It would have surprised me more than Tony Stewart pulling out the NASCAR championship if Ryan Braun had not been named Most Valuable Player of the National League for 2011 on Tuesday.
Saw it coming since August and I thought all along he was the right guy for the trophy and that second place belonged to his teammate Prince Fielder. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ Matt Kemp had a fanastic season, but the Dodgers really spun their wheels most of the summer, never truly being playoff contenders, while Braun’s Brewers won the NL Central Division title and 96 games. To me, that was the difference maker. Kemp was the Most Valuable Player of a medicore team.
Now in a season when no one else distinguished himself, Kemp could have been the choice, just as Alex Rodriguez won an MVP award with Texas during the bad old years (2003) and Ernie Banks won two Most Valuable Player awards (1958 and 1959) with the Chicago Cubs during their bad old years, which of course could be any time, though in this case were in the late Fifties. But Braun was Milwaukee’s brawn. He batted .332, with 33 home runs, 111 RBIs, 109 runs scored and 33 stolen bases while compiling a .597 slugging percentage. And Braun got better and better as the season aged, being the key guy when Milwaukee broke away from St. Louis, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh in the standings.
Leading a winning team rather than leading a so-so team often defines the most valuable race. Kemp was super, batting .324, just behind Braun, leading the league in home runs and RBIs, just ahead of Braun, and winning a Gold Glove in the field. Everyone recognized that Kemp possessed great talent and this was the year he put all of the tools together. This may just be the beginning of sustained greatness for Kemp.
Credit the Brewers with seeing greatness in Braun at an early stage of his career. He won the rookie-of-the-year award in 2007 and Milwaukee inked him to a long-term deal. Then, even before Braun recorded this special season, last April the Brewers gave him a new, five-year contract extension worth $105 million and making him property of the team through 2020. And everyone thought the only way you could make $21 million a year in Milawukee was to own a brewery.
Braun knew the announcement was coming Tuesday and he spent time hanging around his California home trying to quell his nerves. There are only a few times in even the greatest of stars’ careers where the stars up above align with their performance being better than everyone else’s. This was one of those occasions for Braun, though he admitted he would have understood if Kemp bested him the voting.
Being named MVP is forever. It is one of those special sports awards that attaches itself to your resume and glows in brightly colored lettering whatever you do for the rest of your career. Braun, who turned 28 a few days before the MVP announcement, is young enough and talented enough to put together the same kind of all-around season for the Brewers for years to come. In fact, they’re counting on that or they wouldn’t have committed so much money to Braun’s future.
Yet Braun could be equally great and not win the award in another year, edged out by a Matt Kemp-type season because the other guy was playing on the better team and voters viewed that more favorably. Braun said he was thrilled and excited to win the 2011 MVP. He was also deserving.
You never know what’s around the corner in life and sports, so Ryan Braun should proudly savor his victory this holiday season and pray that he stays healthy enough and is fortunate enough to do it all over again sometime.