[Big Six]

Here's a bit of information about the players who won major awards in 1940, and a few others whose outstanding performance set them apart from the crowd.

Fans in Boston had the opportunity to watch both Most Oustanding Batter award winners all season long. The American League's top slugger was, once again, the Red Sox' Lou Gehrig. Still going strong at age 37, Lou posted a .363 average that was the third best of his career, and added 35 homers and 119 RBI. Gehrig won the batting title, placed third in home runs, and second in RBI. He also drove in and scored over 100 runs for the sixteenth consecutive season. Lou's .463 OBP and .682 slugging average were both better than his career averages. With seven MOBs to his credit now, it's possible to make a case for Gehrig as the greatest hitter of all time. Only Oscar Charleston, with eight, has won the award more times; Babe Ruth won seven MOBs during his career, too.

The Braves' Mel Ott won the second MOB of his career. Ott's .328/.429/.568 line was accented by 28 homers, 115 runs scored, and 91 RBI. Mel's counting stats were, of course, affected by a relatively weak Braves offense. At the age of 31, Ott has hit 377 career home runs, and has an excellent chance to crack the 500-homer barrier and challenge for the all-time home run crown.

Jimmie Foxx of the Athletics was the only hitter in either league to hit at least 40 home runs, leading the American League with 45. Like Ott, the 32-year-old "Beast" should end his career with well over 500 homers (he has 431 already). Besides Foxx and Gehrig, the American League 30-homer club contained Willie Wells (38) and Hank Greenberg (35) of the Tigers, Joe DiMaggio (35) of the Yankees, and Hal Trosky of the Indians (31).

The National League's top home run hitters were a pair of Cardinals, Willard Brown and Johnny Mize, who belted 36 each. In a season in which power was down throughout the National League, Brown and Mize were the only sluggers to go deep at least 30 times.

Greenberg once again led the American League in RBI with 124. Right behind him was the potent Red Sox trio of Gehrig (119), Ted Williams (116) and Josh Gibson (113). Wells (113) and Foxx (106) also drove at least a hundred runners home.

Over in the National League, Mize easily took the RBI title with 123, twenty more than Brooklyn's Goody Rosen. Only those two men broke the century mark, and only five--all Cardinals and Dodgers--drove in at least ninety runs.

The Tigers' Barney McCosky (.344) finished second in the AL batting race, ahead of Washington's Mickey Vernon (.326) and John Kinsella (.316), New York's Buck O'Neil (.325) and Chicago's Zeke Bonura (.318).

Rosen hit .336 to win the senior circuit batting crown, with the Pirates' Tony Cuccinello (.329), Ott (.328) and Dodgers rookie Jackie Robinson (.317) right behind.

Vernon and Robinson were their league's Rookies of the Year. Each player placed among the top ten in a number of statistical categories; at 22 and 21 years of age respectively, both should have many productive years ahead fo them.

The top four spots on the AL stolen base list were monopolized by Tigers and Red Sox. Boston's Martin Dihigo won the title with 38, and his teammate Archie Graham tied for third with 27. Tigers Willie Wells (28) and Lyn Lary (27) were the only other American Leaguers with over 20 thefts.

Charlie Gelbert of the Cardinals won the NL steals title with 32, with the Reds' Charlie Bates right behind him with 30. Another Dodger rookie, Pee Wee Reese, stole 27 bags to place third.

The Red Sox boasted the junior circuit's Most Outstanding Pitcher, too. Ray Brown's 23-11 record and 2.58 ERA were good enough to claim the prize. He led the league in ERA and tied for second in wins behind the Yankees' Gene Schott, and placed sixth in strikeouts. Ray becomes the seventh Red Sox pitcher to win the MOP award, a list that includes Hall of Famer Joe Wood and likely Cooperstown enshrinees Neal Brady and Waite Hoyt.

Two more Red Sox pitchers won at least 20 games: Mike O'Farrell (23) and Bucky Walters (22). Rounding out the American League 20-win fraternity were Schott (24) and Lon Warneke (21) of the Yankees and Hugh Mulcahy of the Senators (22).

Dizzy Dean of the world champion Cardinals was an easy winner of the National League Most Outstanding Pitcher award. His accomplishments included a 29-12 record, a 2.64 ERA, a sparkling 0.97 WHIP, and 258 strikeouts. He finished first, third, second, and second in these categories, respectively. Like Brown, Dean is a first-time MOP; he and Hall of Famer Pol Perritt are the only Cardinals to win this award (Perritt took the prize four times).

Chicago's Satchel Paige (26), St. Louis' Paul Dean (25), New York's Victor Starffin (22) and Pittsburgh's Bob Logan (22) also won over 20 games in the National League.

Paige (283) and Boston's Hilton Smith (237) placed second and third to Ol' Diz in the strikeout race, while finishing ahead of Dean, in the same order, in the ERA competition. Satchel's mark was 2.36, while Hilton's was 2.56.

The Senators' Jake Winters was the only pitcher in either league to whiff at least 300 men, easily outdistancing his AL rivals for the title. His teammate, Emil Yde, placed second with 190.

Finally, with the increasing use of relief pitchers, especially in the American League, the save is becoming a far more important and interesting statistic to track. Cleveland rookie Dixie Howell set a new major league record by saving 24 games, with Detroit veteran Uel Eubanks finishing second with 17. No National League pitcher finished with more than ten saves.