“So Joe, you led the league in what exactly?”

Amid my usual Baseball Reference wanderings, I came across the voting for 1947 AL MVP, and it made me wonder if it was the worst MVP vote ever. It was certainly the closest: one point separated first and second place. 

The runner-up was Ted Williams, who wound up with 201 points, including three first-place votes. That year, he led the league in:

• Runs
• HRs
• RBIs
• Walks
• Batting average
• On-base percentage
• Slugging percentage
• OPS
• Total bases

Dude slugged .634 and his OBP was .499. He won the Triple Crown for the second time. But he didn't win the MVP.  

The winner was Joe DiMaggio, who wound up with 202 points and eight first-place votes. He certainly had a good season: .315/.399/.522. But this is what he led the league in:

• Nothing

Wait, let me double-check:

• Yeah, absolutely nothing

Sure, DiMaggio was better defensively—just not that better. Even by advanced metrics that factor in defense, it's not close: Williams had a 9.9 WAR, DiMaggio 4.8. But you don't need advanced metrics. Just look at all of the above. 

A few years back, Brian Cronin debunked some myths about that year's voting in the LA Times. He gets at why it wasn't a Boston writer (or writers) that made it happen, but not why it happened at all.