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The Cleveland Blues, in a rebuilding process, managed an 82-80 record and a 4th place finish. Some new faces were league leaders:
George Brett hit .407 and tied Mickey Mantle for the NL home run lead with 49. Brett plays for the Beaneaters who finished under .500 however. Mantle for LA. Edwin Encarnacion drove in 132 runs Houston, one more than his teammate Happy Felsch.
Willie McGee hit .335 for the Senators to lead the AL, and Gavvy Cravath denied Ron Santo another HR title, hitting 45 for OC to Santo's 41. Santo's 113 RBI led the league.
Young Walter Johnson won 21 games for the Athletics, who won 100 games and the Eastern Division, and Johnson's 2.21 ERA was the best in the AL. He struck out 283, three fewer than Randy Johnson (no relation apparently) who plays for the Boston Americans. Eddie Collins stole 129 bases, as SB numbers continue to be through the roof.
Nolan Ryan, another newcomer, struck out 332 for the Chicago Orphans, and some say he throws even faster than either of the Johnsons.
The San Diego Padres won 101 games, without a single leader in any category on their team. But with four 18 game winners, led by Hippo Vaughn, and a well-distributed offense - Harvey Kuenn, Todd Zeile, Cesar Cedeno, Tommy Henrich - they won the NL pennant, but fell in 6 games to the Athletics.
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