrom (Pittsburgh) 23.

WS leaders, pitchers; Carl Hubbell (New York) 33, Ed Brandt (Boston) and Lon Warneke (Chicago) 29, Hal Schumacher (New York) 23, Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) 22, Ben Cantwell (Boston) and Larry French (Pittsburgh) 21.

WARP3: Vaughan 9.4, Klein 8.6, Berger 7.7, Ott 6.5, Martin 5.6, Lindstrom (last good year) and Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) 5.3, Waner 5.2, Frankie Frisch (St. Louis) and Al Lopez (Brooklyn) 5.1, Riggs Stephenson (Chicago) 4.7, Herman and Billy Jurges (also Chicago) 4.6.

Pitchers: Hubbell 10.8 (best year), Warneke 8.6, Brandt 8.4 (best year), Schumacher 7.0 (best year), Van Lingle Mungo (Brooklyn) 6.7, Dean 6.2, Huck Betts (Boston) 5.3, French, Tex Carleton (St. Louis) and Ed Holley (Philadelphia) 4.7, Cantwell 4.5 (best year).

WAR, position players: Klein 7.8, Vaughan and Berger 6.6, Martin 5.8, Ott 5.6, Davis 4.5, Waner 4.4, Herman 4.2, Jurges and Lindstrom 4.0, Terry and Medwick 3.9. Pitchers: Hubbell 8.2, Warneke 6.1, Brandt 5.4, Schumacher 5.3, Dean 4.6, French and Mungo 4.4, Betts 3.6, Root 3.4, Carleton 3.2.

Actual MVP vote (top 15):
Place Name Team Points
1 Carl Hubbell NYG 77
2 Chuck Klein PHI 48
3 Wally Berger BSN 44
4 Bill Terry NYG 35
5 Pepper Martin STL 31
6 Gus Mancuso NYG 24
7 Dizzy Dean STL 23
8 Pie Traynor PIT 20
9 Blondy Ryan NYG 19
10 Ben Cantwell BSN 18
10 Al Lopez BRO 18
12 Guy Bush CHC 11
12 Rabbit Maranville BSN 11
12 Hal Schumacher NYG 11
15 Larry French PIT 10

Best player: Chuck Klein. Even with the hitter's park, he led the league in OPS+. Berger and Vaughan (in his second year) were great too. Klein had a .368-28-120 line to finish ahead of Wally Berger's .312-27-106. Arky Vaughan led in triples and ranks third. Ott is #4 at .283-23-103. Pepper Martin (.316, 122 runs) 5th.

Best pitcher: Carl Hubbell over a strong field. The NL is definitely getting more competitive about now, and Hubbell shone with a 23-12 record and 1.66 ERA. Lon Warneke ranked #2 with an 18-13 record and 2.00 ERA. #3 was Ed Brandt at 18-14, 2.60 ERA. Hal Schumacher was #4 at 19-12, 2.16. Dizzy Dean's first 20-win season earns him 5th.

Best rookie: None I could find. The best rookies were in the AL.

Best manager: Bill Terry won the pennant in his first full season on the job.

1933 American League

The Washington Senators took the pennant by seven games over the Yankees, using a good offense and the best pitching in the league. This was the last pennant by a Washington team to date. Jimmie Foxx won the Triple Crown (again, sort of), and the first All-Star Game was played. Philadelphia was a distant third, the only other team over .500. Cleveland and Detroit were close to .500, with Chicago, Boston and St. Louis trailing.

Foxx really won the Triple Crown this year, with the batting title at .356, 48 homers, and 163 RBI. Heinie Manush was second in batting at .336 followed by Lou Gehrig at .334. Gehrig was second in homers and RBI at 34 and 139. Foxx led in slugging and OPS, while Mickey Cochrane led in on-base. Gehrig led with 138 runs, Manush with 221 hits and 17 triples, Joe Cronin with 45 doubles. Ben Chapman had 27 steals.

Lefty Grove and Alvin Crowder each had 24 wins, Lefty Gomez had 163 strikeouts, Mel Harder a 2.95 ERA, and Jack Russell 13 saves. He was a real terrier on the mound, heh, heh, heh. Earl Whitehill won 22, Tommy Bridges was second with a 3.09 ERA, Gomez third at 3.18. Bump Hadley was second with 149 strikeouts.

Win Shares leaders, players; Jimmie Foxx (Philadelphia) 41, Lou Gehrig (New York) 36, Joe Cronin (Washington) 34, Babe Ruth (New York) 29, Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) 28, Heinie Manush (Washington) 27, Earl Averill (Cleveland), Mickey Cochrane (Philadelphia) and Joe Kuhel (Washington) 26.

WS leaders, pitchers; Mel Harder (Cleveland) 24, Lefty Grove (Philadelphia), Bump Hadley (St. Louis) and Earl Whitehill (Washington) 23, General Crowder (Washington) 21, Tommy Bridges and Firpo Marberry (Detroit) 20, Wes Ferrell (Cleveland) 18.

WARP3: Foxx 8.6, Cronin 7.9, Gehrig 7.3, Gehringer 6.6, Ruth 6.0 (and fading), Bill Dickey (New York) 5.4, Billy Rogell (Detroit) 5.2, Al Simmons (Chicago) 5.1, Luke Appling (Chicago) 4.9, Cochrane 4.8.

Pitchers: Grove 6.0, Hadley 5.8 (best year), Harder 4.6, George Blaeholder (St. Louis) 3.8, Bridges 3.7, Monte Pearson (Cleveland) 3.4, Marberry 3.3 (last good year), Jack Russell (Washington) and Red Ruffing (New York) 3.2, Whitehill and Ferrell 3.1.

WAR leaders, position players: Foxx 11.0, Cronin 8.5, Gehrig 8.3, Gehringer 8.2, Ruth 7.7, Cochrane 7.1, Rogell 6.2, Simmons and Chapman 5.8, Appling 5.6, Dickey and Myer 5.4. Pitchers: Grove 6.9, Hadley 6.3, Whitehill 5.1, Marberry 5.0, Harder 4.9, Bridges 4.3, Crowder and Pearson 4.1, Brown 3.6, Gomez and Weaver 3.5.

Actual award voting: MVP top 10.
Place Name Team 1st place votes Total votes
1 Jimmie Foxx PHA 4 74
2 Joe Cronin WSH 2 62
3 Heinie Manush WSH 2 54
4 Lou Gehrig NYY 0 39
5 Lefty Grove PHA 0 35
6 Charlie Gehringer DET 0 32
7 Alvin Crowder WSH 0 28
8 Al Simmons CHW 0 19
9 Earl Whitehill WSH 0 18
10 Ski Melillo SLB 0 12


Best player: Jimmie Foxx. The A's finished only 3rd, as Connie Mack's second fire sale was under way, but Foxx was dominating the league, a fearsome hitter at .356-48-163. Joe Cronin of the pennant winners rates 2nd at .309 with 118 RBI. Lou Gehrig 3rd at .334-32-139. Charlie Gehringer rates #4 with .325-12-105. Aging Babe Ruth is still #5, at .301-34-103.

Best pitcher: Lefty Grove. He wasn't as dominating as before, and the signs of 1934's troubles are there, but he was still the best in the league. Grove would have only been #3 or #4 in the NL this year. Grove was 24-8, 3.30. Mel Harder ranks #2 by leading the league in ERA despite a 15-17 record. Earl Whitehill's 22-8 3.33 is 3rd. Bump Hadley's 15-20 3.92 for the Browns ranks 4th. Alvin Crowder #5 with a 24-15 record and 3.97 ERA.

Best rookie: Indian Bob Johnson debuted at age 27 and batted .290 with 21 HR and 93 RBI for the A's, giving them a sweep of the player awards. Wasn't enough.

Best manager: Joe Cronin guided his aging team to a last-hurrah pennant.

1932 National League

Chicago won the pennant in a close race with Pittsburgh, as Brooklyn ran third. Philadelphia was a surprise 4th. The second division was Boston (at .500), New York and St. Louis (tied with 82 losses) with Cincinnati dead last. The Cubs switched managers, replacing Rogers Hornsby with Charlie Grimm for the stretch run, which culminated in a furious Cubs charge to the finish.

Lefty O'Doul won the batting title at .368, followed by Bill Terry at .350. Mel Ott edged O'Doul by one point in on-base, and Chuck Klein led in slugging and OPS. Klein led with 152 runs and 226 hits in Philadelphia's bandbox of a ballpark, and tied Ott with 38 homers. Teammate Don Hurst led with 143 RBI, beating out Klein by six. Klein also led with 20 steals. Paul Waner led with 62 doubles and Babe Herman with 19 triples.

Lon Warneke led pitchers with 22 wins and a 2.37 ERA, while Dizzy Dean led with 191 strikeouts. Watty Clark won 20 and Guy Bush 19. Carl Hubbell was second with a 2.50 ERA and Huck Betts third at 2.80. Hubbell was second in strikeouts at 137.

Win Shares leaders, players; Lefty O'Doul (Brooklyn) and Mel Ott (New York) 33, Bill Terry (New York) and Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 32, Chuck Klein (Philadelphia) 31, Wally Berger (Boston) 26, Babe Herman (Cincinnati) 24, Billy Herman and Riggs Stephenson (Chicago), Don Hurst (Philadelphia) and Lloyd Waner (Pittsburgh) 23 each.

WS leaders, pitchers; Lon Warneke (Chicago) 31, Carl Hubbell (New York) 25, Dizzy Dean (St. Louis) 24, Red Lucas (Cincinnati) 23, Larry French (Pittsburgh) 22, Watty Clark (Brooklyn) 20, Huck Betts (Boston) 18, Tom Zachary (Boston) 17.

WARP3: Ott 9.7, O'Doul 7.3 (last big year), Terry and Babe Herman 6.9, Dick Bartell (Philadelphia) 6.1, Klein and Pie Traynor (Pittsburgh) 5.4, P. Waner and Arky Vaughan (also Pittsburgh) 4.9, Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) 4.8, L. Waner 4.6 (best year), Tony Piet (Pittsburgh) 4.4, Danny Taylor (Brooklyn) 4.3, Berger, Hurst (career year), and Pinky Whitney (Philadelphia) 4.2, Billy Herman (rookie, I believe) and Tony Cuccinello (Brooklyn) 4.1, Stephenson 4.0.

Pitchers, Hubbell 9.0, Dean 8.1 (rookie year), Warneke 7.5 (breakthrough year), Lucas 6.5, Clark 5.0 (last big year), Bill Hallahan (St. Louis) 4.4, Betts and Zachary (last good year) 4.3, Ben Cantwell (Boston) and Tex Carleton (St. Louis) 4.1.

WAR, position players: Ott 8.3, Terry 7.4, Klein 7.3, O'Doul and Herman 6.8, Waner 5.8, Hurst 5.2, Bartell 4.5, Berger 4.2, Vaughan 3.9, Wilson and L. Waner 3.7. Pitchers: Warneke 7.2, Hubbell 6.8, Dean 5.1, Lucas 4.9, Rhem 4.3, Betts 4.2, Holley, Swetonic, and Zachary 3.7, Clark 3.4.

Actual MVP vote (top 10):
Place Name Team Points
1 Chuck Klein PHI 78
2 Lon Warneke CHC 68
3 Lefty O'Doul BRO 58
4 Paul Waner PIT 37
5 Riggs Stephenson CHC 32
6 Bill Terry NYG 25
7 Don Hurst PHI 24
8 Pie Traynor PIT 17
9 Billy Herman CHC 16
10 Mel Ott NYG 15

Best player: Mel Ott. This was the first MVP award Ott was jobbed out of, though it wouldn't be the last. Chuck Klein won by leading in HR and hits, even though he played in the best hitters' park in the league. But, his team played a surprising .500 (78-76) and finished 4th, while Ott's Giants were a disappointing 6th (tied), but only 6 games worse than the Phils. Ott was the leader in OBP, and in OPS+. Ott finished with a stat line of .318-38-123. Put Klein #2 with his .348-38-137. Batting champ Lefty O'Doul is #3 at .368-21-90, and Bill Terry ranks #4 with a .350-28-117 line. Paul Waner and his .341 average #5.

Best pitcher: Lon Warneke pitched the Cubs to the pennant and led the league in wins and ERA. He was 22-6, 2.37 in his first full season. Carl Hubbell ranks #2 with his 18-11 record and 2.50 ERA. Red Lucas #3 despite his 13-17 record for a last-place team, but with a 2.94 ERA. Dizzy Dean 4th with an 18-15 record, Watty Clark 5th with 20 wins.

Best rookie: Dizzy Dean. The Cardinals slid from the pennant to the second division, but came up with a prize pitcher in Ol' Diz.

Best manager: Could be Grimm, but I'll give it to Burt Shotton for a full-season surprise in Philly.

1932 American League

It was the Yankees' only pennant from 1929-35, due to the A's dynasty and the lack of a solid Yankee pitching staff, as well as the twilight of Babe Ruth. Still, the triple crown winner (Jimmie Foxx) will get the MVP. The Yankees had a 13-game margin over three-time previous winner Philadelphia, and 14 games over Washington, in a year of haves and have-nots. Chicago and Boston both lost over 100 games. Cleveland was 4th, Detroit 5th, and St. Louis 6th. The Depression was hitting some teams particularly hard.

Dale Alexander was the batting titlist, under the rules of the time, with a .367 average. He played 124 games, with 392 at bats. He won the championship since he played 100 games, but did not have 3.1 plate appearances per game as is now required. Foxx was second at .364. Foxx led the league with 58 home runs (challenging Ruth's single-season record) and 169 RBI. He also led in runs with 151, slugging, and OPS. Babe Ruth led in on-base, Eric McNair in doubles, Joe Cronin in triples, and Al Simmons in hits. Ben Chapman led in steals.

Alvin "General" Crowder led the league with 26 wins, and Lefty Grove was second with 25. Grove led in ERA 2.84, and was also second in strikeouts with 188 to Red Ruffing's 190. Ruffing was second with a 3.09 ERA, Ted Lyons third at 3.28. Fred "Firpo" Marberry led the league with 13 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Jimmie Foxx (Philadelphia) 40, Lou Gehrig (New York) 38, Babe Ruth (New York) 36, Joe Cronin (Washington) 33, Earl Averill (Cleveland) and Mickey Cochrane (Philadelphia) 30, Heinie Manush (Washington) 28, Tony Lazzeri (New York) 27, Charlie Gehringer (Detroit) and Earle Combs (New York) 25.

WS leaders, pitchers; Lefty Grove (Philadelphia) 33, General Crowder (Washington) 30, Wes Ferrell (Cleveland) and Red Ruffing (New York) 26, Clint Brown and Mel Harder (Cleveland) 21, Monte Weaver (Washington) 19, Lefty Gomez (New York) and Lefty Stewart (St. Louis) 17.

WARP3: Foxx 9.3 (peak year), Ruth 8.5, Gehrig and Cronin 7.8, Cochrane 7.2, Lazzeri 5.2, Willie Kamm (Cleveland) 4.8, Joe Vosmik (Cleveland) 4.7, Ossie Bluege (Washington) 4.4, Gehringer and Max Bishop (Philadelphia) 3.7, Averill and Dale Alexander (Boston) 3.5.

Pitchers, Grove 7.5, Ruffing 6.3, Ted Lyons (Chicago) 5.9, Ferrell 5.4, Crowder 5.2, Stewart 4.3, Harder 4.2, Brown 3.9 (best year), and Tommy Bridges (Detroit) 3.2.

WAR leaders, position players: Foxx 12.1, Ruth 9.4, Gehrig 8.9, Cronin 6.7, Cochrane 6.3, Lazzeri 5.9, Manush 5.8, Averill 5.7, Combs 5.5, Simmons and Gehringer 5.4, Chapman 5.2, Vosmik 4.9. Pitchers: Grove 8.5, Crowder 6.6, Ruffing 6.0, Ferrell 5.7, Harder 5.0, Lyons 4.7, Bridges and Brown 3.9, Stewart 3.6, Allen and Sorrell 3.4.

Actual MVP voting (top 12):
Place Name Team Points
1 Jimmie Foxx PHA 75
2 Lou Gehrig NYY 55
3 Heinie Manush WSH 41
4 Earl Averill CLE 37
5 Lefty Gomez NYY 27
6 Joe Cronin WSH 26
6 Babe Ruth NYY 26
8 Tony Lazzeri NYY 21
9 Charlie Gehringer DET 13
9 Al Simmons PHA 13
11 Dale Alexander TOT 10
11 Bill Cissell TOT 10

Best player: Jimmie Foxx. He was technically behind Dale Alexander in average, but Alexander would not qualify under today's rules: too few PA. Foxx's line was .364-58-169, and there was a lot of excitement in his challenge to Ruth's record of 60 homers. I'll put Gehrig #2 with his .349-34-151 stats, and Ruth #3 at .341-41-137. Mickey Cochrane #4 at .293-23-112, and Joe Cronin #5 as the triples leader.

Best pitcher: Lefty Grove, leader in ERA and CG, 2nd in wins and strikeouts. Grove was 25-10, 2.84. General Crowder ranks #2 at 26-13, 3.33, while Red Ruffing was #3 and 18-7, 3.03. Wes Ferrell #4, Mel Harder #5. Lefty Gomez won a lot of games (24) but didn't pitch all that well.

Best rookie: Johnny Allen, 17-4, 3.70 ERA for the Yankees.

Best manager: Joe McCarthy led that Yankee team, finally putting together a pitching staff.

1931 National League

The Cardinals won the pennant for a second straight year, this time by a comfortable margin, then won the World Series in 7 games. New York was 2nd, Chicago 3rd, and Brooklyn 4th. Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Boston followed, while Cincinnati brought up the rear. Offense was down significantly after a robust 1930, a trend that would generally continue through 1968 with brief interruptions.

Chick Hafey edged Bill Terry for the batting title by a fraction of a point: both hit .349. Jim Bottomley was just behind at .348. Rogers Hornsby led in on-base and OPS, Chuck Klein in slugging. Klein and Bill Terry tied with 121 runs. Paul Waner's 214 hits edged Terry by one. Sparky Adams had 46 doubles and Terry had 20 triples. Klein led with 31 homers and 121 RBI, playing in a bandbox of a ballpark. Mel Ott was second in both categories, with 29 HR and 115 RBI. Frankie Frisch led with 28 steals.

No 20-game winners, but three guys tied at 19: Jumbo Elliott, Bill Hallahan, and Heinie Meine. Hallahan led in strikeouts, his 159 edging Carl Hubbell's 155. Bill Walker of New York had the best ERA at 2.26, with Hubbell at 2.65 and Ed Brandt at 2.92, and veteran Jack Quinn had 15 saves.

Win Shares leaders, players; Wally Berger (Boston) 31, Bill Terry (New York) 29, Babe Herman (Brooklyn), Kiki Cuyler (Chicago), Mel Ott (New York) and Paul Waner (Pittsburgh) 26 each, Chuck Klein (Philadelphia) and Chick Hafey (St. Louis) 25, Woody English (Chicago) and Lloyd Waner (Pittsburgh) 24. Frankie Frisch, voted MVP by the BBWAA, had 21.

WS leaders, pitchers; Ed Brandt (Boston) 27, Watty Clark (Brooklyn) and Heinie Meine (Pittsburgh) 22, Bill Walker (New York), Ray Benge (Philadelphia), and Wild Bill Hallahan (St. Louis) 21, Tom Zachary (Boston) and Carl Hubbell (New York) 20.

Odd that Boston had the top player and pitcher in Win Shares, but finished with 90 losses. Aside from one other pitcher among the top performers, they really didn't have anything else.

WARP3: Travis Jackson (New York) 7.0, Ott 6.7, Berger 6.5, English 5.9, Terry 5.8, Rogers Hornsby (Chicago) 5.2, P. Waner 5.0, Tony Cuccinello (Cincinnati) 4.9, Cuyler 4.8, Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) 4.5, Hafey 4.0, Joe Stripp (Cincinnati) 3.8, Klein 3.6, Frisch had 3.1.

Pitchers: Benge 7.2 (career year), Clark 6.7, Brandt 6.0 (breakthrough year), Phil Collins (Philadelphia) 4.7, Zachary 4.5, Hubbell 4.3, Hallahan 4.0 (best year), Red Lucas (Cincinnati) 3.8, Syl Johnson (St. Louis), Dazzy Vance (Brooklyn), and Clise Dudley (Philadelphia) 3.7, Meine (career year) and Bob Smith (Chicago) 3.6.

WAR leaders, players: Terry 6.7, Berger 6.6, Ott 6.2, English 6.0, Jackson 5.8, Cuyler 5.5, Waner 5.4, Klein 5.1, Cuccinello and Hafey 5.0, Frisch 4.4, Herman 4.2. Pitchers: Walker 5.3, Benge 5.2, Clark 5.1, Brandt and Hubbell 4.7, Zachary 4.2, Hallahan 4.1, Meine and Smith 3.8, Root 3.6.

Actual award voting: the BBWAA MVP vote that continues to this day started in 1931.
Place Name Team Points (top 16 listed)
1 Frankie Frisch STL 65
2 Chuck Klein PHI 55
3 Bill Terry NYG 53
4 Woody English CHC 30
5 Chick Hafey STL 29
6 Jimmie Wilson STL 28
7 Travis Jackson NYG 24
8 Charlie Grimm CHC 21
9 Sparky Adams STL 18
10 Ed Brandt BSN 15
10 Rabbit Maranville BSN 15
12 Kiki Cuyler CHC 14
13 Pie Traynor PIT 12
14 Red Lucas CIN 10
15 Jim Bottomley STL 8
15 Lloyd Waner PIT 8

Top player: Wally Berger. He had a terrific year offensively and defensively, in a pitchers' park, for a terrible team. Didn't draw a single MVP vote, although teammate and .260 hitter Rabbit Maranville did. Hornsby led the league in OPS plus, but batted only 357 times. (He would never reach 100 AB again.) Chuck Klein was a zero defensively, as was Chick Hafey. Frisch won the vote as the veteran on the pennant-winner, and the "inspirational leader." The best alternative to Berger is Bill Terry, on the 2nd place Giants. Berger's numbers, .323-19-84, were superficially less impressive than his rookie year numbers from 1930, but his OPS+ was actually higher due to the overall offensive depression. Terry's line was .349-9-112, and also looked a lot less impressive than the previous year. It was all a matter of context, though. #3 would be Mel Ott, .292-29-115, and #4 would be Paul Waner, .322-6-70. Kiki Cuyler, .330 with 110 runs, 5th.

Top pitcher: Ed Brandt, like Berger with the Braves. Brandt did get the attention of the MVP voters, finishing tied for 10th with teammate Maranville, and the highest-finishing pitcher. Brandt was 3rd in ERA, 4th in wins (1 behind the leaders, with 18), 3rd in WHIP. Brandt went 18-11, 2.92 ERA. Watty Clark was second best, he was 14-10 with a 3.20 ERA. Ray Benge was 14-18 for a lousy Phillies team with a 3.17 ERA for 3rd. Carl Hubbell would soon start to dominate the league, but was #4 this year, 14-12, 2.65. #5 is Bill Walker, ERA leader at 16-9, 2.26.

Top rookie: Paul Derringer was 18-8 for the Cardinals.

Top manager: Gabby Street again led the Cardinals to the pennant.

1931 American League

The third of three consecutive pennants by the A's, and by a comfortable margin over the Yankees and Senators. The Depression and success were making economic times hard for owners like Connie Mack, and the dynasty ended after this season. They even lost the World Series. Offense receded some after the high-water mark of 1930, but was still at a high level. Philadelphia won 107 games, New York 94, Washington 92, Cleveland 78 to finish just over .500, then St. Louis, Boston and Detroit all about even, with Chicago last.

Al Simmons won the batting title at .390, followed by Babe Ruth at .373. Ed Morgan of Cleveland was next at .351. Ruth led in on-base, slugging, and OPS. Lou Gehrig led with 163 runs, followed by Ruth at 149 and Earl Averill at 140. Gehrig edged Averill in hits, 211 to 209. Earl Webb set a single-season record for doubles that still stands with 67. Roy Johnson had 19 triples. Gehrig and Ruth tied with 46 homers, while Gehrig had 184 RBI to Ruth's 163. Ben Chapman had 61 steals.

Lefty Grove dominated the pitching stats, with 31 wins (against just 4 losses), 175 strikeouts, and a 2.06 ERA. The best anyone else could do was 22 wins for Wes Ferrell, 152 strikeouts for George Earnshaw, and a 2.67 ERA for Lefty Gomez. Wilcy Moore had 10 saves for Boston.

Win Shares leaders, players; Babe Ruth (New York) 38, Lou Gehrig (New York) 36, Joe Cronin (Washington) 35, Al Simmons (Philadelphia) 34, Earl Averill (Cleveland) 30, Mickey Cochrane (Philadelphia) 28, Lu Blue (Chicago) 27, Earl Webb (Boston), Max Bishop (Philadelphia) and Goose Goslin (St. Louis) 25 each.

WS leaders, pitchers; Lefty Grove (Philadelphia) 42, George Earnshaw (Philadelphia) 29, Wes Ferrell (Cleveland) 28, Rube Walberg (Philadelphia) 24, Lefty Gomez (New York) and Firpo Marberry (Washington) 20, George Uhle (Detroit) and Lloyd Brown (St. Louis) 19.

WARP3: Ruth 10.1, Gehrig 8.1, Cronin 8.0, Simmons 7.1, Cochrane 6.4, Lyn Lary (New York) 6.3, Bishop 5.9, Bill Dickey (New York) 5.2, Ben Chapman (New York) 4.6, Sam West (Washington) 4.4, Goslin 4.1, Averill 3.7.

Pitchers, Ferrell 7.6, Grove 6.8, Gomez (his first full year, 60 IP in 1930) and Uhle (last good year) 4.6, Lefty Stewart (St. Louis) 3.7, Wilcy Moore (Boston) 3.5, Vic Sorrell (Detroit) 3.4, Dick Coffman (St. Louis) and Earl Whitehill (Detroit) 3.3.

WAR, position players: Ruth 11.3, Gehrig 9.8, Simmons 8.4, Cronin 7.5, Bishop and Chapman 6.7, Averill 6.6, Cochrane 6.0, Goslin 5.9, Foxx 5.6, Webb 5.4, Lary 5.3. Pitchers: Grove 9.4, Gomez 6.0, Ferrell 5.6, Walberg 5.1, Earnshaw 4.8, Marberry 4.4, Uhle 4.2, Brown 4.0, Sorrell 3.7, Coffman 3.5.

Actual award voting (1931 was the first BBWAA "official" MVP award voting):

MVP (Top 15)
Place Name Team Points
1 Lefty Grove PHA 78
2 Lou Gehrig NYY 59
3 Al Simmons PHA 51
4 Earl Averill CLE 43
5 Babe Ruth NYY 40
6 Earl Webb BOS 22
7 Joe Cronin WSH 18
8 Ski Melillo SLB 17
9 Mickey Cochrane PHA 16
9 Sam West WSH 16
11 George Earnshaw PHA 12
11 Wes Ferrell CLE 12
13 Firpo Marberry WSH 11
14 Hal Rhyne BOS 10
15 Ben Chapman NYY 7

Best player: Babe Ruth. The Babe couldn't really run any more, but he hit so well it didn't matter. Gehrig had more RBI, but that's because he was driving in Ruth in front of him. Ruth was .373-46-163, while #2 Gehrig was .341-46-184. Al Simmons ranks #3 with a batting title and .390-22-128 line. I'll rank Joe Cronin #4 on the strength of defense plus a .306-12-126 line, and put A's catcher Mickey Cochrane #5.

Best pitcher: Lefty Grove, in his 31-4 season with a 2.06 ERA, winning the pitching Triple Crown. No one else was close. Wes Ferrell ranks #2 at 22-12 and 3.75, while Lefty Gomez is #3 at 21-9, 2.67. George Earnshaw #4, George Uhle #5.

Best rookie: None, really. Marv Owen hit .223 in 105 games, if you insist.

Best manager: Connie Mack, for the final time. He never got back to the winner's circle.

1930 National League

St. Louis won a wild and woolly pennant race where five teams finished within 12 games of the lead. Chicago was 2nd, 2 games out, while New York and Brooklyn were 5 and 6 games out respectively, with Pittsburgh 12 back. Boston, Cincinnati, and a 102-loss Philadelphia team brought up the rear. The Giants and Pittsburgh broke on top, Brooklyn held the lead for much of mid-summer, and the Cardinals played .500 ball much of the season, then put on a big finish to rise from fourth place to the pennant.

Bill Terry set a mark as the last of the .400 hitters, though no one knew it at the time, of course. Terry won the batting title with a .401 average for the Giants. It was a big year for NL offense, as Babe Herman hit .393, Chuck Klein .386, and Lefty O'Doul .383. It tells you something about the Phillies that both Klein and O'Doul played for them, hit like that, and they went 52-102. Mostly, it tells you they played in an extreme hitters' park and had a team 7.69 RA and 6.71 ERA.

Mel Ott led in on-base average, and Hack Wilson in slugging and OPS. Klein led the league with 158 runs, Kiki Cuyler had 155. Terry had 254 hits, Klein 250. Klein had 59 doubles. Adam Comorosky had 23 triples. Wilson had 56 homers and 191 RBI. The RBI is still a single-season record. Cuyler led with 37 steals, more than double the second-place guy.

That kind of hitting means there wasn't much pitching. Dazzy Vance led the league with a 2.61 ERA, while second place was Carl Hubbell at 3.87. Ray Kremer and Pat Malone had 20 wins, Fred Fitzsimmons 19. Wild Bill Hallahan led with 177 strikeouts, Vance was second with 173.

Win Shares leaders, players; Hack Wilson (Chicago) 35, Babe Herman (Brooklyn) and Bill Terry (New York) 32, Kiki Cuyler and Gabby Hartnett (Chicago) 29, Woody English (Chicago), Freddy Lindstrom and Mel Ott (New York) and Chuck Klein (Philadelphia) 28.

WS leaders, pitchers; Dazzy Vance (Brooklyn) 26, Pat Malone (Chicago) 24, Socks Seibold (Boston) 20, Larry French (Pittsburgh) 19, Freddie Fitzsimmons, Carl Hubbell and Bill Walker (New York) and Erv Brame (Pittsburgh) 18 each.

WARP3: Wilson 6.5, Glenn Wright (Brooklyn) 6.4, Terry, Lindstrom, and Johnny Frederick (Brooklyn) 6.3, Hartnett, English (best year), and Frankie Frisch (St. Louis) 6.2, Ott 6.1, Travis Jackson (New York) 5.6, Cuyler 5.2, Herman 5.0, Klein 4.3.

Pitchers, Phil Collins (Philadelphia) 6.2, Vance 4.6, Benny Frey (Cincinnati) 4.3, Malone and Burleigh Grimes (St. Louis) 4.1, French 4.0, Seibold 3.7 (best year), Bob Smith (Boston) 3.6, Ray Kolp (Cincinnati) 3.4, Charlie Root (Chicago), Red Lucas (Cincinnati), and Ray Benge (Philadelphia) 3.2, Brame 3.1.

WAR, position players: Terry 8.9, Wilson 8.8, Herman 8.5, Cuyler 7.8, Lindstrom 7.6, Ott 7.5, Klein 7.3, English 6.7, Wright 6.4, Hartnett 6.3, Frisch 6.1, Jackson 5.8. Pitchers: Vance 7.3, Collins 4.5, Malone 4.4, Seibold 4.1, Hubbell and Smith 3.9, French 3.6, Hallahan 3.5, Elliott 3.4, Root 3.2.

The Cardinals won the pennant without having any of the real standout players. They were a more balanced team. Frankie Frisch led the players with 25 Win Shares, Burleigh Grimes led the pitchers with 16 Win Shares.

Best player: Hack Wilson. Wilson set the single-season RBI mark (191) that still stands. Chuck Klein and Bill Terry (.401) were also impressive, but Wilson was the OPS+ leader. Klein was also hitting in a tremendous hitters' park. I would rank Terry #2, Gabby Hartnett #3, Freddy Lindstrom #4, and Woody English #5.

Best pitcher: Dazzy Vance. Led in ERA by over a run, 2.61 to Carl Hubbell's 3.87. Also 2nd in strikeouts and tied for 4th in wins. Cub ace Pat Malone tied for the league lead in wins and ranks #2. An up-and-coming Hubbell ranks #3. Larry French #4, Socks Seibold #5.

Best rookie: Wally Berger, .310 with 38 HR and 110 RBI for Boston at age 24.

Best manager: Gabby Street, guiding that balanced Cardinals team.