1924 AL Stargell Award

Babe Ruth had a typical Babe Ruth season, and was easily the top player in the league. But the Yankees didn't win the pennant; they finished behind the lowly Washington Senators. For years, the Senators had finished near the bottom of the league, despite the great pitching of Walter Johnson. But now, with an aging Johnson still pitching great, the Senators finally put some good players behind him.

American League 1924

			AVG	OBA	SLU	AB	HIT	DB	TP	HR	RUN	RBI	BB	SB	OPS
RF	B RUTH	NY	378	513	739	529	200	39	7	46	143	121	142	9	1252
RF	H HEILMANN	DET	346	428	533	570	197	45	16	10	107	114	78	13	961
LF	G GOSLIN	WAS	344	421	516	579	199	30	17	12	100	129	68	16	937
LF	B FALK	CHI	352	406	487	526	185	37	8	6	77	99	47	6	893
1B	J HAUSER	PHI	288	358	516	562	162	31	8	27	97	115	56	7	874

2B	E COLLINS	CHI	349	441	455	556	194	27	7	6	108	86	89	42	896
2B	M MCMANUS	STL	333	409	441	442	147	23	5	5	71	80	55	13	850
CF	T COBB	DET	338	418	450	625	211	38	10	4	115	78	85	23	867
CF	T SPEAKER	CLE	344	432	510	486	167	36	9	9	94	65	72	5	943
OF	S RICE	WAS	334	382	443	646	216	39	14	1	106	76	46	24	825

CF	W JACOBSON	STL	318	361	528	579	184	41	12	19	103	97	35	6	889
SS	T RIGNEY	DET	289	410	407	499	144	29	9	4	81	94	102	11	817
SS	J SEWELL	CLE	316	402	424	594	188	45	5	4	99	106	67	3	817
SS	R PECKINPAUGH	WAS	272	360	340	523	142	20	5	2	72	73	72	11	700
CA	J BASSLER	DET	346	441	422	379	131	20	3	1	43	68	62	2	864

1924 American League

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

This was the only batting title of Ruth's career. The Babe never won a Triple Crown, though he came close on several occasions. Usually, he fell short in batting average; in 1923, the Babe hit .393, but was topped by Harry Heilmann's .403 average. In 1926, the Babe hit .372, but Heinie Manush edged him with a .378 average. This year, Ruth won the batting title — but fell short in RBI behind Goose Goslin.
        After Ruth, the league's best hitters were Heilmann and Goslin. This was Goslin's first big season, and he was a big reason why the Senators won the pennant. Goslin was a graceful left-handed line-drive hitter; he played for 18 years, and his career numbers include 2735 hits, 500 doubles, 248 home runs, 1609 RBI, and a career .316 batting average. Eleven times Goslin drove in over 100 runs in a season; he also won a batting title in 1928, and twice led the league in triples.
        Goslin was basically a left-handed version of Al Simmons. He played in five World Series, three with the Senators and two more with the Tigers, and he crunched out three home runs in both the 1924 and 1925 Series. Goslin was not the most popular player on his teams, and in fact was generally disliked; he also had an atrocious defensive reputation. But his bat carried him into the Hall Of Fame.
        Heilmann helped power the Tigers to a third place finish with another big year. His teammate, Ty Cobb, was still pretty good as well. Cobb was 37 this year, and had his ninth 200-hit season. It was also his last.
        Eddie Collins and Joe Sewell both played for pretty bad teams. Collins led all players in the league MVP vote, in which Ruth was not eligible because he had won the year before. Voters could also select only one player from each team, so Goslin got no votes, either (they all went to his teammate, Johnson).