Josh Hamilton won the 2010 American League Most Valuable Player award this week, and it would be difficult to argue against the selection.
Hamilton led the Texas Rangers to an incredibly rare playoff appearance and in the process continued one of the great comeback stories in sports.
He hit 32 home runs with 100 RBI and 95 runs scored in only 133 games and won the batting and OPS titles as he threatened to win the Triple Crown.
The other candidates—such as Robinson Cano of the Yankees, Evan Longoria of the Tampa Bay Rays and Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers—all had an Achilles heel of some sort, whether playing on stacked teams or playing on teams that weren’t in playoff contention, so Hamilton was the right pick.
But…
There is a frustrating aspect of Hamilton’s story that has come to a head with his winning the MVP award, and that is the absolute refusal of any members of the sports media to acknowledge the fact that his numbers are incredibly inflated by playing in Rangers Ballpark in Arlington.
In Hamilton’s case, it didn’t make much difference; even considering the inflation, he was a good MVP candidate. Nevertheless, there have been years in which an inadequate player has won the MVP award based on numbers whose credibility was questionable because of his home field.
Let’s have a look at the Top 10 Home Field Heroes to Win the MVP Award.