The Final MVP Rant
joe@joe-mammy.com
I've been going off on this all season and now I'll wrap it up—at least until they do it again next year. I don't often take issue with Ray, mainly because I think he's usually right, but when it comes to Barry and the MVP, well, I'm probably not at my most rational.
I don't like Barry Bonds. I don't WANT to like Barry Bonds. And I'd complain about the ballots if I thought it would do any good. But the truth of the matter is who do you appeal to? There is no standard that must be met to name someone the MVP other than they play and that would be fine if many in a position to do something with it weren't so enamored with #25 in San Francisco.
Now I'm not so naïve as to think that everything about this sport is idyllic or is as it should be. It shouldn't surprise me that this seems to happen year in and year out, and in a way it doesn't—it just frustrates me. Is Barry Bonds a great player? The universal response always refers back to his numbers. Numbers are neat and fun to crunch when it comes to splits, OBP and any number of other SABR specialties but they don't tell the whole story.
Even if they did, it's clear that numbers aren't really all they're cracked up to be. Case in point: anyone remember Barry Bonds' postseason batting average this season? You can give Rolen a hard time for his playoff and World Series struggles at the plate, but at least he had those at-bats. The common response is that the Giants would be so much worse off without Bonds but you can't really prove that without losing Bonds and getting his salary back, can you? As I pointed out in an earlier column, a number of teams have done much better after jettisoning a superstar instead of imploding.
But that's not the point. It's not my point, at least. My problem with giving Barry Bonds the MVP, or any award other than one he's actually earned (like a batting title—don't get me started on those walks, either…) is that Barry Bonds is bad for baseball.
I didn't get a whole lot of sports history growing up, but what little I did was about guys like Mantle, Ruth, Musial, Koufax, Mays, Gibson etc. It would come up on rare occasions and I'd get to hear the almost reverent tone my dad, uncles and grandfather would speak about playing baseball and following these players when they were young. My family has never religiously followed any sport, but baseball was always treated as something that was more than just a game. It was what they did when they were in high school. It's what they'd do when chores were done with neighbors down the road. When they spoke of the great players of their respective childhoods it was with warmth and a measure of respect because baseball was a community kind of game. It brought people together to play and compete and just get to know each other.
Barry Bonds does none of that.
Barry plays for Barry and hellfire on anyone who would make the game about anything other than making sure everyone knows his name. He's a cheat and a liar who believes he's better than anyone on the field or in the stands. He doesn't care if anyone likes him as long as they pay him and you get the feeling that he looks at each and every person who actually loves the game of baseball with contempt.
Twenty years from now people will still be talking about Mick, the Babe, Stan the Man, Gibby, Sandy and even Big Mac and Sammy. They'll remember how much fun it was to watch them; they'll reminisce about what they did to improve the game in their own way and what they gave back to their communities and fans.
And then they'll say that Barry had great numbers.
Congratulations Barry Bonds, you've won another MVP and you've eclipsed many great players statistically. But you'll never be able to hold a candle to them as players and human beings. Hope the hardware was worth it.
