It was pretty close until halfway through. Darrell Porter had a much better showing with us than he did at the time. AL MVP Don Baylor didn't get much support from us.

I like how we have "Rice" up above along with "Lezcano, Sixto" as if there were several eligible Lezcanos. Thanks for the chuckle.

Eckersley barely wins the "best pitcher" distinction over JR Richard.

I like how we have "Rice" up above along with "Lezcano, Sixto" as if there were several eligible Lezcanos. Thanks for the chuckle.

Well, Carlos was in the minors in 1979, and did pretty well. .326/.397/.499

This ties 2012 for most players with a vote and that election had 15 ballot spots. Another election where the MMP is not HoM.

We don't run similarity scores for the MMP ballots but I'm feeling like I would've scored pretty well. I had Lynn-Brett-Porter 1-2-3 (instead of Lynn-Porter-Brett) and Winfield-Schmidt-Hernandez 4-5-6 (instead of Schmidt-Winfield-Hernandez) but that's pretty close 1 through 6.

Also, congratulations to Jim Kern on one of the better showings for a relief pitcher.

lieiam almost always has the most "consensus" ballot mainly because his system is a consensus system.

I guess my vote would have added Pops to the list of ballot-ed players.

The highest player on my ballot w/out a vote is Willie Wilson who I have ranked 18th...

My best player without a vote - Paul Molitor. Best pitcher - Jack Morris or Rick Reuschel

I guess my vote would have added Pops to the list of ballot-ed players.

Out of curiosity, how would you justify that? Stargell wasn't one of the top 20 players in MLB from the perspective of what he did on the field.

-- MWE

For the first time since we started handing out awards, the American League has won the MMP in 3 straight seasons (and George Brett looks likely to make it 4 straight in 1980).

Plus, as DL noted, this is the second straight year that the MMP was won by a player not in the HoM. As in 1978, both the winner and runner-up (Porter) are not HoMers.

Fred Lynn is the second Red Sox player to win MMP after Carl Yastrzemski ('67 and '70). He's the first centerfielder to win the award since Willie Mays in '65 (though Mike Trout's 2012 win was sandwiched in there).

Dennis Eckersley set a new record for the lowest overall ranking by a pitching MMP with 10th place. The previous record was Jim Bunning's 8th in 1967 (not counting the 1961 race in which no pitcher received more than one vote). Eckersley is the first Red Sox pitcher to win the award.

Mike Schmidt picked up his 3rd NL MMP following victories in '74 and '77. He tied the record currently held by Joe Morgan and Willie Mays. Schmidt also won the overall MMP in 1974.

J. R. Richard is the first Astro to win any award in claiming this year's NL pitching MMP. However, he broke Don Drysdale's 1964 record for the worst showing by a NL pitching MMP. Drysdale had been 10th overall, Richard 11th. Although JR and Eck should be proud of their awards, their low rankings indicate a relatively poor year for pitching.

Finally, Jim Kern received the most votes as a relief pitcher since John Hiller in 1973 with 6 (out of 12 ballots). Kern's 13th place finish is tied for the third best among relievers behind Hiller and Goose Gossage (11th in 1975).

AL MVP Don Baylor didn't get much support from us.

What part of 139 RBI don't you guys understand :-)

27th in WAR among position players in the AL that year, and at the time an uncontroversial selection (Garvey was 17th in 1974, Dawson 19th in 1987...)

Seriously Baylor was a beast in 1979 with RISP - and racked up some 20 more Ribbies than you'd expect based upon his TB and HR totals - give him credit for half of that, add 10 batting runs, 1 WAR, he's up to about 15th in WAR....

Mike #9, Stargell gets a large postseason bonus (11 xbh in 10 games), and I really do believe his clubhouse presence translated into others playing better during the year. I assume that's as much allowed to be the MMP as OBP and TZR.