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So I was reading the CBC news article about Justin Morneau becoming the first Canadian to ever win the AL MVP award.  A pleasantly huge shock, as I'm sure it is to most, and a very proud moment as a Canadian, made more so by the fact that he's a B.C. boy like myself.  First Steve Nash, another good B.C. boy, becomes a two-time MVP in the NBA, and now this.  It’s funny how the ESPN poll earlier this week didn't even have him as an option on who would win.  But there, second line from the end of the CBC article, I was struck by the following:

"Morneau joins Zoilo Versalles (1965), Harmon Killebrew (1969) and Rod Carew (1977) as the only Twins players to win the AL MVP."

Okay, I'd like to think I've heard a good deal about baseball history, especially that of the last 40 to 50 years.  And the Killer and Rod Carew were quite familiar to me.  But Zoilo Versalles - huh?  A name that unique would surely have made an impression had I heard it before.  This almost seemed like an error or a prank. So, off to that wonderful resource, Baseball-Reference.com.  And on the player page, it got even stranger.  Yes, he was a real player, but - an MVP?  In the time of Mantle? 

First - the name:  Zoilo Casanova (Rodriguez) Versalles, nicknamed Zorro. 

Sounds like an alias.  Casanova AND Zorro?

Vitals:  Height 5' 10", Weight 150 lb.  Born December 18, 1939 in Veldado, Cuba. Died June 9, 1995 in Bloomington, MN. 

A skinny-as-a-rack Cuban ballplayer in the time before Castro - come to think of it, considering his age, almost even a ball playing contemporary of Fidel's.  Interesting.

But take a look at his career stats.  You want to talk about career years, check the apex of his bell curve, the 1965 MVP season:

 Year Ag Tm  Lg  G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  SB CS  BB  SO   BA   OBP   SLG   TB   SH  SF IBB HBP GDP

 1959 19 WSH AL  29   59    4    9   0  0   1    1   1  0   4  15  .153  .219  .203   12   0   0   0   1   0

 1960 20 WSH AL  15   45    2    6   2  2   0    4   0  0   2   5  .133  .170  .267   12   0   0   0   0   0

 1961 21 MIN AL 129  510   65  143  25  5   7   53  16  9  25  61  .280  .314  .390  199   4   2   2   1   8

 1962 22 MIN AL 160  568   69  137  18  3  17   67   5  5  37  71  .241  .287  .373  212  10   7   8   2  13 MVP-21

 1963 23 MIN AL 159  621   74  162  31 13  10   54   7  4  33  66  .261  .303  .401  249   7   0   2   5  11 AS

 1964 24 MIN AL 160  659   94  171  33 10  20   64  14  4  42  88  .259  .311  .431  284   7   2   1   8   5

 1965 25 MIN AL 160  666  126  182  45 12  19   77  27  5  41 122  .273  .319  .462  308   6   8   3   7   7 MVP-1,AS

 1966 26 MIN AL 137  543   73  135  20  6   7   36  10 12  40  85  .249  .307  .346  188   3   3   2   7  11

 1967 27 MIN AL 160  581   63  116  16  7   6   50   5  3  33 113  .200  .249  .282  164   3   3   2   6  15

 1968 28 LAD NL 122  403   29   79  16  3   2   24   6  4  26  84  .196  .244  .266  107   6   1   4   0   7

 1969 29 TOT AL 103  292   30   69  13  2   1   19   4  1  24  60  .236  .299  .305   89   0   2   1   3   8

         CLE AL  72  217   21   49  11  1   1   13   3  1  21  47  .226  .298  .300   65   0   2   1   2   7

         WSA AL  31   75    9   20   2  1   0    6   1  0   3  13  .267  .304  .320   24   0   0   0   1   1

 1971 31 ATL NL  66  194   21   37  11  0   5   22   2  1  11  40  .191  .233  .325   63   4   1   1   0   7

He set career highs in nearly every good category, and was barely off in the others.  The sponsored link for the BA webpage is somewhat cryptic:

"Did Zoilo Versalles deserve to be the first Latin American to win the MVP award? You might be surprised when you read about the newest member of the Twins' Hall of Fame in Cool of the Evening: The 1965 Minnesota Twins."

Obviously winning the MVP is about more than just the stats, when you have a 150 pound Cuban shortstop winning it while batting .273/.319/.462 - albeit on a team that finished first (102-60) in the American League.  He won it handily, too, receiving 19 of the 20 first place votes, with teammate Tony Oliva tallying the only other.  Likely due in part to the smaller sizes of the leagues back then, there were actually 6 Twins that finished in the top 15 of the MVP voting that year - Oliva (#2), Mudcat Grant (#6), Earl Battey (#10), Jimmie Hall (#13) and Harmon Killebrew (#15).  Talk about splitting the vote.

Admittedly, the talent base in the American League at the time was far inferior to that in the National League.  The top 10 in NL MVP voting in 1965 included 7 future Hall of Famers (Willie Mays, Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Juan Marichal and Willie McCovey) to go along with a theoretical 8th in Pete Rose.  The top 10 in AL MVP voting in 1965 included just one Hall of Famer, Brooks Robinson.  But in 1965 Versalles did win a Gold Glove and led the AL in at bats, runs, doubles and triples, finished second in hits and third in stolen bases.  However, he also led the league with 122 strikeouts and committed a career-high 39 errors in the field.  His #1 BB-Ref comparable up to that point was Jim Fregosi - not bad - but #1 overall for his career is not-exactly-MVP-caliber Neifi Perez.

The Twins depth didn't help them in the World Series that year, where they lost to the great Dodgers of Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax in 7 games. Koufax threw a 3 hit shutout in game 7 on only two days of rest, which would be difficult for any team to overcome.  Amazingly, Don Drysdale was one of their hitting stars that season - check out his monster batting line:

 G   AB    R    H   2B 3B  HR  RBI  BB  SO   BA    OBP   SLG  OPS+

58  130   18   39   4  1   7   19   5   34  .300  .331  .508  140

A line like that might have some modern day AL teams thinking about signing him as a platoon DH.  But I digress.    

Think about what Morneau meant to the Twins this past season and just how valuable (you know, the name of the award) he was to their remarkable turnaround. He definitely makes a strong case for MVP.  The Twins, overcoming a huge Tigers lead that everyone thought was insurmountable, and clawing past the defending champs Chicago as well, were one of the most inspiring and surprising stories of 2006.  Morneau's contributions along the way?  Nothing more than posting the best batting average (.362) and most hits (145) in the majors after June 8th, while recording more RBIs than anyone else in the AL during that stretch to boot (92).  Take away his presence behind Mauer in the batting order, and there's little doubt that the Twins would have finished third in the toughest division in baseball, if not fourth behind Cleveland. 

Of course, this year's Twins were a three-headed beast when it came to great years - Joe Mauer and Johan Santana were also invaluable contributors to the success of the Twins.  As many have said, this year’s voting did not play out the way that statistically minded voters would have predicted.  Joe Mauer has become one of the best defensive catchers in baseball, and his amazing season could be classified as one of the very best offensive seasons by a catcher of all time.  Indeed, it was the first time a catcher had ever led the AL in batting average – but still, only good enough for 6th place in MVP voting.  And Johan Santana winning the AL “triple crown” for pitchers is impressive indeed.  However, the last time a pitcher accomplished such a feat - Roger Clemens in 1998 on an inferior Jays squad - he couldn’t even crack in the top 10 in voting for the MVP, finishing 11th.  At least Santana bested his placing by finishing 7th. 

If one were to take Derek Jeter out of the Yankees lineup - say, with a freak wrist injury like Matsui had, or maybe if Ken Huckaby somehow managed to finish the job on Jeter's shoulder that he started in 2003 – then what would have happened to the Yankees in 2006?  Hypothetically speaking, their infield defense gets better as they shift Alex Rodriguez back to the position where he won 2 Gold Gloves.  Next, they slide pretty much anyone over to 3rd base temporarily (the way A-Rod was butchering balls there, it couldn't have become much worse) until they could buy a former all-star replacement third baseman, similar to the way they acquired Abreu.  All the while the Yankees would still have the strongest and most expensive batting order, one thru nine, in all of baseball – even without their acknowledged offensive sparkplug this season.  The odds are quite good that the Yankees could have added to their consecutive AL East crowns without Jeter, as the Jays and Red Sox just weren't ready to catch them this year. 

David Ortiz and Frank Thomas with their “big scary bats” bore more similarities to Justin Morneau this season than Jeter or his Twins teammates.  Take Frank Thomas out of the A’s lineup and they likely don’t pull off the late-season surge they did in winning the AL West, a significantly weaker division.  Ortiz put up a monster offensive season as usual, but if faced with the prospect of playing without him all year (as they were forced to do near the end of the season), the Sox would have still finished 3rd behind the Jays and Yankees.  Yet in baseball’s toughest division, against the White Sox and the Tigers in their year of destiny, the Twins managed a comeback for the ages, overcoming a huge deficit to win the division on the final weekend of the season.  Rightly or wrongly the BBWAA felt this deserved to be rewarded, and singled out the shiniest statistical performer (see: HRs and RBIs) on the Twins as MVP.

This being said, I for one was still torn on who is the most deserving candidate this year.  In the Batter’s Box poll, I actually voted twice – the first time for Jeter from work, and after a sober second thought Morneau from home.  The award is supposed to be given to the most valuable player in the league, the player whose team would suffer the most without his presence.  Think of what Roy Halladay meant to the 2005 Jays, and how his absence affected a team that was tied with the Yankees at the time he was injured.  How does one define the value of a player whose mere presence raises the level of play and the confidence of his whole team?  The Twins this season would have finished 3rd without any one of their superb trio – but the voters are undoubtedly swayed in their voting by flashy numbers such as HRs, RBIs and slugging percentage.  In this case Morneau held a clear advantage over Mauer and Jeter. 

Until MLB decides to create additional awards for categories such as most valuable pitcher, outstanding reliever and most outstanding player, there will be arguments over who are the rightful recipients of postseason hardware.  This year happened to be Morneau’s year, and by no fault of his own he finished ahead of one of the most heralded and hyped players of our generation in what basically amounts to a popularity contest.  The result is being derided as one of the least-deserving choices for MVP in history, right up there with Zoilo Versalles in 1965.  It was a tight decision, but it will be up to history to decide whether it’s one of the worst votes ever.

But back to Zoilo Versalles. 

For background info on his strange run to AL MVP, I checked the sponsored link on the BB-Ref page, to discover that it wasn’t overly controversial at the time, even on a team with admittedly superior talents such as Jim Kaat, Harmon Killebrew and Tony Oliva.  But his story is somewhat sad, and serves as a good reminder to ballplayers nowadays.

From the following link:

"Versalles played competitive ball as a teen against men much older than he. Years of wear piled onto his slight frame at an early age, and took its toll. This helps to explain why 1965 was his last great season.

By July of 1966, he was treated for a hematoma in his back and missed a couple weeks' play. That was the start of lifelong back problems.

Back problems continued after he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers in November of '67.

He always missed the Twins and in the off-season of '68 held strong hope he would return to Minnesota. He even worked for the team in the off-season.

He never did play for the Twins again, and after his baseball career drove truck and worked as an airline baggage handler.

By 1982, he was unable to work because of his back problems. He was 43, and petitioned to have access to his Major League Baseball pension, but baseball's collective bargaining agreement prohibited that before age 45.

 At 45, Versalles was given about $13,500 annually.

 He died in his Bloomington, Minnesota home at age 55.

 In 2006, Zoilo Versalles became the 16th member of the Twins' Hall of Fame."

Which puts all kinds of things into perspective when you look at the current state of affairs in MLB.  Situations such as aging players hoping to parlay a career year into one last big contract - a la Gary Matthews Jr. or Alfonso Soriano.  Or there's Gregg Zaun's current contract situation, squeezing every last million he can out of the Jays' coffers while he has the opportunity - something Versalles and thousands more like him never had the chance to accomplish. 

Think of the current players coming into free agency off a career year being signed to huge multi-year contracts.  Imagine you're that GM who gave the 25 year old gold glove-winning, seemingly durable MVP shortstop a mega-dollar, 8 year contract, figuring to lock him up for his prime.  And then having that player get hurt and turn into a pumpkin (or, worse, John McDonald).  How long would it take that GM to get run out of town? 

A good guess would be sometime during the three years of the deal when the player didn’t play at all.

With word that Gary Matthews Jr. is now potentially looking at a bigger contract than Juan Pierre received - that would be in excess of 5 years/$45 million - it is clear that the baseball economics that we once knew are gone for good.  Gone along with Shawn Green, Carlos Delgado, and, unfortunately, probably sometime soon, Vernon Wells.