Jay Mariotti--Writers should no longer vote for baseball awards

"No longer should a writer vote in official balloting of any sort, whether it's for an MVP award, a Hall of Fame berth, the Heisman Trophy, a Top 25 poll or a mascot battle between Benny the Bull and the Gorilla.

• We are here to report the news and comment about the news. We are not here to participate in voting that puts us in position to make news, especially if it creates the appearance of a voter ingratiating himself to the team he covers or, perhaps, penalizing other teams. Just because we cover sports doesn't mean we should be part of their electoral mechanisms. We should be detached from the big machine, with editors advising leagues to find other methods of determining honors.These are not questions a writer in Chicago should be answering on an official ballot.

A Sox beat writer sees his team all season and the Yankees six times. He lives with Sox players and learns to appreciate their contributions out of habit. Yet in New York, they think the worst -- that a Sox beat writer might vote for his guys, tell them about it, then get favorable treatment.

• This is why baseball -- and all sports -- should form panels of voters that don't involve newspaper writers. We are not part of the team or part of the sport; we are writing ABOUT the sport.

That said, I don't want to be in position to officially judge one's immortality. I am paid to write about sports people, not determine their places in history.

• Many writers can separate personal feelings and vote fairly. Unfortunately, some can't.

The fact Cowley is a public enemy in New York tells me this has gone way too far. Why should he vote for MVP? Why should I vote for Cooperstown? Why should another writer who has attended two games all year vote for the Heisman? Now that newspapers are out of the college football/ BCS voting muck, we need to pull out of sports balloting altogether.

Sometimes a writer can't avoid making the news, such as when he's called an ''[expletive] fag'' by a manager. But we can avoid accusations of JEETING by not getting involved. In this case, not voting would be the American thing to do."

From Jay Mariotti's Chicago Sun-Times column, 11/24/06

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