1918 AL Stargell Award

The season was cut short by 30 games this year, after America entered WWI. In the World Series, the Red Sox defeated the Cubs to win their fifth Series since 1903. As of 2001, they have yet to win another. The Red Sox, needing an extra outfielder to replace players who had gone overseas, gave their star pitcher Babe Ruth a chance to swing the bat. Within a year, Ruth would give up pitching and become an everyday player.

Offensive Positions (LF, CF, RF, 1B)

			AVG	OBA	SLU	AB	HIT	DB	TP	HR	RUN	RBI	BB	SB	OPS
CF	T COBB	DET	382	440	515	421	161	19	14	3	83	64	41	34	955
LF	B RUTH	BOS	300	410	555	317	95	26	11	11	50	66	57	6	966
1B	G H BURNS	PHI	352	390	467	505	178	22	9	6	61	70	23	8	857
1B	G SISLER	STL	341	400	440	452	154	21	9	2	69	41	40	45	841
CF	T SPEAKER	CLE	318	403	435	471	150	33	11	0	73	61	64	27	839
RF	H HOOPER	BOS	289	391	405	474	137	26	13	1	81	44	75	24	796
LF	B VEACH	DET	279	331	391	499	139	21	13	3	59	78	35	21	722

1918 American League

Boston Red Sox
Chicago White Sox
Cleveland Indians
Detroit Tigers
New York Yankees
Philadelphia Athletics
St. Louis Browns
Washington Senators

         The best hitters of this group were Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, followed by George H. Burns and George Sisler. I'm not really sure how to choose between Cobb and Ruth, because Ruth was still being used often as a pitcher. He appeared in 20 games, and went 13-7 with a good 2.22 ERA.
        Now, I have excluded all pitchers from consideration for the MVP Award. This is admittedly unfair to all players who are among both the best hitters and best pitchers in the league. Fortunately, Babe Ruth is really the only player this century who falls into that category. My initial reaction is to give Ruth some credit for his pitching, but to give Cobb the MVP Award. But Ruth led his team to the pennant, whereas Cobb's team (the Tigers) had a really bad year.
        So what the hey, I'll give the award to Ruth, followed by Cobb. And after him I'll go with "Tioga" George Burns, who had his best year.

Defensive Positions (2B, 3B, SS, CA)

			AVG	OBA	SLU	AB	HIT	DB	TP	HR	RUN	RBI	BB	SB	OPS
3B	F BAKER	NY	306	357	409	504	154	24	5	6	65	62	38	8	765
3B	L GARDNER	PHI	285	346	365	463	132	22	6	1	50	52	43	9	711
SS	R CHAPMAN	CLE	267	390	352	446	119	19	8	1	84	32	84	30	742
2B	D PRATT	NY	275	327	356	477	131	19	7	2	65	55	35	12	683
2B	E COLLINS	CHI	276	407	330	330	91	8	2	2	51	30	73	22	737

This was not a sensational group of players. The best ones were probably Ray Chapman and Frank Baker, but I have a hard time believing that either of those guys were better than George Sisler. While I almost always try to include players from both groups among the top four MVP candidates, this year I think the top four players were all outfielders and first basemen.
Of course, Babe Ruth was an outstanding defensive player. As a pitcher, that is, he kept quite a few runs off the board.