Sunday, October 17, 2060
PRO CUP MVP GOES TO RACERS' STONICH
Most of the time the IPA Pro Cup Most Valuable Player trophy goes to the player with the best numbers overall during the playoffs, not just the Pro Cup Series... and they usually have to play for the winning team... the usual winners are pitchers with 4-0 records and an astronomically low ERA... or .400 hitters with 5-6 roundtrippers and 19-20 RBIs... none of that happened this year... as far as the Rolling Hills Racers are concerned, there were a lot of players, pitchers and hitters, who each did their part to propel the Racers to the IPA title... there were no super standouts... it was truly a team effort… consequently, it was a tough job for the pollsters and the voters... they couldn't just go by the numbers... they had to look at the intangibles to decide the most worthy performer.
Finally, in a close vote, the baseball media selected the very talented Rolling Hills third baseman, Teddy Stonich... he outpolled teammates, first sacker Drayton Mayfield and reliever Dickie Hawes... Stonich got 45 votes, Mayfield 40 and Hawes 30... Wynnamac's ace hurler, Dick Vanner, was fourth in the balloting with 25 votes.
The primary thing that stood out about MVP Stonich was he played well and was a factor in all three rounds... Stonich batted .319 with 23 hits in 72 at bats in 18 games... he had 5 doubles, 2 triples and 4 homers with 15 RBIs and a 11 runs scored... his biggest competitor, Mayfield, struggled at the plate in round one, but came on strong in the Finals... Mayfield batted .329 overall, with 3 home runs and 14 ribbies, but he was hurt by the slow postseason start... number three in the voting was Hawes... when he was called in out of the bullpen, he did his job perfectly and I do mean perfectly... relievers often don't get their just due in the awards polling... voters usually favor the high-profile starters and the high-octane sluggers... Hawes wound up 2-0 with 1 save... in 7 relief assignments, he did not allow one single run in his 10 and two-thirds innings... in Vanner's case, he tumbled to fourth place when the Macs were beaten in the IPA title series... he also lost the fifth and final game in the Pro Cup Series... but Vanner did quite well... winding up 4-1 with a marvelous 0.86 ERA in 6 starting assigments.
Just for comparison, here are the regular season statistics for each of the players:
Stonich (.355 BA, 49 doubles, 2 triples, 132 RBI, 115 R, 3 SB, 148 G)
Mayfield (.307 BA, 21 doubles, 12 triples, 67 RBI, 66 R/12 SB, 143 G)
Hawes (5-5, 4.05 ERA, 15 ST, 107 IP, 66 K, 44 BB, 4 CG)
Vanner (18-7, 3.27 ERA, 3 SHO, 30 ST, 226 IP, 125 K, 54 BB, 12 CG)