NDF 2003-04 Winter Fun - 1931 Award Winners - AL

[sweaver]

For the season referenced in the subject line of this thread, who would be your pick for Best Positional Player (Include defense and position played in your determination), Best Pitcher, Best First Year Player and any other topics of discussion from this season.

[sweaver]

Win Shares leaders, players; Babe Ruth (New York) 38, Lou Gehrig (New York) 36, Joe Cronin (Washington) 35, Al Simmons (Philadelphia) 34, Earl Averill (Cleveland) 30, Mickey Cochrane (Philadelphia) 28, Lu Blue (Chicago) 27, Earl Webb (Boston), Max Bishop (Philadelphia) and Goose Goslin (St. Louis) 25 each.

WS leaders, pitchers; Lefty Grove (Philadelphia) 42, George Earnshaw (Philadelphia) 29, Wes Ferrell (Cleveland) 28, Rube Walberg (Philadelphia) 24, Lefty Gomez (New York) and Firpo Marberry (Washington) 20.

WARP3: Ruth 13.0, Gehrig 10.4, Cronin 10.2, Simmons 10.5, Averill 9.5, Cochrane 8.6, Blue 7.5, Webb 7.8 (his 67 double season, and only season with 500 ABs), Bishop 8.5, Goslin 8.2. Grove 11.2, Earnshaw 6.3, Ferrell 10.2, Walberg 5.3, Gomez 8.9 (his first full year, 60 IP in 1930), Marberry 5.6.

Actual award voting (1931 was the first BBWAA "official" MVP award voting):

MVP

Place  Name  Team  Points
1 Lefty Grove       PHA        78    
  2 Lou Gehrig        NYY        59             
  3 Al Simmons        PHA        51        
  4 Earl Averill      CLE       43               
  5 Babe Ruth         NYY       40            
  6 Earl Webb         BOS       22          
  7 Joe Cronin        WSH       18              
  8 Ski Melillo       SLB       17          
  9 Mickey Cochrane   PHA      16       
  9 Sam West          WSH       16          
 11 George Earnshaw   PHA       12    
 11 Wes Ferrell       CLE       12     
 13 Firpo Marberry    WSH       11  
 14 Hal Rhyne         BOS       10       
 15 Ben Chapman       NYY        7        
 16 John Stone        DET        6           
 17 Lu Blue           CHW        4             
 17 Charlie Gehringer DET        4          
 19 Red Kress         SLB        3            
 20 Goose Goslin      SLB        2              
 20 Danny MacFayden   BOS        2  
 20 Tom Oliver        BOS         2      
 20 Carl Reynolds     CHW        2     
 20 Lefty Stewart     SLB      2      
 25 Jimmie Foxx       PHA        1 

[sweaver]

Best player: Babe Ruth. The Babe couldn't really run any more, but he hit so well it didn't matter. Gehrig had more RBI, but that's because he was driving in Ruth in front of him.

Best pitcher: Lefty Grove, in his 31-4 season. No one else was close.

[WiredTiger]

Best Hitter: Babe Ruth
The end is in site but the Babe is still hitting them very well. Teammate Gehrig is second best again.

Best Pitcher: Lefty Grove
Grove is again the class of the league. 31-4 with a 2.06 ERA is one of the best seasons ever.