The thrill of power

It is said that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. That sentiment has been proven historically accurate by many dictators, politicians and executives. It also rings true in the case of sportswriters voting for national awards.

In baseball, many national awards, such as American League and National League MVP, are voted on by sportswriters. Placement in the top 10 of the voting for many awards is used in contract negotiations and the basis for monetary incentives to be written into players’ contracts. So, clearly, they are not just popularity contests that should be taken lightly – they can have a monetary effect on a player and his career.

I see problems with this system. Many sportswriters, at least a lot of the ones I have encountered, are sports fans. They have favorite teams and favorite players just like the general public. This can lead to bias in the voting. In addition, beat writers can be so focused on the team they are covering that they do not have an adequate general knowledge of the league’s other players. Yes, they man know who is leading the league in certain statistics, and they may have seen each player play a couple of games in a season, but that should not be the basis for such important awards.

Beat writers, at least one who is satisfied with their jobs, tend to have a bias toward the team that they cover. This can also lead to skewed voting. They may see a player on that team play 162 games and believe that they truly are the best player in the league or the best player at their position, leading them to cast their vote for that player. Alternatively, they may just like a player on their team better than a player on another team who actually deserves a vote.

Chicago Sun-Times White Sox beat writer Joe Cowley cast an interesting MVP ballot this past season. In one of the closest MVP races in years, Justin Morneau of the Minnesota Twins edged Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees. Cowley placed Jeter fifth on his ballot, the lowest of any voter, and included White Sox catcher A.J. Pierzynski in his top ten. Did he do it because he is good friends with A.J. and they like to joke around – probably. Many similar voting mishaps have occurred, but the system has not been altered.

There are probably many solutions to this problem, but I have two that I believe would work well. First, you could have only national baseball writers vote for the awards. This way they would not have an allegiance to just one team. Also, because of the extensive travel they do, they get a chance to see different teams play several games over the course of the season. While this would make for an extremely small voting pool, the voters would be very educated. Alternatively, the managers and/or players could vote for the awards. Some say that this could turn into a popularity contest, but the same argument could be made against the current system. The players have seen each other in action and are probably the most qualified to judge skill. It is one of the jobs of a manager to know what players out there are the best – so this would just be using their knowledge for a good cause.