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Second-year New Orleans 3B Jimmy Williams earned National League Most Valuable Player in 1898 with 19 first place votes and 311 points. Indianapolis CF Bill Lange was second with two first place votes and 219 points, while Boston two-way man Cy Seymour had three first place votes and 206 points. The winner Williams posted MLB’s third hitting Triple Crown despite losing three weeks to back stiffness in the late spring.

Williams led in home runs (39), RBI (123), average (.342), slugging (.648), OPS (1.059), wRC+ (190), and total bases (332). He had 175 hits, 109 runs, 28 doubles, a .411 OBP, and 9.4 WAR over 136 games. Williams was the #6 pick by the Pelicans in the 1896 draft. 1B Frank Chance meanwhile was the #1 pick in 1897 and earned 1898’s Rookie of the Year for New Orleans with 20 first place votes. Chance led with 200 hits and had 108 runs, 46 doubles, 17 home runs, 82 RBI, a .317/.401/.487 slash, 149 wRC+, and 5.1 WAR.

For the second time in three years, Pittsburgh’s Jerry Nops won Pitcher of the Year. He had 15 first place votes and 141 points while Boston’s Rube Waddell had nine first place votes and 121 points. Sabremetrics loved Waddell, who set the single-season pitching WAR record (10.6) and led in strikeouts (279) and FIP- (57). He also had a 19-8 record with a 2.98 ERA over 274.2 innings.

Winning the day for Nops was the ERA title at 2.24. In his fourth year for the Pirates, the Toledo, Ohio native had a 16-8 record, 253 innings, 192 strikeouts, 5 shutouts, 0.88 WHIP, 168 ERA+, 66 FIP-, and 8.2 WAR. Nops also had a perfect game in May against Buffalo. Pittsburgh wisely gave him a seven-year, $224,200 extension in April.

Brooklyn’s Bill George notably won Reliever of the Year for the second time, having also done it in 1896 with Detroit. His 1.42 ERA was the lowest-ever for the award’s winner, getting 28 saves over 52 appearances with 53 strikeouts in 69.2 innings. He had a 284 ERA+, 93 FIP-, and 0.7 WAR. The journeyman reliever has pitched on eight teams so far.

Clowns CF Bill Lang won his seventh Silver Slugger. Dodgers SS Bill Dahlen won his fifth and teammate C Jack Clements got his fourth. Indy’s Spider Clark grabbed his third Slugger at 2B. Both Giants 3B Charlie Irwin and Phillies C Tom Daly became six-time Gold Glovers. Buffalo 1B Skyrocket Smith got his fifth, Pirates LF Mike Tiernan his fourth, and Braves SS Charlie Reilly his third.

Pittsburgh manager Frank “Heck” Heifer won Manager of the Year for leading the Pirates to the NL pennant. He took over the gig in 1894 and after three losing and rebuilding seasons, as gotten them to back-to-back division titles. Heifer holds a 408-402 career record so far.