Sherry Magee of the Phillies had the year of his life. He was
easily the best hitter in the NL, leading the league in OPS and runs produced by wide margins. The Phillies even managed to have a winning season,
making Magee a natural choice for MVP.
Solly Hofman was the Cubs' best player this year. He really
didn't have much of a career; this great year came in the middle of
a bunch of mediocre ones. Still, he deserves to be recognized for
leading the Cubs to the pennant.
Fred Snodgrass had his best
year. Snodgrass was only 22 years old, and appeared to have a bright future.
But he struggled at the plate the next few seasons; even worse, in the
1912 World Series he made the most famous error in baseball history,
dropping a ball in the deciding game. Snodgrass
played only nine years, and is mostly remembered for that ignoble moment.
Honus Wagner was again a formidable player. You can argue that
with his defense, Wagner was the best player in the NL. But the gap
on offense between Wagner and Magee this year was big enough that
I'll stick with Sherry as the MVP.
The fourth spot has several viable candidates. Frank "Wildfire"
Schulte played very well for the Cubs, and Bobby Byrne was good for
the Pirates. Larry Doyle was one of the best hitting infielders in
the league, and helped the Giants to a second place finish. I'll go
with Doyle, who played a tough position and was outstanding in
every offensive category.
Chief Meyers also had a
good season behind the plate with the Giants. The Chief (whose real
name was John) was only a sophomore, but was already 30 years old. He
played for nine years, and was among the better catchers of
the decade. He played on numerous championship teams, and once batted as
high as .358 in a season. Because of his Native heritage, Meyers also
roomed with the legendary Jim Thorpe during Thorpe's stay with the
Giants.
