Uncle Scoopy's Ballpark: The bizarre 1926 NL batting championship

Uncle Scoopy's Ballpark: The bizarre 1926 NL batting championship

I suppose this is my most obscure topic yet, but I've always found it fascinating.

Throughout the 1920s, the National League batting leaders were guys you are familiar with: Rogers Hornsby, Lefty O'Doul, Paul Waner ...

except for one year ...

In 1926, the top four hitters were Bubbles Hargrave, Cuckoo Christensen, Earl Smith and Cy Williams.

Say what? Who are those guys, and how they heck did they best Rogers Hornsby?

(Believe me, in the case of Cuckoo Christensen, nobody knows, least of all Cuckoo himself. If he knew what he was doing so well that year, he would have kept doing it. He finished second in the NL in batting average and first in on-base percentage in his rookie year. And that was basically his only year. He only got 185 more major league at bats. Why, you wonder? Well, the guy was not named Cuckoo for nothing.)