Rogers Hornsby, one of the greatest players in baseball history, played for his fourth team in four years this season. In the previous three years, the Cardinals, Giants and Braves had all decided that his stellar hitting wasn't worth his miserable attitude and questionable defense. So the Cubs took a chance.
        Hornsby had his negatives, but you can't argue with results. Hornsby was the best player in the league, and the Cubs won the pennant by ten games.

        Hornsby was obviously the best hitter of this group of players, or almost any group of players. He led the league in OPS, and had over 400 total bases. As for his defence... the Cubs led the league in double plays turned. Since second basemen are involved in most double plays, I guess Hornsby couldn't have been too bad.
        Though he was only 33, this was, unfortunately, Hornsby's last big season. He was still the best hitter in the league, and the future looked good; 1930 was the Year of the Hitter, when Hornsby's teammate, Hack Wilson, drove in 191 runs. But that year Hornsby broke his leg while sliding; he never played another full season, giving up his playing career to focus on managing and coaching. He finished his career with 2930 hits, 301 homers, and a .358 batting average — and a claim to being baseball's greatest ever right-handed hitter.
        Travis Jackson was yet another player from the Giants, like George Kelly, Ross Youngs and Fred Lindstrom, who was elected to the Hall Of Fame despite underwhelming numbers. Jackson was a fine defensive player who usually hit around .300, and occasionally hit for some power. His career was short; he had his last good year at age 31, and fell way short of 2000 hits. He was a good player, to be sure; similar to Alan Trammell, but not as good as Alan.
        Offensive totals were skyrocketing in the NL at this time. Lefty O'Doul set an league record for hits in a season. This was O'Doul's first full season in the majors... at age 32. How can a guy this good not make the majors until he was 32? It's a long story. He started out as a pitcher on the West Coast, but hurt his arm, and was switched to the outfield and had many outstanding seasons in the minors. Many minor league clubs at this time were still independent, and liked to hold on to their best players. Some minor league stars had to wait years before they got their chance in the bigs, and such was O'Doul's case.
        O'Doul had four good years in the majors, before age caught up to him. He was a legitimately outstanding hitter, and won batting titles in both Philadelphia and Brooklyn. But this year, I think his power numbers were probably inflated; O'Doul played in the Baker Bowl, a Utopia for left-handed hitters. Many left-handed hitters had their numbers sent into the stratosphere by the Bowl (i.e. Chuck Klein, Don Hurst, Cy Williams, Dolph Camilli). When O'Doul was dealt to Brooklyn, he kept hitting for average, but lost a lot of power. After his career ended, O'Doul went to Japan, and he played a major role in the development of professional baseball there.
        Another guy who had his best season was Lloyd Waner. He is in the Hall Of Fame, and many people think he is there because his brother Paul is in the Hall, too, and voters wanted to keep the family together. I guess it's a good theory. Paul Waner was a great player; Lloyd is one of the Hall's weakest members. He hit lots of singles and triples, and was an outstanding defensive outfielder. If you can imagine Willie Wilson without any stolen bases, then you can get the idea of his talents.
        The last National League MVP award was voted on this year; Hornsby was the winner, followed by O'Doul, Bill Terry and Lloyd Waner. Terry and Mel Ott were teammates, and Ott was clearly the superior player of the two. I'm also not sure how anybody could think that Lloyd Waner was better than Hack Wilson. Ott was probaby better than Wilson, but Wilson's team won the pennant, so I'll give the edge to The Hackman.