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Major League Baseball's internet arm—MLB.com—recently selected
the 15 best players never to win an MVP Award. More than a quarter of the players identified (26.7%) wore a Boston Red Sox uniform. The four Carmine Hosers were:
David Ortiz,
Manny Ramirez,
Wade Boggs and
Adrian Beltre. Three, of course, were long-time residents on Yawkey Way—while Beltre had only one (albeit
spectacular) season calling Fenway Park home. It's amazing that
none of these four brilliant players
ever brought home the MVP iron—though each had the requisite "excuses" applied to them as "non-winners". You know, Papi was "just" a DH; Manny couldn't field; Boggs was just a "singles" hitter; and Beltre—well, actually, I can't imagine
why this guy never won at least
one. For the Red Sox in 2010, Beltre hit .321, with 28 HRs and 102 RBIs—and led the world in doubles with 49. He had an OPS of .919 and made the All-Star team. After leaving the Red Sox (who inexplicably did not sign him), he played eight more seasons for the Rangers—and the made the All-Star team four more times. Over his 21-year career, Beltre hit .286 with 477 HRs—finishing in the Top Ten in MVP voting six times. But, somehow, he never won it all.
