Post by eric on Jul 20, 2018 16:23:21 GMT
The National Basketball Association has awarded the Most Valuable Player award to 33 players. Of these, the first 28 are either in the Hall of Fame, locks to get in (Duncan, Garnett, Dirk, LeBron) or have a decent chance of getting in (Bryant). Derrick Rose almost certainly won't, but the voters rebounded with another four locks (Durant, Curry, Westbrook, Harden). All in all, getting even one NBA MVP is almost perfectly correlated with getting in the Hall of Fame.
Major League Baseball's modern MVP award began in 1931, with each league (American and National) awarding one. There have been 31 players who have received at least two MVPs, of whom 23 are already in, 3 are future locks (Pujols, Trout, Cabrera), and 2 should get in but could get stuck in naughty steroids time out zone (Bonds, Rodriguez). That leaves three players whose situations are simply bizarre, listed in chronological order:
.
Roger Maris
Is not in the Hall of Fame. That's absurd. He's Roger Maris. Roger Maris should be in the Hall of Fame. And he didn't even come close! You need 75% of the vote, he only got up to 43%. Come on, voters. For completeness' sake let's check out his MVPs anyways.
1960 he led the AL in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) so it seems like a pretty easy vote, although he did trail teammate Mickey Mantle in first place votes.
1961 he improved from 39 home runs to 61*, but his WAR dropped to fifth place behind Mantle, Norm Cash, Al Kaline, and Rocky Colavito. I can see the argument that he shouldn't have won MVP this year and so wouldn't be a double MVP non HoFer. I can also see the argument that he hit 61 home runs in a season. Give him the MVP and the Hall of Fame. It's not that hard.
.
Dale Murphy
I had a Dale Murphy player of the decade card growing up and even back then I wasn't that impressed, and good thing, because his MVPs are baaaad.
1982 he was 10th in WAR. Tenth! And we've got four HoFers above him to pick from:
#9 Steve Carlton (won Cy Young so that's excusable)
#5 Mike Schmidt (two time defending MVP so voter fatigue can excuse this one too, there wouldn't be a triple until Bonds)
#2 and future MVP Andrew Dawson, and oh I don't know maybe
outright WAR leader and future New York hero Gary Carter?!?
maybe the second greatest catcher of all time should have an MVP award?!?
just a thought?!?
and the worst part is the only other players to get first place votes were Lonnie Smith and Bruce Sutter. Come on, voters.
1983 wasn't so bad, Murphy was tied with the Kid for third in WAR and we only need him to lose one anyway, but still. There's not a real compelling case for Murphy, which is borne out by his peaking at 23% of the HoF ballot. But at least his awards aren't as noxious as
.
Juan Gonzalez
Woooooof.
1996 he was a stiff 31st in WAR amongst AL position players, only playing in 131 games. Meanwhile out in Seattle Ken Griffey Senior's son was the WAR leader, and a scrappy hardworking hardnosed fundamentals shortstop who just played the game the right way by the name of Alex Rodriguez was right behind him. Seem like two pretty good choices for MVP. Pretty solid. Griffey Junior would win his only one in a make up call the next year.
1998 he leapt all the way to 19th in WAR. Wow. Rodriguez was now WAR leader, but even staying away from him you coulda gone with numba twoooo... Derek... Cheatah... for the 114 win Yankees.
Both awards were really bad in retrospect and being accused of steroids on top of it probably didn't help either, but regardless he peaked at a cool 5% of the HoF vote.
.
.
Maris in
Carter in and give him at least one MVP
Juan Gone OUT
Major League Baseball's modern MVP award began in 1931, with each league (American and National) awarding one. There have been 31 players who have received at least two MVPs, of whom 23 are already in, 3 are future locks (Pujols, Trout, Cabrera), and 2 should get in but could get stuck in naughty steroids time out zone (Bonds, Rodriguez). That leaves three players whose situations are simply bizarre, listed in chronological order:
.
Roger Maris
Is not in the Hall of Fame. That's absurd. He's Roger Maris. Roger Maris should be in the Hall of Fame. And he didn't even come close! You need 75% of the vote, he only got up to 43%. Come on, voters. For completeness' sake let's check out his MVPs anyways.
1960 he led the AL in Wins Above Replacement (WAR) so it seems like a pretty easy vote, although he did trail teammate Mickey Mantle in first place votes.
1961 he improved from 39 home runs to 61*, but his WAR dropped to fifth place behind Mantle, Norm Cash, Al Kaline, and Rocky Colavito. I can see the argument that he shouldn't have won MVP this year and so wouldn't be a double MVP non HoFer. I can also see the argument that he hit 61 home runs in a season. Give him the MVP and the Hall of Fame. It's not that hard.
.
Dale Murphy
I had a Dale Murphy player of the decade card growing up and even back then I wasn't that impressed, and good thing, because his MVPs are baaaad.
1982 he was 10th in WAR. Tenth! And we've got four HoFers above him to pick from:
#9 Steve Carlton (won Cy Young so that's excusable)
#5 Mike Schmidt (two time defending MVP so voter fatigue can excuse this one too, there wouldn't be a triple until Bonds)
#2 and future MVP Andrew Dawson, and oh I don't know maybe
outright WAR leader and future New York hero Gary Carter?!?
maybe the second greatest catcher of all time should have an MVP award?!?
just a thought?!?
and the worst part is the only other players to get first place votes were Lonnie Smith and Bruce Sutter. Come on, voters.
1983 wasn't so bad, Murphy was tied with the Kid for third in WAR and we only need him to lose one anyway, but still. There's not a real compelling case for Murphy, which is borne out by his peaking at 23% of the HoF ballot. But at least his awards aren't as noxious as
.
Juan Gonzalez
Woooooof.
1996 he was a stiff 31st in WAR amongst AL position players, only playing in 131 games. Meanwhile out in Seattle Ken Griffey Senior's son was the WAR leader, and a scrappy hardworking hardnosed fundamentals shortstop who just played the game the right way by the name of Alex Rodriguez was right behind him. Seem like two pretty good choices for MVP. Pretty solid. Griffey Junior would win his only one in a make up call the next year.
1998 he leapt all the way to 19th in WAR. Wow. Rodriguez was now WAR leader, but even staying away from him you coulda gone with numba twoooo... Derek... Cheatah... for the 114 win Yankees.
Both awards were really bad in retrospect and being accused of steroids on top of it probably didn't help either, but regardless he peaked at a cool 5% of the HoF vote.
.
.
Maris in
Carter in and give him at least one MVP
Juan Gone OUT
