In 1947, Ted Williams won the American League's triple crown. He led the league in batting with a .343 average, in home runs with 32 and in RBIs with 114. He had a .634 slugging average, walked 162 times, scored 125 runs, and had 81 extra base hits, all of which were tops in the league. Amazingly, the American League's Most Valuable Player in 1947 was Joe DiMaggio, not Ted Williams.
Joe DiMaggio batted .315, hit 20 home runs and knocked in 97 runs. He had a .522 slugging average, walked 64 times, scored 97 runs, and had 61 extra base hits. The comparison isn't close. Williams led DiMaggio in every offensive category by a substantial margin.
The Yankees won the 1947 pennant by 12 games over the Tigers and by 14 over the Red Sox. No one is denigrating Joe DiMaggio because that is impossible. DiMaggio had a fine 1947 season and with the possible exception of Tristam E. Speaker, was the greatest defensive center fielder in baseball history, but during the 1947 regular season, it appears that Ted Williams was more valuable to the Red Sox than DiMaggio was to the Yankees. He certainly had a better season.
It is likely that the Yankees would have won the pennant without DiMaggio but it is more likely that the Red Sox would have finished in the second division without Williams. In those halcyon days before divisional play, the first four teams in each league received a percent of the World Series revenues. It is not claimed that the Yankees would have won the World Series without DiMaggio, but the MVP vote is based on the regular season and does not take the World Series into account.
The Most Valuable Player has been selected by the Baseball Writer's Association of America since 1931. There is no formal definition of "Most Valuable Player," but based on the September 29, 1931 New York Times headline when Lefty Grove won the award, the player the writers thought was the league's BEST player was its Most Valuable Player.
"Grove is Named Most Valuable Player in American League; Writers Pick Grove as Best in League."
In 1947, three writers from each American League city, for a total of twenty four "experts," decided the MVP. Each ballot had ten slots, with a first place vote having a value of 14 points, a second place vote 9 points with all ensuing rankings dropping by 1 point, making a tenth place vote worth a single point. Dimaggio received 202 votes. Williams received 201 votes.
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