First Barry Larkin, now Mo Vaughn. It was a good week for the good guys.
Vaughn was named AL MVP on Thursday, a day after Larkin's leadership and popularity also helped him beat out players with better numbers for the NL award."Baseball is a sport that has this type of people," Vaughn told reporters at a center where he runs a youth program. "With the strike and whatever's going wrong in the eyes of the public, we have not fared too well. But we've got that type of people in the game."
Vaughn hit .300 with 39 homers and tied Albert Belle for the league lead with 126 RBIs. Belle hit .317 and also led the majors with 50 home runs in the shortened season, when he became the first player with 100 extra-base hits since Stan Musial in 1948.
Belle also was the first to have 50 homers and 50 doubles in the same season.
"I know he (Belle) had some great numbers. Edgar Martinez had a great year. We all did," Vaughn said. "I don't know what the voters are thinking. I know a lot of it's numbers, and if it's numbers, (Belle) probably would have won."
But while Vaughn seems to be universally liked among his peers - and the reporters who do the voting - Belle has been uncooperative and occasionally downright rude.
He once threw a baseball at a fan. He was suspended for corking his bat. He is expected to be penalized by major league baseball this month for berating a television reporter during the World Series.
Earlier this week, Belle was charged with a minor misdemeanor and accused of trying to run a couple of teenagers off the road with his car because he thought they threw an egg at his suburban Cleveland home.
In contrast, Vaughn works with children in one of Boston's poorest neighborhoods - the location he chose for Thursday's news conference.
"I want people to see this. And I want the kids to be exposed to the right things," Vaughn said while two policemen stood outside keeping an eye on the TV mobile units.
"Don't equate me with the guy who hits home runs," he said. "There's a bunch of kids I've got to get into shape. I'm interested in developing minds, not bat speed."
Vaughn's cause also was probably helped by the fact that he carried Boston early in the season when Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens and others were injured. He had 24 homers and 60 RBIs by the All-Star break.
Belle, on the other hand, was surrounded by the best-hitting team in baseball. He broke loose with 36 homers after the All-Star Game, when the Indians already had virtually wrapped up their division.
While acknowledging that Belle's numbers give him the edge, Vaughn said that after watching Larkin beat Greg Maddux and Dante Bichette in the NL Wednesday, he started thinking that he had a chance.
"I guess it really does say something. People are looking at the whole thing and that it's just not numbers," the Red Sox first baseman said. "My numbers are right there with everybody's. If I'm a team player and it helped me, then that's good."
Vaughn received 12 first-place votes, 12 seconds and four thirds for a total of 308 points. Belle got 11 first-place votes, 10 seconds and seven thirds for 300 points in the ninth-closest race in MVP history, and the closest since Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez tied for the 1979 NL honor.
Martinez, the Seattle designated hitter, received four first-place votes and was third with 244 points. Indians reliever Jose Mesa got the other first-place vote and was fourth with 130.
Mariners outfielder Jay Buhner was fifth in the voting and Cy Young winner Randy Johnson was sixth. Belle was the only player to collect a contract bonus, getting $25,000 for finishing second.