 At age 22, he was the starting left fielder for the American League in the All Star Game and had 2 hits, including a double off Mort Cooper (the National League's MVP in 1942) to drive in Ken Keltner for the game-winning run.He led the American League in 1943 with 200 hits, 38 doubles, and 633 at-bats, finished 2nd in the batting race behind Luke Appling with a .316 batting average, and was among the league leaders with 275 total bases (2nd in the AL), 91 runs (3rd in the AL), 53 extra base hits (4th in the AL), a .434 slugging percentage (5th in the AL), and a .377 on-base percentage (6th in the AL).As a rookie, Wakefield placed 6th in the 1943 American League Most Valuable Player voting, and Wakefield appeared to be on his way to a tremendous career.