In a no-brainer, Babe Ruth handily wins the Vin Scully MVP while Barry Bonds takes an easy second. Both were the best offensive talents in the league and by a wide margin. While Bonds is a better player than all others save Ruth, he didn't sweep the second place votes mainly because his team didn't challenge for a playoff spot. Dick Allen and Tris Speaker for instance were playing meaningful games (gotta love that phrase Omar!) the last week of the season and the voters found it important.
Still, one has to wonder why Allen received a first place vote. Ruth was the far superior player in every single major offensive statistic and Allen was one of three standouts in the John McDonald lineup. Hard to make a case he was the Most Valuable Player in the entire league.
Harry Caray
Ted Williams narrowly carries the vote in the HC. Personally, I don't agree with this but can't really argue with the results too much. Williams is definitely the best player in the league but I have a difficult time convincing myself he was more valuable the Tip O'Neill. Take a look at these statistics, O'neil bests Williams in:
RC: 159 to 117
RB: 390 to 255
H: 260 to 150
2B: 51 to 15
3B: 30 to 0
R: 124 to 89
SB: 41 to 0
Plus he had similar RBI totals, just "losing" 95 to 90. The cause for the difference? Playing time - Williams missed approximately 6 weeks of the season which must be considered.
Mickey Mantle was the clear 3rd place choice with Jeff Bagwell and Lou Gehrig garnering minimal interest.
I didn't make the 1st place vote for Allen!
ReplyDeleteI know at least :)
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