This was the year that made Hal Newhouser's reputation as a great pitcher. Newhouser had already won two MVP Awards, but had done so against inferior competition, as many of the game's best players were serving in the army. This year, the stars returned home, and Newhouser had another great season.

         While Newhouser had been dominating the league, Bob Feller had been serving overseas. Feller spent almost four years in the army; the Indians surmised that he must have been well-rested, and let him throw over 370 innings. Feller shouldered an enormous workload, and almost set the record for strikeouts in a season (which at the time was 349, by Rube Waddell). You can argue that Feller was the best pitcher in the league; his ERA was similar to Newhouser's, and he pitched 78 more innings.
         I may be in the minority, but I don't think all these innings were a good thing for Feller. Rapid Robert had debuted at age 17 in 1936. He had won 138 games to this point, despite spending four years in the army, yet he was only 27 years old! Feller had two more fine seasons, then stopped striking out batters. He continued to pitch well with what he had left, even leading the AL in wins in 1951. But Feller was finished as a great power pitcher by age 29.
         Another pitcher who proved his worth was Spud Chandler of the Yankees. Chandler won the MVP in 1943 - again, when most of the good players were in the army. This year, at age 39, Chandler had another great season against the best hitters in the league. He retired a year later; Chandler didn't reach the majors until his was thirty, and pitched less than ten whole seasons. But his career winning percentage is among the best ever.
         The Boston Red Sox won the pennant this year, their first since 1918. They had a great offense, led by the return of Ted Williams. They also had some good pitchers, including Dave "Boo" Ferriss, Tex Hughson, and Mickey Harris. Ferriss was a rookie in 1945, and won 21 games. This year, he had a phenomenal won-loss record, at 25-6. Next year he hurt his arm, and faded away quickly.
         Despite Ferriss' impressive record, I'm giving the edge to his teammate Hughson. Big Tex had a much better ERA, more innings, fewer hits, fewer walks, and many more strikeouts. Ferriss had more wins and fewer losses, but that was probably due to luck.
         As for the winner of the award, we still have to decide between Newhouser and Feller. Newhouser had a better won-loss record, and a better ERA. And although Feller almost set a strikeout record, Newhouser actually struck out more batters per inning. I'll give a slight edge to Newhouser.