The best players from this group were Ruth, Gehrig and
Simmons, and it is difficult to choose from among them. Simmons was the
weakest hitter of the three, and he missed 16 games. On the other
hand, Simmons played for the league champions, and led the AL in
runs produced.
I think Gehrig was the most complete player; he never missed
a game, of course, and compiled 419 total bases. As for the other
two, I think Ruth was a little better... but I'll give Simmons the edge
because he played for a winner and produced so many runs. And at age
35, the Babe had probably lost quite a bit both on defence and on the
basepaths.
Around this time, the Cleveland Indians sure
seemed to produce a lot of one-or-two-year wonders. In 1929, they had the
batting champion, Lew Fonseca, who never did much before or after. This year,
the Tribe was led by Ed Morgan and Johnny Hodapp. Hodapp was 25, Morgan was
26, and together they seemed to provide the Indians with a bright future. But
Morgan had only one more good year before he lost his power stroke. Hodapp
lost everything next year, and was out of the league in three years. The
Indians spent a couple of years struggling to score runs until they finally
produced Earl Averill and Hal Trosky, and were able to keep them around.
The best infielders were Cochrane, Joe Cronin and
Charlie Gehringer. Cochrane played for the champions; Cronin played
for the Senators, who finished second. All three had outstanding
defensive reputations.
The greatest shortstop ever is Honus Wagner,
but Joe Cronin is a top contender for the #2 spot. Cronin played for 20
years, starting with Pittsburgh in 1926, and split the bulk of his career
with Washington and Boston. He was a .300 hitter who hit doubles and drew a
good number of walks; after joining the Red Sox he developed some home run
power, and finished with 170 career homers. He was a fine defensive player,
and for the last 13 years of his career was also his team's manager. Cronin
was one of the few shortstops to combine offence and defence with durability
and longevity, and is probably one of the top ten of all time.
I'm choosing Cronin as the best player of this group, and as
the league MVP. He produced almost as many runs as the big guys,
was easily the AL's best shortstop on both offence and defence, and
his team had a great year.
