Hank Sauer Marquee

In 1952 he hit 37 home runs and drove in 121, leading the National League in both, and won the Most Valuable Player award with 226 points of 336. He was thirty-five. Chicago finished fifth, 19 and a half games out, which makes it one of the more unusual awards the writers have given.

He did not hold a regular job until he was thirty-one — the war and the minor leagues took his twenties — and then hit 288 home runs in the twelve seasons he had left, with 876 runs batted in and a .266 average.

Wrigley Field's left-field crowd called him the Mayor and threw packets of chewing tobacco at him, which he collected between innings. He was still hitting 26 home runs at forty. The 1966 ballot gave him four votes of 302 and two committees have looked at him since. He died in 2001, at eighty-four.