Nov. 20, 1999, Jon Heyman, The Sporting News--"Baseball Writers rate an award for silliness"

Here is Heyman's article, but it only illustrates the problem. THIS IS NOT A DEBATING SOCIETY OR A DEVICE BY WHICH YOU FILL UP SPACE, WASTE PEOPLES' TIME, SELL ADVERTISING, OR CREATE WEALTH & CELEBRITY FOR FORMERLY UNKNOWN, IMPOVERISHED WRETCHES.

"For several days, I was crowing about how silly managers and coaches were to vote a Gold Glove to Rafael Palmeiro after he barely used his glove this season. The crowing is officially over. After hearing of the American League MVP voting, I think we writers may be even sillier.

It's bad enough that Pedro Martinez received only eight of 28 first-place votes after putting together one of the greatest seasons ever for a pitcher. But even worse, two writers--George King of the New York Post and La Velle E. Neal III of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis--didn't even include Martinez on their 10-player ballots, costing Martinez a chance to win the award. If King and Neal had voted Martinez as high as fourth, he would have won.

These two writers included Carlos Delgado and Shawn Green on their ballots. Both compiled good statistics--though not as good as Martinez's--but they had zero impact on the pennant race. Green's real impact came after the season, when he signed with the Dodgers for $84 million and raised the salary bar for players who have had two good years. Neal also included Alex Rodriguez, whose Seattle team had a losing record.

"I just believe that to be MVP, you've got to be out there in the field and in the lineup every day trying to help the team win," Neal says. "I could have put (Martinez) fifth or sixth or seventh, but if I've determined that pitchers shouldn't win the award, I think that would be hypocritical."

King's vote is even more curious because he put two pitchers on his ballot last year, according to Jack O'Connell, secretary-treasurer of the Baseball Writers Association of America. King had David Wells seventh and Rick Helling 10th in 1998, according to O'Connell.

One wonders how long the ballots of King and Neal would have to be to include a pitcher who went 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and struck out 313 batters. Was their prejudice against pitchers so great they would have voted every starting position player and every No. I designated hitter ahead of Martinez, putting the Boston ace 127th, one spot behind White Sox shortstop Mike Caruso, arguably the worst starting position player?

Only a special circumstance would cause Neal to consider a pitcher, he says. But if posting an ERA that is 2.79 points below the league's 4.86 mark is not "special," then what is?

The MVP award has been won by a pitcher 20 times, and O'Connell says there's an attempt to convince voters not to be prejudiced against pitchers. Yet O'Connell voted Martinez seventh.

Though Neal says he's aware pitchers have won the award, he thinks the wording on the ballot "leaves it up to the voter to enact his own set of rules." The ballot says everyone is eligible, but one criterion listed is games played, possibly leaving a small opening for interpretation. Regardless, the idea that pitchers are less valuable than position players is extremely questionable.

The argument that pitchers perform only "once every five days" isn't useful, either. Consider that Martinez faced 835 hitters this year, more than any hitter had plate appearances. Plus, by pitching late into games, Martinez helped conserve his bullpen, thus affecting games he didn't pitch. Without Martinez, the Red Sox were little better than a .500 team.

Management folks don't always do right, but they clearly have weighed in on the value of starting pitchers, who are paid more on average than starting position players. Kevin Brown, a starter with limited marquee appeal, is the game's highest-paid player. Starting pitchers who are just a cut or two above average, such as Todd Stottlemyre, were paid $8 million a year on the open market last winter (the same salary as MVP winner Ivan Rodriguez).

Martinez had one of those classic years that should not have been ignored. And though postseason performances aren't a factor in the balloting, the righthander nonetheless was the difference against Cleveland in the Division Series, then had the Yankees fearful of facing him in the seventh game of the ALCS. Of course, it never came to that.

Six offensive players were worthy of serious consideration--Derek Jeter, Roberto Alomar, Manny Ramirez, Nomar Garciaparra, Palmeiro and Rodriguez. But none was so dominant he had to be the one. Only one player fit that description of dominance. The only A.L. MVP race should have been for second place. "