St. Louis won the pennant, then lost in the World Series to the Athletics. The Cardinals scored more than a thousand runs, in a year in which hitting stats rocketed to record levels. The average National League hitter hit .303 this year; the average team scored over five runs a game. The numbers that some hitters put up were astonishing, to say the least.

        The Chicago Cubs finished just behind the Cardinals in the pennant race. Their offense, built by manager Joe McCarthy, also scored almost a thousand runs. Their best hitter was a slugger named Hack Wilson; Wilson's 56 homers this year were an NL record until McGwire and Sosa hit 70 and 66 in 1998, and his 191 RBI are still a major league record.
        The Giants also had a great year, and were yet another team that almost scored a thousand runs. Bill Terry was their best hitter; Terry hit .400, and was the last NL player of the century to do so. His 254 hits are a league record, shared with Lefty O'Doul.
        Chuck Klein had an astonishing set of seasons in the early thirties, impressive enough to get him into the Hall Of Fame despite a relatively short career. This is the year that Klein had 40 homers, and 44 outfield assists (he is the only player to get 40 of each in the same season).
        Klein is a unique figure in baseball history, because recent statistical research shows that Klein could only hit in his home park, the Baker Bowl in Philadelphia, which had a short right-field fence and a huge power alley in left field. Klein would often amass big numbers at home, but meagre ones on the road. Though he has been inducted into the Hall Of Fame, Klein's reputation has taken a beating because his numbers were inflated to such a large degree by his home park. Despite his impressive stats, I am very skeptical about Klein's worth as a player, and I usually do not rank him among the top MVP candidates. In 1930, the Phillies won 35 games at home, a poor total — but they won only 17 on the road!
        With all of these inflated stats, it is a challenge to determine how good these players really were. Babe Herman hit .393 with 35 homers — but surely he really wasn't that good. Some people think Babe Herman should be in the Hall Of Fame; others think he was a hack who just came up at the right time. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle. Herman was an oustanding hitter, though he didn't have a long career. He was a terrible fielder, and was famous for having fly balls bounce off his body. A terrific hitter, a bad defensive player, and a short career — hell, that applies to lots of guys. Ruben Sierra, for one. Even if you think Herman was better than Sierra, that's still a long way from the Hall Of Fame.
        The Cardinals won the pennant, and their best player was Frankie Frisch, who I think was the best player of this group. The Cubs were in second place; their best players were Wilson and Gabby Hartnett, who both had tremendous seasons. Next came the Giants, whose best player was Terry. I think those four were the NL's best players.