1901 Awards

[rmadachik]

Pleaase vote for your MVP and Pitcher of the year (Old Hoss Award). Select in order your top 5 players for MVP and your top 3 for the Ol Hoss Award Points will be awarded in reverse order
MVP
1st place - 10 pts
2nd - 7
3rd - 5
4th - 3
5th - 1

Old Hoss
1st 10pts
2nd - 7
3rd - 5

[Wade8813]

Are we going to allow pitchers to win the MVP award?

Also, do we want to officially decide whether or not making the playoffs should influence MVP voting?

[leecemark]

Officially? I think every voter will have to decide how (if at all) to weigh team success on their ballot. With 16 games to go I think Lajoie would be winner of a "Best Player Award". Whether that puts him on top of my MVP ballot or not I don't know. Of course he only emerged as best player for me after the last sim so he still has time to convince or unconvice me. I assume pitchers are eligible for MVP, but I have always be reluctant to cast my ballot that way. It would take an extremelt awaesome pitching year combined with a lack of dominant position player(s) to get a pitcher at the top of my ballot.

[rmadachik]

Officially? I think every voter will have to decide how (if at all) to weigh team success on their ballot. With 16 games to go I think Lajoie would be winner of a "Best Player Award". Whether that puts him on top of my MVP ballot or not I don't know. Of course he only emerged as best player for me after the last sim so he still has time to convince or unconvice me. I assume pitchers are eligible for MVP, but I have always be reluctant to cast my ballot that way. It would take an extremelt awaesome pitching year combined with a lack of dominant position player(s) to get a pitcher at the top of my ballot.

I think that perfectly reflects my position too. Each owner will place their own weight on team success as it relates to MVP status. For example Lew and Mark I know place more emphasis on that than I do in many cases. I know most owners agree in Marks assesment of voting for a pitcher as MVP, but to answer your question - they are eligible for that award.

[catcher24]

And I agree as well. A pitcher would have to produce an absolutely lights out season while (as Mark notes) there are no position players who have a really stellar season. I might be more easily swayed during this time period, though, especially if some guy starts a third of his team's games, pitches 400+ innings and wins 35+ games (Ed Walsh or Jack Chesbro come immediately to mind with 40 win seasons).

[rmadachik]

I tend to consider the MVP award to be the Award for the best position player. I also choose not to penalize a player for having a weak supporting cast, so being on a playoff team is not imperative in my mind. I do, however, believe that the position a person plays should be taken into account, as well as their defensive play at that position.

[leecemark]

--Perhaps we could call it the Best Player Award then . Or the Cap Anson Award or some such. I will vote for the best player if he is head and shoulders better than the best player on a playoff team, but if its at all a close call then the nod will go to the guy whose play actually got his team somewhere. I'm waiting til the season is in the books to cast my vote, but it will be Lajoie and one player each from the 4 playoff teams. (Harsel, Collins and Young plus the best player from whomever wins the AL wildcard).

[rmadachik]

--Perhaps we could call it the Best Player Award then . Or the Cap Anson Award or some such. I will vote for the best player if he is head and shoulders better than the best player on a playoff team, but if its at all a close call then the nod will go to the guy whose play actually got his team somewhere. I'm waiting til the season is in the books to cast my vote, but it will be Lajoie and one player each from the 4 playoff teams. (Harsel, Collins and Young plus the best player from whomever wins the AL wildcard).

boooooo

I actually considered callling it the Anson award

[rmadachik]

Here are the final stats broken down by position. lists include all players who played that position for a minimum of 50 games

[rmadachik]

here are the rest of em. voting will be open until the end of the World Series

[rmadachik]

MVP Award

Nap Lajoie - Asylum
The fact that he played a more demanding position than Freeman, and his .402 Batting average puts him over the top for me.

Buck Freeman -Richmond
Really nice power numbers from freeman. A huge part of why the Rams took the AL so convincingly this year. Numbers may have been slightly inflated from playing in Oriole Park. Plus don't forget that 44 game hitting streak.

Cy Young - Laquey
If ever a pitcher had a case for both the Old Hoss and MVP it is Cy Young. Once Laquey management realized how much they could lean on him, they exploded and won the division

Honus Wagner - Jamestown
Finished 4th in Batting average, 6th in OBP, 8th in Slugging, 3rd in runs and led the league in SB's. The fact the Express missed the playoffs was not because of him.

Jimmy Collins - Seattle
Best all around player on a strong Seattle team. definate case could be made for him to be higher than 5th.

Old Hoss Award
Cy Young - Laquey
No debate in my mind. Truly dominant this year. He got stronger as the season progressed.

Christy Matthewson - Cleveland
With only a slightly stronger team surrounding him he would have made it a debate for the award. A bright spot on a dismal Spiders team.

Jesse Tannehill - Seattle
Dominant at times. For the first half of the season he was arguably the leagues best starter.

[leecemark]

MVP
1) Nap Lajoie: the best position player by a big enough margin to overcome a lackluster supporting cast
2) Cy Young: main reason the Sharks were able to win the NL over the heavily favored Dragons
3) Buck Freeman: league's best hitter paced ferocious Rams attack
4) Jimmy Collins: best player on Dragons not quite pennant winner
5) Ed Delahanty: probably reaching a little to get him on 5 man ballot, but he was far and away the best hitter/player on Bums wild card squad
HM: Honus Wagner, Jamestown; Topsy Hartsel, Richmond (probably could put 4 Rams on a 10 man ballot); Snags Hedriech, Sharks, Jesse Burkett, Richmond; John Anderson, Dragons

Ol Hoss
1) Cy Young: easy choice
2) Christy Mathewson: matched Young in everything but the wins
3) Jesse Tannehill: best of the rest
HM: Pittinger, Hahn

[Sockeye]

MVP

1. Nap Lajoie
2. Honus Wagner
3. Jimmy Collins
4. Buck Freeman
5. Topsy Hartsel

Ole Hoss

1. Cy Young
2. Christy Mathewson
3. Jesse Tannehill

[Wade8813]

Cy Young - Laquey
If ever a pitcher had a case for both the Old Hoss and MVP it is Cy Young. Once Laquey management realized how much they could lean on him, they exploded and won the division

Hey now. I knew before the season started that I was going to lean on Cy. My only issue was making sure the rest of my rotation got used properly. I wanted Cy pitching every third day from the get-go.

MVP
Nap Lajoie - An easy choice. His On-base percentage, position, defense, and positional flexibility outweigh Freeman's extra power

Buck Freeman - He wins the Silver Slugger if we had it

Chick Stahl - I could see taking him over Freeman. Hard to say.

Honus Wagner - He isn't as obviously the #1 draft pick now that I realize Lajoie qualifies at SS too. The fact that Lajoie plays only partial season next year and in '05 should mean he's still the right choice though.

Cy Young - I'm perfectly willing to give an MVP award to a pitcher. It's hard to compare them to hitters though, so that may be what's holding me back.

Ol' Hoss
Cy Young - Basically tied with Mathewson. But I have to go with someone, so I'll go with my guy.

Christy Mathewson - Basically tied with Young.

Togie Pittinger - Basically tied with Willis - and again, I have to go with someone. Tannehill had 50 less IP with basically the same rate stats, so he's out of the running.

[catcher24]

MVP

1. Nap Lajoie, Asylum: I’m very hesitant to put him first. He had a fantastic year, but without him the Asylum maybe finish last instead of fifth; without the players I’ve selected below, their teams are not in the race or not in the playoffs. I could just as easily placed him fifth as first.
2. Honus Wagner, Express: Best hitter on the Express, who led the AL most of the season until fading late – through no fault of Wagner’s.
3. Buck Freeman, Rams: Would be first on any other team, but he had so much offensive help on the Rams that I just couldn’t put him at the top. He led the highest scoring team in the league in almost every batting category though, so he does get the third spot.
4. Ed Delehanty, Bums: Best hitter by far on the AL wild card team. They probably don’t make the playoffs without him.
5. Jimmy Collins, Dragons: With apologies to several other players, including three more Rams, I’ll take Jimmy by a hair over Emmet Heidrick of the Sharks. Collins played a tougher defensive position and played it well.

OHA

1. Cy Young, Sharks: Started nearly one third of the Sharks games, and sparkled in doing so, leading the league in wins and WHIP while finishing just behind Mathewson in innings – by one-third of an inning.
2. Christy Mathewson, Spiders: Led league in starts (with Dummy Taylor), complete games, innings, strikeouts and shutouts. Young just nudges him out because he led his team to the NL title.
3. Jesse Tannehill, Dragons: Top pitcher on the NL wild card team. He gets the nod over Pittinger.