David Ortiz, Wade Boggs and Manny Ramirez never claimed American League MVP honors, but few who saw them play will forget their greatness.
MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince included the three Boston Red Sox legends on his list of the best 15 players never to win an MVP award during their respective careers. The Baseball Writers’ Association of America has awarded the AL MVP and NL MVP honors since 1931, but they never bestowed them upon Boggs, Ramirez or Ortiz during their years of quality production at the plate.
Castrovince ranked Boggs No. 6 on his top-15 list and notes Boggs’ best finish in the voting was fourth place in 1985.
“Like (Tony) Gwynn, Boggs was one of the best pure hitters of his time and all time,” Castrovince wrote. “He batted .328 for his career, with 3,010 hits. He won five batting titles. He led the league in on-base percentage six times. But his run production was not homer-oriented, and it affected his ballot showings at a time when voters didn’t have access to the context-driven stats of today.
“In 1986, when Boggs hit .357 with a .939 OPS on a Red Sox team that went on to win the AL pennant, the voters tabbed him the third-most valuable player on his own team, behind Roger Clemens (who won the award) and Jim Rice. Boggs finished seventh overall that year. And in ’87, when he hit .363, banged out an uncharacteristic 24 homers and posted the highest OPS (not that anybody was paying attention to this) and Wins Above Replacement (this, either) among position players in the league, he finished ninth.”
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Castrovince ranked Ramirez No. 12 on his list of 15 and notes Ramirez’s best finishes in the voting were third place, which he earned in 1999 and 2004.
“Manny Being Manny” did not include ‘Manny Being MVP,'” Castrovince wrote. “That’s amazing when you consider the 555 career homers, the 1,831 runs driven in, the .312 average, the .996 OPS and the fact that he was on 11 playoff teams. This was one of the greatest right-handed hitters many of us will ever see. But Ramirez’s greatest years — he led the AL in OPS three times and claimed the 2002 batting title and ’04 home run title — came at a time when various guys were posting video-game numbers.
“Manny’s most impressive finish wasn’t either of the third-place showings but, rather, when he finished fourth in the NL in 2008, after joining the Dodgers in a midseason trade and going absolutely bananas for 53 games.”
Ortiz’s best finish in AL MVP voting was second place in 2005. Castrovince ranked him No. 14 on his list.
“A player has never won the MVP in a season in which his primary position was DH,” Castrovince wrote. “And given the increasing emphasis a stat like WAR has on the MVP voting, we might never see a DH win this award. So Ortiz, whose primary position was DH the entirety of his great run with the Red Sox, never stood a realistic shot at this particular piece of hardware, though he did finish in the top three twice, along with five top-five finishes.
“Ortiz ended his career on a high note by leading the AL in OPS, doubles and RBIs in 2016, but he finished sixth in the voting.”
Some legends’ careers come and go without the BBWA recognizing them as the marquee player in his respective league. It’s just a fact of life in sports.
