MILWAUKEE — It started with a single voice. One prescient, informed voice.
“M-V-P! M-V-P!”
Or maybe it started as a joke. Maybe it was some two-fist slopper in the grandstand, soused to the gills and slurring.
“M-V-P! M-V-P!”
Whether it started as an honest examination of the season or whether it started in jest, Brewers fans birthed and owned the chant of “M-V-P!” in 1982. Though it wouldn’t count, it was the Brewers’ fans vote for their hero, The Kid, Robin Yount.
Today, the Baseball Writers of Association America made it official, but shockingly not unanimous. Yount won 27 of 28 of the first place votes and 385 total points to win the American League Most Valuable Player award. Of course, the BBWAA is the same prestigious group who have never unanimously elected anyone to the Hall of Fame, including Hank Aaron earlier this season. (Really, the guy hits 755 home runs, and there are a few who don’t think he’s a Hall of Famer? Idiots.)
Yount missed becoming the AL’s first unanimous selection since Reggie Jackson. In a bitter irony, Jackson received the other first-place vote. Who knew it was like Heisman Trophy voting where past winners get a chance to cast a ballot? (That’s a joke, just like Yount not winning unanimously.)
“It’s quite an honor,” said a humble Yount. “I feel it’s the type of award you couldn’t win without the help from everybody else.”
Robin is the ultimate teammate, and it’s his humility that may have kept Golla from voting for him. As Yount says, he couldn’t have done it without his teammates.
But those teammates and his coaches love him. And ultimately, Robin doesn’t care about that one vote or the award.
“I’m very happy for him because he’s definitely deserved being named Most Valuable Player,” said manager Harvey Kuenn. “As far as I’m concerned, he’s the best shortstop I’ve ever seen play.”
That great shortstop far outpaced Baltimore’s Eddie Murray, who finished second with 228 points, and California’s Doug Decinces was third with 178. Jackson was fourth.
The Crew’s amazing season was rewarded in the voting as five Brewers received MVP votes: Cecil Cooper finished fifth, Gorman Thomas finished eighth, and Paul Molitor, Pete Vuckovich and Rollie Fingers also received votes.
Except for one moronic voter, there was no other choice. But the voices inside County Stadium rang true. They knew, and soon so did everyone else.
“M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!”
| Player – Tm | Pts | 1st | AVG | HR | RBI | W | ERA | SV |
| Robin Yount, MIL | 385 | 27 | .331 | 29 | 114 | |||
| Eddie Murray, BAL | 228 | 0 | .316 | 32 | 110 | |||
| Doug DeCinces, CAL | 178 | 0 | .301 | 30 | 97 | |||
| Hal McRae, KCR | 175 | 0 | .308 | 27 | 133 | |||
| Cecil Cooper, MIL | 152 | 0 | .313 | 32 | 121 | |||
| R. Jackson, CAL | 107 | 1 | .275 | 39 | 101 | |||
| Dwight Evans, BOS | 57 | 0 | .292 | 32 | 98 | |||
| G. Thomas, MIL | 44 | 0 | .245 | 39 | 112 | |||
| D Quisenberry, KCR | 39 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 2.57 | 35 | |
| R. Henderson, OAK | 38 | 0 | .267 | 10 | 51 | |||
| Dave Winfield, NYY | 33 | 0 | .280 | 37 | 106 | |||
| Paul Molitor, MIL | 29 | 0 | .302 | 19 | 71 | |||
| Lance Parrish, DET | 26 | 0 | .284 | 32 | 87 | |||
| Brian Downing, CAL | 22 | 0 | .281 | 28 | 84 | |||
| Willie Wilson, KCR | 16 | 0 | .332 | 3 | 46 | |||
| Bob Boone, CAL | 12 | 0 | .256 | 7 | 58 | |||
| Rollie Fingers, MIL | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 2.6 | 29 | |
| P. Vuckovich, MIL | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18 | 3.34 | 0 | |
| Jim Rice, BOS | 10 | 0 | .309 | 24 | 97 | |||
| Harold Baines, CHW | 9 | 0 | .271 | 25 | 105 | |||
| George Brett, KCR | 9 | 0 | .301 | 21 | 82 | |||
| Toby Harrah, CLE | 9 | 0 | .304 | 25 | 78 | |||
| Don Baylor, CAL | 8 | 0 | .263 | 24 | 93 | |||
| A. Thornton, CLE | 8 | 0 | .273 | 32 | 116 | |||
| Bob Stanley, BOS | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 3.1 | 14 | |
| Rod Carew, CAL | 5 | 0 | .319 | 3 | 44 | |||
| D. Garcia, TOR | 5 | 0 | .310 | 5 | 42 | |||
| Jim Palmer, BAL | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 3.13 | 1 | |
| Bill Caudill, SEA | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 2.35 | 26 | |
| Buddy Bell, TEX | 3 | 0 | .296 | 13 | 67 | |||
| Cal Ripken, BAL | 3 | 0 | .264 | 28 | 93 | |||
| C. Lansford, BOS | 1 | 0 | .301 | 11 | 63 | |||
| Rick Sutcliffe, CLE | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 | 2.96 | 1 | |
| Gary Ward, MIN | 1 | 0 | .289 | 28 | 91 |