In a four year span (1921-1924), the Giants dominated the league and won the pennant, and Rogers Hornsby of the Cardinals was the National League's top player. But this year, they both hit small snags. Though they won the pennant, the Giants were beaten in the World Series by their cross-town rivals, the Yankees. And while he was still the league's best player, Hornsby missed almost 50 games with injury, leaving the MVP race wide open.

Frankie Frisch was the Giants' top player, leading the NL in runs produced and total bases, and playing very good defense at second base. With Hornsby's injury, he is the natural choice for MVP. After Frisch, the best choices are Pie Traynor and Hornsby, who was still productive despite the time missed.
        I'm choosing Traynor, who had his first good year. He was durable, his team (the Pirates) had a good year, and his defense... well, to say that he had a good defensive reputation would be the understatement of the year. Traynor was deified by fans and writers as the greatest defensive third baseman for the first half of the century, much like Brooks Robinson has been for the second half. Robinson won 16 straight Gold Gloves; Traynor would likely have done the same had the award existed. I'm not sure either player could possibly live up to his reputation, but we have to think that he was pretty good with the glove.
        Two Hargrave brothers were catchers during the 20's, Pinky and Bubbles. Bubbles Hargrave is the one listed above; he was the better of the two players.
        Jacques Fournier had a great year with the bat, but he missed about 20 games and his team wasn't very good. I'm not sure who else to take, though; Irish Meusel and Ross Youngs played for the Giants, and produced the most runs, but they clearly were not as good as Fournier. Meusel was the older brother of Bob Meusel, who starred for the Yankees and played for the Murderers' Row team. The two brothers each played for 11 seasons, and had very similar career stats, except that Bob had a great deal more power.
        Other good candidates include Max Carey and Cy Williams. Carey was the best defensive player of the group, and was a good hitter. He was also a brilliant base stealer, and was caught only 8 times this year. Cy Williams was one of the early power hitters in the league, and led the NL in home runs four times. I have never seen his home/road numbers, but Williams was a left-handed hitter playing in the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia. Other lefties in that park (i.e. Chuck Klein, Don Hurst) had their numbers seriously inflated by the short right-field fence, and I suspect that Williams got some help as well.