There are times when a player truly deserves a MVP award but for one reason or another does not get it (Matt Holliday in 2007 anyone?!). On the other hand, there are times when a player (according to the fans consensus) does not deserve a MVP award but somehow gets it anyway. In this baseball scoreboards feature, I have taken a look at the players who deserved the biggest award in baseball least of all..

5. Maury Wills
Maury Wills received the MVP award in 1962 for no reason. Yes, his statistics showed 104 stolen bases but this alone was surely not sufficient to get an MVP award. MVPs are selected through voting and this statistic clearly influenced the voters as they thought that he was the best of that year. In that particular season a truly deserving candidate for the MVP was Millie Ways. Ways was way ahead of Wills according to the statistics. He was leading the league in home runs as well as in wins above replacement (WAR). Other statistics like walks, runs, batting average etc also indicated that Wills should have been the MVP for 1962.

4. Ichiro
Ichiro won the MVP award in 2001 in place of Jason Giambi. Although Ichiro was quite impressive in his rookie season, he truly did not deserve the MVP award. The baseball scoreboards showed that Ichiro had decent number of hits, stolen bases and a meager higher in batting average (0.008) than Giambi, which is apparently why he was chosen for the MVP. The factor that was overlooked was that he was ranked 5th in WAR. As compared to him, Giambi had better statistics and was ahead in WAR, OPS, OBP, SLG etc therefore should have won the MVP. Am I not right?!

3. Juan Gonzalez
The only reason why Gonzalez won the MVP award is 1996 was because the voters got carried away with his statistics of RBI and home runs with respect to the deserving MVP, Alex Rodriguez. Rodriguez was ahead in batting average, WAR, OPS and OBP as well as in the number of hits, runs, stolen bases and walks, but despite of all the hard work and effort he put in that season, he was unable to bag the MVP award in 1996.

2. Justin Morneau
I don’t think anybody can answer this, ‘Why did Justin Morneau win the MVP in 2006?’ This is undoubtedly one of the most controversial MVP awards ever. Despite being ranked 19th in WAR and only 4th most valuable player in his team he still won the MVP. The players who got the 2nd and 3rd highest votes, Derek Jeter and David Ortiz respectively, were far better choices for the MVP that season. Really.. how DID that happen?!

1. Joe Gordon
Joe Gordon won the MVP in 1942 only on the basis of high stolen bases, when the man who truly deserved it that year, Ted Williams, got nothing. Williams had a higher batting average, WAR, OBP, OPS etc, but Gordon took the prize, and many fans were left agasp.

For more information on Joe Gordon, go to:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Gordon