The 1995 AL MVP Race

Baseball is just a punch in the gut, man. I'm currently on the way down to North Carolina for my dad's 60th birthday and while driving listened to the Tigers/Orioles ALDS game. Typical Tigers fashion, blowing a three run lead and the Orioles valiantly took a two game lead in the series and seek the sweep as they head back to Detroit for Sunday's game. 

So currently, I'm boycotting the division series' while I write this blog about the 1995 MVP race. It may seem incredibly random that I chose to write about this particular race, and you'd be right. I mean I wrote the post about the 1995 Cy Young winners so I went over to check the MVP race but other than that and my boy Jon showing intense anger towards the race, there's really no reason as to why it's an important race. But that's what makes it great!

Mo Vaughn won the award, his first and only in his career, hitting an even .300 with 39 homers and 126 RBIs, but he didn't deserve the award if you ask me. 

Runner up Albert Belle had a historical season, slugging 52 doubles and 50 home runs, still the only 50 double/50 home run season in baseball history. He led the MLB in doubles, home runs, slugging percentage, and total bases, and the AL in runs scored and runs batted in. Oh, he also batted .317 and only struck out 80 times.

Third place finisher Egdar Martinez had arguably the best season of all three, batting .356 and getting on base at a .479 clip (those are Ted Williams numbers) with 29 home runs and 113 RBIs. Tying Belle in runs scored and doubles, Martinez edged out Belle and Vaughn in total hits and OPS, which is becoming many critics' favorite indication of hitting quality. 

So why did Vaughn win? 

Here are my thoughts. I'm not taking away from anything Vaughn did because hitting .300 in the AL East (Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, David Wells, David Cone, etc.) is not easy. It was a much tougher division than AL Central considering the Indians won by 30 games over the Royals, and though the AL West was more competitive in terms of division games back, the AL East had higher quality teams. But here's the deal. 

Albert Belle was, unfortunately, a jerk. In 2001, ESPN's Page 2 staff ranked the least likable players in baseball history; not just a year or decade or era, but all of baseball history, and here is there list.
1) Ty Cobb
2) John Rocker 
3) Albert Belle
4) Cap Anson 
To be grouped with a guy who would unabashedly slide with cleats up (Ty Cobb) and an outright racist (John Rocker) means that Belle must have really been a bad apple. For example: Belle hit the clubhouse thermostat with a baseball bat after somebody turned up the heat without telling him. It's sad that his career ended early and fizzled out because of injury but when you mistreat the media for years on end, they don't forget.

It doesn't matter how great of a season you have, if the media resents you, they won't reward your play. So despite his 50/50 season, his people skills are lacking therefore his trophy case is empty. 

Everyone loves Edgar Martinez, so he certainly doesn't have Belle's problem. His problem is the position he plays. As a designated hitter, everyone (not just media or execs, but fans, too) take will take you with a grain of salt. There's a huge backlash for Edgar not getting into the Hall of Fame, but he only played half of the game. Baseball purists will say that the American League is inferior for using a DH and that the DH is reserved for people who just can't field (like me!). 

They'll even say that the World Series will be useless until the American League plays without a DH. Extreme, I know, but that's how they're feeling. To a lesser extent, the same goes for the MVP. Because you only play half the game, it makes it significantly harder to win a DH. No primary DH has ever won an MVP award, nor has a primary DH ever been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and I don't think there will be either for a very long time (Big Papi has the best shot, but I wouldn't vote for him). So unfortunately, even though Martinez hit .356 (AL batting title) and slugged the cover off the ball, he didn't play any defense (7 games in the field at the corners), and therefore those that held votes did not vote for him (only 4 first place votes). 

It's too bad because Mo Vaughn didn't have the best season in terms of statistics or value (both Belle and Martinez had higher WARs [sorry]), but his win was merely circumstantial. Played a defensive position and wasn't a pain in the clubhouse (sidenote: if a movie is ever made about Mo Vaughn, Huell from Breaking Bad needs to play him). 

Was it a hollow victory? Absolutely not. On the field, I think Belle deserved it. Offensively, I think Martinez deserved it. If you take everything into account, I think Mo deserved it and therefore the media got it right. After all, Belle never made it into Backyard Baseball. 

Mo Vaughn did.

Thanks for reading. Remember kids, practice your defense.