Starting with Torre, after a handful of solid all-star seasons since coming up to the Majors in 1960, he put it all together in 1971 when he led the league in batting (.363), Hits (230), Runs Batted In (137) and Total Bases (352), while being named to his seventh all-star team while playing a position full-time for the first time (3B).
All of that easily handed him the award over Pittsburgh Pirates slugger Willie Stargell, 318 points to 222, with Torre getting 21 of 24 first place votes.
In the American League, we already saw what the Cy Young winner, Vida Blue, accomplished on his way to taking home the two big awards in the Junior Circuit.
Posting a 24-8 record while completing 24 of 39 starts, the 21-year-old also led the league with a 1.82 earned run average and eight shutouts while also striking out 301 batters for the burgeoning baseball dynasty in Oakland that would take three straight championships between 1972 and 1974.
