The Cubs won the pennant, winning a close race with the Pirates, Giants and Reds. Cincinnati's catcher, Ernie Lombardi, won the batting title and the MVP award.

        Lombardi was reportedly the slowest moving ballplayer — maybe the slowest moving human — ever. According to legend, he would routinely get thrown out on plays any other player would have been safe on. Lombardi's fans like to say he would have hit over .400 if he had had just ordinary speed. Whatever you believe, "Schnozz" was clearly a slow-moving vehicle, and was only able to score 60 runs this year. Though he had a terrific year, and did a decent job of staying in the lineup (he missed 22 games), I don't think Lombardi was as good as either Stan Hack or Arky Vaughan.
        Mel Ott is best remembered as one of the game's great right fielders. This year, however, the Giants had more outfielders than they did third basemen, so... Ott moved to the hot corner. He had also played 60 games at third the previous season, and would play more than 250 games at third in his career, so he wasn't exactly a fish out of water. By most accounts, Ott was a competent defensive third baseman, and was in a class of his own as a hitter.
        Hack was the Cubs' best player, but finished seventh in the voting. Vaughan led the Pirates to a close second place finish, and was third in the vote. They both played more games than Lombardi and produced more runs; they were also good defensive players. I believe that both players were more valuable then Lombardi this season.
        Mel Ott and Johnny Mize were the top two hitters in the league, with the edge going to Ott. I think the top four MVP candidates were Ott, Vaughan, Hack, and Lombardi, and each represented one of the top four teams in the league. I'm picking Ott as the MVP; it's a close call between Hack and Vaughan, but I'll take Arky.