Mattingly was as good or better than Kirby Puckett, but even withbanother MVP, he mIght not get in. Roger Maris had back to back MVPs, (and a season HR record that lasted almost 40 years), and somehow he’s not in.

As for MVP awards, I’d like to have seen either Guidry get the ’78 award (over Rice), or Mattingly get the ’86 award (over Clemens). Also, Lou Gehrig won the freaking triple crown in 1934 and finished 4th in the MVP voting!

@ YankCrank:
Agree with everything you said. It was a horrible October all around for the Yanks.

Not that it was much consolation but I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy how Carlos Beltran went down like a lamb, staring at strike 3 from Wainwright on a pitch basically down the middle.

I’m a younger (not young) Yankee fan, and I didn’t really start heavily rooting for the Yankees until I was 8-years-old in 1992. So in my timeline, if I could change one award it would be Jeter’s MVP in 2006.

I had never been more heartbroken following the results of any season as I was in 2006. The Yanks were far-and-away the best team that year, with no Red Sox or Angels as obstacles in the playoffs. All we had to do was take our 97-win team and pass the slumping Tigers and A’s to get to the series and we couldn’t even do that. The hitting shut down, pitching went to shit, Torre made his typical bonehead moves, then we had to watch the Mets in the NLCS. The unfortunate Cory Lidle accident followed and all we were able to hold onto as Yankee fans was a sure-fire DJ MVP Award.

The award not going to Jeter was the last punch in the stomach I could handle, that was a very, very tough winter. It would have been a welcome small victory in a month full of tough defeats.

I highly doubt that one or even two more MVP’s would’ve changed anything for Donnie’s Cooperstown chances. His prime was so short that all it would’ve done is highlighted just how brief a period of time it was that he dominated the game. It might be bad luck and it might be unfair but Mattingly doesn’t belong in the Hall, even if he had the ’84, ’85 and ’86 MVP’s hanging on his wall.