Swallow hard and write down the name.
That’s what many of the 28 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America will be doing at the end of the season when they cast their vote for American League Most Valuable Player.
It was easy to pick an amiable, deserving player like Frank Thomas, the unanimous winner in ’93 and the first-place finisher on 24 of 28 ballots in his repeat MVP season last year. And though one player is obviously deserving of the honor in ’95, it’s not so easy to pick one of the game’s surliest sluggers.
But like it or not, Albert is the man.
Most Valuable Player
Albert Belle, Cleveland
There are plenty of reasons to vote against Belle. He has been rude to both the fans and the media. He was caught using an illegally corked bat last year. He once threw a baseball at a fan. And the candy bar named for him is awful.
There is only one good reason to vote for Belle. He’s the best hitter in the majors–as his three home runs Tuesday night at Comiskey Park attest, giving him 44 for the season–on the best team baseball has seen since the years of the Big Red Machine in the early ’70’s. Unless Mo Vaughn passes Belle in the home run race and retains his lead in the RBI race, the vote here goes to (gulp) Belle.
Belle wouldn’t be the first anti-media, anti-fan player to win a postseason award. Ted Williams and Steve Carlton were both difficult to deal with, but still managed to get their dues. Whether Belle can overcome his self-given “gangsta” image is the question.
Vaughn is one of the game’s most accommodating and likeable players, and almost always has time for the media and fans. But that shouldn’t matter.
It can be argued that Boston would be an average team without Vaughn, while Cleveland would still be 25 or more games over .500 without Belle. Vaughn recently said that if he had a vote and couldn’t vote for himself, he’d cast his ballot for Seattle’s Edgar Martinez, the league leader in hitting (.352) and on-base percentage (.480), who has 107 RBIs to boot.
“He’s been a one-man gang for them,” Vaughn said. “He kept them in it while Junior was hurt. He’s an amazing hitter. I always try to pick his brain when he’s down at first base, but I don’t seem to get too much from him.”
Vaughn said he wouldn’t vote for Belle because “Cleveland has too many guys doing it.” But some may not vote for Martinez because he’s strictly a designated hitter these days, and others may bypass Vaughn because, unlike Belle, he lacks the reputation as a clutch hitter.
Cy Young Award
Randy Johnson, Seattle
“The Big Unit” is still smarting from the 1993 voting, when writers gave Jack McDowell the award despite Johnson’s league-leading 308 strikeouts, a 19-8 record and a 3.24 earned-run average.
Boston knuckleballer Tim Wakefield (16-5) and Cleveland closer Jose Mesa (44 saves) are Johnson’s main competition this time, and it could be a unanimous decision. Johnson has a 15-2 record, leads the majors in strikeouts with 260 and is tied with Dodgers rookie Hideo Nomo for most shutouts with three. He is unquestionably the top left-hander in the game, and even Greg Maddux concedes that Johnson is the one pitcher most hitters would least like to face.
Rookie of the Year
Garret Anderson, California
Both of the rookie candidates are Angels, but Anderson’s .327 average with 65 RBIs is a little more impressive than Troy Percival’s 1.91 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 66 innings. Minnesota’s Marty Cordova (.276, 21 homers, 71 RBIs) could turn out to be the best of them all, but the average fan can name more witnesses from the O.J. trial than Twins players.
Comeback player
Tim Wakefield, Boston
One of the most remarkable stories of the year has been the unpredictable return of Wakefield from the knuckleball junkyard. He went 5-15 with a 5.84 ERA at Triple-A Buffalo last year before the Pirates gave up on him. In his first 16 starts for Boston this year, Wakefield was 13-1 with a 1.61 ERA. He has tailed off since, going 3-4 and watching his ERA rise to 2.71 after Monday’s 6-1 loss to Milwaukee, but is still worthy of Comeback of the Year, if not Comeback of the Decade. Milwaukee’s B.J. Surhoff, who played only 40 games last year due to a deep abdominal tear, is hitting .327 with 67 RBIs this season and should finish a distant second to Wakefield.
Manager of the Year
Mike Hargrove, Cleveland
Until California’s recent mudslide, Angels manager Marcel Lachemann looked like he’d be the odds-on favorite for taking his unheralded team to a division title. Now California, which led the AL West by 11 games on Aug. 9, is in danger of missing the playoffs altogether. The Angels’ lead was cut to two games as of Tuesday, and they have lost 23 of their last 31 games.
Kansas City’s Bob Boone has made a silk purse out of a sow’s ear in his first year, keeping the Royals in wild-card contention despite a roster that can best be described as “talent disabled” in these politically correct times. Boone deserves some votes, but Hargrove should win it for keeping the Indians motivated in a season where the AL Central was all but decided by mid-June. Cleveland still has a shot at 101 victories, which would make the Indians the ninth team in history with a winning percentage of over .700.
Despite the fact that the Indians were expected to be strong this year, it would be hard to deny that Hargrove has kept them focused from Day One. He deserves the honor over qualified candidates like Boone and Boston’s Kevin Kennedy.
