I’m Still Upset About the 2002 American League MVP Award

I’ve tweeted about this travesty numerous times, but it deserves the full long form blog treatment. Nothing gets me more heated than the sheer robbery Alex Rodriguez experienced at the end of the 2002 season. Rodriguez finished second in the MVP voting behind Oakland A’s shortstop Miguel Tejada despite simply putting up much better numbers. We can debate the definition of the words “Most Valuable” all day long but to me this one is a plain and simple thievery.

Here’s a quick snapshot of their numbers. Rodriguez was with Texas at this time so both players played shortstop.

Tejada: 162 G, 204 H, 108 R, 34 HR, 131 RBI, .308/.354/.508 (AVG/OBP/SLG), .861 OPS, 5.7 WAR

Rodriguez: 162 G, 187 H, 125 R, 57 HR, 142 RBI, .300/.392/.623, 1.015 OPS, 8.8 WAR, GOLD GLOVE

Tejada collected 21 first place votes compared to Rodriguez’s 5 and Alfonso Soriano of the Yankees actually collected more second place votes than A-Rod although he finished ahead of the ‘Fonz based on the points system. It would be remiss of me to not mention that Tejada’s A’s won over 100 games while A-Rod’s Rangers won only 72, but I mean what more can one man do? The Rangers best starting pitcher in 2002 was 37-year old Kenny Rogers (not the country singer) who gave up more than a hit an inning. A-Rod was basically Superman that year but he couldn’t fix an entire pitching staff.

Even now just typing those numbers out it is almost unbelievable the decision that was made. As we can see Rodriguez clearly outplayed Tejada on offense, and although the Gold Glove voting system has its flaws a group of people agreed A-Rod was the better defender that year too. So how the hell did Tejada take home the hardware? Moneyball. Freakin’ moneyball.

The fairytale narrative of the 2002 Oakland Athletics existed long before the book or movie were released. 2002 was the year Billy Beane reinvented the wheel and his rag tag crew of undervalued stars rolled to an AL West title and a 103–59 record. This included an improbable 20 game win streak spanning late August and early September which at the time was the longest in American League history and propelled them into a playoff position. I mean no disrespect to Beane and what he did because it’s certainly a great sports story, and apparently a good enough story to crown an undeserving MVP.

I have tweeted numerous times about the gross misrepresentation of the 2002 Oakland Athletics in the film “Moneyball.” While one of my favorite movies, it neglects to even mention Tejada, who won MVP, or Barry Zito, who won the Cy Young Award. Why? Well if it was shown that Oakland had all-star caliber players that year it would not fit their underdog agenda that Billy Beane built his roster from absolutely nothing. Oakland also had Eric Chavez who socked 34 dingers and knocked in over 100, as well as Mark Mulder and Tim Hudson on the mound to go with Zito creating an OG Big Three (sorry Lebron).

I hold no ill will to Miguel Tejada. It’s not his fault that the writers are idiots. But if he denounced his MVP I would not be upset. In fact, Tejada even said he was surprised to win the award in a NY Times article in 2002.

“Yeah, I got surprised because he had a monster year,’’ Tejada said in a conference call from Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. ‘’I’ve been thinking the whole way that he was going to win the M.V.P. I was surprised today when they made the announcement.’’

The article goes on to say Rodriguez was undeserving because his team did not play any meaningful games down the stretch which is just an unbelievably stupid thing to say. If they wanted to give MVP to a player from a winning team I’d argue there were still other more deserving candidates than Tejada.

Hopefully by now I’ve made my point. The more research I do, the angrier I get. Tejada finished NINTH in the AL in WAR that year. NINTH. And while WAR it is not the be all and end all statistic and was not particularly popular in the early 2000’s, you’d think writers who’s jobs it was to watch baseball could deduce who the Most Valuable Player was.

I will not rest until the MLB takes action on this national tragedy. The right thing must be done and restitution need to be made.