Pujols P.O’ed Over M.V.P.

I always adored Albert Pujols for being an unselfish player since watching a piece on ESPN profiling his MVP season in 2005. Even after bombing the Houston Astros that year in the NLCS, he was discouraged at himself, saying that he could have done more to help the club reach the World Series.  When I read the article from the AP about his bitterness of losing out on the MVP voting I was shocked.

            "Someone who doesn’t take his team to the playoffs doesn’t deserve to win the MVP."

I don’t know why I’m uneasy about the fact that a professional athlete in 2006 is selfish? Isn’t winning the World freakin’ Series good enough for you? But hey, I’m sure he was looking forward to banking 200,000 dollars for winning the MVP . I guess now he has to fly the family to the Bahamas instead of St. Tropez this winter.

Maybe he is right. In the age where ‘team players’  have been replaced by ‘hired mercenaries’ this shouldn’t shock me. But, I thought that Pujols was the one of the last ‘team first’ guys left.

The second after the final out is made at the World Series the debate of who the MVP of each respected league is debated.  Defining  "MVP" is different to each sports writer who contemplates its meaning. MVP is such a vague term whose hazy requirements for candidacy makes it such a difficult trophy to award. What are the guidelines for the ‘Most Valuable Player’ if any?

Nicholas Buonome believes that media bias and geographical location helps propel a certain player to the top. He finalizes that Win Shares should be the determining factor for declaring MVP’s and Cy Young winners.

Or you could go the traditional route, statistical comparison. Dayne Perry at Foxsports.com makes the argument that statistically Ryan Howard should be second fiddle to Pujols in 2006. Furthermore, he continues to say the AL MVP Justin Morneau isn’t even the most valuable player on his own team. He even goes as far as to declare Morneau’s winning the MVP vote as "one of the worst MVP selections in history."

Since MVP voting is about as clear as defining 1st amendment rights an undisputed winner will never be crowned.

So I ask you, can the NL MVP please stand up?