This Date in Baseball History - What's a Guy Got to Do Edition.

Screwjob to the extreme.

Williams led the AL in runs, HR, walks, AVG, OBP, SLG, and OPS.

I know they didn't care about the advanced stats back then, so...

135/37/120/2/.406 for Williams
122/30/125/4/.357 for DiMaggio


ETA: Also more evidence that baseball writers being complete dickheads is nothing new.

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when a writer leaves the Red Sox right-fielder off the ballot.

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This part is misleading, though. DiMaggio was a good bit ahead of Williams in the voting overall, including 15 first place votes to 8 for Williams. One dickhead voter leaving Williams off completely didn't make the difference.

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I guess we’re forgetting that DiMaggio had a 56 game and then a went on another one so basically 1 game out of 74 he didn’t have a hit.

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Nah, but I'd assume the fact that the Yankees won the AL Pennant by 17 games with a 101-53-2 record and then dusted the Dodgers in the WS in 5 games might have had a bit to do with it as well.

Plus, Ted was in his third year. DiMaggio was in his 6th, already had an MVP under his belt, and already had 4 WS rings to his name. DiMaggio was as big a name as there was in sports in 1941.

MVP voting is before postseason play... or at least it is now, but regular season dominance absolutely factored in.

And DiMaggio had a phenomenal year, Williams was just better.

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ETA: Also more evidence that baseball writers being complete dickheads is nothing new.

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Yep. And this current crop is probably worse.

Joe deserved it with a 56 game hitting streak. No one has even come close. 44 games with Rose is the closest anyone has gotten and people get excited when someone gets a 20 game hitting streak.

Ted Williams was a great hitter, but the MVP is about making a contribution to the team's success. It is not a player of the year award. If you read the fine print on the MVP award it's about making the greatest contribution to the teams' success and not about piling up stats.