A lot of players posted some big numbers this year, but the voters were confident about who the best player in the league was: Willie Mays, at age 23, returned from two years of service in the Korean War to lead the New York Giants to the World Series. He won the MVP Award, and he was a good choice.

        Ted Kluszewski played for 15 seasons; he was a full-time player for only half of those. But man, were they something. Kluszewski was a big man for his time, though it took him awhile to put his strength to good use; in 1949, at age 24, he hit only eight home runs in over 500 at bats. He hit 25 homers the next season, slumped in 1951, then re-established himself as a solid line drive hitter in 1952, batting .320 with 16 homers.
        Then came the four seasons that Big Klu is famous for. From 1953-56, Kluszewski averaged 42 homers per year. He also hit over .300 in each of those seasons, batting a career-high .326 this season. Not only did he have tremendous power, but he struck out only 35 times this year!
        An assortment of injuries pretty much finished Kluszewski's career by age 32; he hung on for five more seasons as a bench player, then retired with 279 career homers (more than half of those hit in a four-year span) and a career .298 batting average. Big Klu's last hurrah came in the 1959 World Series with the White Sox; he hit only two homers with Chicago that year, but launched three in the series against the Dodgers in a losing cause.
        Stan Musial and Duke Snider both had great seasons... hell, all these guys had great seasons. But wait; there's more.
        Eddie Mathews was a devastating power hitter at a very young age. The year before, Mathews had hammered out 47 home runs, at age 21, while playing in a poor home run park. This year, Mathews proved that he was the real deal. Only a small handful of players have ever displayed as much power as Mathews did at such a young age. Mathews was a great power hitter for many years, and was an All-Star nine times. He and Hank Aaron were the heart of a powerful Braves offense that won the World Series in 1957.
        Mathews retired with 512 home runs. He is one of an elite group of players to pass the 500 mark; among third basemen, only Mike Schmidt has more homers. Though hitting home runs was his specialty, Mathews also had excellent plate discipline and drew a huge number of walks in his career. In his prime he hit for consistenty good batting averages. Eight times Mathews scored 100 or more runs, and he also had five years with over 100 RBI. Mathews retired with over 2300 hits and also more than 1400 walks.
        Incredibly, Mathews played the bulk of his career in baseball's worst home run park, County Stadium in Milwaukee. He hit 238 home runs in his home park, 274 on the road. The ballpark likely cost Mathews a chance at a 50-homer season. Nevertheless, Mathews has to be considered one of the greatest third basemen ever, in a class with Brett and Schmidt... yet, he often seems to be forgotten by history. He shouldn't be.
         Pee Wee Reese had perhaps his best season, as did Granny Hamner. Red Schoendienst was terrific at the plate and brilliant in the field. Smoky Burgess didn't play every day, but was amazing when he was in the lineup. Too many guys, too many big years. In choosing the top four, I'm forced to leave out Kluszewski, despite Ted's awesome numbers. I'm also leaving out Reese, who I think was equally good.