Talk about your unlikeliest award winners
 

In my late 1800s & early 1900s fictional universe I just had an incredibly unlikely Most Valuable Player.


https://i.imgur.com/jwU9xEx.png


On the face of it, a player like Mark Cronan hitting .396 with 9 HR and 94 RBI in 114 games (132-game season) in the kind of environment that 1901 offered isn't that surprising. Those numbers earned him the "Batsman of the Year" in the Midwestern Baseball Association, one of the two major leagues. However...

Before signing with the Missouri Bluebirds Cronan, a first baseman, was a backup with the St. Louis Saints - also in the MWBA. Before that, he spent five years in the "National Baseball Organization", a group of independent leagues that is the equivalent to AAA. For the last two years of his time there, he wasn't even a regular starter at first base.

Why wasn't he a regular? He was a quality hitter who had poor defensive attributes at a time when error rates were still astronomical compared to today's game - poor defense stood out much more. He also rated a 25/80 on Batting Eye ahead of 1901 - Cronan basically swings at anything and only took 17 walks in 479 plate appearances in 1901.

Here are Cronan's career stats, including his surprise 1901 season:


https://i.imgur.com/i9fjkVE.png

He won the MWBA batting championship by 25 points while leading in slugging & OPS, and he was also in the top five in home runs & RBI. At the same time, the .396 average was about 40 better than he'd ever put as a minor league regular, the .966 OPS over 100 points better, the RBI total a career high by 30+, and the home run mark about double anything he'd ever done as a minor leaguer even though he was fully developed by the end of his time there.

Anyone else have stories of incredibly unlikely award winners or title winners?

No. We're here mostly to complain.

Great story. The kind of stuff that makes the game fun and draws you into your realm deeper and deeper. :)

Tks for sharing.

:laugh:

Except Bluenoser. Though as you can see Bluenoser can be a bit highjacky at times, since you clearly asked for people to post their stories, which Bluenoser ignored by trying to take the thread in a different direction. But he's like that so you just get used to it.