The Yankees won their second straight World Series, beating out a Boston team that scored over a thousand runs. Yankee shortstop Phil Rizzuto had a great year, and won the MVP Award. Rizzuto also had some outstanding teammates, including Yogi Berra and Joe DiMaggio, both of whom had big seasons.

         A lot of guys had career years, which is why the league ERA ballooned to 4.58 (or vice-versa). This was Walter Dropo's rookie season, at age 27; he never again came close to approaching it. Hoot Evers never had another big season, either; a year later, his average dropped 100 points to .224, and his career ground to a halt.
        Joe DiMaggio was 35, and retired after the next season. Ted Williams broke his arm in the All Star Game, which kept him from driving in about 150 runs. This was a crazy year in Fenway Park, which inflated run totals by a large extent. Williams, Dropo, Billy Goodman and Dom DiMaggio all played for Boston.
        Billy Goodman won his only batting title. He played for 16 years, most of them with the Red Sox, and was a career .300 hitter. Goodman began his career as a first baseman; this year, the Sox began to experiment with him at other positions, then moved him to second base. He remained at second for several years until he was traded, and was a regular third baseman in Chicago. Though he was adept at getting the bat on the ball, Goodman didn't have much power; he hit only 19 home runs in his career.
        This year, Goodman finished second in the MVP voting. Though he won the batting title, I don't think he was a great player. He had no power, missed 45 games with injury, and had average defensive value. He started games in the outfield, and at all the infield positions, but was never a strong defensive player anywhere.
         This was Al Rosen's rookie year, sort of. At the time there was no offical definition of what a rookie was; the baseball writers decided that Rosen was ineligible for the Rookie Award because he had 58 former at bats. Dropo, who had 41 former at bats, won the Award. Unlike Dropo, Rosen went on to have more outstanding seasons.
        I think the two best players in the league were teammates, Rizzuto and Berra. Initially, I'm inclined to choose Berra, who finished third in the voting. He had a terrific batting average, good power, and struck out only 12 times!
        Rizzuto was awfully good too, however. This was by far Rizzuto's best year; though he was always a legitimately fine defensive player, The Scooter was a weak hitter almost every other year in his career. This year, however, everything clicked; he set career highs in hitting for average, hitting for power, and drawing walks.
        And don't forget Vern Stephens of Boston, who this pumped out another 144 RBI. The Red Sox scored more than a thousand runs this season, and their middle infielders, Stephens and Bobby Doerr, were two big reasons why. Unfortunately, both players were near the end of their productivity. Both began to have severe back problems in 1951; Doerr retired after the season, at age 33. Stephens had some injury problems, was dealt a couple of years later, and his career spun into irreversible decline. But when they were together, Stephens and Doerr ranked among the most potent middle infielders any team has ever had.
        Despite the difference in RBI, I think Rizzuto was better than Stephens. The Scooter's OPS was almost as good, and Stephens had a lot of help from his teammates and his park. And in all other aspects of the game — fielding, baserunning — Rizzuto rates an edge. Stephens was a legitimately outstanding player, and an underrated one, but this year Rizzuto was better.
        I'll stick with the writer's vote then, and go with Rizzuto. It's very close, and Berra had a truly great year, but this was the Scooter's year.