Once again, the Boston Red Sox found a way to not win the pennant. Despite an array of awesome talent that led the American League in runs scored, Boston finished one game behind the Yankees, who went on to win their first of five consecutive World Series.
        Several Boston players had jaw-dropping numbers, led by Ted Williams, who won his second MVP Award.

         As you can see, Joe DiMaggio was still a potent offensive threat when he was in the lineup. Unfortunately, he missed half the season with injury, and retired a couple of years later. Had he come up forty years later, Joe would have been one hell of a DH.
        Williams barely missed winning his third Triple Crown. His batting average was .342756. George Kell won the batting title with a batting average of .342911. Both numbers round off to .343, but Kell won the title by a difference of .000155, or one hit in 6452 at bats.
         If you think 159 RBI is a lot for a shortstop, you're right. Vern Stephens was a regular for just three years in Boston; over those three years, he drove in 440 runs, an average of 146 per year. That's a lot for a career, never mind three years. Junior Stephens' Boston years are among the most remarkable ever by a shortstop; he had already proven himself a potent power hitter with the lowly Browns, and now was a force playing in Fenway Park.
        Stephens played for 15 years, and was an All-Star eight times. He played shortstop for almost all of his career, and won three RBI titles, one in St. Louis, two with the Red Sox. He had 247 career homers, and 1174 RBI, almost all of them accumulated in his twenties. After he turned 30, Stephens' career was ruined by a bad back. He was also a heavy drinker, which didn't help matters. But in his prime, Stephens was baseball's greatest power-hitting shortstop before Ernie Banks; he still ranks as one of the best RBI man ever to play the position.
        The runner-up in the MVP vote behind Williams was not Stephens, but another shortstop, Phil Rizzuto. It was an unusual choice; of the four shortstops listed above, it would seem that Rizzuto was the weakest. Bobby Doerr and Cass Michaels also had better numbers, as did Rizzuto's teammate, Yogi Berra.
        Rizzuto, though, was regarded as a winner; he played great defense, was a great leader, great baserunner, did all the little things better than everyone else. He was durable. His team won the World Series. I buy those arguments to some extent, enough to place him ahead of Appling, who was 42 years old. But I can't justify putting Rizzuto ahead of Stephens or Eddie Joost, or Bobby Doerr. These guys had awesome numbers, and were good fielders (Doerr was a great fielder). Doerr and Stephens both played for Boston, who lost the pennant by just one game. I might be persuaded to place Rizzuto among the top ten candidates, but not the top four.