The first World Series was played this year. The AL shocked the NL, when the Boston Pilgrims (later the Red Sox) demolished the mighty Pittsburgh Pirates. Boston had the best hitting and pitching in the AL, and had no trouble winning their first pennant. But the league's best player was Cleveland star Nap Lajoie.

         Lajoie was the top hitter in the league, and probably the best defensive player as well, which seems to me like a natural choice for MVP. Lajoie's teammate, Bill Bradley, also had a great year. I don't know much about Bradley, except that he had great success in the early years of the AL. In The Glory Of Their Times, Rube Marquard called Bradley one of the best third basemen ever; he also says that Bradley played with his own barnstorming team during the winter, and ran a sporting goods store.
        Jimmy Collins had a fine year for Boston, but I think Lajoie and Bradley were both clearly better. Collins is in the Hall Of Fame; he was a good hitter, and a very good defensive player. I think he was a very similar player in his time to Buddy Bell. He is probably one of the weaker members of the Hall Of Fame; Collins played 14 years in the majors, and finished with exactly 2000 career hits.
         I think that Patsy Dougherty was Boston's best player, either him or Buck Freeman. Freeman had more power than anyone, but was lacking in speed, and didn't get on base much. Dougherty was a good player who knew how to get on base; he played for ten years, and led the league in runs scored a couple of times.
         The best outfielder in the league was Sam Crawford, who was in his first year in the AL. Crawford was only 23, and had already had a couple of good years with the Reds. Now he would settle down to become one of the best Detroit Tigers in franchise history.