An interesting vote, but one that I think was misguided. A lot of players had big power years and drove in lots of runs. So the MVP was given to Maury Wills, a little shortstop for the Dodgers who had no power but ran like a deer. Wills had one the greatest seasons ever by a base stealer, breaking Ty Cobb's single season record of 96 that had been set way back in 1915.

         Cubs' second baseman Ken Hubbs was only 20 years old; in addition to his Gold Glove, he also won the Rookie Of The Year award. He slumped a little the next year, but continued to play well in the field, and seemed positioned to become a star. In winter 1964, however, he crashed his private plane, and died at the age of 22.
        Let's examine Maury Wills. Maury rocketed to fame this year, breaking Ty Cobb's record of 96 stolen bases in a season. But another key number is missing from his line: 13. Wills was caught only 13 times this season, giving him both a record stolen base total and a brilliant success rate. Though his record was broken later by Lou Brock and Rickey Henderson, an excellent case can be made that Wills' 1962 performance is still the single greatest season ever by a base stealer (in 1986, Vince Coleman had 107 steals, 14 caught stealing — essentially duplicating Wills' numbers).
        Wills spent eight years in the minors before his debut with Dodgers in 1959, at age 26. Wills led the National League in stolen bases six straight seasons, though he never had another year like this one. In 1965 he stole 94 bases, but was caught 31 times. Wills played for 14 seasons, and stole 586 bases in his career. He also had over 2100 hits in his career, almost all of them singles.
        Normally, I'm thrilled when a 'little player' wins the MVP. But I'm not so sure about Wills; he hammered out 208 hits during the season, but his batting average was under still under .300. He didn't walk much, and had very little power. His greatest assets, then, were speed, defense and durability — all very important. But let's look at some more players.
        Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Hank Aaron and Tommy Davis all had huge seasons. After winning the MVP in 1961, Robinson followed up with a better season — but finished fourth in the voting.
        I think a good argument can be made that Mays was the National League's best player. He may not have been as quite as good a hitter as Robinson or Aaron, but it's close — and Mays was a superior baserunner and defensive player. To top off the argument, Mays also led the Giants to the pennant, their first in San Francisco (they finished one game ahead of Wills' Dodgers).
        If Wills had hit for a higher batting average, or had an on-base percentage closer to .400, I would consider him for the MVP. It would also have helped if he had led his team to the pennant. But Mays had a better year (perhaps the best year in the league), and his team won, so I'm picking the Say Hey Kid. He's followed by the other two slugging monsters, Robinson and Aaron, and then Wills.
        Also:
        Stan Musial was 42 years old, playing in his 21st season. He came back for one more season in 1963, then retired. And he could still hit.
        It's not clear that Wills was even the best player on his own team. Tommy Davis had a remarkable season, totalling 230 hits and 153 RBI. It was easily a career year; though he did win another batting title, Davis never again had 100 RBI nor 200 hits in a season. A broken ankle suffered in 1965 severely curtailed his career.