Wrote this way back when on Thanksgiving in 2006 (do you remember 2006?! It seems like a different life at this stage). Interesting to re-visit it in the light of Justin Verlander taking the MVP trophy for the pitchers fraternity.
hy·poc·ri·sy
1. The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
Oh, how they wept! The New York Post and it's baseball columnists have had an interesting week. The slant of their articles has gone from 'Jeter deserves the MVP' to 'Uh oh, maybe he's not going to win it' all the way to 'How dare the writers choose someone other than Derek!!'
The first hint that something was amiss in the City that never sleeps was from this article by the NY Posts George King, where he came out with this paranoid-aggressive paragraph;
One area that shouldn't be ignored is anti-Yankee and anti-New York bias. If you don't think they exist, look no further than the NL Manager of the Year Award, won by former Florida manager Joe Girardi over Mets manager Willie Randolph.
Where does one even start with that infantile little outburst. Is he for real? An anti New York bias? To belittle the job that Joe Girardi did with a Marlins team that some thought might win maybe 50 games in '06 as nothing but 'anti New York bias' is absolutely asinine.
Here's the thing, it all comes back neatly to George King himself.
In 1999 Pedro Martinez put up one of the all time great season by a pitcher. He went an astounding 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts, incredible numbers. He blew the NL away in his sensational All Star game start and walked into Yankee Stadium on September 10th and struck out 17 Yankees leading the Red Sox to a 3-1 win. It was, arguably, the greatest single season by a pitcher, certainly in living memory.
Pedro Martinez
That seasons MVP vote was controversial, as Martínez received the most first-place votes (8 of 28), but was totally omitted from the ballot of two sportswriters who believed pitchers were not sufficiently all-around players to be considered. Pedro Martínez finished second to Texas Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, 252 points to 239. Rodríguez had been included on all 28 ballots.
The men in question were LaVelles Neal of the Minneapolis's Star-Tribune and George King of the New York Post.
They both argued, King more vehemently, that pitchers should not be eligible for the award. According to wikipedia though,
''On occasion, though, pitchers still win the award, and the current rules for the MVP specifically state that pitchers are to be considered. Since 1971, however, only four pitchers have won the award, the last being Dennis Eckersley in 1992.''
King and LaVellespan's slight caused outrage amongst the baseball community, and not just Boston's passionate fans. "It really made (writers) all look very dumb," said Buster Olney, who covers the Yankees for the New York Times. "people were operating under different rules. The question of eligibility is a very basic thing. People were determining eligibility for themselves."
The real shocker is, George King has previously voted for Mariano Rivera on multiple occasions, in previous years. If you look Mariano up online it would appear the young man is a pitcher.
How dare George King complain about how other voters cast their votes. Who does he think he is to cast doubt on the decisions of other baseball writers when given the chance, he showed to be a royal hypocrite by ruining Pedro Martinez's MVP chase by not having him on the ballot at all whilst previously voting for other pitchers.
In McCarthy like fashion King has now arrogantly come out and 'outed' various writers for not having Jeter higher on their own ballot, ridiculing them and even going as far as to say ''This isn't the first time Cowley has been in the eye of an MVP controversy.''
Well George, you certainly know a thing about controversy. Now you also know a thing or two about Karma.
Instead of casting doubt on other journalists, how about you explain to us all your exclusion of Pedro in '99 saying it was because he was a pitcher while you had no problem voting for Mariano. Anti NY bias indeed!
If you feel like asking George why he is wobbling around slating other journalists MVP votes when he practically invented the term 'MVP controversy' then send him an e-mail!
I am delighted Justin Morneau won the MVP award, the young lad clearly deserved at least a shot at it after posting a sparkling season.
People like George King have agendas and bitterness lurking behind their reasoning. His leaving Pedro off the ballot in '99 was an ugly, clearly hypocritical gesture by an arrogant man. Thankfully he did nothing to diminish the memory of Petey's spectacular season. I sincerely hope The diminutive Dominicans dandy performance in walking into Yankee stadium and embarrassing the Yankees on sept 10th 1999 sticks in King's throat like an off slice of week old turkey for the rest of his life.
Happy Thanksgiving and congratulations Justin Morneau.
hy·poc·ri·sy, I dub thee George King
hy·poc·ri·sy
1. The practice of professing beliefs, feelings, or virtues that one does not hold or possess; falseness.
Oh, how they wept! The New York Post and it's baseball columnists have had an interesting week. The slant of their articles has gone from 'Jeter deserves the MVP' to 'Uh oh, maybe he's not going to win it' all the way to 'How dare the writers choose someone other than Derek!!'
The first hint that something was amiss in the City that never sleeps was from this article by the NY Posts George King, where he came out with this paranoid-aggressive paragraph;
One area that shouldn't be ignored is anti-Yankee and anti-New York bias. If you don't think they exist, look no further than the NL Manager of the Year Award, won by former Florida manager Joe Girardi over Mets manager Willie Randolph.
Where does one even start with that infantile little outburst. Is he for real? An anti New York bias? To belittle the job that Joe Girardi did with a Marlins team that some thought might win maybe 50 games in '06 as nothing but 'anti New York bias' is absolutely asinine.
Here's the thing, it all comes back neatly to George King himself.
In 1999 Pedro Martinez put up one of the all time great season by a pitcher. He went an astounding 23-4 with a 2.07 ERA and 313 strikeouts, incredible numbers. He blew the NL away in his sensational All Star game start and walked into Yankee Stadium on September 10th and struck out 17 Yankees leading the Red Sox to a 3-1 win. It was, arguably, the greatest single season by a pitcher, certainly in living memory.
Pedro MartinezThe men in question were LaVelles Neal of the Minneapolis's Star-Tribune and George King of the New York Post.
They both argued, King more vehemently, that pitchers should not be eligible for the award. According to wikipedia though,
''On occasion, though, pitchers still win the award, and the current rules for the MVP specifically state that pitchers are to be considered. Since 1971, however, only four pitchers have won the award, the last being Dennis Eckersley in 1992.''
King and LaVellespan's slight caused outrage amongst the baseball community, and not just Boston's passionate fans. "It really made (writers) all look very dumb," said Buster Olney, who covers the Yankees for the New York Times. "people were operating under different rules. The question of eligibility is a very basic thing. People were determining eligibility for themselves."
The real shocker is, George King has previously voted for Mariano Rivera on multiple occasions, in previous years. If you look Mariano up online it would appear the young man is a pitcher.
How dare George King complain about how other voters cast their votes. Who does he think he is to cast doubt on the decisions of other baseball writers when given the chance, he showed to be a royal hypocrite by ruining Pedro Martinez's MVP chase by not having him on the ballot at all whilst previously voting for other pitchers.
In McCarthy like fashion King has now arrogantly come out and 'outed' various writers for not having Jeter higher on their own ballot, ridiculing them and even going as far as to say ''This isn't the first time Cowley has been in the eye of an MVP controversy.''
Well George, you certainly know a thing about controversy. Now you also know a thing or two about Karma.
Instead of casting doubt on other journalists, how about you explain to us all your exclusion of Pedro in '99 saying it was because he was a pitcher while you had no problem voting for Mariano. Anti NY bias indeed!
If you feel like asking George why he is wobbling around slating other journalists MVP votes when he practically invented the term 'MVP controversy' then send him an e-mail!
I am delighted Justin Morneau won the MVP award, the young lad clearly deserved at least a shot at it after posting a sparkling season.
People like George King have agendas and bitterness lurking behind their reasoning. His leaving Pedro off the ballot in '99 was an ugly, clearly hypocritical gesture by an arrogant man. Thankfully he did nothing to diminish the memory of Petey's spectacular season. I sincerely hope The diminutive Dominicans dandy performance in walking into Yankee stadium and embarrassing the Yankees on sept 10th 1999 sticks in King's throat like an off slice of week old turkey for the rest of his life.
Happy Thanksgiving and congratulations Justin Morneau.
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