Trivia Trap

[Edgy MD]

Who be the only player to win the league MVP, the League Championship Series MVP, and the World Series MVP in the same season?



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[whippoorwill]

Reggie Jackson

[Edgy MD]

Reggie Jackson is an excellent guess, and not even the Yankee version of Reggie Jackson. Reg won the American League MVP in 1973, and followed that up by winning the World Series MVP by knocking the ball all over the field against the Mets. But the American League didn't award an ALCS MVP award until 1980, and even if it had, it wouldn't have gone to Jackson in 1973 — he managed only three singles in 21 at-bats against Baltimore that year.



Any retroactive awarding of the the 1973 ALCS MVP would be a contest between Bert Campaneris and Jim Hunter.



Plus, he looks like a pitcher on his 1973 card.



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[whippoorwill]

Dang

[Gwreck]

Mike Schmidt in 1980?

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Probably not Kirk Gibson

[Edgy MD]

Mike Schmidt in 1980?

I salute you for boldly naming the un-asked-for year as well as the fella.



Schmidty was indeed the 1980 NL MVP, a title which he repeated in the Phils' World Series victory over Kansas City that year, but not unlike Reggie '73, in between, his performance was less than lustrous in the exciting NLCS matchup with the Astros. (What a post-season that year!). Mike went 5-for-24 with four singles and a double in that set (.208 / .240 / .250 // .490) while teammate and series MVP Manny Trillo went .381 / .364 / .571 // .935 in 24 plate appearances, despite achieving the rare and dubious feat of posting an OBP lower than his batting average.



The real MVP in that series, to my thinking was Tug McGraw. His 4.50 ERA was no great shakes, but he appeared in all five games, throwing eight innings, and locking down two big saves.

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Probably not Kirk Gibson

The 1988 MVP (grumble) produced one all-time moment in that year's World Series, but as it was his only trip to the plate in the Fall Classic, the powers that be decided that one moment, even that one, wasn't big enough to so honor. And while he played in the NLCS victory over the Mets (double grumble) that year, his broken body produced an unsavory performance. The MVP of both series, you'll recall now with great clarity, was Orel Hershiser, who Tommy Larsorda rode as hard as any pitcher I've ever seen ridden, throwing 42 2/3 innings between the two series, over five starts and one relief appearance, with a 1.05 ERA.



That's to say nothing of the workload that Hershiser carried down the stretch in the regular season. He was impressive again in 1989, though never the same after that, but he's certainly a Hall-of-Famer in my book, and my Met-bias aside, was probably worthy of the regular season MVP that year as well. And if he had been so honored, he'd be a correct answer to this Trivia Trap.

[MFS62]

Stargell - '79?



Later

[Edgy MD]

The answer, of course, is Willie Startrek, 1979.



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[MFS62]

Unlike Chipper, he hit the Mets for lots of homers(didn't he have the record for an opponent at Shea?), but you really couldn't dislike him.

Later

[whippoorwill]

Nice job!



Pops a favorite at our house