'Bronx Bias Strikes Jeter,' VACCARO, NY Post

11/21/2006, "Bronx Bias strikes Jeter," Mike Vaccaro, NY Post: "If Derek Jeter had the season he had playing for the Minnesota Twins, and if Justin Morneau had the season he had playing for the Yankees, it would be Jeter who would be reserving space on his shelf for the MVP plaque.

But Jeter doesn't play for the Twins. He plays for the Yankees. He plays in New York City. He makes a lot of commercials, and he dates a lot of starlets, and he makes a lot of money, and if you think that doesn't count in the minds of the people who cast these votes, you're a greater believer in the purity of human nature than I am.

And here's the thing: This is only the warm-up.

• Just wait another 15 years or so, when it's time for the same assemblage of writers to size up Jeter's credentials as a Hall of Famer. Just wait, especially, when the arbiters of immortality decide whether Jeter's career merits the honor of a first-ballot selection, or whether they'll force him to endure a few years of consolation phone calls first."

From Mike Vaccaro's column in the NY Post, 11/22/06 on the MVP voting, "Bronx bias strikes Jeter"

• Another blog wrote about Vaccaro's article, but ridicules the idea of bias in baseball awards voting. "The Feed: The Rage of Vaccaro," 11/22/06. The blogger is proved wrong by Christensen's comments on XM radio in Sept. 2006.

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• For the record, if so-called NY writers are automatically biased in favor of NY teams, why did only one of 2006's 2 NY writers vote Jeter #1?

Also for the record, Ian O'Connor also says Jeter was robbed and references the NY profile. I say 'for the record' because it was a fairly weak article. Either he doesn't feel strongly about the topic, or knows it's better for his own career not to betray what really goes on in baseball awards voting.

• 11/22/2006, "Robbed in New York Second," Ian O'Connor, Albany Times Union

NEW YORK - "Derek Jeter will get over it, this much we know. He still goes home to a Victoria's Secret catalog for a black book, to a piggy bank carrying the balance of his $189 million contract and to a treasure chest holding the four championship rings he won in a different Yankees life.

But just for the record, Jeter did get ripped off. As sure as a burglar lifting one of those rings in the dead of night, the MVP voters might have swiped the final chance Jeter had of adding that me-first award to his team-first legacy.

This was the captain's year. All those loud Yankees hitters collapsed around him - the victims of human frailty - leaving the baseball community to see, once and for all, that Jeter is far more than the beneficiary of George Steinbrenner's budget, far more than a myth created by the purveyors of New York hype.

No Sheffield, no Matsui and no Cano meant no problem for Jeter in 2006. The shortstop kept the Yankees being the Yankees through all the injuries and all the turbulent turns in Alex Rodriguez's drama-queen summer. For this, Mr. October was the most valuable regular-sea son player in the American League.

The voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America went for Justin Morneau instead. Mourneau is a a good story out of the small-market hinterlands, a kid slugger who made $385,000 this year, tip money for a Yankee whose face was made for billboards and magazine shoots. Jeter is something of an international celebrity. The Twin who beat him could plant himself on a Times Square corner and go unrecognized by 19 out of every 20 New Yorkers who crossed his path.

So this is an upset, if not one of the Lake Placid variety. Morneau was a worthy choice for MVP.

Jeter just happened to be the most worthy.

"You've heard me say it a thousand times," Jeter said in a gracious statement that made Morneau out to be the next Harmon Killebrew, "but winning the World Series for the New York Yankees continues to be my main focus. There is no individual award that can compare with a championship trophy. ... "

True, but Jeter hasn't claimed one of those championship trophies since 2000. He would have gladly accepted this MVP award as a consolation prize.

Jeter's human. He hurts when a Sports Illustrated poll of major-leaguers identifies him as the sport's most overrated star. He hurts when Alex Rodriguez mocks his skills for the record and when Steinbrenner rages about his late-night schedule and challenges his commitment to the cause.

Jeter hurts when a dedicated circle of writers decide Justin Morneau is more valuable to the Twins than he is to the Yankees.

He should hurt over this one, too, because Jeter was more deserving this year than A-Rod was last year. David Ortiz should have been the 2005 winner, and that cold, hard fact didn't help A-Rod's current teammate and former friend this time around.

Now Jeter will likely play out his career without a single MVP award to his name. He's never going to put up scoreboard-tilting power numbers. And he's not likely to see another season quite like 2006, where fellow Yankees stars drop like dominoes and leave Jeter all alone to refute the suspicions that he is a product of Steinbrenner's $200 million system and the overwhelming lineup protection it provides.

That's why, on truth serum, Jeter would tell you how much this one stings.

Morneau delivered the necessary homers (34) and RBI (130) for a playoff-bound team. But Jeter batted .343 to the first baseman's .321 and hit .381 with runners in scoring position to Morneau's .323.

Jeter's best case was made the night of Aug. 18, on the back end of a day-night doubleheader that would lead to a five-game sweep of the Red Sox.

With the bases loaded and two out in the seventh, Boston up 10-8, Jeter hit a three-run double off Mike Timlin.

Two nights later, with two outs in the ninth and Boston up by one, Jeter blooped home the tying run against Jonathan Papelbon, who had just struck out Bernie Williams and Johnny Damon to leave Fenway quaking around a small tremor of hope.

Jeter singlehandedly put the Red Sox to sleep, ultimately inspiring them to bid an absurd $51.1 million for the right to talk to Daisuke Matsuzaka and, of course, to scare the Yankees straight.

That's value. And losing a close MVP race despite that value?

Well, that's life.

Derek Jeter has an otherwise charmed one. He'll get over this, but not until he spends a few weeks feeling the very human pain of being robbed."

"Ian O'Connor writes for the Westchester Journal News."

• ---------------------------------

11/22/2006, On the Jeter was robbed topic, Peter Abraham says:

• "You can decide for yourself which columnists in New York have an agenda when it comes to the Yankees. Obviously there is a lot of opinion out there. But if one of the Mets - say David Wright - was in the same position, you'd hear the howls of protest. That much is certain."

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• Tim Marchman's NY Sun article (though the paper is called the NY Sun, I believe he lives in Chicago)

• 11/22/2006, "Another MVP Foolishly Given To the Guy With All the RBI," Tim Marchman, NY Sun

"The selection, announced yesterday, of Minnesota first baseman Justin Morneau as the American League's Most Valuable Player is dumb and indefensible, good evidence of why no one takes baseball writers seriously. Morneau wasn't the best, or the second-best, or the third-best player among first basemen and designated hitters. He wasn't the best or second-best player on his own team. He wasn't even the best player with the initials "JM" on his own team. (You take the guy with 130 RBI and I'll take Joe Mauer, a Gold Glove-caliber catcher who led the league in batting average, and we'll see who wins more games.) He wasn't one of the five best players in the division. He wasn't one of the 10 best players in the league. There is, of course, nothing at all unusual about this. Ten years ago, for instance, Alex Rodriguez hit .358 BA/.414 OBA/.631 SLG with 36 home runs, 123 RBI, and 143 runs scored while playing an excellent shortstop. He lost the AL MVP award to Juan Gonzalez, who played in 10 fewer games, scored 54 fewer runs, reached base 60 fewer times, stroked nine fewer extra-base hits, and did all this while playing in a better hitter's park than Rodriguez. Gonzalez also played a quarter of his games as a designated hitter and the other three-quarters as an inept right fielder. Rodriguez was a better hitter for average, a better power hitter, a better clutch hitter, a better on-base threat, and a much better runner. He played more often, played a vastly more difficult position far more skillfully, was better looking, a better quote, and by all accounts he was a better presence in the clubhouse. Gonzalez led the league in RBI because he had three good on-base threats ahead of him, so he won the MVP.

The year before that, Albert Belle became the first player since 1948 to crack 100 extra-base hits; he did so for a team that won 100 games in a strike shortened season. He lost to Mo Vaughn, who tied him for the league lead in RBI despite a slugging average more than 100 points lower. Belle lost because his team won the division by 30 games while Vaughn's won its by seven, and because he was an insufferable jackass. The year after Gonzalez's illgotten award, Mike Piazza hit .362 with 40 home runs as a catcher while playing half his games in Dodger Stadium; right fielder Larry Walker hit .366 with 49 home runs while playing half his games in Coors Field. Unsurprisingly, Piazza did not win the MVP.

One could go on. The illegitimate triumph of Roger Peckinpaugh in the 1925 voting no doubt rankles Al Simmons partisans to this day. (Peckinpaugh hit .294 in 422 at-bats, Simmons .387 in 654 at-bats; closer scrutiny makes Peckinpaugh look much worse and Simmons much better.) The point is that MVP voters, individually the best of men, become fools when they cast their ballots. They were fools before the Great Depression, fools through World War II, fools during Vietnam, and they are fools today. One day, while we war as one planet against three-eyed Venutians, MVP voters will, insofar as it is humanly possible to do so, vote the player with the highest RBI total on a playoff team as the MVP.

No one need feel outraged on Derek Jeter's behalf, anymore than they need to feel retroactive anger on behalf of Al Simmons. He was the best player in the league, and deserved the award. Everyone knows this. Jeter will have to console himself with his hundreds of millions of dollars, World Series rings, and fond memories of Scarlett Johansson. Nor should anyone begrudge Justin Morneau his award. He had a great two months in which he hit 18 home runs and managed to keep his slugging average near .500 the rest of the time. That's not nothing. His award is a triumph for British Columbia and a triumph for a very well-run Minnesota club, and those are good things.

If there's any indignant outrage to be directed anywhere, it should be directed at those of us who legitimize this silly award with columns like this one. The MVP award, all agree, has no credibility; it's as relevant as a moss-covered, three-handled family credenza, or a tin of Boer War rations, slightly more meaningful than a Gold Glove. Why treat it with any seriousness at all?

To which I say that the award's very silliness is the point exactly. This marvelously preposterous award, and the pretext for bewilderment it will offer future generations, are wonderful additions to the game's ridiculous lore. Looking through the indices of past MVPs, there's little joy in seeing the names of Willie Mays, Ted Williams, and Mickey Mantle; there is, however, great joy in seeing the names of George Bell, Jim Konstanty, and Marty Marion. A name has been added to this pantheon. Between now and the time the Venutians invade, thousands and perhaps millions of drinks will be won on bets involving Justin Morneau's name. That's a joy no superfluous validation of Derek Jeter's already overvalidated greatness could bring. It's an occasion to be celebrated."

• ---------------------------

Only one of NY's 2 writers in the 2006 MVP award voted for Jeter. The award is decided when the voters are chosen. It is impossible the person who selected the jury did not know how they would vote. These people know each other very, very well and over much time. Look at what Joe Christensen said in when speaking in an unguarded setting on radio, Sept. 19, 2006

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Mariano Rivera deserves both Cy Young & MVP but won't win for 11th year--Joel Sherman

'Rivera is doing this for an 11th straight year, and for an 11th straight year

• he will not win a Cy Young or MVP, though there is no doubt he is both the Cy Young and MVP of the last 11 years.'

says Hall of Fame director Joel Sherman in his NY Post column today.

• Sherman has achieved enough in his career that he has the courage to speak the truth about Rivera. However, apparently not enough to take the next necessary step. Which obviously would be very bad for the BBWAA.
• Joel has BEEN A VOTING MEMBER OF BBWAA FOR A LONG TIME. KNOWING WHAT he KNOWs and just wrote about, WHY HAS HE NOT SAID OR DONE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS BEFORE?

• WE HAVEN'T EVEN HAD THIS YEAR'S CROP, BUT Joel says Rivera will LOSE AGAIN. Joel, you appear to be an accessory, which is almost as bad as a criminal.

Detroit Manager JIM LEYLAND from the same article in today's NY Post ON RIVERA:

• "This guy has had the most impact of any player in recent history.
• My vote would have gone to Mariano Rivera for MVP of baseball [for this period]. I know a lot of guys hit 40-50 homers. But ... damn, you bring Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen, that is a big edge."

Sherman's article:

"SOMEDAY, YANKEES WILL HAVE TO REPLACE IRREPLACEABLE MO"

NY Post, September 1, 2006 --' THE BULLPEN door opened Wednesday night and so did a scary window into the Yankee future. Scott Proctor, not Mariano Rivera, emerged and a Yankees' lead disappeared.

• It was yet another reminder that some time soon "Enter Sandman" only will be played on Old-Timer's Day at Yankee Stadium and someone else will have to replace the most irreplaceable Yankee of them all.

It is Rivera, not Joe Torre or even Derek Jeter, whose cleats will be the toughest to fill.

• Only then will we fully comprehend that this elite run the Yanks have been on for a decade-plus has started at the end.

"You can't replace him," GM Brian Cashman said. "You are not going to replace the all-time greatest at something. It is going to be about how much you can cushion the blow."

• The issue became pertinent again yesterday, because the Yankees closer had to go for an MRI, which to the Yanks chagrin does not stand for Mariano Rivera Invincible. He has been feeling pain near his right elbow and, for what he described as "peace of mind," he underwent a more thorough test.

The results were negative for any structural damage, an incalculable positive for these Yankees, who cannot get near the Canyon of Heroes without him. The problem, the team said, is muscular. Rivera was deemed healthy enough that when the bullpen door opened yesterday afternoon, less than 24 hours after Proctor's meltdown, it was Rivera who entered.

• Like Proctor, Rivera got into trouble with a two-run lead and three outs to get. Proctor did not know how to get out of trouble.

Rivera did by doing what he always does: He broke bats and hearts.

• After Magglio Ordonez doubled to bring the tying run to the plate with no outs, Rivera splintered Carlos Guillen's bat to induce a slow grounder to third, though the switch-hitter was batting righty to avoid having his bat broken. Sean Casey dribbled a ball to the mound. Brandon Inge broke his bat fouling off a 96-mph fastball the pitch before rolling a ball that Jorge Posada turned into the final out. Rivera conserved his best fastballs until he was in difficulty. But they were there to evoke

three meek grounders, a good sign.

What happens, though, when they are not? With a big division lead, the Yanks can limit Rivera to one inning and perhaps find a week of September rest to prep for October, when the wraps will come off because, as Rivera says, "in October, you have to do what you have to do."

• But Rivera is 35. He already has remained dominant in a job normally less friendly to the aging than supermodel.

• He has been so good that, I think, he actually is underappreciated. He has not only been the best closer ever.

• He has been the best closer ever while employed in the American League and in the Steroid Era.

• He has been better in the playoffs than the regular season.

And he has done this not in Kansas City or Houston, but in New York. He has handled this smorgasbord of pressure impeccably.

• Will his successor? Consider that Detroit beat the Yanks twice in seven tries this year; the games Rivera was not available, but Kyle Farnsworth and Proctor were.

Now consider that Rivera is doing this for an 11th straight year, and for an 11th straight year

• he will not win a Cy Young or MVP, though there is no doubt

• he is both the Cy Young and MVP of the last 11 years.

"When you see the Yankees take the field in the ninth inning, they have their chest out and feel the game is over," Tigers manager Jim Leyland said. "That is a hell of a feeling.

• This guy has had the most impact of any player in recent history.

My vote would have gone to Mariano Rivera for MVP of baseball [for this period]. I know a lot of guys hit 40-50 homers. But ... damn, you bring Mariano Rivera out of the bullpen, that is a big edge."

• The Yanks had that edge again yesterday, won another game because of it.

• How much longer can they expect this baseball miracle?"

article by Joel Sherman, "Someday, Yankees Will have to Replace Irreplaceable Mo,"NY Post, Sept. 1, 2006

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BASEBALL WRITERS DISCOVER THEY'RE NOT AS IMPORTANT AS THEY THOUGHT---New age Press Box debuts

• From the NY Times, 6/11/07, one feels "hopeless." This article is the best news I've seen all year. With the advent of television and the continuation of live radio, the old style press box is an anachronism.

CHICAGO, June 6 — "The original press box at the 16-year-old U.S. Cellular Field was a fine place to cover a White Sox game. From their nest behind home plate, reporters could easily discern the spin of a curveball or hear the thwack of bat on ball.

But this year, the White Sox gutted it and remade it into the Jim Beam Club, with 200 theater seats and barstools that cost $260 to $315 each; when sold out, the club could generate $4 million or more in revenue.

“We were giving the press the best real estate in the building, slightly elevated behind home plate, which they don’t need,” said Jerry Reinsdorf, the real estate investor who is chairman of the White Sox.

When asked why he moved the press to a much worse vista two levels up and along the first-base and right-field line, Reinsdorf unhesitatingly said, “Financial.”

Reinsdorf is far from unique among team owners looking at the extra money that can be made in arranging, or rearranging, their home facilities to accommodate more luxury suites or club seats.

At the same time, baseball reporters (usually print and radio) have been shifted to higher spots, as in PNC Park in Pittsburgh, or inferior aeries like the one at the year-old Busch Stadium in St. Louis. The Cardinals improved the habitability of the press box before this season as part of renovations needed to play host to the 2009 All-Star Game; the press box is higher than it was in the old Busch Stadium, a design that gives preference to luxury boxes.

“Last year, it was a gulag,” said Joe Strauss of The St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

In the Jim Beam Club during the Yankees-White Sox game Wednesday night, the privileged packed the tables in the club’s indoor restaurant to dine on smoked turkey with apricot and pineapple chutney, and bay scallops with orzo.

Pres Harris sat with his two sons in the front row outside, marveling at his good fortune because someone had given him three tickets to the club while he was standing in line at the ballpark to buy reserved seats.

“It’s fantastic,” he said of the view from the front row, which last year was the domain of reporters.

Becky Roppolo, who works for a local steel company, came dressed in a Paul Konerko replica jersey, and was elated that her boss had given her his tickets for the second time. The sweet seat, she said, “kind of spoils you.”

Joe Varan, a real estate investor from Hinsdale, Ill., was in one of the four front-row, center-of-the-club seats that he splits with a friend.

“There’s nothing like this,” said Varan, who then compared the club to the “scout seats” on the field level behind home plate; they cost $220 to $285 each. “You can call the balls and strikes and see the outfield plays develop.”

None of the fans said they much cared that they had displaced reporters who now depend more on TV monitors than they once did. It is a sentiment they share with Reinsdorf.

“It doesn’t matter if Dave van Dyck can see how much the ball breaks,” he said, referring to The Chicago Tribune’s national baseball writer.

Van Dyck said his former view mattered greatly; now he cannot see plays developing or the “full scan of the field.”

“It’s like watching TV from the side,” he added, still irate that the team did not consult reporters about the change."

• YOU WRITERS ARE ABOVE ALL, MEMBERS OF YOUR OWN FRATERNITY. EVERYTHING ELSE, INCLUDING ACCURATE REPRESENTATION OF PLAYERS, HAS COME AFTER THAT. YOU DESERVE ANY DEMOTION YOU GET. NOW WE HEAR FROM INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY AND GAD-FLY, INTERVIEWED ON WFAN RADIO FOR 1 REASON ONLY---BECAUSE EVEN THOUGH HE'D BEEN CITED A YEAR BEFORE FOR BAD BEHAVIOR BY THE WRITERS' FRAT, JOE COWLEY WAS BACK VOTING AGAIN--TEE--HEE--AND HE VOTED DEREK JETER 6th for MVP in 2006--tee hee--BECAUSE HE COULD AND BECAUSE IT MADE HIM IMMORTAL. sm

"Joe Cowley, who covers the White Sox for The Chicago Sun-Times, said he did not mind the view, and he was not surprised about the White Sox’ move. “They sold out the start time to 7-Eleven,” he said, referring to a sponsorship deal with the chain of convenience stores to shift the starting time of night games to 7:11.

In N.B.A. arenas, reporters in some cities have been moved out of earshot of the repartee among players, coaches and referees.

The N.B.A. has left it to the teams to determine whether they would move reporters and where they would put them, while keeping TV broadcasters at scorer’s tables. Brian McIntyre, a league spokesman, said the change was not made because of the weakening influence of newspapers.

“It was strictly a way to get revenue,” he said, “and some people closer to the game.”

But in doing so, said Brian Windhorst, who covers the Cavaliers for The Akron Beacon Journal, the presence of nearby reporters working on deadline “has upset a lot of fans, and there’ve been some, and caused some nasty incidents.”

He added, “We’re trying to do our job, and they’re trying to have fun.”"

• NO ONE FORCED YOU GUYS TO DO THIS JOB. YOU SOUND LIKE A BUNCH OF MARTYRS. sm.

"At U.S. Cellular Field, the relocated press box prompted a demand by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America to meet with Commissioner Bud Selig to receive assurances that a similarly drastic change would not occur at other ballparks. (The Kansas City Royals are moving their press box up a level, but still behind home plate, next season.)

“We’re paid to do the job to the best of our ability,” Mark Gonzales of The Chicago Tribune said as he watched Wednesday’s game from high above first base. His new sightline hindered his ability to best describe, with his own eyes, Mark Buehrle’s no-hitter on April 18.

“I just feel hopeless,” he said."

Article from NY Times by Richard Sandomir, 6/11/07, "PRESS BOXES BECOME AN AFTERTHOUGHT."

P.S. This article gives me great validation for what I've done on this blog. The baseball writers need to be separated from their hold on the fortunes of the game, teams, and many individual players. Many who frequent baseball blogs probably side with the old school baseball writers and/or would like to be among them. To me the first priority is to see them as a corrupt political institution.*** After that is accomplished, we can move on.

• POLITICS AND WHY MANY NEWSPAPERS NOW PREVENT THEIR EMPLOYEES FORM VOTING ON BASEBALL AWARDS:

There are countless examples on this blog. Here are 2: Joe Christensen on XM with Charley Steiner, 9/16/06, said he wouldn't vote for Jeter for MVP "because he's on a team of rich guys getting it done." (Posted on this blog that day).

Mike Vaccaro, The NY Post, Bronx Bias Strikes Jeter

"November 22, 2006 -- MAYBE it's best that Derek Jeter get a preview of what's in store for him across the next 15 years. Maybe it's best that we get it on the record, from a sizable cross-section of the nation's baseball writers, exactly what his perception really is, what his national image really is.

This time, it was an MVP Award, one that he deserved, one that should have his name on it, one that was taken from him primarily because of the team he plays for and the city he plays in. The voters will tell you differently, but know this: If Derek Jeter had the season he had playing for the Minnesota Twins, and if Justin Morneau had the season he had playing for the Yankees, it would be Jeter who would be reserving space on his shelf for the MVP plaque.

But Jeter doesn't play for the Twins. He plays for the Yankees. He plays in New York City. He makes a lot of commercials, and he dates a lot of starlets, and he makes a lot of money, and if you think that doesn't count in the minds of the people who cast these votes, you're a greater believer in the purity of human nature than I am.

• And here's the thing: This is only the warm-up. Just wait another 15 years or so, when it's time for the same assemblage of writers to size up Jeter's credentials as a Hall of Famer. Just wait, especially, when the arbiters of immortality decide whether Jeter's career merits the honor of a first-ballot selection, or whether they'll force him to endure a few years of consolation phone calls first."

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IS BALTIMORE OUT OF BASEBALL? MINNESOTA RESIDENT MEL ANTONEN GOT TO BE 1 of BALTIMORE's 2 AL MVP VOTERS.

MEL ANTONEN RESIDES IN MINNESOTA, AND HAS FOR MANY YEARS. WHEN INTERVIEWED ON XM, IT'S "FROM HIS HOME IN MINNESOTA." ON SEPT. 20, 2006 IN ONE OF HIS CHATS BEFORE MVP VOTES WERE DUE (in another venue) HE THOUGHT MORNEAU SHOULD BE #1 FOR MVP.

• SO WHY THE CHARADE OF SUSPENSE ABOUT WHO'D ULTIMATELY WIN? MORNEAU IS CANADIAN, SO BOTH TORONTO VOTERS HAD HIM #1.
• MATT HURST WOULD NEVER PUT EITHER DEREK JETER OR MARIANO RIVERA #1, NOR WOULD LARRY STONE, NOR THE INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY FROM CHICAGO, NOR A FEW OTHERS. THE FIX WAS IN LONG AGO BY WHOMEVER PUT THE JURY TOGETHER. THE FAULT LIES WITH THOSE IN AUTHORITY ABOVE THE VOTERS.

OUT OF ALL THE GAMES THE YANKEES PLAYED AGAINST BALTIMORE, AND THIS YEAR AGAINST THE NATIONALS AS WELL, BUD SELIG, ESPN, JACK O'CONNELL, ETC. HATE THE YANKEES SO MUCH THEY APPOINTED A LONGTIME MINNESOTA RESIDENT, NOT COVERING EITHER THE ORIOLES OR OTHER TEAMS IN THE AL EAST.

• A COMPLETELY PREDICTABLE VOTE AGAINST THE YANKEES IS WHAT THE FIX WAS. THE 2ND BALTIMORE AL MVP VOTE WENT TO MEL ANTONEN FROM MINNESOTA, NOT TO A BEAT WRITER. BEFORE THE VOTE, HE MADE HIS CHOICE OF MORNEAU CLEAR. BUT, AS DEMONSTRATED IN HIS XM INTERVIEW ON AUGUST 29, 2006, HE'S A CARBON COPY OF OTHER MINNESOTA VOTERS REFUSING TO PRAISE THE BEST PLAYER ON THE YANKEES SIMPLY BECAUSE THE TEAM "IS TOO WELL STOCKED."
• ANTONEN IS AN INTERNATIONAL CELEBRITY BECAUSE HE DID NOT VOTE FOR JETER--TYLER KEPNER QUOTES HIM FOR INTERNATIONAL RELEASE IN THE NY TIMES ON 11/22:
• "“It wasn'’t so much about numbers," said Mel Antonen of USA Today, who voted for Morneau. "It was about all the things Morneau did as far as contributing to a winning team. The correlation between his taking off and the Twins'’ starting to win was too much to ignore."”

THIS ISN'T A DEBATE, IT'S NOT DISCUSSION, INTRIGUE, ETC. MANY OTHERS AVOID OR SOFT-PEDAL THIS ISSUE. WHY? MANY ARE LOOKING FOR MONEY MAKING OPPORTUNITIES IN SPORTS WRITING OR WORKING FOR A TEAM AND DON'T WANT TO 'ROCK THE BOAT.'

• INTERVIEWED VIA PHONE "FROM HIS HOME IN MINNESOTA" ON XM ON 8/29, HE SHOWS HIS BIAS AND PREJUDICE IN FULL VIEW, BUT NO ONE IN AUTHORITY DID ANYTHING TO STOP HIM FROM BBWAA VOTING. HE USES EXACTLY THE SAME BIAS THAT THE REST OF MINNEAPOLIS VOTERS USE--CAN'T VOTE FOR JETER OR MARIANO BECAUSE THE REST OF THE TEAM IS TOO GOOD: (From this blog on 8/29/06:)

Mel stepped in it today on Charley Steiner's show saying:

• "John Smoltz told me that 1 inning pitched in October is like 2 innings pitched in the regular season."

Charley agrees, & being the only 1 on the station who'd bring up the obvious, he does. Charley says:

• "That brings up again the remarkable performances of Mariano Rivera."

Antonen is horror struck and tries to change the subject:

• "Well, the Yankees have depth." AFTER HE SETS UP HIS OWN POINT WHICH IS COMMON SENSE ANYWAY, ABOUT SMOLTZ' REFERENCE TO PITCHING IN THE POST SEASON, HE DUMPS ON MARIANO.
• Charley has started to catch on that every "writer" will dump on Mo, so he clarifies,
• "But I mean you mentioned the post season pitching and that's what Rivera has done so much of."

Now, Antonen is desperate, so he throws out some lies:

• "Well, Torre never uses him more than 60 or 70 innings so he's always well-rested. He's good and everything, but the Yankees have a lot of back-up for him. He IS RESTED." Emphasis his, with anger as well. And you think there's no bias? MEL, MARIANO LEADS THE MAJORS WITH 69.0 IP BY LATE INNING RELIEVERS. THE ONE WHO SHOULD GET A REST IS YOU.
• Charley changes the subject. (Charley admits he avoids controversy). Why do you allow people like this to keep their jobs? Antonen has just said THE OPPOSITE of the truth. If anything, as anyone WHO'S NOT TOTALLY OBSESSED WITH THE YANKEES AND THEREFORE DETERMINED TO LIE ABOUT MARIANO knows, Rivera has typically been OVERUSED.
• 2006 to date, with 69.0 IP, Rivera leads both leagues for late inning relievers (Mel, did you see Farnsworth the other day? Really great back-up).
• 2005 regular season, Rivera had 78.1 IP.
• 2004 regular season, 78.2 IP, 12.2 IP post season=91.1 IP total.
• 2003 regular season, 70.2 IP.
• 2002 -injured part of the year--only pitched 46.0 reg.--SEE 2001
• 2001 96.2 IP, 80.2 regular season, 16.0 post season
• 2000 regular season 75.2, post season 15.2= 91.1 IP
• total
• 1999 regular season 69.0, post season 12.1= 81.1 total

RESTED, MEL? This is how he rested in bringing his team from behind to win the pennant in 2005--YOUR UNPROFESSIONAL BIAS IGNORES:

• In September 2005 HE SAVED OR WON 6 1-RUN GAMES IN A 2-WEEK SPAN IN A BRUTAL PENNANT RACE.
• HE PITCHED 3 DAYS IN A ROW TWICE IN THIS 2 WEEK PERIOD, 6 OUT OF 8 DAYS, FORCED IN DESPERATE SITUATIONS TO MAKE UP FOR BLOWN LEADS BY THE OFFENSE OR BAD RELIEF IN THE BULLPEN.

LOOK IT UP, MEL, PRINT A FRONT PAGE APOLOGY AND RETRACTION. THE REASON YOU STILL HAVE A JOB AT ALL IS THAT BASEBALL FANS ARE TOO LAZY TO COMPLAIN ABOUT YOU. P.S. Enjoy your hallowed Baseball Writers awards voting--if it's not cancelled due to lack of ethics of people like you. posted by susan mullen at 8/29/2006 02:27:00 PM

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In spite of palliative tossed to fans about "set to offer $40 million to Posada..."--no word

"Almost a year of talking with the Yankees hasn't resulted in Jorge Posada signing an extension and with the recent changes in the club's universe it's not likely the All-Star catcher will ink a pact soon.

• “We have been negotiating with the Yankees in earnest for 10 months and there are issues to be addressed,'' agent Seth Levinson said yesterday.
• “And no offer has been made.""

From NY Post article by George King, "Posada Camp Waits on Offer," 10/24/07

• Big headlines might've caused people to think offers had been made or were about to be. Fooled again. Nothing from the Yankees to Posada to date--this doesn't quite make the headlines. Then you have Mo--I'm not sure Hank knows who he is. Except he knows Joba won't be setting up for him. (sm)

UPDATE: 10/27 from the Star Ledger of Newark, "The Yankees feel they are making progress with Rivera but fear Posada may want to test the market." From article, "Yanks announcement on hold over Weekend," by Ed Price. Trivia: Ed Price is a world famous celebrity. Of the 2 so-called "New York voters" for AL MVP in 2006, Ed secured his place in history by not voting Derek Jeter #1.

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