Aviously

What’s that? You’ve never heard of the award that I listed in the title? That’s because it didn’t exist until now.

There is a select group of elite awards handed out in baseball, which includes the Rookie of the Year Award, Coach of the Year Award and Golden Gloves + Silver Sluggers for the best fielders/hitters by position.

In baseball there is an award set aside just for pitchers, known as the Cy Young Award. And it is given to the Best Pitcher in each league.

And finally you have the Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, which is handed out to the player deemed most valuable to his team.

In recent years this has come into controversy, after Justin Verlander won both of the two previous awards in 2011 for the American League, and this year Clayton Kershaw won both of them (Cy Young and MVP) in the National League.

People are upset that a pitcher can be named the most valuable player, when they already have their own designated “Best of” category.

So instead of arguing about it year after year, because let’s face it, a pitcher is just as important as any other player on the field…so why can’t he win MVP?, why not just make an award that can only be won by the leagues best hitter?

Take fielding out of the equation. Take position out of the equation (so yes, Designated Hitters (DHs) are eligible). And just give it to the best HITTER in the league.

And who better to name it after than the great Ty Cobb? American League MVP, a Triple Crown winner (one of only 15 different ones in  league history), 12X Batting Champ, and 2nd All-Time in Hits and 1st All-Time in career Batting Average.

Next year, let’s see a Best Pitcher, Best Hitter, and Most Valuable to their team Awards, and end the controversy, once and for all.