The top two MVP candidates were Heinie Zimmerman of the Cubs,
and Honus Wagner of the Pirates. The Cubbies, Pirates and Giants were
the only teams to post winning seasons. Zimmerman had a
great year, and was clearly the best hitter in the league. He almost
won the Triple Crown, and original statistical records had him in
fact doing so (with 103 RBI). Only when
The Baseball Encyclopedia
was compiled were errors in the records discovered, and his RBI
total fell to 99.
All the evidence shows that Zimmerman was an outstanding
player; this was his best year, but he had other good ones (he
later won two RBI titles). But later in his career, Zimmerman fell in with the wrong crowd. In 1919, Zimmerman was suspended (along with Hal Chase) for trying to bribe a pitcher on his own team; Zimmerman was eventually banned for life. It was one of many major game-fixing scandals that plagued baseball at the time, and Zimmerman was one of the highest-profile stars to be banished.
Wagner had a great year for the Pirates, too.
He may have been a better defensive player than Zimmerman, and you could argue that Honus deserved the MVP. In the Chalmers Award vote, Zimmerman finished
way down on the list, while Larry Doyle was the winner. This is interesting,
but I am generally skeptical of the Chalmers Award results. So I'll stick
with Zimmerman and his great year for the MVP.
Chief Wilson set a record when he hit 36 triples this year; no
one has hit more in any era. And it is doubtful that his record
will ever be broken, not unless today's game undergoes some dramatic changes. Apart from the triples, Wilson had a pretty ordinary year.
And he had a pretty ordinary career, too. He never hit more than 14
triples in any other season.
