For the third straight year, the Giants, Cardinals, and Cubs were the top three teams in the league. The Cardinals had won in 1934, the Cubs in 1935; this year, it was the Giants' turn, though they lost the World Series to their cross-town rivals, the Yankees. The Giants were led by an outstanding pitching staff; their best pitcher was Carl Hubbell, who won his second MVP Award, the first pitcher ever to do so.

         I think Hubbell's numbers speak for themselves; he was clearly the best pitcher in the league. Neither Hubbell nor the Giants got off to a great start; by mid-July, Hubbell was 10-6, and his team was going nowhere. After that, Hubbell stopped losing, and won his final 16 decisions of the year. He then opened 1937 with 8 more victories before he was finally beaten; his 24 consecutive wins is still a record.
         The runner-up in the MVP vote was another pitcher, Dizzy Dean. Dean's 24 wins was his lowest in three years, following seasons of 30 and 28 (he did set a career high in saves, though). The Diz was only 25 years old, and by season's end already had 121 career wins. This would be his last great season; next year he got off to a bit of a tough start, and in a losing effort against Hubbell he was ejected for throwing at batter's heads on every pitch. A couple weeks later, he pitched in the All-Star Game, and had his toe broken by a line drive.
         Unfortunately, Jay Hanna Dean was not one to let a broken toe stop him, so he kept pitching; he altered his motion so that he would not have to land on the tender part of his foot, and in doing so tore something in his arm. He was finished as a great pitcher, and won only 16 games the rest of his career. After his playing days were over, Dean became a radio broadcaster, where his incredible butchery of the English language was put on display ("Don't fail to miss tomorrow's game", he always reminded listeners). Dean was inducted to the Hall Of Fame despite winning only 150 games in his career.
         Danny MacFayden was 31 years old, and had been in the league for ten seasons, losing quite a few more games than he won. This was the first of three terrific seasons he had late in his career; he somehow managed to win 17 games this year, despite pitching for the putrid Boston Braves. When MacFayden retired in 1943, he had pitched for seventeen years, and had lost 27 more games than he won.
      Van Lingle Mungo may have pitched the best ball of his career as well; this was the second of three straight seasons that he led the league in strikeouts per game. Mungo's record was tarnished by his team, the toothless Brooklyn Dodgers, but he was a terrifc pitcher, and had a terrific name.