a classy way of telling him that he got it wrong. did he mention in his article who he voted in the top 6?

His numbers were pretty average this year, and he definitely wasn’t anywhere close to Braun who was 9th. Really wierd.

I get the idea that he just wanted to be different. So while I respect that he stood behind his answers, I don’t think it was very responsible to put Albert 7th.

Look, I’m from MKE. County Stadium is still my favorite stadium ever. The special sauce is unbelievable. It’s my favorite city in the country (I now live in StL)

But I will be the first to admit, people are weird up there. MKE had a socialist mayor. The Violent Femmes (great band, albeit weird) are from there. There are so many weird, crazy little places – and let’s not forget, it’s a Packer town. Hell- it’s so weird that Lew Alcindor had to change their name. During the crypto scare, even the water is weird.

So let’s not begrudge a weird sports writer. Let’s just allow him to be weird – like Lear screaming at the storm – we can watch from afar. Besides, no one in MKE cares about baseball right now – it’s Packer season and we just beat the Bears.

And can we really comment on him? Seriously. We have Bernie…

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/sports/34625954.html

Mmm, yours is much nicer than what I wrote to him, though I’m glad to see that he flip-flopped on the Delgado/Pujols thing (which is what I was getting on him about, for the most part).

His ignorance on the value of statistics is one thing — annoying, yes. “I choose not to be a slave to statistics” is the usual nonsense — nobody wants him to be a slave, we just want him to consider it. It is, after all, a measure of the results of a player’s time on the field. There’s a reason we keep the stats — because nobody can watch every play of every game and commit it perfectly to memory. Stats are the next best thing.

But I’m annoyed mostly by two of his other points:

1. “Voting is subjective.” He uses this as his defense for criticism, as if to say, “I can vote however I want, that’s my right.” And in a sense he’s right. But I think he doesn’t understand the responsibility that comes with voting and, frankly, that “I can do what I want!” attitude is a bit childish. Yes, the vote is subjective — it’s subjective because he’s supposed to be an expert who can be trusted with a subjective vote. We’re supposed to trust his opinion. He’s supposed to, as a person who makes his living from this game, give this a great deal of thought. He’s supposed to think rationally about it rather than making up his own criteria — “I like a player who raises his team up to otherwise unattainable heights” (which is, of course, nonsense).

2. I didn’t cost Pujols the win anyway. I don’t think I need to explain how silly this is. The problem isn’t that he DIDN’T cost him the MVP, it’s that he could have. He doesn’t see that people aren’t attacking his choices because they want them ordered with a specific person on top—people are attacking his choices because of the methodology he explained that he uses to vote, which is the kinda of crazy nonsense that DOES cost the deserving players their MVP awards, thus rendering the award meaningless. “I know, swinging this mace around in the living room is kinda dangerous, but hey—I didn’t break anything did I?” Okay, Tom, so you didn’t cost Pujols the award…whew. Lucky us, huh? Now stop screwing around and start voting in a reasonable manner!

Someone in the posts below his article pointed out how he has voted Albert lower than most every year. It’s apparent he has a hard-on for him, nothing you can do about that. He’s a sportswriter who isn’t a fan of an opposing team’s star so he’ll do what he can to be the homer.

is that Tom Haudricourt was one of the few (2-3) reporters who asked Pujols questions during Pujols’ conference call to reporters yesterday. He was really trying to ask Pujols if he was more valuable than other players but he didn’t push the point. But you know he was probably burning inside. Where were the other reporters for this call? It was kind of a weird deal.

I just had to see this guy’s mug and thought I’d pass it along.

do you want him to lose his job? do you want him to lose his voting privileges? what does everyone want?

i’m asking a serious question here because i don’t understand why you are arguing with him. the guy simply doesn’t like Albert & he tried to screw him over. so what? people do that all the time to all of us. it’s life. people suck. they are bastard coated bastards with bastard filling.

thankfully there were more responsible voters out there than this guy. i get trying to defend Albert, but he doesn’t need our help. he does that all on his own with his play on the field & his actions off of it. and if that’s not good enough for some, it’s their loss. if some hack up north hates him & is jealous just because he doesn’t play for the brew crew, that’s just petty jealously & his life will be worse because of it. i’m not attacking any of you, i think it’s cool saluki you wrote to him & were very polite about it. but i’m just curious as to what you all want the outcome to be from this. i don’t think you will change his mind, so i just want to know what everyone wants.

Hopefully he acknowledges this outrageous mistake and agrees to step down.

I am 100% happy about Albert getting this award, but it’s not about Albert anymore.

Its about “Player A” with a .462 OBP getting a 7th place vote. It’s an outrage and Tom Haurdicourt’s vote must be removed to prevent him from unfairly changing baseball history with future votes.

if Hadricourt has posted his picks in any previous years? I’m interested in seeing if his “formula” has been around for long, or if he simply made it up this year in order to bury Pujols and sneak three Brewers in to the top ten.

Let me be up front. I think Albert deserved the MVP award. His statistics and performance throughout the year were consistently awesome. The competition performed at comparable levels for portions of the year, but not throughout.

All that said, I like transparency. Perhaps MLB should look more closely at its system. Require all of the writers who vote to release their full slate of candidates. It would be great to understand who believes what. I applaud Tom for at least having the courage (or perhaps stupidity) to share his opinions.

FINALLY, and most importantly, it would be outstanding if MLB and the powers that be provided some clear official guidance on what constitutes MVP. Maybe they like the controversy, as it draws attention to the sport. But you would think that baseball’s highest honor (with respect to the Cy) deserved clear, published guidelines…

There is the “objective MVP” and the “subjective MVP.” Using objectivity, you have a list of criteria that the player should meet (mainly various statistics) and you look at how they help their team. Using subjectivity, you pick the guy you like, and you base your reasons on that. News flash: voters are allowed to vote subjectively.

Ryan Howard, because he hits a lot of home runs and finally woke up in September, is some people’s subjective MVP (even though it’s clear to many people that Utley is the real star on that team). Albert, by nearly all measures, is the objective MVP. And for a lot of us, Albert is the subjective MVP, too. People can say that Ludwick and Glaus helped carry the team. Of course they did! If you don’t contribute in a productive way to a major league team, you probably won’t be a major leaguer for long! And last I checked, this is a team sport. But we all know how streaky Glaus and Ludwick were and will continue to be. And we all know the hitting machine that is El Hombre. He carries this team to victory, even when it seems they’re trying to lose. And he did it all with a shredded elbow! He shows up for every game, and he contributes on both sides of the ball, and in myriad unquantifiable ways. Howard? He’s a one-note tune. It’s a sweet, sweet tune, but he’s never going to be the symphony that is Albert Pujols.

Now, the way this hack tried to undermine Albert’s MVP award is ridiculous, and likely unethical. But we know that he’s not the first voter to vote with a lousy agenda, and he won’t be the last. MVP voting has always been political. That’s why there are so many winners that make you scratch your head. How could anyone pick Dawson in ’87, or Dick Groat in ’60, or Marty Marion in ’44. Brief history of subjective MVP choices, just in the NL.

Look, this guy is just the guy who tried to railroad Albert. Stop reading his columns. Stop giving him attention. He’s an MLB troll, so quit feeding him. He’s getting fat from all the attention.