Soren wrote:...why?
Catchers used to win MVPs a lot. There was a guy named Johnny Bassler who finished 6th, 7th and 5th in MVP voting in the early 20s. He had no power and was really slow, even for a catcher. He did hit .300 and he walked a lot -- maybe there were a lot of Saber guys around in the early 20s. He had a great defensive reputation.
Catchers who had great defensive reps seemed to be valued a lot in baseball for many years. They had big reps for being leaders and stuff too. And for handling pitching staffs and that stuff too.
Campanella and Berra always did well in MVP races I believe.
The Tigers won 75 games in 1933 and finished 25 games out of first. They won 101 games and won the pennant by 7 games over the Yanks. It was Cochrane's first year with the club. Cochrane probably received tons of credit for that. And, oh by the way, the Tiger's manager that year was Micky Cochrane. It was not one of Mickey's better years with the bat but the combination of all of the above probably garnered him the MVP.
Plus, Mantle's dad named his boy Mickey not Lou -- Cochrane must have had a heckuva reputation.
Gehrig finished 5th in the MVP vote. Cochrane's team mate Charlie Gehringer finished a close 2nd. Gehrig's team mate Goofy Gomez finished 3rd.
Besides Gehrig, Hank Greenberg and Jimmy Foxx were also slugging first basemen at the time who were close in ability to Biscuit Pants. They weren't as good as Lou but were pretty close.
How many of you knew one of Gehrig's nicknames was Biscuit Pants?
