Terry Pluto achieves fame and immortality--by denying Joe Maddon a #1 vote.

(St. Petersburg Times): "Terry Pluto, a veteran columnist for the Cleveland Plain Dealer, has gone through pretty much everything in his 30-plus years in journalism, from winning awards to writing more than a dozen books....

• Pluto was the voter who kept Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon from being the first unanimous Manager of the Year Award recipient in baseball history. Maddon received 27 of 28 first place votes, with the Minnesota Twins' Ron Gardenhire getting the other. The Anaheim Angels' Mike Scioscia was third.

Pluto voted Gardenhire No. 1 and Maddon No. 2, and joked he now has "many fans in Tampa" after getting more than 20 emails from puzzled Rays fans.

But here's Pluto's explanation:

• Gardenhire's Twins didn't make the playoffs (they lost in one-game playoff with the White Sox for the AL Central title), but voting was done in the final week of the regular season. Pluto said he has absolutely nothing against Maddon, whom he has a lot of respect for. It was just a tough decision at the time.

"The voting is done in the final week of the season, so I did not have the playoffs to consider," Pluto said. "If they did the voting after, certainly Joe would have got it. I had great respect for both men, and gave the edge to Gardenhire for keeping his team in contention

• after losing Santana, etc....

Pluto said, "I'm glad Joe won. Clearly after what he did in the playoffs, he deserves it.

• It's just how it is."...

"Now I look back and say, "I know why everybody voted for Joe."" -- JOE SMITH, Times Staff Writer

• Pluto will achieve fame and immortality. And his main excuse feeds into a perpetual tenet of the BBWAA:
• One must always feel sorry for the Twins. It is always the case that they could have won if they only had one or two more players.
• Punishing another deserving player or manager is one way to show solidarity for the Twins and keep them top of mind.
• Pluto will be interviewed on tv and radio as a celebrity and will be shown deference as a cerebral individual. (sm)

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