pirate44
05-25-2005, 07:34 AM
i've only scanned thru these, but there are some that are no-brainers, like the 1990 Magic Johnson.
1. Joe Gordon, American League - 1942
Fresh off losing the MVP vote to Joe DiMaggio in 1941 despite hitting .406 with a .551 OBP and an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) more than 200 points better than Joltin' Joe's, Ted Williams won the Triple Crown in 1942, only to be robbed again by another Yankee, the slightly less distinguished Mr. Gordon.
Williams hit .357 with 36 home runs and 137 RBIs. Gordon hit .322 with 18 home runs and 103 RBIs. The Splinter's OPS was 247 points higher than Gordon's. Gordon, however, did turn in a Triple Crown of his own in 1942, leading the league in errors (28), strikeouts (95) and grounding into double plays (22).
Sure, the Yankees won the pennant — always the refuge of a fraud voter — but Teddy Ballgame had a lot more to do with the Red Sox's 93 wins in 1942 than Gordon did with the Yankees' 103.
(In 1947, Williams would again win the Triple Crown and lose out on the MVP to DiMaggio by one point in the voting.)
2. Mark Moseley, NFL - 1982
It's amazing the NFL survived after the AP named a kicker the league MVP in 1982. But what better human asterisk for the strike-shortened 1982 season than Moseley?
Yes, Moseley made 20 of 21 field goal attempts, but he missed three extra-points for a woeful 84.2 percent conversion rates on PATs. Kickers these days miss three extra-points in a career. Oh, and they don't get MVP consideration until all 704 starters on offense or defense have been discounted.
Boy, did Freeman McNeil pick a bad year to have the best season of his career. He led the league in rushing and yards per carry and took the Jets to the AFC title game, but lost out in the MVP voting to a kicker. Other players who actually got hit during the season and were thus more deserving of MVP than Moseley included rookie Marcus Allen (14 TDs in the nine-game season), Dan Fouts (320 yards passing per game) and Joe Theismann (who set up all those Moseley field goals).
3. Magic Johnson, NBA - 1990
This was the last and least deserved of Magic's three MVPs and should definitely have gone to the Greatest Basketball Player of All Time.
Magic Johnson had a good year in 1990, but Michael Jordan should have won the MVP award. (Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images)
Michael Jordan led the league in scoring (33.6) and steals (2.77) while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor, being named to the All-Defensive First Team and leading a very young Bulls team to 55 wins and the precipice of a dynasty.
Magic, meanwhile, was arguably not even the best point guard in the NBA in the 1989-90 season. John Stockton trounced him for the assist title (14.5 to 11.5), averaged almost a steal per game more than Magic (2.65 to 1.67), had fewer turnovers per game and shot a better percentage from the floor (51.4 to 48.0).
Jordan should also have won MVP in 1989 when he scored 32.5 points per game (on 53.8 percent shooting), grabbed 8.0 rebounds per game, dished out 8.0 assists per game and was named first team all-defense. He was snubbed in favor of Magic, who did have an outstanding season (22.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 12.8 apg), but was not the dominant player at both ends that Jordan was.
4. Bobby Clarke, NHL - 1975
Bobby Clarke was an excellent two-way center for the best Flyers teams in club history. But his Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1975 was a travesty. Yes, he tied for the league lead in assists, but the guy he tied with - a defenseman, no less - scored 19 more goals than Clarke.
That's right, in the 1974-75 NHL season, Bruins blueliner Bobby Orr racked up 46 goals and 89 assists to win the Art Ross trophy with a mind-boggling 135 points. Orr also edged Clarke in plus-minus (+80 to +79) even though the Bruins (+100) were slightly less dominant as a team than the Flyers (+112).
How does the league's dominant defenseman win the scoring title, put the biscuit in the basket 46 times - 46! - and not win MVP?
5. Kirk Gibson, National League - 1988
Seventy-six RBIs? C'mon. 76 RBIs. No matter how you write it, it looks ridiculous next to an MVP hitting in a power slot. Three-score and 16 RBIs. Still ridiculous.
I'm all for intangibles, but MVP runner-up Darryl Strawberry led the league in home runs and slugging percentage and drove in 25 more runs than Gibson while playing for the best team in the National League (the Mets won 100 games to the Dodgers' 94). Gibson's OPS (.864) was 52 points behind Strawberry's (.916). As for defense, neither was great, but Gibson made an ungodly 12 errors in left field for the Dodgers in '88 and finished his career, according to Bill James, as one of the all-time worst-throwing outfielders with just 3.9 baserunner kills per 1,000 defensive innings.
6. Wes Unseld, NBA - 1969
The burly center out of Louisville was definitely the league Rookie of the Year in 1969, but he was most certainly not the MVP.
A big fella by the name of Wilt Chamberlain was basically doing everything Unseld did, only a little bit better for the Western Conference champion Lakers. (Like Shaquille O'Neal, Chamberlain was often penalized in MVP voting for being bigger than his opponents.)
Of all the years Chamberlain could lay claim to an MVP that went to somebody else, including 1962 when he averaged 50.4 points per game and 25.7 rebounds and lost out to Bill Russell (18.9 ppg, 23.6 rpg), 1969 might have been the most ridiculous.
Unseld was a great rebounder and screen setter, but he wasn't Bill Russell, and he certainly wasn't Wilt Chamberlain. In 1969, Chamberlain outscored Unseld 20.5 to 13.8, outrebounded him 21.1 to 18.2, outpassed him 4.52 assists per game to 2.60 and outshot him by a whopping 11 percent (.583 to .476).
7. Wayne Gretzky, NHL - 1989
People get downright indignant when I have the temerity to suggest Wayne Gretzky is not the greatest hockey player of all time. (In my honest opinion, the defenseman who should have won MVP in 1975 is.) But even Gretz-heads cannot argue that the Great One was not the NHL's Most Valuable Player in 1989.
For some reason, the same voters who gave Mario Lemieux the Hart Trophy in 1988, when he played for a last-place team and outscored Gretzky 168-149, reverted to old habits in 1989 and gave the MVP to No. 99, despite the fact that Lemieux widened his scoring edge (199-168) and single-handedly carried the Penguins to the playoffs.
Wayne Gretzky won the MVP in 1989, even though Mario Lemieux had better numbers and single-handedly led his team to the playoffs. (Otto Greule /Allsport / Getty Images)
8. Juan Gonzalez, American League - 1996
This is one of those glaring examples of the MVP not going to the Most Valuable Player in the league but rather to the best player on a team that won its division. Or, more specifically, to the best player on a team that won its division who was not named Albert Belle.
The Rangers finished 4 1/2 games ahead of the Mariners and in so doing paved the way for one of the great voting injustices in MVP history. Alex Rodriguez won the batting title with a .358 mark, led the league in runs scored (141), doubles (54) and total bases (379) and had a .977 fielding percentage as a freakin' shortstop!
Belle, who had more homers and RBIs than Gonzalez, was one of eight players in the American League to post a higher OPS than Juan Gone in 1996. Belle tied with A-Rod for second in the balloting. Mark McGwire led the league in OBP, slugging percentage, OPS (obviously) and home runs, which was good enough for seventh in the MVP voting. Two-time MVP Frank Thomas, who had an OPS 79 points higher than Gonzalez's, finished eighth.
9. Dave Cowens, NBA - 1973
For all those agitators playing the race card about this year's NBA MVP voting, they should take a look at the 1973 MVP voting. (Though it's unlikely race played much of a role back then either, since the players did the voting until 1980.)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar outscored Cowens by almost 10 points a game (30.2 ppg to 20.5), basically matched him on the boards (16.1 rpg to 16.2) and shot more than 10 percent better from the floor (55.4 to 45.2). Cowens was considered an excellent passing big man, but Kareem outdished him in '73 too (5.0 apg to 4.1). Blocked shots weren't recorded until the following year, but given that Abdul-Jabbar swatted 3.49 a game in '74 and Cowens blocked just 1.3 a game, it's pretty safe to assume Jabbar won that category in '73 too.
10. Frankie Frisch, National League - 1931
In their very first MVP voting, the Baseball Writers of America established the traditions of largely ignoring the exploits of players on non-contenders, overrating the contributions of players on pennant winners and generally voting with their hearts instead of their heads.
Frankie Frisch was the Fordham Flash and his NL champion Cardinals would come to be known as the Gashouse Gang. (Never mind that Frisch wasn't even the most valuable player on his team, a distinction that belonged to Chick Hafey, who led the league in batting, OBP and had a slugging percentage 173 points higher than Frisch's.)
Though his Philadelphia Phillies finished back in the pack in 1931, Chuck Klein was a much more valuable player that season than Frankie Frisch. Klein led the league in home runs (31), RBIs (121), runs scored (121), slugging percentage (.584) and OPS (.982), while just missing out on the Triple Crown, finishing 12 points behind Hafey (.349 to .337) for the batting title.
1. Joe Gordon, American League - 1942
Fresh off losing the MVP vote to Joe DiMaggio in 1941 despite hitting .406 with a .551 OBP and an OPS (on-base percentage plus slugging percentage) more than 200 points better than Joltin' Joe's, Ted Williams won the Triple Crown in 1942, only to be robbed again by another Yankee, the slightly less distinguished Mr. Gordon.
Williams hit .357 with 36 home runs and 137 RBIs. Gordon hit .322 with 18 home runs and 103 RBIs. The Splinter's OPS was 247 points higher than Gordon's. Gordon, however, did turn in a Triple Crown of his own in 1942, leading the league in errors (28), strikeouts (95) and grounding into double plays (22).
Sure, the Yankees won the pennant — always the refuge of a fraud voter — but Teddy Ballgame had a lot more to do with the Red Sox's 93 wins in 1942 than Gordon did with the Yankees' 103.
(In 1947, Williams would again win the Triple Crown and lose out on the MVP to DiMaggio by one point in the voting.)
2. Mark Moseley, NFL - 1982
It's amazing the NFL survived after the AP named a kicker the league MVP in 1982. But what better human asterisk for the strike-shortened 1982 season than Moseley?
Yes, Moseley made 20 of 21 field goal attempts, but he missed three extra-points for a woeful 84.2 percent conversion rates on PATs. Kickers these days miss three extra-points in a career. Oh, and they don't get MVP consideration until all 704 starters on offense or defense have been discounted.
Boy, did Freeman McNeil pick a bad year to have the best season of his career. He led the league in rushing and yards per carry and took the Jets to the AFC title game, but lost out in the MVP voting to a kicker. Other players who actually got hit during the season and were thus more deserving of MVP than Moseley included rookie Marcus Allen (14 TDs in the nine-game season), Dan Fouts (320 yards passing per game) and Joe Theismann (who set up all those Moseley field goals).
3. Magic Johnson, NBA - 1990
This was the last and least deserved of Magic's three MVPs and should definitely have gone to the Greatest Basketball Player of All Time.
Magic Johnson had a good year in 1990, but Michael Jordan should have won the MVP award. (Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images)
Michael Jordan led the league in scoring (33.6) and steals (2.77) while shooting 52.6 percent from the floor, being named to the All-Defensive First Team and leading a very young Bulls team to 55 wins and the precipice of a dynasty.
Magic, meanwhile, was arguably not even the best point guard in the NBA in the 1989-90 season. John Stockton trounced him for the assist title (14.5 to 11.5), averaged almost a steal per game more than Magic (2.65 to 1.67), had fewer turnovers per game and shot a better percentage from the floor (51.4 to 48.0).
Jordan should also have won MVP in 1989 when he scored 32.5 points per game (on 53.8 percent shooting), grabbed 8.0 rebounds per game, dished out 8.0 assists per game and was named first team all-defense. He was snubbed in favor of Magic, who did have an outstanding season (22.5 ppg, 7.9 rpg and 12.8 apg), but was not the dominant player at both ends that Jordan was.
4. Bobby Clarke, NHL - 1975
Bobby Clarke was an excellent two-way center for the best Flyers teams in club history. But his Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 1975 was a travesty. Yes, he tied for the league lead in assists, but the guy he tied with - a defenseman, no less - scored 19 more goals than Clarke.
That's right, in the 1974-75 NHL season, Bruins blueliner Bobby Orr racked up 46 goals and 89 assists to win the Art Ross trophy with a mind-boggling 135 points. Orr also edged Clarke in plus-minus (+80 to +79) even though the Bruins (+100) were slightly less dominant as a team than the Flyers (+112).
How does the league's dominant defenseman win the scoring title, put the biscuit in the basket 46 times - 46! - and not win MVP?
5. Kirk Gibson, National League - 1988
Seventy-six RBIs? C'mon. 76 RBIs. No matter how you write it, it looks ridiculous next to an MVP hitting in a power slot. Three-score and 16 RBIs. Still ridiculous.
I'm all for intangibles, but MVP runner-up Darryl Strawberry led the league in home runs and slugging percentage and drove in 25 more runs than Gibson while playing for the best team in the National League (the Mets won 100 games to the Dodgers' 94). Gibson's OPS (.864) was 52 points behind Strawberry's (.916). As for defense, neither was great, but Gibson made an ungodly 12 errors in left field for the Dodgers in '88 and finished his career, according to Bill James, as one of the all-time worst-throwing outfielders with just 3.9 baserunner kills per 1,000 defensive innings.
6. Wes Unseld, NBA - 1969
The burly center out of Louisville was definitely the league Rookie of the Year in 1969, but he was most certainly not the MVP.
A big fella by the name of Wilt Chamberlain was basically doing everything Unseld did, only a little bit better for the Western Conference champion Lakers. (Like Shaquille O'Neal, Chamberlain was often penalized in MVP voting for being bigger than his opponents.)
Of all the years Chamberlain could lay claim to an MVP that went to somebody else, including 1962 when he averaged 50.4 points per game and 25.7 rebounds and lost out to Bill Russell (18.9 ppg, 23.6 rpg), 1969 might have been the most ridiculous.
Unseld was a great rebounder and screen setter, but he wasn't Bill Russell, and he certainly wasn't Wilt Chamberlain. In 1969, Chamberlain outscored Unseld 20.5 to 13.8, outrebounded him 21.1 to 18.2, outpassed him 4.52 assists per game to 2.60 and outshot him by a whopping 11 percent (.583 to .476).
7. Wayne Gretzky, NHL - 1989
People get downright indignant when I have the temerity to suggest Wayne Gretzky is not the greatest hockey player of all time. (In my honest opinion, the defenseman who should have won MVP in 1975 is.) But even Gretz-heads cannot argue that the Great One was not the NHL's Most Valuable Player in 1989.
For some reason, the same voters who gave Mario Lemieux the Hart Trophy in 1988, when he played for a last-place team and outscored Gretzky 168-149, reverted to old habits in 1989 and gave the MVP to No. 99, despite the fact that Lemieux widened his scoring edge (199-168) and single-handedly carried the Penguins to the playoffs.
Wayne Gretzky won the MVP in 1989, even though Mario Lemieux had better numbers and single-handedly led his team to the playoffs. (Otto Greule /Allsport / Getty Images)
8. Juan Gonzalez, American League - 1996
This is one of those glaring examples of the MVP not going to the Most Valuable Player in the league but rather to the best player on a team that won its division. Or, more specifically, to the best player on a team that won its division who was not named Albert Belle.
The Rangers finished 4 1/2 games ahead of the Mariners and in so doing paved the way for one of the great voting injustices in MVP history. Alex Rodriguez won the batting title with a .358 mark, led the league in runs scored (141), doubles (54) and total bases (379) and had a .977 fielding percentage as a freakin' shortstop!
Belle, who had more homers and RBIs than Gonzalez, was one of eight players in the American League to post a higher OPS than Juan Gone in 1996. Belle tied with A-Rod for second in the balloting. Mark McGwire led the league in OBP, slugging percentage, OPS (obviously) and home runs, which was good enough for seventh in the MVP voting. Two-time MVP Frank Thomas, who had an OPS 79 points higher than Gonzalez's, finished eighth.
9. Dave Cowens, NBA - 1973
For all those agitators playing the race card about this year's NBA MVP voting, they should take a look at the 1973 MVP voting. (Though it's unlikely race played much of a role back then either, since the players did the voting until 1980.)
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar outscored Cowens by almost 10 points a game (30.2 ppg to 20.5), basically matched him on the boards (16.1 rpg to 16.2) and shot more than 10 percent better from the floor (55.4 to 45.2). Cowens was considered an excellent passing big man, but Kareem outdished him in '73 too (5.0 apg to 4.1). Blocked shots weren't recorded until the following year, but given that Abdul-Jabbar swatted 3.49 a game in '74 and Cowens blocked just 1.3 a game, it's pretty safe to assume Jabbar won that category in '73 too.
10. Frankie Frisch, National League - 1931
In their very first MVP voting, the Baseball Writers of America established the traditions of largely ignoring the exploits of players on non-contenders, overrating the contributions of players on pennant winners and generally voting with their hearts instead of their heads.
Frankie Frisch was the Fordham Flash and his NL champion Cardinals would come to be known as the Gashouse Gang. (Never mind that Frisch wasn't even the most valuable player on his team, a distinction that belonged to Chick Hafey, who led the league in batting, OBP and had a slugging percentage 173 points higher than Frisch's.)
Though his Philadelphia Phillies finished back in the pack in 1931, Chuck Klein was a much more valuable player that season than Frankie Frisch. Klein led the league in home runs (31), RBIs (121), runs scored (121), slugging percentage (.584) and OPS (.982), while just missing out on the Triple Crown, finishing 12 points behind Hafey (.349 to .337) for the batting title.