1970 Awards Voting

[philkid3]

Well, as Henderson was on my MVP ballot and Otis was close, I know my one and two.

[Windy City Fan]

Add Thurmon Munson and Steve Kline to the list of contributing rookies. Dave LaRoche too, but a mid reliever, even one with a 2.25 ERA, isn't gonna cut it this year.

[jaybird_1981]

MVP

1. Jim Hickman - I just think he had a monster year.
2. Hank Aaron - Call it a homer vote if you like but he did lead the league in RBIs.
3. Johnny Bench - An unbelievable year from a catcher.
4. Rico Carty - He got on base, drove in runs, in short did everything for a playoff team
5. Willie Stargell - I don't understand why he isn't on any ballots I think he had an outstanding season.
6. Bob Bailey - Another Joe who killed the ball this year.
7. Bernie Carbo - I guess this tips my hand in the rookie of the year voting
8. Cesar Tovar - I like Lew's case for including Tovar on my ballot
9. Ray Culp - I think he had a great year just not as much as some.
10. Harmon Killebrew - I am a sucker for a big slugger so he had to go here.

Cy Young

1. Ray Culp - Hard not to vote for him here.
2. Fergie Jenkins - I think he was clearly better than McDowell this year and am kind of surprised McDowell was ahead on so many ballots.
3. Sam McDowell - Clearly the top 3 this year with my apologies to Gaylord Perry and Tom Seaver.

ROY

1. Bernie Carbo - Having both him and Otis on my team it was a tough call but Carbo was pretty special this year.
2. Amos Otis - He lead the league in runs scored and hits. And set franchise records in runs scored and just missed on the doubles record by one.
3. Cito Gaston - Now I know I may catch some flak for this selection but I compared him and Hendersons' numbers and I think Gaston had a better year.

[catcher24]

Well, as Henderson was on my MVP ballot and Otis was close, I know my one and two.

Danny Coombs was third on my ballot until I edited it to put Henderson on. He had a great season for the Skipjacks: 14-6, 3.17 ERA, 224.1 IP. He and Carbo would probably have won the award in several years but are only also rans this year.

[catcher24]

And I actually did have Stargell on my ballot until I edited it to add Henderson as well. For some reason Henderson just wasn't on my radar until Mark's ballot pointed him out. Stargell did have a great season but even with it his team was out of the race mid-season, while I think everyone else I voted for was on a playoff or contending team. And that's my definition of an MVP - has a season that helps his team get into or at least contend for the post season. Hence Hickman first; without him I'm not sure Joe is in the race until the final four days. I had a hard time not putting Bailey on my ballot too, but there were so many who had truly great seasons for contenders.

[Erik Bedard]

Don't forget that the Gold Sox were the second to last team to be eliminated.

Here's my case for Henderson (vs. Gaston, Otis, and Carbo):

BA:

Carbo .338
Henderson .326
Gaston .326
Otis .297

Despite Otis leading the league in hits, he is 29 BA points below Henderson and Gaston, and 41 below Carbo. For a guy whose only real skill is getting hits, that's not good.

OBP:

Carbo .453
Henderson .414
Gaston .367
Otis .349

Not looking good for Otis here. Last of the four in BA, and last in OBP as well. Let's hope he can pull it out with a good SLG.

SLG:

Carbo .552
Gaston .545
Henderson .490
Otis .445

OPS:

Carbo 1.006
Gaston .913
Henderson .904
Otis .790

Not seeing a lot of reason to include Otis in this discussion any more.

HR:

Gaston 32
Henderson 22
Carbo 19
Otis 11

Yes, that's right, Henderson had more homers than Carbo.

SB:

Otis 32
Henderson 20
Gaston 8
Carbo 7

So now you're probably thinking "Okay, I can see Henderson over Otis, but Gaston and/or Carbo owned him in basically every other stat! Why should I vote for Henderson?"

PA:

Henderson 733
Gaston 629
Carbo 535

This really says it all. Carbo didn't even make 600 PAs. The 200 PA difference means that there were 40-50 games where Carbo was contributing nothing to the Iron, and Henderson was out there playing and winning games for the Gold Sox. Henderson's stats aren't far enough below Carbo's that I can ignore 45ish full games at Henderson level vs. zero at Carbo's. Gaston is closer, but Henderson actually has the better stats IMO (Henderson's OBP heavy .904 is more valuable than Gaston's .913 with a 50-point lower OBP), and again, Henderson's 100+ PA edge makes it no contest for me. Henderson has to be the slam dunk ROY.

If you don't want to believe my analysis of how much Henderson's PT edge means...

RC:

Henderson 132.6
Carbo 115.7
Gaston 114.0

[Erik Bedard]

I decided to tally up the votes to this point (6 ballots), and here's what I got:

ROY:

Ken Henderson (15)
Bernie Carbo (8)
Amos Otis (6)
---------------
Cito Gaston (4)
Dave Roberts (1)

CYA

Ray Culp (18)
Ferguson Jenkins (9)
Sam McDowell (8)
-----------------
Bob Gibson (1)

MVP:

Johnny Bench (49)
Jim Hickman (46)
Ray Culp (39)
Hank Aaron (36)
Rico Carty (32)
Tommy Harper (22)
Ken Henderson (20)
Cesar Tovar (19)
Carl Yastrzemski (18)
Bobby Bonds (12)
Willie McCovey (12)
--------------------
Willie Mays (7)
Bernie Carbo (6)
Ferguson Jenkins (6)
Sam McDowell (2)

[catcher24]

A little surprised, but not overly so, to see Bench at the top. His season is probably the best ever by a CKL catcher, surpassing the season Bill Freehan had in 1968 when he just missed winning the MVP award. Let's hope no one puts Bench as low as 8th and 9th, which is what happened to Freehan and cost him the award. Freehan's OPS was actually a bit higher than Bench's, as his OBP was quite a bit higher but his slugging was less. Bench could be the first player not an outfielder or first baseman to win the award - or did Killebrew play mostly third base last year?

[jaybird_1981]

I think you left a couple things out about Otis. He batted leadoff and led the league in runs by a pretty good margin. He also played Gold Glove caliber defense in center field. And he was very efficient running the bases. The stat that really stands out to me is 71 RBIs from the leadoff spot, he got the hits when my team needed him. So just by looking at numbers maybe not but digging deeper I think he has a good case

[Erik Bedard]

Henderson led off for the Gold Sox as well. The bottom of the Gold Sox lineup was probably the weakest in the league. Don Wert, Mark Belanger, Bill Mazeroski? Not exactly striking fear in the hears of pitchers. And Henderson still drove in 80 runs. He also played the same position as Otis, and while Otis may have had a bit more range, Henderson had the better throwing arm, evidenced by his 12 assists to Otis <9 (I can't seem to generate individual fielding reports on the website, so I'm going by the leaderboards). Otis had a great season, and probably would win in a different year, but IMO there's no doubt that Henderson was superior.

[jkc32]

Shoeless Ballot

Shoeless Ballot

MVP
1. Jim Hickman
2. Rico Carty
3. Hank Aaron
4. Johnny Bench
5. Bob Bailey
6. Tommy Harper
7. Cesar Tovar
8. Ken Henderson
9. Ray Culp
10. Willie McCovey

Cy Young
1. Ray Culp
2. Fergie Jenkins
3. Bob Gibson

ROY
1. Ken Henderson
2. Bernie Carbo
3. Cito Gaston

[leecemark]

----Voting close in just under 24 hours if you want to cast a ballot.

[J W]

MVP
1) Ray Culp
2) Johnny Bench
3) Jim Hickman
4) Hank Aaron
5) Tommy Harper
6) Cesar Tovar
7) Carl Yastrzemski
8) Bobby Bonds
9) Roberto Clemente
10) Rico Carty

CYA
1) Ray Culp
2) Sam McDowell
3) Fergie Jenkins

ROY
1) Ken Henderson
2) Amos Otis
3) Bernie Carbo

[Windy City Fan]

Cy Young
Culp
McDowell
Gibson

ROY
Henderson
Carbo
Gatson

MVP
Bench
Culp
Aaron
Hickman
Clemente
Carty
Henderson
Bonds
Howard
Stargell

[mac195]

I'll have a ballot in if you can wait a couple minutes...