1) Ted Williams
2) Joe DiMaggio

Haven't figured the rest out yet

Ah, that year. For the three great sluggers, the year they really rocked the batting average:

Ruth 1923: .393/.545/.764

Williams 1941: .406/.553/.735

Bonds 2002: .370/.582/.799

Three different contexts, of course. And for each, there are other years that are candidates for their best year.

Here's the RPA top rated MLB players for 1941:

1. Ted Williams 94.67 runs
2. Joe DiMaggio 59.99 runs
3. Dolph Camilli 52.254 runs
4. Charlie Keller 48.58 runs
5. Stan Hack 41.92 runs
6. Mel Ott 40.84 runs
7. Pete Reiser 39.45 runs
8. Elbie Fletcher 36.72 runs
9. Jeff Heath 33.34 runs
10. Tommy Henrich 32.46 runs
11. Whit Wyatt 32.05 runs
12. Roy Cullenbine 31.69 runs
13. Bill Nicholson 30.03 runs
14. Nick Etten 29.13 runs
15. Cecil Travis 27.63 runs
16. Johnny Mize 27.33 runs
17. Taffy Wright 24.83 runs
18. Dixie Walker 24.51 runs
19. Joe Cronin 23.27 runs

Josh Gibson was not nearly as impressive in 1941 as 1940 but still produced at a high level

Year  MXLTeam  G  AB  R  H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  SB  BB  BA  SLG
1940  Veracruz  22  92  32  43  7  4  11  38  3  16  .467  .989
1941  Veracruz  94  358  100  134  31  3  33  124  7  75  .374  .754
1942  Homestead  42  138  36  42  6  1  7  38  2  32  .304  .514
1943  Homestead  55  192  69  91  24  5  12  74  3  39  .474  .839

In 1942 he came back to the states. 1943 was his last huge season and the NGL was losing players to the war.

1941 was basically his last year primarily as a catcher for MLE purposes.

https://homemlb.wordpress.com/tag/josh-gibson/

MLE for 1941

Year Age Lg Pos   PA Rbat Rbaser Rfield Rpos RAA   WAA Rrep  RAR   WAR
=======================================================================
1941 29 NL C/1B  570   40    0      2     0   41   4.3   18   59   6.3

Buck Leonard's MLE is nearly identical to 1940

1940  32 NL 1B    630   35   -1    0     2   - 6   30   3.1   20   49   5.2
1941  33 NL 1B    630   33   -1    0     2   - 6   28   3.0   20   48   5.2

Hilton Smith MLE takes a step back from 1940


PITCHING | BATTING | TOTAL
YEAR AGE IP RAA WAA WAR | PA WAR | WAR
========================================================
1940 33 270 34 3.8 6.4 | 90 0.5 | 6.9
1941 34 210 23 2.6 4.7 | 70 0.4 | 5.1

This is odd because he clearly pitched more effectively in 1941. This season he was used quite often to finish games for Satchel Paige after Paige pitched the first 3 innings

http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=smith01hil

The NGL stats show he pitched roughly the same innings in 1941 as 1940 but gave up 9 runs in 50.2 IP in 1941 compared to 27R in 45.2 IP in 1940.

Willard Brown MLE is not that impressive but I've never been that impressed by Brown.

https://homemlb.wordpress.com/tag/willard-brown/

Year Age Lg Pos   PA Rbat Rbaser Rdp Rfield Rpos RAA   WAA  Rrep RAR   WAR
===========================================================================
1941  26 AL  CF  610   18    3    0     3    -1   23   2.3   21   44   4.4

I wouldn't rate his glove above average. He was anecdotally an indifferent fielder. He had a good season hitting but not as good as Leonard or Irvin or Ted Strong. I've got him close in value to Sam Chapman of the Athletics.

I have Ted Strong as marginally better at the plate but in RF instead of CF. He's also similar in value. Tommy Henrich and Joe Medwick are also in this range.

In 1941 Monte Irvin is listed as a SS but his MLE compares him to CF

https://homemlb.wordpress.com/tag/monte-irvin/

Year Age Lg Pos PA Rbat Rbaser Rdp Rfield Rpos RAA WAA Rrep RAR WAR
===========================================================================
1941 22 NL CF 590 30 4 0 4 - 1 36 3.9 18 55 5.9

http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=irvin01mon

His bat compares well to Ted Strong and Buck Leonard while handling a more difficult defensive assignment. That bat is rare for SS but his glove would have to rate below average considering he was moved off the position rather quickly. I have him rated like Joe Cronin with less glove.

1941 looks like a perfectly average Ray Brown season. His ERA+ and OPS+ are right in line with career averages.

http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=brown01ray&tab=bat

That should make it easier to take his MLE (which is regressed to career averages) and directly apply it to this season

https://homemlb.wordpress.com/tag/ray-brown/

PLAYER         PITCHING          |  BATTING    |  TOTAL
YEAR  AGE   IP  RAA   WAA   WAR  |  PA    WAR  |   WAR
========================================================
1940   32  270   27   2.9   5.7  |   90   0.6  |   6.2
1941   33  250   29   3.3   5.7  |   83   0.5  |   6.3
1942   34  250   22   2.7   5.1  |   83   0.5  |   5.6

1941 Satchel Paige was back pitching in the Negro Leagues but his usage is weird - 10 games, 3 complete games, 55 innings. That means 7 games with average innings of 4. He was often used as a gate draw, pitched 3 innings and Hilton Smith took over. He also spent time barnstorming again outside of NGL so his innings are certainly wrong. He was healthy again but hadn't hit his peak performance after his injury.

http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=paige01sat

https://homemlb.wordpress.com/tag/satchel-paige/

YEAR AGE IP RAA WAA WAR | PA WAR | WAR
=========================================================
1941 34 250 25 2.6 5.2 | 83 0.1 | 5.3

He was good again but not appreciably better than Bill Byrd or Terris McDuffie

Campanella was just 19 in 1941 but hit the snot out of the ball and made the NGL East-West All Star Game.

http://www.seamheads.com/NegroLgs/player.php?playerID=campa01roy

I think his numbers probably need to be regressed to the surrounding seasons but this is one of his best years. I don't have too much trouble seeing him as the 2nd best catcher in baseball behind Gibson.

Jud Wilson had a very good year hitting but it is a blip in a downward trend and his defense was probably quite bad at age 45.

Bus Clarkson has almost no data but his 1940 and 1942 are so similar that I'll just give him the same numbers for 1941 when he was a 26 year old SS. He pretty much ties Monte Irvin as the best SS in black baseball.

1941 Prelim

1) Ted Williams - best hitter that ever lived
2) Joe DiMaggio - at his peak also
3) Thornton Lee - Never heard of this guy before, lots of innings with good rate stats
4) Cecil Travis - Good bat, decent glove
5) Pete Reiser - Very good glove season, great bat too
6) Bob Feller - dropoff from 1940 but still pitched 360 innings
7) Dolph Camilli - best bat not named Williams or DiMaggio
8) Charlie Keller
9) Bucky Walters - top pitchers had so many innings
10) Josh Gibson

11-15) Ray Brown, Elmer Riddle, Whit Wyatt, Joe Cronin, Hilton Smith
16-20) Monte Irvin, Bus Clarkson, Dixie Walker, Jeff Heath, Bill Byrd

1941 World Series

Player Name  G  AB  R  H  2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO  BA  OBP  SLG  OPS  SB  CS  E
Bill Dickey 5 18 3 3 1 0 0 1 3 1 .167 .286 .222 .508 0 0 0
Joe DiMaggio 5 19 1 5 0 0 0 1 2 2 .263 .333 .263 .596 0 0 0
Joe Gordon 5 14 2 7 1 1 1 5 7 0 .500 .667 .929 1.595 0 0 1
Tommy Henrich 5 18 4 3 1 0 1 1 3 3 .167 .318 .389 .707 0 0 0
Charlie Keller 5 18 5 7 2 0 0 5 3 1 .389 .476 .500 .976 0 0 0
Phil Rizzuto 5 18 0 2 0 0 0 0 3 1 .111 .238 .111 .349 1 0 1

Dolph Camilli 5 18 1 3 1 0 0 1 1 6 .167 .211 .222 .433 0 0 0
Joe Medwick 5 17 1 4 1 0 0 0 1 2 .235 .278 .294 .572 0 0 0
Pete Reiser 5 20 1 4 1 1 1 3 1 6 .200 .238 .500 .738 0 0 0
Dixie Walker 5 18 3 4 2 0 0 0 2 1 .222 .300 .333 .633 0 0 0

Pitcher Name  G  GS  ERA  W  L  SV  CG  IP  H  R  ER  BB  SO  WHIP
Whit Wyatt 2 2 2.50 1 1 0 2 18.0 15 5 5 10 14 1.389

Low scoring series 17-11 over the 5 games.

Thanks for all of the Negro League information for this season, DL. One other player worth noting is Dave Barnhill of the New York Cubans. He had a 127 ERA+ in 123 IP and a 102 OPS+.

Cecil Travis, the answer to a great trivia question for 1941: who led the AL in hits?
All your firends will say DiMaggio or Williams...