If you’re stumped on the question of whether a recruit should be eligible to win the MVP award…on the other hand I get it. Those are the best games, after all, contentious issues with no clear hope of resolution. Maybe you believe a man should have a glove to win MVP. Maybe I don’t. We can have hours of intense discussion and there is no clear right answer.
The best sports arguments are always the same. Who was better: ’27 Yankees, ’61 Yankees or ’98 Yankees? Who was the better running back, Jim Brown or Walter Payton? And, of course, which has been very popular in recent years: who is PALI, Michael Jordan or LeBron James? (Though lately I’m sympathetic to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in this regard.)
Should Shohei Ohtani be the MVP?
Assuming Francisco Lindor was the top pick, this week’s selection was successful because of his recent underperformance, so it’s hard to believe Ohtani. it won’t win the MVP. But that argument is actually a bit beside the point, and it hides a surprising truth about what Ohtani has done this year:
In a sport that has been active since 1869, he has not only done the extraordinary – to perform a power-speed combo faster than anyone before him – he has done something almost impossible. : You set a very high level, in real time. He indeed compose a new group, the 50-50 Group. According to baseball-reference.com, there have been 23,359 players who have played in Major League Baseball.
Only 47 hitters to hit 30 homers and steal 30 bases in the same season – The 30-30 Team. Ken Williams was the first to do this, in 1922. He was alone in this group for about 34 years until Willie Mays joined him in 1956.
Only six of the 40-40 Club. Jose Canseco was the first, in 1988, and when he did he was seen as a kind of unicorn, and he was alone for eight years until Barry Bonds joined him in 1996. joined four others.
Ohtani has now made the 50-50 Team, and he’s done it with nine no-saves in his season. As of Saturday he had 52 of each.
And I’m glad to be wrong about this, but I’m not sure there’s another player who can come close to this alive. Maybe — just maybe — Ronald Acuna Jr. he might, since he was the last member of the 40-40 Club before Ohtani, but when he returns next year, he’ll be playing on two surgically repaired knees. Will he ever be able to run as abandoned as before? It’s a good start, but it’s not easy.
And who knows how deep in the 50-50 Club Ohtani can go.
In any case, it will be a number that will seem confusing to approach. One mark that comes to mind is Wayne Gretzky’s records for both points in a season and points in a career. Gretzky has the first four points on the single-season hit list, peaking at 215 in 1985-86. In the 38 years since then, the closest person is Mario Lemieux in 1988-89, and he fell short by 15 points. Connor McDavid this year had more points than an unnamed player Gretzky, Lemieux or Yzerman, and entered with 152 – 63 points behind!
As for the career, it doesn’t get any closer: 2,857, or 936 more than Jaromir Jagr.
We have been wrong about these things before. When Bob Beamon broke the record for the long jump at the ’68 Olympics, he did it by jumping 21.65 inches, the longest jump ever made by anyone, an incredible mark. but Mike Powell finally surpassed it 23 years later. When Babe Ruth hit the 139th game of his career on July 18, 1921, he passed Roger Conor for the all-time leader, and went on to hit another 575 of them. It took Hank Aaron 39 years to catch him (and when you think about it, it’s amazing that Ruth is still third despite not having hit a home run since in 1935).
So, of course, we’ll probably see a second 50-50 guy one of these years. Ohtani probably won’t be locked in a 50-50 solo forever. But I, honestly, can’t help myself.
Vac fish
This new GM of basketball St. Bonaventure, he’ll be ready to make the Bonnies Gonzaga of the East or else he’ll hear about it in the pages of the New York Post.
Running has always been a passion for Terry Collins. On September 29, the former Mets manager will run in his first race, the 22nd annual Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers 5K run through the Battery Tunnel. “T to T does such a great job for first responders and Gold Star families,” says the captain. I am truly honored to be a part of this important event.”
Just for kicks, maybe the Giants can steal one from Cleveland on Sunday, because if you haven’t noticed, neither the ’72 Dolphins nor the ’85 Bears are playing in the NFC East this year.
Earl Monroe, surrounded by his Hall of Fame teammate and friend Walt “Clyde” Frazier, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau and All-Star Julius Randle, will begin Pearl’s new 69,000-square-foot, five-story high school in the South Bronx on Wednesday morning. More than 400 students, faculty and a flood of other Knicks will lend their hands to spread Pearl’s wisdom: “A ball and a book can change the world.”
Whack Back to Vac
Joel Tanenbaum: If Tyler Conklin keeps this up, he’ll be dating Taylor Swift on Halloween.
Vac: And I can’t think of a better way to honor Rich Caster, who passed away last February, than for the Jets to get their goals back in the offensive fold.
Stewart Summers: Hi Mike, Francisco Lindor bought Jeff McNeil’s Ford Bronco Sport to win the batting title. What should soon be the bazillionaire free agent Juan Soto to buy Aaron Judge, who benefited from hitting before this season? Rolls Royce, Bugatti? Both, maybe?
Vac: I think Rolls is a good No. 1 player. 2 to the one that beat the Bugatti behind it. I vote for both.
@frankboesch: This week was the 51st anniversary of the “ball off the wall”…remind me, was Richie Zisk the wind runner for the second time starting in the top 13?
@MikeVacc: Now, I like the air runner, but a few more tweets like this and I think I might change my mind.
Neil Ptashnik: As a Mets and Jets fan, I can’t remember the best season. The Mets are playing important games in late September and the Jets are still in it in late September.
Vac: I’m not sure you’ll see a better WhackBack than that right there.
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