 |
| Tuesday, November 20 Ichiro becomes rare leadoff hitter to win By David Schoenfield ESPN.com |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
To a large extent, Jason Giambi personifies today's game perfectly: wait for your pitch, draw a walk if you don't see a strike, hit it out of the park if the pitcher makes a mistake. And he did that better than anyone else in the American League this year, easily leading the league in the two most important statistics for a hitter: on-base percentage (.477) and slugging percentage (.660).
In this era of home runs and high-octane offense, however, Giambi also personifies some other aspects of the game: lack of foot speed and lack of defensive ability. I know some analysts talked about Giambi's improved defense this year, but anyone who watched the AL playoffs witnessed Giambi's lack of mobility on groundballs. He is not, in my opinion, even an average defensive first baseman. And he runs like he's carrying that elephant on his back instead of wearing it as a patch on his uniform. Ichiro, of course, is almost the exact opposite of Giambi, which makes this MVP vote so interesting:
What also makes this MVP vote so interesting is that lately -- oh, say the last 40 years -- it's the Giambi-type player who wins. In fact, here at ESPN.com, we had the Giambi photos and factoids all ready to be published as soon as the voting was announced. Luckily, we can react quickly, sort of like Ichiro chasing down a line drive. Anyway, even though Giambi was clearly the best hitter in the league and clearly more valuable at the plate than Ichiro, why didn't he win? One reason is that Giambi finished only eighth in the AL with 120 RBI. The category MVP voters love most is RBI. Still, for a guy with 69 RBI to win is ... well, shocking. The last player similar to Ichiro to win an MVP Award was Barry Larkin of the Reds in 1995. Like Ichiro, Larkin had strong across-the-board credentials other than big power numbers (15 home runs, 66 RBI), hitting .319, finishing second in steals, fifth in runs and winning the Gold Glove at shortstop. Larkin beat out Dante Bichette and his Coors-inflated numbers. The NL voters certainly made the right choice (well, maybe Greg Maddux was the right choice, but that's another debate). The last leadoff hitter to win an MVP was Rickey Henderson of the 1990 A's. Henderson led the league in runs and steals, but really his MVP selection (over Cecil Fielder) was easy since Henderson was the best hitter in the AL that year. He led in OBP (.439) and was second in slugging (.577). He was a No. 3 hitter who just happened to hit leadoff.
Players like Ichiro who aren't home-run hitters rarely even finish high in the balloting. Lenny Dykstra hit leadoff for the '93 Phillies and finished second to Barry Bonds in the NL vote. But Dykstra (who scored 143 runs that year) did hit 19 home runs. Ozzie Smith finished second to Andre Dawson in 1987, even though Ozzie's Cardinals finished first and Dawson's Cubs finished last. Dawson is one of the worst MVP selections ever (if not the worst) and I've always thought Ozzie should have won that year. He hit no home runs, but did have 40 doubles, a .392 OBP, 104 runs, 43 steals and terrific defense. Pete Rose won in '73 over Willie Stargell in another slugger vs. leadoff guy debate. Rose had just five home runs and 64 RBI. He didn't have Ichiro's speed or defense, but he was a run scorer with a good RBI total for a leadoff guy. Stargell, like Giambi, was clearly the best hitter in the league but a substandard defensive first baseman. Perhaps the player most similar to Ichiro to win an MVP was Maury Wills of the Dodgers in 1962. Wills had speed (a then-record 104 steals), scored runs (130, 2nd in NL), won a Gold Glove, hit leadoff and didn't walk much (51). But Wills had even less power than Ichiro (six homers, 13 doubles) and hit just. 299. Wills was 29 that year and finished in the top 10 MVP vote just two more times (1965, 1971). Wills beat out Willie Mays (49 HRs, 141 RBI, 130 runs), and in retrospect, Mays was clearly more valuable. The only other leadoff hitter to win MVP was Phil Rizzuto of the 1950 Yankees (and he hit first and second that year). We can argue all day whether Ichiro was the correct choice or the incorrect choice for MVP. But one thing's for sure: He was the different choice. David Schoenfield is the baseball editor at ESPN.com.
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
