This was the second year that WWII had stripped baseball of many of its best players. The St. Louis Browns won their first pennant; it only took them 41 years to do it. It was the only pennant they would win before becoming the Baltimore Orioles.
        Nick Etten was the homer king, with 22. Snuffy Stirnweiss, the ultimate replacement player, led the league in runs and stolen bases. Johnny Lindell led the league in total bases, followed by Stirnweiss. Ah, these were the glory years of the two-year wonders.
        Hal Newhouser, a pitcher for the Tigers, won his first of two MVP Awards, narrowly beating out another Tiger pitcher, Dizzy Trout. Newhouser and Trout won 29 and 27 games, respectively. They were the only pitchers with 20 or more wins. The top vote getter among the players was Vern Stephens, the Brown's shortstop.

        Although he received the most MVP votes, I'm inclined to think that Stephens was the weakest of the infielders. Bobby Doerr and Lou Boudreau were outstanding defensive players, and Stirnweiss was also good with the glove. I'll rank Stephens ahead of Doerr, however, since Doerr missed 30 games with injury.
        Stirnweiss had a great year as a base stealer; he was caught only 11 times. It's a close call between Boudreau and Stirnweiss, but I think Snuffy was the better player this year.
        Bob Johnson was 37 years old and near the end of a fine career. He had spent most of his career toiling in obscurity in Philadelphia and Washington, and now ended it with the Ted Williams-less Red Sox. Johnson hit 288 career homers, and eight times drove in 100+ runs. Though not a big star, "Indian Bob" was an All-Star eight times (I'm also not sure if he was a real Indian). This season, I think he was the only outfielder in the league who was MVP material.
        This was Stan Spence's best season, but he was an All-Star four times, and only once during the war years. He was a late bloomer who when he made his debut with the Red Sox in 1940 was already 25 years old. He couldn't crack the Boston outfield of Ted Williams, Dom DiMaggio and Lou Finney, and was sold to the Browns. Given that Finney was almost done, the Sox cost themselves the opportunity of having a truly great outfield.
        In centre field, Spence became famous for making thrilling catches; at bat, he sprayed the ball to all fields, and hit .323 in his first year with the lowly Senators. As a 27-year-old family man, he was declared 4-F, and played for two more years, hitting his peak this season. He entered the military in 1945 and missed the season, but had a great year when he returned, batting .292 with 76 extra-base hits in 1946.
        In 1947, Spence was batting over .300 in June and was again an All-Star. He slumped in the second half, finishing at .279. He was traded back to Boston the next season, but his bat never came back; he hit just .235 with the Red Sox, and was out of the league a year later.