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From: borodkin@uiucdcsb.Uiuc.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: pitchers as MVP's
Message-ID: <15800017@uiucdcsb>
Date: Sun, 15-Sep-85 23:15:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcsb.15800017
Posted: Sun Sep 15 23:15:00 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 17-Sep-85 05:42:19 EDT
Lines: 20
Nf-ID: #N:uiucdcsb:15800017:000:919
Nf-From: uiucdcsb.Uiuc.ARPA!borodkin    Sep 15 22:15:00 1985


   One good thing about letting pitchers win the MVP award is that
future generations can see what the conventional wisdom of the time
thought to be important.  Specifically, the MVP's of the fifties
and sixties were mostly good hitters playing an important defensive
position (i.e. shortstop, catcher, second base, center field).  Then
in the seventies the big RBI men dominated (epitome was Don Baylor).
Now we have relief pitchers being touted and winning MVP.  Thus we
can see how "clutch hitting" dominated seventies' baseball wisdom,
as relief pitching does today.

   Personally I think that in general, position players ARE more
valuable than pitchers of all sorts.  I also think that today's
emphasis on relief aces will be seen to have been overdone.

					Stephen L. Borodkin

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