The MVP was Red Sox pitcher Roger Clemens. Among the position
players, Don Mattingly had his best year, compiling 388 total
bases. He was runner-up in the MVP vote; Mattingly was one of the most feared hitters in the league, and this was his best season.
When Don Mattingly was drafted in 1979, about 500
players had been taken ahead of him. This proved to be a major oversight, and the baseball world knew it after Mattingly won a batting title in 1984 at age 23. He was the MVP in 1985, and this year was even better.
Mattingly was an extra-base-hit machine, and for several years was the
biggest star on baseball's most famous team. For years, Yankee fans had had to endure the shenanigans of the Steinbrenner-Jackson years; it is no surprise that New Yorkers quickly embraced young Mattingly, a no-nonsense character who proved to be solid and dependable at first base. The Yankees of the 1980's were never champions, but their Team Captain was a superstar and one of the most popular players ever to put on pinstripes.
He followed up with three
more outstanding seasons, and established himself to be the best first-sacker
the Yankees had had since Lou Gehrig. His famous coiled swing from the left side generated surprising power, and during the 1987 season Mattingly tied a record by homering in eight straight games. Though he did most of his talking with his bat, Mattingly was also a graceful fielder who won nine Gold Glove awards.
He wasn't a great player for very long, though. At age 29, Mattingly stopped hitting. Severe back problems robbed him of
his power, and in 1990 he hit only five home runs. He came back a little bit,
hanging on for a few more years as an average first baseman, before retiring in 1995.
Mattingly finished with 2153 hits and 222 lifetime homers, good numbers but
disappointing considering how great he was in his prime. Nevertheless, Mattingly remains one of the most popular and enduring New York icons of the 1980's.
The previous year, Kirby Puckett had 691 at bats and
hit four home runs. Apparently, he learned to upper-cut a little, because his
home run production shot up dramatically. Puckett was on his way to becoming
one of the most popular and dynamic players in the game, and he would lead
the Twins to the World Series in 1987 and 1991.
But like Mattingly, Puckett's career was curtailed by injury. Kirby seemed like a sure bet to
get 3000 hits until his career was suddenly ended by a freak occurence
of glaucoma in his eye. Kirby retired with 2304 lifetime hits, compiled
in only twelve years of play, and was elected to the Hall Of Fame.
Jesse Barfield had his best year for the Blue Jays. He was
great at the plate, and defensively was in a class of his own. You
often hear that outfielders with good throwing arms don't get a lot of assists,
because runners won't take chances on them. Well,
Barfield threw out a lot of runners. Every year. He threw out 20
this year, one of three seasons he had that many. He had three other
seasons in which he threw out 15 or more. Barfield's rate of throwing out
runners was the highest of any player since before WWII.
The MVP debate this year focused on two issues: whether a pitcher (Clemens) is more valuable than an everyday player; and which slugger, Mattingly or Jim Rice, was more valuable to his team. Clemens won the award; Mattingly took five first-place votes, while Rice took four. Rice, a power hitter, wasn't among the leaders in either total bases or slugging; his supporters conceded that Mattingly had superior numbers, but argued that Rice was the true MVP. He had been the Red Sox' biggest star since his MVP season in 1978, and was having a comeback season after a pair of disappointing years. His overall numbers were good, if not great; but he hit .342 with runners in scoring position, and hit seven of his home runs in September.
I believe that the voters were misguided this season. I have already awarded Clemens with the immensely prestigious Mathewson Award, and will not consider him here. Mattingly had a wonderful season, and certainly has a compelling MVP argument. But I think that the MVP did wear a Red Sox uniform this season - not Clemens, not Rice, but their third baseman, Wade Boggs. For Boggs this season, it was another batting title and a whole bunch of doubles and walks a league-leading on-base percentage. Boggs was also a much better
defensive player than Rice, who was a year away from being moved to the DH role.
Rice had the reputation as a clutch performer, but Boggs wasn't too bad, either; he hit .353 with runners in scoring position, and had a .404 average in September. Boggs always thrived in Fenway Park, but this season had one of his most balanced years, batting .357 at home and .356 on the road. Boggs finished seventh in MVP voting — he simply didn't receive the respect that the big RBI guys had. But he had a magnificent season and his team won the pennant; he receives this year's Stargell Award, while Mattingly is a very close second.
Frank White grew up in Kansas City, not far from the future home of Royals Stadium. He went undrafted in 1970; scouts acknowledged that he could run and throw, but said that he would never hit. Later that year, the Royals opened their Baseball Academy, which focused on recruiting and teaching great athletes to play baseball. White was a member of the Academy's first class of students.
In 1973, he became the first Academy graduate to reach the major leagues. He was a fine defender, but doubts remained about his hitting; in first two seasons, he hit .223 and .221, plus he had no power, very little plate discipline, and was not a good base stealer. On the strength of his defence, he gradually took playing away from popular veteran Cookie Rojas, and in 1976 became the Royals' regular second baseman.
In 1977, he won his first of six consecutive Gold Gloves. His range in the field was exceptional, and allowed him to make plays on the hard, fast artificial turf at Royals Stadium. He also began to contribute with the bat, stealing 23 bases in 1977, then batting .275 the next season. In 1979, he hit 10 home runs, despite breaking his hand and missing six weeks.
The Royals had developed a nucleus of young players in the early 70's that included White, George Brett, Amos Otis and Hal McRae. They won three straight division titles, but lost in the ALCS in three straight years to the Yankees. In 1980, they won another division title, and this time defeated the Yanks. White hit .545 and made several spectacular plays in the series, and was named the ALCS MVP.
But he struggled in the World Series, getting only two hits in 25 at bats, as the Royals lost to the Phillies. The next three seasons were difficult times in Kansas City; several key players were suspended for drug use, while the team fell apart and had a losing season in 1983. White remained a solid performer who could be counted on to be in the starting lineup; he hit .298 in 1982, and in 1984 muscled up and hit 22 home runs.
"When we won the pennant in 1980, I thought there would be plenty more... to see this, well it's hard to express what it means. No one expected us to do it. I guess that makes it even sweeter."
White, like his team, had a slow start to the 1985 season; and like his team, he heated up during the summer, and at one point hit four home runs in six games. They came back and won the division; in the ALCS, they lost three of their first four games against the Blue Jays, then won three in a row.
"...I never dared to dream that I would be batting fourth in a World Series or that I'd hit a homer in the Series."
In the World Series against the Cardinals, the Royals again lost three of their first four games. White, who had hit low in the order for much of his career, was now the Royals' cleanup hitter; his home run helped the Royals win Game Three. In Game Seven, he contributed a walk and a single to the Royals' 11-0 thumping of the Cards, giving Kansas City its first World Championship.
This year, the Royals followed up their championship with a losing season. But for White, the season was a personal triumph at age 35. He had 22 home runs and 84 RBI, both career highs, and won his seventh Gold Glove Award. He won an eighth Gold Glove in 1987.
"It's a strange feeling.... everywhere I go now, people just want to talk about my home runs. It's like: 'Defence, what's that?' Where did all this respect come from?"
White earned his reputation as a quiet, classy player who remained a solid citizen in a Royals clubhouse that was shaken by the drug scandals of the early 80's, and the turbulent Bo Jackson years later in the decade. He was also admired for his ability to constantly improve himself as a hitter for most of his career. But his greatest source of pride was his defence; it was what he did better than almost everybody else.
Starting in 1983, Lou Whitaker won three straight Gold Gloves at second base; White removed from his neck a gold chain with the word "Smooth" written on it. This season, the chain went back around his neck. He was sometimes angry with official scorers, who charged him with errors on what he felt were extraordinarily difficult plays that other second basemen would not attempt. Recognition for being the best defensive second baseman in the game was something he craved, but in his mind did not receive enough of.
White ended up playing 18 seasons, all of them with the Royals; he was a lifetime .255 hitter, but had over 2000 hits, and hit 170 home runs, most of the them in the second half of his career.
