By Tom Jordan
It's early, far too early, to begin casting votes for this fall's election, but I've already chosen which candidate I'll support.
No, I'm not talking about the Presidential election in November, but the National League's Most Valuable Player race, from which the votes will be tabulated in October.
There really is no clear-cut favorite when trying to decide among Todd Helton of the Colorado Rockies, Gary Sheffield of the Los Angeles Dodgers, Jeff Kent of the San Franciso Giants and Mike Piazza of the Mets. Incumbent MVP Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves, Barry Bonds, also of the Giants, and the St. Louis Cardinals' Jim Edmonds are long shots. Running as independents are the likes of Sammy Sosa of the Cubs and Jeff Bagwell of the Houston Astros.
After weighing all the facts and brushing up on all the issues, it boils down not to who is in the running, but who runs at all.
Each candidate has his virtues, but I like Mike.
As September approaches, the most impressive numbers are being posted by Helton, who has a realistic shot at batting .400 for the season. He's hitting .394 as of this writing, to go along with 32 homeruns, 116 runs batted in, a .486 on-base percentage and a .721 slugging percentage. In other words, Ted Williams numbers. But Helton's team is below .500, and fading fast. When Teddy Ballgame hit .406 in 1941, the last player to do so, he didn't win the MVP award. Helton won't either.
Sheffield is also having a monster season, and his team sits atop the standings in the Western Division, but he's leading the Dodgers nowhere. Jeff Kent is having a special campaign, and his team sits atop the standings in the Western Division. He deserves consideration, but he's not The Man.
With five weeks left in the regular season, Sosa may hit another 20 homers (allowing him to finish with more than 60 again) but the Cubs may not win another five games in that span.
Piazza should win because he runs the bases so hard, even on the rare occasion when he doesn't hit the ball that way.
In an age in which so many players amble nonchalantly down to first base when they fail to hit the ball into the stratosphere, Piazza is an anomoly. He digs down the line, every time. With the numbers he's put up (.347, 33 HR, 101 RBI), with the beatings he endures behind the plate as a catcher and with his matinee idol status, you'd almost expect him to feel entitled to take the odd play off, as so many others do. But he does not. This makes him a gamer.
Recently, Ken Griffey, Jr., the Cincinnati Reds' hometown hero and a tremendously talented player, was chastized by his own team's television broadcasters for repeatedly loafing down to first on ground balls. When was the last time anyone could accuse Piazza of loafing?
Joe DiMaggio, the reason Williams was denied the MVP award in '41, was asked late in his career why he played so hard every day. Joe D. said it was because there might be some youngster in the crowd watching him play for the first time. When Joltin' Joe could push his aching body no longer, he walked away from the game. He did it, he said, because he couldn't be Joe DiMaggio anymore.
