MVP Award and Batting Crown
Although the 1936 Tigers finished in 2nd place, 19½ games behind the Yankees, the 33-year-old Gehringer may have had his best season. He led the American League in assists, double plays, and fielding percentage by a second baseman. And he had career-bests in hits (227) slugging percentage (.555), runs (144), extra base hits (87), total bases (356) and runs created (152). He also had a career-low 13 strikeouts in 641 at bats during the 1936 season. That equates to a strikeout every 49.3 times at bat. He finished 4th in the MVP voting, as Lou Gehrig became the only non-Tiger to win the MVP award from 1934 to 1937.
Gehringer finally secured his own American League Most Valuable Player trophy, and a batting crown, in 1937. Gehringer won the batting championship with a career-high .371 batting average and placed 2nd in on base percentage with another career-high .458. The 1937 season also saw Gehringer collect 209 hits (his 7th 200 hit season) and score 133 runs (one of twelve 100-plus run seasons).
In 1938, Gehringer had another solid year, batting .306 with a .425 on base percentage (6th-best in the American League), 133 runs (3rd-best in the league), and career-highs in bases on balls with 113 (4th-best in the league), and home runs with 20. Gehringer finished 10th in MVP voting in 1938.
Read more about this topic: Charlie Gehringer
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