Our current entry for MLB Monday takes on the final pre-World War II season, and it’s memorable for many reasons: Joe DiMaggio and his 56-game hitting streak, Ted Williams and his .406 batting average … you get the idea. Alas, the New York Yankees are back in the spotlight, though. Overall, the Bronx Bombers have won 40 pennants and 27 World Series, so it’s quite often we get stuck with the Yankees here. Oh well—no matter what team you root for, baseball is the best.

1941 World Series MVP: Joe Gordon, 2B, New York (AL)

The Yankees beat the Brooklyn Dodgers in 5 games, winning 3 games by a combined 4 runs. The matchup will become rather commonplace in this space over the next few months, so be warned. Meanwhile, second baseman Joe Gordon dominated the hitting statistics by delivering a .500 batting average and a 1.595 OPS (to go along with 1 home run and 5 RBI). He also walked 7 times without striking out. Can any of the pitchers on the team match him? Nope.

Interestingly, New York used 5 different starting pitchers, so no one pitched more than 9 innings in the Series for the Yanks. That means that Gordon gets this nod, easily: the Bronx Bombers have won five of the last six Fall Classics, and five different players have won this award in the process—none of them named DiMaggio, either. Interesting.

1941 AL MOTY: Joe McCarthy, New York

New York won the pennant by 17 games, and Manager Joe McCarthy posted the highest PPP mark (plus-5) in the league. That’s all it takes, even if McCarthy clearly had the horses to dominate: this team won a whopping 50 games on the road in 1941! This is the manager’s seventh win from us, three with the Chicago Cubs through 1930 and now four with the Yankees since then. This ties him with Miller Huggins for the all-time lead in MOTY nods.

1941 NL MOTY: Billy Southworth, St. Louis

The Dodgers won the pennant by 2.5 games over the St. Louis Cardinals, but Brooklyn Manager Leo Durocher posted just a plus-1 PPP finish. Meanwhile, Cards Manager Billy Southworth topped the league with a plus-5 PPP effort. The race for the flag never should have been so close, so Southworth’s management has to be rewarded here. This is his first MOTY nod from us, incidentally.