Connie Mack's mighty Philadelphia Athletics won their second straight pennant and World Series. They had the best offense in the league, and many outstanding players. And speaking of offense, there was lots of it, thanks to an equipment change. For the first time, a cork centre was added to major league baseballs. These corked balls helped produce some of the wildest batting averages in baseball history.

         Both Ty Cobb and "Shoeless" Joe Jackson were at their peak as players, and both sent their numbers into the stratosphere. I think that Cobb was clearly a little bit better; he led the American League in almost everything, and had almost 50 more runs produced than any other player. He won the Chalmers Award in the first of four years that it was voted upon.
        Cobb's teammate, Sam Crawford, also had his best season at the plate. He was 31 years old, and had been a star for a decade. Crawford was one of the best power hitters of the dead ball era, and holds the record for career triples with 309 (a record that isn't going to be broken in my lifetime). Crawford also pounded out over 2900 lifetime hits and drove in over 1500 runs. His popular nickname was "Wahoo Sam", for he was born in Wahoo, Nebraska, and was a jovial sort of player (unlike Cobb).
        The Tigers have had a remarkable string of right fielders, starting with Crawford, who was followed by Harry Heilmann and Al Kaline. All three are among the greatest right fielders ever, and the greatest players in Tiger franchise history. Other Tiger right fielders include Roy Cullenbine, Kirk Gibson, Bobby Higginson and Juan Gonzalez, and they weren't too bad, either.
        The Athletics' best players were their infielders, Eddie Collins and Home Run Baker. It is difficult to choose between them; Baker had more total bases and runs produced, and was more durable. But Collins had a better OPS, and was a better defensive player. I'll give the edge to Collins.
        Up until this season, Frank Baker was just Frank Baker; afterwards, he forever became "Home Run" Baker. It is a peculiar nickname for a guy who never hit more than 12 home runs in a season, but it was not undeserved. This was the second of four consecutive years that Baker led the AL in home runs. But he really earned the nickname in this year's World Series; in Game Two, he hit a game-winning home run in the sixth inning off of Rube Marquard. The next day, Baker hit a game-tying homer in the ninth inning off of Christy Mathewson in a game that the Athletics eventually won.