After I found out that Derek Jeter finished second in the 2006 AL MVP voting, this is what I wrote:
“It’s over. There’s no point in crying over spilled milk, as the expression goes.”
But the more I thought about it, the more I listened to sports radio, the more I read about it online and in newspapers, the more I realize that it’s not over for me. I’m seriously outraged by this. Not only because Jeter lost to a less deserving candidate, but because the process was tainted and lacking integrity.
As I already mentioned, Jeter led the AL in Win Shares and VORP, which is to say, he was the single-most indispensable everyday player in the American League in 2006. That Justin Morneau hit more homers and drove in more runs is an irrelevant point, in my opinion. MVP voting isn’t about how many homers a player hits, it’s about what that player means to his team. Unfortunately, though, the HR/RBI obsession taints far too many voters’ minds. After all, RBI are a function of where one hits in the batting order and HR, well, they look cool on SportsCenter highlights but they are only one facet of a player’s game. But if people insist on breaking down Jeter’s stats in relation to Morneau’s, both in terms of leaderboard position and those vague and nebulous “clutch” stats, here’s what one would find:
Leaderboard:
Jeter finished in the top 6 in: batting average (2nd), on-base percentage (4th), runs scored (2nd), hits (3rd), times on base (1st), runs created (3rd), and stolen bases (6th).
Morneau finished in the top 6 in: total bases (5th), runs batted in (2nd).
Runners in scoring position (AVG/OBP/SLG):
Jeter: .381/.482/.581
Morneau: .323/.401/.575
Close and late situations (AVG/OBP/SLG):
Jeter: .325/.434/.434
Morneau: .299/.343/.540
Beyond the stats, however, here’s one of the things I don’t understand. Voters placed two of Morneau’s teammates – Joe Mauer and Johan Santana – in the top seven finishers. If voters recognize the contributions of Morneau’s teammates to the success of the Twins season, how is it that Derek Jeter’s season is overlooked? The Yankees played four months without Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield and five weeks without Robinson Cano. Neither Alex Rodriguez nor Jason Giambi put together a full season’s worth of production. Jeter more than pulled his weight on the team with the best record in the AL, a team that won its division by 10 games, despite all of the injuries and inconsistencies of its other star players.
I truly can’t figure this one out. I simply chalk it up to an insidious anti-Yankee/anti-Jeter bias that infects much of mainstream America. While I certainly don’t like all the Yankee-Hating that goes on out there, at least I can understand it from a fan’s point of view. The reason I hate parity is because I love rooting for great teams (when they are my own), or rooting passionately against them (when they are from another city). So fans hate the Yanks, that’s OK, it’s a part of sports. But when writers hold the same biases? That’s unacceptable. Worse than that, it’s unprofessional.
There is no textbook definition of what an MVP is. At the end of the day, there is a tremendous degree of subjectivity that goes into the vote. But at the root of any MVP discussion should be certain key elements that all voters must weigh objectively. Writers must be reminded that they are not above the game. They cannot be so subjective to the point that they compromise the integrity of the entire process. Being from Chicago, as Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times is, and voting for Jermaine Dye second, placing Jeter sixth, and then skipping Joe Mauer entirely in favor of AJ Pierzynski is a travesty that should be punishable by a one-year suspension from the BBWAA. No level of subjectivity can justify AJ Pierzynski over Joe Mauer.
I should say that Cowley’s not the only idiot in the bunch, lest anyone think that I’m simply picking on the traditional “homerism” among Chicago’s sports media contingent. John Hickey of the Seattle Post Intelligencer had Raul Ibanez eighth. I suppose the hometown scribe from Seattle didn’t realize that the Mariners finished in last place in their division, tied for the 12th worst record in the AL (only Tampa, Kansas City, and Baltimore finished with worse records).
Here is a link to the ballot submitted by each of the 28 members of the BBWAA that voted for 2006 AL MVP. I’m glad to see that this was made public. Now we know who the idiots are and who, if the BBWAA had any sense of decency and accountability, should be suspended from voting for next season’s award winners.
For the record, I wrote the following email to Joe Cowley this morning:
Dear Mr. Cowley,
I’m certain that I’m not the first (and won’t be the last) to write to you and tell you that you’re not only a fool but reckless and irresponsible for your 2006 AL MVP ballot.
Since you’ve heard it all before, I will leave you with this: I hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving. During your festive meal, think about how lucky you are to be doing the job you do. There are literally hundreds of thousands of intelligent, eloquent, and dedicated fans like myself out there who would trade anything to be in your shoes. It’s only a pity that selfish people like you – people who think that a BBWAA member card puts them above the players and the game they are covering – are in a position to vote players into posterity.
I am sure that the cash gift that AJ Pierzynski gave you was worth the utter lack of integrity you showed in your ballot.
I meant every word of it. I won’t let this ruin my Thanksgiving but I’ll be damned if I will ever stop beating the drum about how atrocious the mainstream American sports-media institution is. Thank goodness for blogs, message boards, and fan sites – people like us “get it”.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
“It’s over. There’s no point in crying over spilled milk, as the expression goes.”
But the more I thought about it, the more I listened to sports radio, the more I read about it online and in newspapers, the more I realize that it’s not over for me. I’m seriously outraged by this. Not only because Jeter lost to a less deserving candidate, but because the process was tainted and lacking integrity.
As I already mentioned, Jeter led the AL in Win Shares and VORP, which is to say, he was the single-most indispensable everyday player in the American League in 2006. That Justin Morneau hit more homers and drove in more runs is an irrelevant point, in my opinion. MVP voting isn’t about how many homers a player hits, it’s about what that player means to his team. Unfortunately, though, the HR/RBI obsession taints far too many voters’ minds. After all, RBI are a function of where one hits in the batting order and HR, well, they look cool on SportsCenter highlights but they are only one facet of a player’s game. But if people insist on breaking down Jeter’s stats in relation to Morneau’s, both in terms of leaderboard position and those vague and nebulous “clutch” stats, here’s what one would find:
Leaderboard:
Jeter finished in the top 6 in: batting average (2nd), on-base percentage (4th), runs scored (2nd), hits (3rd), times on base (1st), runs created (3rd), and stolen bases (6th).
Morneau finished in the top 6 in: total bases (5th), runs batted in (2nd).
Runners in scoring position (AVG/OBP/SLG):
Jeter: .381/.482/.581
Morneau: .323/.401/.575
Close and late situations (AVG/OBP/SLG):
Jeter: .325/.434/.434
Morneau: .299/.343/.540
Beyond the stats, however, here’s one of the things I don’t understand. Voters placed two of Morneau’s teammates – Joe Mauer and Johan Santana – in the top seven finishers. If voters recognize the contributions of Morneau’s teammates to the success of the Twins season, how is it that Derek Jeter’s season is overlooked? The Yankees played four months without Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield and five weeks without Robinson Cano. Neither Alex Rodriguez nor Jason Giambi put together a full season’s worth of production. Jeter more than pulled his weight on the team with the best record in the AL, a team that won its division by 10 games, despite all of the injuries and inconsistencies of its other star players.
I truly can’t figure this one out. I simply chalk it up to an insidious anti-Yankee/anti-Jeter bias that infects much of mainstream America. While I certainly don’t like all the Yankee-Hating that goes on out there, at least I can understand it from a fan’s point of view. The reason I hate parity is because I love rooting for great teams (when they are my own), or rooting passionately against them (when they are from another city). So fans hate the Yanks, that’s OK, it’s a part of sports. But when writers hold the same biases? That’s unacceptable. Worse than that, it’s unprofessional.
There is no textbook definition of what an MVP is. At the end of the day, there is a tremendous degree of subjectivity that goes into the vote. But at the root of any MVP discussion should be certain key elements that all voters must weigh objectively. Writers must be reminded that they are not above the game. They cannot be so subjective to the point that they compromise the integrity of the entire process. Being from Chicago, as Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times is, and voting for Jermaine Dye second, placing Jeter sixth, and then skipping Joe Mauer entirely in favor of AJ Pierzynski is a travesty that should be punishable by a one-year suspension from the BBWAA. No level of subjectivity can justify AJ Pierzynski over Joe Mauer.
I should say that Cowley’s not the only idiot in the bunch, lest anyone think that I’m simply picking on the traditional “homerism” among Chicago’s sports media contingent. John Hickey of the Seattle Post Intelligencer had Raul Ibanez eighth. I suppose the hometown scribe from Seattle didn’t realize that the Mariners finished in last place in their division, tied for the 12th worst record in the AL (only Tampa, Kansas City, and Baltimore finished with worse records).
Here is a link to the ballot submitted by each of the 28 members of the BBWAA that voted for 2006 AL MVP. I’m glad to see that this was made public. Now we know who the idiots are and who, if the BBWAA had any sense of decency and accountability, should be suspended from voting for next season’s award winners.
For the record, I wrote the following email to Joe Cowley this morning:
Dear Mr. Cowley,
I’m certain that I’m not the first (and won’t be the last) to write to you and tell you that you’re not only a fool but reckless and irresponsible for your 2006 AL MVP ballot.
Since you’ve heard it all before, I will leave you with this: I hope you and your family have a Happy Thanksgiving. During your festive meal, think about how lucky you are to be doing the job you do. There are literally hundreds of thousands of intelligent, eloquent, and dedicated fans like myself out there who would trade anything to be in your shoes. It’s only a pity that selfish people like you – people who think that a BBWAA member card puts them above the players and the game they are covering – are in a position to vote players into posterity.
I am sure that the cash gift that AJ Pierzynski gave you was worth the utter lack of integrity you showed in your ballot.
I meant every word of it. I won’t let this ruin my Thanksgiving but I’ll be damned if I will ever stop beating the drum about how atrocious the mainstream American sports-media institution is. Thank goodness for blogs, message boards, and fan sites – people like us “get it”.
Happy Thanksgiving to all.
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