| | In Boston, there was outrage. In the Dominican Republic, there was shock and disappointment.
It was bad enough that Pedro Martinez was edged out for the American League Most Valuable Player Award by Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez. But the revelation that Martinez was completely left off two of the 28 ballots cast sparked real anger.
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Inside the voting
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For the four major postseason individual awards in each league -- MVP, Cy Young, Rookie of the Year and Manager of the Year -- balloting is conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
In the 14 AL cities and 16 NL cities, eligible BBWAA members frequently rotate the voting duties, with two votes cast for every award from each BBWAA chapter. In some bigger markets, eight different members participate, with two each voting for one of the four awards.
In some smaller markets -- Minneapolis-St. Paul among them -- some members vote for more than one award. However, members are forbidden from voting for the two most prestigious awards -- Cy Young and MVP -- in the same year.
Ballots are due at the conclusion of the regular season, so nothing that takes place in the postseason affects the vote tabulation.
Years ago, some voters used the ballot box as an opportunity to exact some personal revenge. Ted Williams, who was notoriously prickly in his dealings with the media during his playing career, was inexplicably left off some MVP ballots in 1947 despite having won the Triple Crown.
That slight cost Williams the MVP by one point, which instead went to Joe DiMaggio.
Hometown decisions don't always go as you might expect. When Texas' Juan Gonzalez edged Seattle's Alex Rodriguez for the AL MVP by three points in 1996, it was revealed that the two Seattle writers cast their first-place votes for the Mariners' Ken Griffey Jr., who finished fourth behind Gonzalez, Rodriguez and Albert Belle.
Rodriguez would have won had just one of the two Seattle writers given him a first-place vote.
This year, the two Dallas-Fort Worth members with MVP votes -- Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News and Johnny Paul of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram -- cast their first-place ballots for Rangers DH Rafael Palmeiro, who finished fifth.
--Sean McAdam
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Red Sox general manager Dan Duquette told Martinez by phone that, in the minds of the Red Sox and their fans, Martinez was already the MVP. Duquette also reminded Martinez that Ted Williams was passed over for the MVP in 1947 despite winning the Triple Crown.
"So you're in good company,'" Duquette said.
Listeners to talk shows in Boston and Providence flooded the airwaves with protests.
The only one apparently not outraged was Martinez himself.
"I got what I wanted," said Martinez, who was the unanimous selection for the AL Cy Young earlier in the week. "I'm not disappointed at all. Everybody in the pile was good enough to be the MVP.
"There's nothing I can do. If they don't want to vote (for me) it's up to them. I did what I had to do to win the Cy Young. That, to me, is good enough. Also, the players voted me in Las Vegas as the best player of this year (at the Players' Choice Awards). That's good enough for me."
Martinez finished second to Rodriguez in balloting conducted by the Baseball Writers Association of America, despite garnering more first place votes (eight) than Rodriguez (seven).
But Rodriguez edged Martinez in total points, 252-239, chiefly because two of the 28 voters -- 14 from each American League city -- left the Red Sox ace off their ballots altogether. George King of the New York Post and La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star Tribune failed to include Martinez on their ballots, which include spots for 10 players.
Martinez did take issue with the notion that some don't believe pitchers should be eligible for the award.
"I don't agree with it," he said. "Otherwise, they should change the name of the award to Regular Players Award, not MVP. We're all players. We all qualify as players. What would (other players) do without us? What would they do without pitchers? Because I'm a pitcher, I shouldn't be discriminated (against)."
Had either King or Neal given a first-place vote to Martinez, or both placed him fourth or higher, Martinez would have become just the fourth starting pitcher in the last 31 years to win the AL MVP. Denny McClain (1968), Vida Blue (1981) and Roger Clemens (1986) were the others.
Martinez said his older brother Ramon and fellow Domincans were more upset than he over the slight.
"I'm not worried about it," Martinez said of the outcome. "Once I get my numbers, what the reporters do is none of my business. I don't understand that area. I don't really care what they do. I work with them, I respect them, I help them when I can. But the system was there before I got to the big leagues and I don't think I can switch it.
"I can't be greedy. It's good enough, what I got. I'm not going to cry about it. It would have been a great honor. I did what I had to do. I put the numbers up there. I'll let the numbers be the judge."
Sean McAdam of the Providence Journal-Bulletin covers the American League for ESPN.com.
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