The New York Giants won the pennant, led by a good offense and a great pitching staff. In the World Series, they were defeated by Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics. The NL's Philadelphia team, the Phillies, also had a good year, finishing in second place and recording their best record of the new century.

         The Phillies' best player was an outfielder named Gavy Cravath, a man who was born before his time. Had Cravath arrived fifteen years later, he would have gone into the Hall Of Fame. He didn't reach the majors until he was 31, and his career was short, only eleven years. But he would have been like Ralph Kiner or Mark McGwire, a guy who averages 40 homers a year. Cravath was fortunate in one respect, that he played his home games in the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. The Baker Bowl is famous for its short right-field fence; Cravath, a right-handed hitter, was apparently strong enough to hit balls deep to the opposite field and over the fence.
        Exploiting his home park gave Cravath an advantage over all the other NL hitters. Playing during the dead ball era, he led the league in home runs six times, peaking with 24 in 1915. This was his best year, the only year in which he hit over .300 for a full season. In the Chalmers Award vote, Jake Daubert was the winner, but I doubt there is any possible way that Daubert could have been better than Cravath, or Vic Saier. I imagine the voters were swayed by Daubert's impressive batting average, but he was mediocre in all other aspects of the game.
        Jake Daubert played for 15 years; he was a singles hitter who won a couple of batting titles, and amassed over 2300 hits in his career. When the lively ball was introduced, Daubert began to develop some power, but then he turned 40, and his career ended. Saier was 22 years old, and he had his best year, leading the Cubs to a third place finish. He had two more good years, then quickly vanished from the league.
        Heinie Zimmerman had a fine follow-up season to his big year of 1912, but he missed a lot of games. Hans Lobert wasn't as good, but was in the lineup more often.
        Both Johnny Evers and Joe Tinker were very good. Tinker had his best season at the plate, but also missed a lot of games. Honus Wagner was slipping, but was still a fine player. Chief Meyers was great for the Giants, but scored only 37 runs, partly because all catchers at the time hit eighth in the batting order.
        Jim Viox had a wonderful rookie season at the plate, but he was an awful defensive player. His manager was determined to make him into a second baseman, even though he had no ability to play the position. They even tried him at shortstop, where he made seven errors in 10 games. He never had a poor season at the plate, but was out of the league in five years.
        After Cravath and Saier, I'll take Evers, who was durable, solid on both offence and defence, and his team (the Cubs) had a good year. Though he missed a lot of games, Zimmerman was second in the league in OPS, so I'll take him after Evers.