After a brief sidebar earlier today, we return to our second MLB Monday miniseries now, looking at the 1928 awards we didn’t get to the first time around, so long ago. Now we’re taking on the World Series MVP Award, which would not be awarded until 1955, and the Manager of the Year awards, which would not be awarded until 1983. Eventually, we may add some Gold Gloves to this miniseries, but not for awhile, as the defensive metrics are so sketchy for the old-school seasons. Enjoy!

1928 World Series MVP: Lou Gehrig, 1B, New York (AL)

The New York Yankees repeated as the World Series champions with a four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals to become the first back-to-back champs from the American League since the Boston Red Sox pulled off the feat in 1915–1916. And guess who was on those teams? You only get one guess. Anyway, the Yankees became the first team ever to win two straight Fall Classics via the sweep, and that established these guys as legends until the present day, still.

So, who is the MVP? New York outscored St. Louis 27-10 in four games, so we could pick from either hitters or pitchers here, really. The hitting star: first baseman Lou Gehrig (2.433 OPS, .545 BA, 4 HRs, 9 RBI, 6 BBs). The pitching star: starter Waite Hoyt (2-0, 1.50 ERA, 1.111 WHIP). We think Gehrig’s line is a lot more impressive, all things considered, so we’re going with him as our WS MVP pick here. Hard to argue with all those stats that topped every hitter in the Series, really, except in batting average.

1928 AL MOTY: Miller Huggins, New York

Here is a little-known fact: The Philadelphia Athletics were a better team, sabermetrically, than the New York Yankees in 1928, but Yankees Manager Miller Huggins (plus-6 PPP) squeezed more out of his roster than A’s Manager Connie Mack (plus-1 PPP) did, shockingly enough. Huggins’ PPP mark was also the highest in the American League, so he wins his seventh MOTY nod from us. That’s going to be tough to top, historically speaking.

1928 NL MOTY: Joe McCarthy, Chicago

The Cards won the pennant by just 2 games over the New York Giants, and the Chicago Cubs came in third, just 4 games behind St. Louis, overall—so it was a tight race between three teams here. Cubs Manager Joe McCarthy led this trio with a plus-4 PPP, as well, putting his team into contention when it perhaps had no business being there until the final week of the season. He’s our pick over St. Louis Manager Bill McKechnie (plus-1) and Giants Manager John McGraw (plus-1).

We have a feeling McCarthy will win more of these, too. Stay tuned there …