The Cardinals won the pennant and the World Series, and their star third baseman Ken Boyer won the MVP. This was a great year for third basemen, and a few other players as well.

         Boyer certainly had a fine year, leading the league in RBI and runs produced. A great rookie named Dick Allen had an awesome year as well, leading the Phillies to a second place phinish, just one game behind the Cardinals. The Phillies held the lead for most of the season; but, in typical Phillie phashion, they pholded up in September, and were caught by the Cardinals. It is probably the most phamous phold by any team in baseball history. It also haunted manager Gene Mauch for the rest of his career, and was the phirst of many sour notes in the career of Dick Allen.
        Ken Boyer was 33 this year; he had been one of the best third basemen in the league for almost a decade, and for many years was an MVP candidate. Both he and his brother, Clete, were third basemen; Clete played most of his career with the Yankees, and he and Ken faced each other in the World Series this year. Both were outstanding defensive players, though Clete probably rates an edge. On offense, there was no comparison; Clete was a terrible hitter, whereas Ken was one of the best with the bat. Ken played fifteen years in the majors; he pounded out more than 2100 hits, as well as 282 career homers. Had he played a few more years, he would surely have gone into the Hall Of Fame; as it is, he and Ron Santo are perhaps the best third sackers who are not in the Hall.
        Speaking of Santo, he also had a great year, as did Joe Torre. Santo was just starting his career, and had probably passed Boyer as the top defensive third sacker in the league. I think Santo was the best third baseman in the NL this year, just ahead of Boyer and Allen. I have trouble seeing Boyer as a strong MVP candidate this year; he was very good, but this wasn't his best season. He set career highs in at bats and RBI, but nothing else. And Boyer really needed to have his best season to match up against the best players in the National League this year.
        Behind Boyer, the runner-up was Johnny Callison, followed by Bill White and Frank Robinson. Then came Joe Torre and Willie Mays. Since they were so popular in the MVP vote this year, I might as well say something about Johnny Callison and Bill White. Callison was a great defensive right-fielder and a good power hitter, who had four great seasons for the Phillies in the early 1960's. After he turned 27, Callison stopped hitting for some reason, and his career slowly came to a halt. He finished with 226 homers in his career.
        Bill White was a product of the Giants' First Baseman Factory of the late 1950's; he had a solid rookie season in 1956, but was soon followed by both Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey. White was sent packing to the Cardinals, where he had several good seasons, and three outstanding ones. He was a line drive hitter who hit for good batting averages, four times drove in over 100 runs, and hit 202 homers in a 13-year career. White was also a fine defensive player who won seven Gold Gloves at first base.
        A solid, consistent player, White never broke through with a true MVP-calibre season, and he had his last good season at age 32. But he made the most of his post-playing career; for many years, he worked as a broadcaster for the New York Yankees. In 1989, White was elected President of the National League, becoming the highest ranking black executive in American sports.
        Though they had good seasons, and they played for good teams, I can't possibly see how either Callison or White could have been better than, let's say, Willie Mays. Once again, I think Willie Mays was the best player in the league; Billy Williams was second in the league in home runs with 33, 14 behind Mays' total. And though I would put him among the top ten players in the NL, I can't rank Boyer ahead of Allen, Santo, or Torre.