Ok, so, life’s been hectic since my last post. I’ve been really busy with my job, and my studies. I would have been able to complete this post a couple of days ago if it weren’t for the fact that I had to attend my cousin’s wedding. Now, this wouldn’t be a problem usually, but I had to travel about 14 hours by car each way, and it took the whole weekend for the wedding to be done. I’ve been taking this time to try to catch up and not be behind in my classes. This is really the only time that I’ve had to do this, so the plan’s a bit different. Now, as opposed to Baseball’s scandals, I will be doing a piece about the 9 worst players to win a MLB MVP award from 1931-2020, in lieu of the MVP vote going on. Ohtani has the AL MVP locked up by now, and it's between Soto and Harper in the NL.
Hopefully this article can tide you over until next week. I just don’t have the time to do the research into the scandals right now.
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9. Ken Caminiti
Ken Caminiti was a good ballplayer. He has a 15 year career, with three All star appearances (1994, 1996-7) a Silver Slugger (1996) and three Gold Gloves (1995-7). In all regards, he was an above average player. He amassed 1710 hits, 239 HR, 983 RBI, and a .272 BA. He had his best season in 1996, in which he got 178 hits, 40 HR, 130 RBI, and a .326 BA. It was a fluke season, sadly, as he never even got close to those numbers again. He was an average fielder in every regard. Really, he was a good player, and, like Kevin Mitchell and Zolio Versailles (Who I will cover later), had a fluke season and got an MVP from it. Unlike most other players with fluke good seasons, though, he was a good player both before and after the fluke. But, he ranks on this list nonetheless. Sadly, Ken admitted to using steroids in his career. They most likely cut his life shorter than it would have been. He died of a heart attack in 2004.
8. Mort Cooper
Mort Cooper won the 1942 NL MVP award. He finished his career with a 128-75 record, 2.97 ERA and a 124 ERA+. Mort Cooper is definitely a good player, he was elected to three All Star Games (1942, 1943, 1946), but his best years were in World War 2, because a lot of the stars (Red Schoendienst, Ted Williams, Charlie Gehringer) were out due to military service. This does not dock the guy of a 22-7, 1.78 ERA, 192 ERA+ season, but it was done against worse competition than most years. His career, compared to many former MVPs, is a lot shorter (11 years), and he only got 128 wins. He was a dominant pitcher for two wartime years, and that’s about it. He was by no means bad, but compared to other MVP competition, he was far from the best.
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This last part was written a week ago. I have since caught a COVID variant. I AM vaccinated, so it did not take me to the hospital, but I felt horrible for about a week. I am better now, and COVID free again. So, this is now written on 11/6-11/7. The first three were written before Halloween. Sorry once again for the delay.
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7. Spud Chandler
Ok, Spud Chandler is probably the best player on this list. I’m putting him here because his career was so short and full of injuries. Spud had an 11 year career, but only pitched in 211 games, ammassing 1485 innings pitched. For an 11 year career (for a pitcher who was not a reliever) this is not much. He was a 4 time All Star (1942, 1943, 1946, 1947). He got his MVP during the wartime years (1943), but I’m not going to try to degrade a 20-4, 1.64 ERA season. The guy was dominant. He has a 109-43 career win-loss record. The problem is, he really had two dominant seasons (1943, and 1946 where he went 20-8 with a 2.10 ERA) and the rest were records like 7-4 and 3-0. For coming into the league at age 29, this guy had a great career. He just didn’t have the best career of an MVP winner, hence his being on this list.
6. Bobby Shantz
Well, here’s another player with a fluke season. Bobby Shantz had a 16 year career, in which he racked up 119-99 record with a 3.38 ERA. So, a good player. He also racked up three All Star nods (1951-2, 1957), as well as 8 pitcher’s Gold Gloves (1957-64) (Which are basically inconsequential). His MVP award was earned in 1952, with a 24-7, 2.48 ERA season. The problem, like many of the people listed before him, is the fact that he had basically three good years that coincide with his All Star nods, and everything else is mediocre. Bobby was by no means bad, but he was not great either.
5. Willie Hernández
Willie Hernández was a relief pitcher for 12 years in the MLB, amassing a 70-63 record and a 3.38 ERA with 146 saves. Ok, so not very good off the bat. He won his MVP award because he was the relief ace of the 1984 world champion Tigers (Can you believe that they’ve fallen this far?) He also won the Cy Young award that year (For reasons only known to the voters.) Don Mattingly should have run away with the award (He batted .343, with 204 hits, and led the league in doubles with 44.) Willie’s 1984 season was an 80 game affair (led the league), in which he went 9-3 with a 1.92 ERA and 32 saves. Not a bad season. A very good season in fact. Not an MVP season, though. Compared to Don Mattingly’s season, Willie’s numbers are dwarfed. Willie had a good career. That’s about it.
4. Jeff Burroughs
Jeff Burroughs played in the MLB for 16 years, and was a two time All Star (1974 and 1978). He won his MVP in 1974 when he led the league in RBI with 118. This is when baseball writers had their obsession with RBI so players with big RBI totals, like Jeff, were more likely to get MVP votes over a leadoff hitter like Ricky Henderson. In his 16 year career, Jeff got 1443 hits, 240 HR, 882 RBI, and a .261 Batting Average. In other words, he was an average player. He had horrible range and mediocre fielding, and was changed to a DH because of this in the late 1970s. If you looked up a picture of an average major league baseball player, this guy would probably show up on the first page of search results.
3. Hank Sauer
Hank Sauer won the 1952 NL MVP, and probably didn’t deserve it. He led the league in HR with 37 and RBI with 121 that year. Stan Musial, even on an off year, was much better. He was a career .266 hitter and hit only 1278 career hits. According to dWAR, he was not a good defensive player with limited range. For an 18 year career, his was very unimpressive.
2. Zoilo Versalles
Zoilo Versalles is the proud owner of one of the biggest fluke seasons in history. His career spanned 12 years, in which he hit .242 with 1246 hits, 95 HR, 471 RBI, and 650 runs. Basically a below average career. He was an All Star in 1963 and his MVP year of 1965. His 1965 stats were 126 runs, 182 hits, 45 doubles, 12 triples, 19 HR, and 122 Ks. All with a whopping .273 BA. He did, to be fair, most likely deserve the MVP award that year. It was him or his teammate Tony Oliva. Really, Other than in 1965, Zoilo really wasn’t a good player.
Extra tidbit about Zoilo:
Once, during the middle of the season, Zoilo needed extra money. So, he pawned his clothes. He borrowed money to get them back, and told his coach that he was going to get his clothes back from the pawn shop. His coach okayed the venture. The coach waited for about a week. Then, finally Zoilo returned.
What the coach didn’t realize was that the pawn shop was in Cuba.
1. Jim Konstanty
Yeah, you probably could see this one from a mile away. Jim Konstanty had an 11 year career, going 66-48 with a 3.48 ERA with 76 saves. He got his MVP and sole All Star Selection in 1950, where he was the relief ace for the Whiz Kids (Phillies) that made the World Series. They then proceeded to be creamed by the Yankees. But, anyway, Jim went 16-7 in 74 games, in which he posted a 2.66 ERA and led the league in saves with 22. (Relievers were used very differently in the 1950s.) He had a good year. Once again, however, the award probably should have gone to Stan Musial or Warren Spahn if it had to go to a pitcher. Jim Konstanty relied heavily on a pitch that was referred to as the “Palmball.” When hitters figured it out, he basically lost his effectiveness. Because of his lackluster career, I would have to say that Jim Konstanty is the worst player to win an MVP award.
