Wasn’t it Pedro? He had a 2.22 ERA and was nearly unhittable the second half of the year. Or was it Nomar? Middle of the year, he was the best player in baseball. He hit .339 in May and .398 in June.
Wait—it has to be Manny. He hit 37 homers—six more than Ortiz. He had 104 runs and 117 RBIs, again, both significantly better than Ortiz. His OBP was .427, leagues above his poor-fielding Red Sox counterpart.
Hell, it could have been Trot Nixon or Mike Timlin! If Ortiz isn’t even the MVP of his team, how can be the MVP of the league?
To close, I feel another verse upon me:
Another victr’y for March To The Sea
Readers, take pity on poor Brenda Lee.
—Staff writer Alex M. Sherman can be reached at sherman@fas.harvard.edu.
Editor’s Note: These columns appear as part of a weekly series. The writers encourage readers to e-mail possible debate topics.