In the final year of war-time baseball, the Detroit Tigers won the pennant, finishing only one game ahead of the Senators. They then defeated the Cubs in the World Series. The league MVP, for the second consecutive year, was Hal Newhouser, the Detroit pitcher who dominated the league. The Tigers also got a boost from Hank Greenberg, who returned to play half of the season, and clinched the pennant with a grand slam on the final day of the season.
        For the second straight year, the league's best position player was a guy named Snuffy Stirnweiss. A second baseman for the Yankees, he was never much good either before or after the war. But in his heyday, he was something else.

        When a second baseman leads the league in six major stats, it's a pretty good bet that he's the MVP. Especially if he is a good defensive player. Stirnweiss was only 26; he had been in the league for three years, two of which were MVP-calibre. But the magic ended as soon as the war ended, and the regulars returned; Snuffy played on a regular basis for three more years, but they weren't very good. He was dealt to the Browns, and had a terrible year for them in 1950. His career ended soon after.
        Surprisingly, Eddie Mayo led all players in MVP votes, followed by Stirnweiss. This was Mayo's only good year; he was 35 years old, and had already proven himself a terrible hitter. His career initially ended in 1938, but was revived in 1943 by the war. Now, he was leading all the players in MVP votes! Though he played for the Tigers, and helped his team win the pennant, I don't think that's enough to push him ahead of Stirnweiss. Snuffy did everything better than Mayo. Like Stirnweiss, Mayo's career suffered badly after the war ended.
        With DiMaggio, Williams and company overseas, the American League did not have an exciting group of outfielders left over. But the war did give Wally Moses a last chance to be a star. Moses played 17 years in the big leagues, and recorded over 2100 career hits. He began his career with seven straight .300 seasons, including a .345 average in 1936; but he never hit .300 past the age of 30. Moses did lots of other things in his career which he never repeated; in 1938, he hit 25 home runs, but never hit more than eight in any other season. In 1943 he stole 56 bases(!), but never stole more than 21 in any other season. Moses was a decent player, but also had a weird career.
        Roy Cullenbine was another player who had a weird career. Cullenbine had his first full season in 1941 with St. Louis, by then his third team. It was great, but was overshadowed by some other big seasons in 1941. In 1942, Cullenbine hit .193 the first two months of the season, then was traded to Washington, then was traded to the Yankees. He finished the season hot, and had another good year. He was then traded to Cleveland, where he had two more good years.
        By this time, Cullenbine had proven his ability to draw a lot of walks, hit for a decent average, and was now developing some power. A week into this season, he was dealt to Detroit. He had a fine season, and in my opinion was the best outfielder in the league. Next year, he hit .335 with walks and power; a year later he hit only .224, but with 137 walks and 24 homers. Cullenbine never played another game after that; in total he played ten years, and had a career .408 on-base percentage.