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1944…Meet me in St. Louis

 

            1944, the last full year of the world at war. Sacrifices were made across the globe…between war casualties, belt tightening, rationing and millions of prayers for peace, which would arrive in 1945.

            Miniscule by comparison, the baseball world trudged on, with the mandate by President Roosevelt to help keep the morale of the American public going strong. Although many of baseball’s stars were called to duty, either by draft or volunteering. There were still enough players to keep professional baseball competitive.

            While many of the major leaguers that were called to service were given relatively easy assignments, there were some who saw some pretty intense action. Yankees farmhand Yogi Berra was a Naval gunner’s mate on a landing craft from the USS Banfield during the D-Day landings at Omaha Beach.

            Red Sox outfielder Ted Williams, who joined the Navy Reserve in May, 1942 and became commissioned as a 2^nd Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, as an aviator. He served as a flight instructor in Pensacola, teaching pilots how to fly Corsair F4U planes.

            Senator’s infielder, and former All-Star, Buddy Lewis was drafted in 1941, but received a deferment to complete the 1941 season. He became a member of the US Army Air Forces, serving in the Pacific Theatre, flying over 500 missions to bring men and supplies to help build roads and pipelines between India and China. He amassed 1,799 flying hours, which included almost 400 combat missions.

            Lewis was accepted to West Point after he graduated from high school (at the top of his class). When he was told that he would have to agree to give up baseball to honor his commitment to the Army, he declined the appointment.

For his service in flying these missions over “the Hump” that was the Himalayas, Lewis earned the Distinguished Flying Cross, and returned to baseball for the last of the 1945 season.

Tiger’s legend Hank Greenberg saw the proverbial writing on the wall, and became the first professional baseball player to register for the draft in 1940, but he was classified as 4F due to his flat feet. He appealed and was reclassified and inducted a few months later in early 1941.

Greenberg went from a $55,000 a year salary to a $21 a week army stipend. Greenberg said that he felt it was his duty when he was called. “My country comes first.”

Greenberg trained as a tank gunner, and at 30 years-old, he was released from his Army obligation on December 5, 1941. By that time, Congress had decreed that any man over 28 would not be drafted.

Two days later, December 7, 1941, everything changed. Greenberg re-enlisted in the Army and was made a Sergeant in the Army Air Force. He finished officer training school and was commissioned as a 1^st Lieutenant and assigned to the China India Burma theater of Operations. Greenberg would serve for 47 months all told, the longest tenure of any ballplayer.

Lou Brissie, a twenty-year-old man from Anderson, South Carolina had caught the attention of Connie Mack and the Philadelphia A’s while pitching for Ware Shoals in a textile league. Mack offered the young man a contract, but Brissie’s father wished for hs sone to finish school first.

He enrolled in Presbyterian College, and in December, 1942 he enlisted in the Army, where he was assigned to the 88^th Infantry Division.

Om December 5, his squad was hit with an intense artillery barrage in the Apennine Mountains in Italy, where the unit suffered heavy casualties. According to Brissie there were over 90 percent of his squad was wounded or killed.

“Within minutes, we lost three of our four officers as well as eight other men in the barrage.”

Brissie was severely injured by a shell which shattered his left tibia, and left he left shinbone in thirty pieces. His left foot and ankle were both badly broken, but he was able to crawl through the mud for cover, and was discovered hours later and rushed to a field hospital.

There they told him that his leg would have to be amputated, but the young man implored the medics to ship him to an evacuation hospital where there was a slight chance his leg could be saved.

That hospital was in Naples, and Captain Wilbur Brubaker set about to save the ballplayer’s leg. He endured 23 operations and over 40 blood transfusions, and was the first soldier in the Mediterranean Theater to be placed on Penicillin therapy.

Brissie recovered, and earned a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart with an Oak Leaf Cluster. He was also fitted with a leg brace which enabled him to resume his baseball career, which led him to pitching in the major leagues for seven years, appearing in 234 games.

Former Senator’s pitcher Lou Thuman, who was one of the first major league players drafted in 1941, reaching the rank of Sergeant by July, 1944, where he was hit in the right shoulder by a sniper in France, ending his pitching career.

December of 1944 brought the Battle of the Bulge to our consciousness. Brutally cold, and an equally brutal battle that led to heavy casualties. It was the last major offensive on the Western Front by the German forces, and resulted in over 19,000 American deaths during the total campaign.

Washington Senator’s infielder Cecil Travis was a participant in that battle, but suffered sever frostbite to his feet, which required several operations to prevent amputation.

He entered the Army in early 1942, where he was assigned to stay stateside to play on baseball teams as they toured the Army camps. In 1944, he was reassigned to the 76^th Infantry Division in Europe, leading to his involvement in the Battle of the Bulge.

Prior to his enrollment, Travis was a star for the Senators, finishing 2^nd in the 1941 American League batting race to Ted Williams. Travis hit .359 to Williams’ .406 average.

He was a three-time All-Star and had a career .327 average before he went to war. Ted Williams called Travis “…one of the five best left-handed hitters I ever saw.”

He was able to return to baseball in 1945, but was in no way close to the player that he was. In 1947, the Senators held a “Cecil Travis Night” at Griffith Stadium, which was attended by General Dwight Eisenhower.

Also participating in that infamous battle was Boston Braves left-hander Warren Spahn, who enlisted in the Army in 1942.

He was a combat engineer during that mission, earning a Bronze Star, A Purple Heart and a battlefield commission. He was able to return to baseball where he was able to win 363 games on his way to a remarkable Hall of Fame career.

Indians righthander Bob Feller enlisted in the Navy, becoming one of the first professional ballplayers to enlist. He had initially been on his way to sign a new contract with the Indians for the upcoming season, but the Pear Harbor attack derailed him.

he had hoped to be a fighter pilot, but failed the hearing test. He did become a Gun Captain on the USS Alabama. He received an honorable discharge in 1944, reaching the rank of Chief Petty Officer.

At the start of the 1944 baseball season, there were over 300 major leaguers in military service, as well as more that 3,000 minor league players.

 

The St. Louis Browns were not hit hard by the draft, and they included and all 4-F infield as they outlasted the Tigers, Red Sox and Yankees to win their first American League pennant in their history.

However, Browns minor leaguers Ardys (Art) Keller was killed in action in September of 1944 in Vosges, France.

They beat the Yankees on the last day of the season 5-2, and setting up the “Streetcar Series” against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Both teams shared the same stadium, Sportsman’s Park. It would be just the 3^rd time that the World Series games would all be played in the same Stadium. (The Yankees and Giants shared the Polo Grounds in 1921 and 1922)

This World Series was the first where all the games were played west of the Mississippi River.

For the Cardinals, winning the National League pennant was nothing new, as they were in the middle of winning three straight. But for the Browns, it was huge. They had never finished in first place in the forty-three-year history of the franchise.

The Browns were one of the original eight charter American League teams, but they began as the Milwaukee Brewers in 1901. The original owners, the Killilea family realized that they were not as financially prepared for the jump from the Western League to the American League, but were able to persuade President Ban Johnson to allow them the chance to compete.

They couldn’t, and agreed to let Johnson move the team to St. Louis, the fourth largest city at that time. After a 48-89 season, they moved and became the St. Louis Browns. They remained in St. Louis until 1953, when they franchise moved for the third time, to Baltimore.

But don’t think that the Browns were not a first-class organization.

They had some of the biggest stars during their time. Namely George Sisler (who held the single season hit record until surpassed by Ichiro Suzuki in 2004. They also featured Ken Williams, who was the first player to reach 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in a season, on his way to a fourteen-year big league career.

And Babydoll Jacobson, whose funny nickname belied the dangerous hitter who hit .300 or better in seven straight seasons, including hitting over .350 in consecutive seasons.

In fact, in the early part of the 20th Century, the Browns would routinely outdraw the Cardinals. But that table turned in the thirties, when the “Gashouse Gang” Cardinals took over the headlines, as well as the fans in St, Louis. By the time the forties had arrived, the Browns were struggling for the city’s baseball attention.

The Brown’s owners had a plan in place, one that would change the face of baseball forever, if it hadn’t been poorly timed. Thet were essentially going to move the franchise to Los Angeles, institute a complex schedule to allow for extended travel times for cross country travel, and begin using air travel instead of trains to move from town to town.

I say poorly timed because they were to meet with the baseball Commissioner and the leaders of the National Association, to reveal the details of this plan on Monday December 8, 1941.

But, as the 1944 season played out, the Brown’s caught the attention of the town’s baseball fans. Their pennant chase, which came down to the last day of the season, helped the Browns to draw over 508,000 fans to Sportsman’s Park, which may not seem like much, but it was a 134% increase over their 1943 attendance.

Conversely, the Cardinals (who were tenants of the Browns in Sportsman’s Park) drew just 462,000 which was a 10.7% drop coming off their World Series loss to the Yankees.

The Browns also made the decision to stop segregated seating, resulting the first Brown’s sold-out game since 1922. That was the October 1^st season finale, where the Browns beat the Yankees 5-2 to complete a four-game sweep of the Bronx Bombers, and clinched the American League pennant.

While the Browns won their pennant on the last day of the season, the Cardinals had an easier time. They won the National League pennant by 5 games over the Pirates.

How did the teams fare through the season? Here are the rankings for the offense:

American League	National League
Browns	Cardinals
Yankees	Pirates
Red Sox	Braves

 

And the pitching top three:

Browns	Cardinals
Tigers	Reds
Yankees	Pirates

 

Seeing that the Browns and Cardinals were the top teams in both categories, it is easy to see that both deserved to represent their respective leagues in the Fall Classic.

The overall top five power rankings are:

Cardinals	World Series Champions
Reds	3rd in National League
Browns	American League Champions
Tigers	2nd in American League
Pirates	2nd in National League

Some 1944 highlights:

On August 8, Smokey Bear makes his debut, reminding us that Only YOU can prevent Forest Fires.

September 14 brought us the “Great Atlantic Hurricane”, which was the first hurricane to have aircraft fly into the eye of a hurricane for scientific research.

But in the baseball world…

The New York Giants retired future Hall of Famer Carl Hubbell’s number 11. It was the first retired number in National League history.

Giant’s legend (and crossword favorite) Mel Ott scores a record 6 runs in a 28-6 win over the Dodgers.

Bill Voiselle becomes just the 3^rd National League rookie to lead the league in strikeouts. The young pitcher hailed from Ninety-Six, South Carolina, and chose that number for his jersey. He is the only player in Major League history whose uniform number matched his jersey. 

             Boston Braves pitcher Jim Tobin pitches a no-hitter against the Dodgers, hitting a home run in the process, becoming the first National League pitcher to accomplish that feat.

On August 10^th pitcher Red Barret shuts out the Reds 2-0 on 58 pitches. The nine-inning game lasted just 75 minutes.

Chuck Workman finished with 187 hits on the season, 55 of which were singles. At the time, it was the lowest number of singles for that amount of hits.

Washington Nationals infielder George Mynatt went 6-6 in an 11-4 win over the Red Sox.

Stan Spence hit 18 homers, while the rest of the Nationals hit just 15 more. Giving him the Ruthian statistic of being responsible for 55% of his team’s home runs.

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Clyde Shoun no-hits the Braves. The only baserunner allowed by Shown was the opposing pitcher Jim Tobin, who walked.

Red’s legend Joe Nuxhall makes his major league debut at fifteen-years-old. He pitched 2/3rds of an inning against the Cardinals on June 10^th. He was not yet old enough to drive, so his mother had to bring him to the games in Cincinnati.

Catcher Ray Mueller caught every game of the season, part of a National League record 217 consecutive games caught.

Slugging first baseman Frank McCormick hit 20 homers, while striking out just 17 times.

Pitchers Ed Heusser and Bucky Walters finished first and second, respectively, in Earned Run Average.

Yankees outfielder Johnny Lindell hit four consecutive doubles against the Indians.

First baseman Nick Etten led the American League in home runs with 22. He has the lowest number of career home runs for a single season home run leader. He finished his career with 89 total. Current Yankee Aaron Judge hit 83 after his first two full seasons in the majors.

White Sox comeback player Hal Trosky stole home in the 16^th inning in a game against the A’s, the latest steal of home in a game.

Not to be outdone, teammate Joe Haynes, a pitcher, stole home in a game against the Browns. But that was just a nine-inning game.

The Philadelphia Phillies, still reeling from their owner being banned from baseball over a gambling scandal, tried to rebrand their team as the “Blue Jays”. Mrs. Elizabeth Crooks (how’s that for trivia) won a $100 War Bond for winning the naming contest.

The name never stuck, though they did keep trying until 1947.

Cleveland shortstop Lou Boudreau led the American League with a .327 average. That was the third lowest average to lead the AL.

Detroit Tiger rookie Hack Miller homered in his first ever major league at-bat. He would not hit another.

The combination of Hal Newhouser and Dizzy Trout combined for 56 wins, the 2^nd most for a right/lefty combination in the same rotation. They finished 1^st and 2^nd in both ERA and strikeouts. Newhouser would win the American League Most Valuable Player by 4 votes over Trout.

Brooklyn Dodgers rookie Tommy Brown makes his debut a shortstop on August 3^rd. He was 16 years 8months old, the youngest player I Dodger’s history.

St. Louis Browns pitcher Nels Potter was caught throwing a ‘spitball’ and was suspended for ten games.

The St. Louis Cardinals would win 105 games, becoming the first National League team to win 100 or more games in 3 consecutive seasons. The won 106 in 1942, and 105 in 1943.

Shortstop Mary Marion was voted the National League Most Valuable Player by 1 vote over Bill Nicholson of the Cubs. He finished with the lowest batting average for a non-pitcher to win the MVP, finishing with a .267 average.

Around the minor leagues, there were a few outstanding performances.

Al Gette of the Norfolk Tars, a Yankees affiliate in the Piedmont League finished 17-7 with a 1.81 ERA and struck out 232 batters in 224 innings, for a rare (for the time) strikeouts per 9 innings ratio of 9.3.

Future big leaguer Ned Garver of the Newark Moundsmen of the Ohio State League, a Browns affiliate, finished with a 21-8 record, while posting a miniscule 1.21 ERA. He also struck out 221 batters, one of the 5 pitcher to reach 200 k’s.

Tom Faulkner of the Springfield Giants struck out 219 to finish second to Garver in the Ohio State League. He finished 20-8.

Norm Fisher of the Erwin Cubs was charged with an Appalachian League leading 20 wild pitches.

Norman Shope of the York White Roses, a Pirates affiliate in the Interstate League went 20-8 with a 3.07 ERA, and he struck out 239 batters.

Also appearing for the White Roses was former major leaguer Lefty George, who was 7-21 with an ERA near 4.00 over four major league seasons with the Brows, Indians, Reds and Braves. He began his professional career in 1909 with Montgomery Mountain Climbers of the Southern Associations. The York native also split time that season with the White Roses.

Lefty is one of the “Crash Davis” characters in baseball. He had his ‘cup of tea’ in the majors, but was very successful in the minors, winning over 300 games, and spending parts of 16 seasons with his hometown White Roses.

In 1944, he appeared in two games. He was fifty-seven years-old.

John Kappa of the Allentown Cardinals hit 30 home runs, which appears to have led all of minor-league baseball in that category.

Frank Dasso of the San Diego Padres of the Pacific Coast League, went 20-19 with 253 strikeouts in 298 innings. He won the strikeout crown by 67 over teammate Cecil Rex.

Charles “Red” Embree of the Baltimore Orioles in the International League, an Indians affiliate, led the league with 225 strikeouts. He bested the runner-up John Maldovan of the Newark Bears (Yankees affiliate) by 78 strikeouts.

            Pete Gray of the Memphis Chickasaws, the Browns affiliate in the Southern Association, led the minors with 68 stolen bases. Gray, who had only one arm, would make the majors for the Browns in 1945. Gray hit .333 on the season, his career best.

            Future major leaguer Al Gionfriddo of the Albany Senators, A Pirates affiliate, finished second in the Eastern League with 50 stolen bases. He hit .329 on the season with a whopping 28 triples. Interesting, he would never reach double digits in triples again in his career.

            Vance Dinges of the Scranton Minors, led the Eastern League with 54 stolen bases for the Red Sox affiliate.

            Hollywood Stars slugger Frankie Kelleher missed out on the Pacific Coast League batting title by .0003 points to Les Scarsella of the Oakland Oaks. Kelleher did capture the other 2 titles, with 29 homes and 121 runs batted in.

            It was Ed Kobesky of the Buffalo Bisons on the International League who led the minors in runs batted in. The Tigers farmhand drove in 129 while hitting .328. He never did advance to play in the majors.

           The Negro Leagues were active, but a lot of the statistics are still very vague, which doesn't do the league, or the players, justice. But I did what I could do with the limited information available. 

            Much like in the majors, there were tow Negro Leagues, divided by American and National.

            Birmingham Black Barons shortstop Artie Wilson appears to have led the Negro American League in batting, finishing at .379 on the season, nudging out Cleveland Buckeyes third baseman Parnell Woods, who hit .377.

            Chicago American Giants shortstop appears to have hit .400, but is listed for playing just twenty games, or less than half of the recorded season.

            The ageless Satchel Paige, who was listed at thirty-seven went 6-4, but had an ERA of 1.10. He was also the only pitcher to reach 100 strikeouts (105) and finished with a k/9 average of 9.6, which led not just the Negro Leagues, but all of professional baseball.

            The Black Barons, who played at historic Rickwood Field, won the Negro American League pennant, and faced the Homestead Grays, who claimed the Negro National League crown. The Gray would defeat the Barons in five games to win the overall championship.

            The Negro National League featured some great performances in their own right. Newark Eagles outfielder Bob Harvey led professional baseball with a .430 batting average.

            Finishing a distant second to Harvey was Baltimore Elite Giants catcher Roy Campanella, who batted .396, just ahead of teammate Bill Hoskins, who finished at .388.

            Elite Giants pitcher Donald Try finished with a 4.63 ERA, and Homestead Grays catcher Josh Gibson led the league with 9 homers. Teammate Buck Leonard hit .341, and pitcher Roy Brown finished with a 10-1 record.

            !944 was the second year of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League, or the AAGBPL for short.

            Things of note, the basepaths were extended slightly, to 68 feet between each.

            Annabelle Lee of the Minneapolis Millerettes pitched the first perfect game in league history.

            Josephine Kabick of the Milwaukee Chicks won 26 games to help lead the Chicks to the league championship series, known as the “Scholar Series”. There they faced the Kenosha Comets.

            Interestingly, the Milwaukee club faced the same financial issues as the 1901 Milwaukee Brewers, as in they ran out. All of the Sholar Series games were played in Racine. And even though the Chicks were the league champions, they were forced to relocate to Grand Rapids for the 1945 season.

            Sophie Kurys of the Racine Belles stole 166 bases in 91 games in 1944. But it was not her best season. In 1945, she reached base 215 times, and attempted to steal 203 times, and was successful 201 times. She amassed 1,114 career stolen bases, a total that was surpassed by Rickey Henderson.

            In 1944, there were 8 players who stole over 100 bases in the AAGPBL.

 

            Getting back to the big leagues, we will look at the top National League initial pitching performances, we have this list:

PITCHER	TEAM	W-L	ERA	SV
Red Munger	Cardinals	11-3	1.34	2
Bucky Walters	Reds	23-8	2.40	1
Mort Cooper	Cardinals	22-7	1.46	1
Ed Heusser	Reds	1311	2.38	2
Max Lanier	Cardinals	17-12	2.65	0
Harry Brecheen	Cardinals	16-5	2.85	0
Ted Wilks	Cardinals	17-4	2.64	0
Rip Sewell	Pirates	21-12	3.18	2
Claude Passeau	Cubs	15-9	2.89	3
Bill Voiselle	Giants	21-16	3.02	0
Arnold Carter	Reds	11-7	2.60	3

 

            Now, we compare the pitchers to their team’s performance, and we see who excelled:

Curt Davis	Dodgers	10-11	3.34	4
Bill Voiselle	Above
Bucky Walters	Above
Jim Tobin	Braves	18-19	3.01	3
Claude Passeau	Above
Nate Andrews	Braves	16-15	3.22	2
Red Munger	Above
Ken Raffensberger	Phillies	13-20	3.46	0
Rube Melton	Dodgers	9-13	3.46	0
Bill Lee	Phillies	10-11	3.15	1

 

Analyzing, crunching and comparing, the top 5 overall NL pitchers, with their post season awards placement were:

Red Munger	No Votes
Bucky Walters	5th in MVP vote (tied)
Mort Cooper	9th in MVP vote
Bill Voiselle	5th in MVP vote (tied)
Ed Heusser	No Votes

 

Looking at the initial American League pitching performances, we get this:

Tex Hughson	Red Sox	18-5	2.26	5
Hal Newhouser	Tigers	29-9	2.22	2
Dizzy Trout	Tigers	27-14	2.12	0
Nels Potter	Browns	19-7	2.83	0
Jack Kramer	Brown	17-13	2.49	0
Hank Borowy	Yankees	17-12	2.64	2
Johnny Niggeling	Washington	10-8	2.32	0
Joe Berry	A’s	10-8	1.94	12
Mel Queen	Yankees	6-3	3.31	0
Tiny Bonham	Yankees	12-9	2.99	0

 

Then, comparing to their team’s performances, we get this list:

Tex Hughson	Above
Johnny Niggeling	Above
Hal Newhouser	Above
Dizzy Trout	Above
Dutch Leonard	Washington	14-14	3.06	0
Honk Borowy	Above
Joe Berry	Above
Mel Queen	Above
Mickey Haefner	Washingtion	12-15	3.04	1
Nels Potter	Above

 

It should be wort noting that there was no Cy Young Award at this point. The league MVP, as mentioned above, was Hal Newhouser with Dizzy Trout a very close second. But…the top 5 overall pitching performances in my formula played out like this:

Tex Houghson	12th in MVP Vote
Hal Newhouser	Most Valuable Player
Dizzy Trout	2nd in MVP vote
Nels Potter	9th in MVP vote
Johnny Niggeling	No votes

 

On the Offensive side, our initial top ten National League batters were:

BATTER	TEAN	HR	RBI	AVG	RCG
Stan Musial	Cardinals	12	94	.347	1.33
Bill Nicholson	Cubs	33	122	.287	1.31
Mel Ott	Giants	26	82	.288	1.23
Bob Elliott	Pirates	10	108	.297	1.28
Johnny Hopp	Cardinals	11	72	.336	1.20
Augie Galan	Dodgers	12	93	.318	1.17
Walker Cooper	Cardinals	13	72	.317	1.03
Phil Weintraub	Giants	17	33	.316	1.14
Phil Cavaretta	Cubs	5	82	.321	1.20
Dixie Walker	Dodgers	13	91	.357	1.05

 (RCG means runs created per game)

And then comparing to their teams, we get this:

Ron Northey	Phillies	22	104	.288	1.01
Frank McCormick	Reds	20	102	.305	1.09
Mel Ott	Above
Buster Adams	Phillies	17	64	.283	0.88
Stan Musial	Above
Phil Weintraub	Above
Augie Galan	Above
Phil Cavaretta	Above
Dixie Walker	Above
Bob Elliott	Above

 

Scrunching numbers brings us this top 5 offensive players, with post-season voting results. Note that Cardinals shortstop Marty Marion was voted the league’s MVP, bud didn’t appear on either of the above lists.

Stan Musial	4th in MVP vote
Bill Nicholson	2nd in MVP vote
Mel Ott	16th in MVP vote
Phil Weintraub	No vote
Augie Galan	No vote

 

            And in the American League, our initial top ten are:

Bob Johnson	Red Sox	17	106	.324	1.35
Bobby Doerr	Red Sox	15	81	.325	1.29
Vern Stephens	Browns	20	109	.293	1.24
Johnny Lindell	Yankees	18	103	.300	1.00
Stan Spence	Washington	18	100	.316	1.08
Snuffy Stirnweiss	Yankees	8	43	.319	1.04
Lou Boudreau	Indians	3	67	.327	1.03
Nick Etten	Yankees	22	91	.293	1.02
Pete Fox	Red Sox	1	64	.315	1.10
Roy Cullenbine	Indians	16	80	.284	1.05

 

Then compared to their team’s performances, we get:

Bob Johnson	Above
Bobby Doerr	Above
Stan Spence	Above
Frankie Hayes	A’s	13	78	.248	0.82
Johnny Lindell	Above
Vern Stephens	Above
Hal Trosky	White Sox	10	70	.241	0.83
Dick Seibert	Washington	6	52	.306	0.74
Bobby Estalella	A’s	7	60	.298	0.76
Lou Boudreau	Above

 

Combining stats, we get this final list of top AL offensive performers:

Bob Johnson	10th in MVP vote
Bobby Doerr	7th in MVP vote
Vern Stephens	3rd in MVP vote
Johnny Lindell	17th in MVP vote (tied)
Stan Spence	8th in MVP vote

 

Now, combining and crunching even further, Our overall top National League performers were:

 

Red Munger

 National League Player of the Year

 

Bucky Walters

 

Stan Musial

National League Offensive Player of the Year

 

Bill Nicholson

Mort Cooper

And in the American League:

 

Tex Hughson

American League Player of the Year

 

Bob Johnson

American League Offensive Player of the Year

 

Hal Newhouser

Vern Stephens

Dizzy Trout