As you can see, Ruth actually had a pretty good year, just not
by his own standards. Still, with all of his suspensions and the
turmoil they caused, I don't think he is one of the top MVP
candidates.
The St. Louis Browns finished only one game behind the Yankees; their best players were George Sisler and Ken Williams. As I see it, Sisler was the best player of the group above. Guys who hit
.420 in a season are pretty rare, plus Sisler had decent power and
was a good base stealer, and was a brilliant defensive first baseman.
Williams had great power numbers, and led the league in runs produced. He also became the first player ever to have at least 30 homers and 30 stolen bases in one season. Williams was 32 years old, but was only in his third year as a regular. He had broken into the league with Cincinnati when he was 25, but his career had been derailed by a stint in the army, among other things. Williams continued to play until the end of the decade, finishing his career with some nice numbers, including 196 home runs and a lifetime .319 batting average.
It should also be pointed out that both Sisler and Williams benefited a great deal from playing in Sportsman's Park in St. Louis. Williams hit .373 with 32 homers at home, only .290 with seven homers on the road. The right-field fence at Sportsman's Park was shallow and a great target for left-handed hitters until a wire screen was erected in 1929. Still, the Brownies had their mojo working at home this year, and outscored their opponents by a substantial margin. It was one of their best seasons in what was otherwise a dreary half-century.
Sisler missed the entire
1923 season with a sinus infection that wrecked his optic nerve. When he
came back, he was never again a great player. He still pounded out over
2800 hits in his career, and was a lifetime .340 hitter. Williams had another
monster season in 1923, then faded after that.
Marty McManus also played for the Browns, and was among the leaders in
runs produced. Though Eddie Collins might have been a
little bit better at second base, I'm picking McManus as the top
middle infielder. McManus played for 15 years, and was a good
player for most of them. He hammered out over 1900 hits in his career,
and had more power than the typical middle infielder.
This year, the AL started handing out its own MVP Award. This
award, however, had its problems. First, only eight writers voted,
and they chose only one player from each team. The result this year
was that Sisler won the award, while his teammates Williams and
McManus didn't get a single vote. The second problem was that a
player could only win the award once; thus, after winning the award
in 1923, Babe Ruth became ineligible for the rest of the decade.
So although some of the voting results are interesting,
we can't take them too seriously. The best thing that can be said about the award was
that it was a trial run for the real MVP Awards that began to be handed out in 1931.
