Most Undeserving Award Winners
10) Steve Carlton – Cy Young 1982, Philadelphia Phillies
During Carlton’s magnificent career which included four Cy Young Awards, the one in 1982 might have been the least deserving. Carlton led the National League in complete games, shutouts, innings pitched, strikeouts, and wins, but he also became the only NL Cy Young winner with 10+ losses and a 3.00+ era.
YEAR G GS CG SH IP H ER BB SO W L SV ERA
1982 38 38 19 6 295.2 253 102 86 286 23 11 0 3.11
9) Willie McCovey – ROY 1959, San Francisco Giants
McCovey had an illustrious career as a San Francisco Giant, but his rookie season was far sub-par from what he is capable of doing. McCovey barely qualified for the award with 192 at-bats (150 minimum). McCovey had 13 homeruns and 32 RBI in his first season, but for a career that includes 521 homeruns and 1555 RBI, which ranks 14th and 33rd of all time respectively, those first year numbers look abysmal. It is hard to imagine anyone winning the Rookie of the Year award now with those numbers.
McCovey’s Rookie Statistics
YEAR G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG
1959 52 192 68 9 5 13 32 38 22 35 2 .354 .429 .656
8) Karl Malone – NBA MVP 1997, Utah Jazz
Michael Jordan should have won the award. For the 1996-1997 season, Jordan played more minutes, had more points, shot better from the free throw line, had more 3-pointers, more steals and less turnovers than Malone. The Bulls also had a better team record than the Jazz. Despite all this, I guess the voters are just too reluctant in re-crowning the 4-time MVP and went with the new face in Malone.
The 1996-1997 Season Statistics:
G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO
Malone 82 2998 2249 27.4 864 1571 .550 521 690 .755 0 13 .000 809 9.9 368 4.5 113 48 233
Jordan 82 3106 2431 29.6 920 1892 .486 480 576 .833 111 297 .374 482 5.9 352 4.3 140 44 166
7) Tim Duncan – NBA MVP 2002, San Antonio Spurs
The rightful choice for MVP should have been Jason Kidd, who made a miraculous turnaround of the New Jersey Nets' franchise in his first season with them. I have never been more shocked when the MVP award winner was announced! While Kidd led the Nets to a 26 game improvement almost single handedly, Duncan had the help of David Robinson in securing the Midwest crown.
Although lacking in scoring compared to Duncan, Kidd was the floor leader who controlled the tempo of the games. Despite handling the ball more, Kidd only had 23 more turnovers than Duncan. Kidd was also the leading assist-man in the league and the top rebounding guard in the NBA.
The 2001-2002 Season Statistics:
G Min Pts PPG FGM FGA FGP FTM FTA FTP 3PM 3PA 3PP REB RPG AST APG STL BLK TO
Duncan 82 3329 2089 25.5 764 1504 .508 560 701 .799 1 10 .100 1042 12.7 307 3.7 61 203 263
Kidd 82 3059 1208 14.7 445 1138 .391 201 247 .814 117 364 .321 595 7.3 808 9.9 175 20 286
6) Jerome Walton – ROY 1989, Chicago Cubs
Walton had a short big leagues career. After winning the Rookie of the Year in 1989, Walton’s numbers started to decline. Walton didn’t hit for great power, and didn’t have blinding speed, but his five homeruns, 64 runs, and 24 stolen bases were enough to secure him the award.
Walton’s Rookie Statistics
YEAR G AB H 2B 3B HR R RBI BB SO SB AVG OBP SLG
1989 116 475 139 23 3 5 64 46 27 77 24 .293 .335 .385
5) Chris Carrawell – Consensus First Team All-American 2000, Duke Blue Devils
Johnny Dawkins, Danny Ferry, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill, Elton Brand, Shane Battier, Jason Williams, and Chris Carrawell? Hmmm, which name doesn’t seem to belong here? Following great names is never easy for an athlete, but it proved beneficial in Carrawell’s case. Hey if you led Duke in scoring, you must be a consensus All-American right?
4) The Frances Pomeroy Naismith Award
This award is given to the best 6-foot and under college player. Past winners include future NBA stars such as Tim Hardaway, Tyrone “Mugsy” Bogues, Tyus Edney, and Earl Boykins, but come on, an award based on one’s physical dimensions? You don’t see an award for best white baskeball player, that would be reverse racism, so why should there be a 6-foot under award? Although some people see this award as a symbol of hope for the little guys, I think it’s just plain stupid. If such an award exists, then there should be an award for the best player less than 150 pounds, best left-handed player, best player born outside of the United States, best player with impared vision....the list goes on-and-on.
3) Brent Barry – Slam Dunk Champion 1996, LA Clippers
Barry won the 1996 Slam Dunk contest as a rookie with the “free throw-line dunk”. Although he did the dunk in his warm-ups, the free-throw dunk is the most overrated dunk in my opinion. Any long jumper could do the same. It belongs in the Summer Olympic Games, not the hardwood. I think the NBA was pressured into awarding the Slam Dunk crown to a white person to avoid criticism.
2) Mark Moseley – NFL MVP (AP, “The Sporting News”) 1982, Washington Redskins
How many people heard of the name of Mark Moseley? If you don’t know who he is, Moseley was a teammate of Joe Theismann, who won the MVP from Maxwell’s Club in 1982 and the MVP from Pro Football Writers Association of America, AP, and Newspaper Enterprise Association in 1983. John Riggins, the Hall of Fame running back also played with Moseley and won the Maxwell’s Club MVP in 1983. You must be thinking, “Moseley must have had a huge year in 1982 to outshine two Hall of Famers!”, right? What position did he play and what were his stats?
Kicker, 20/21 field goals made, 16/19 PATs, for a combined of 76 measly points. You can argue that these stats are from an abridged 1982 strike-shortened season (9 games played), and you can argue that the 95.2% in field goals is the best mark for a kicker. But in the end, it all comes down to one reality: he’s a kicker!
1) Charles Woodson – Heisman Trophy 1997, Michigan Wolverines
The 1997 Heisman Trophy voting represented everything that the Heisman should not have been, a junior over a senior, a one-year-wonder over a four-year-starter, a defensive back player over a quarterback. Woodson did have a good year with seven interceptions, but Manning was literally a living legend in Big Orange Country. By giving the Heisman to Woodson instead of Manning, the NCAA discouraged all underclassmen from returning for their senior season and passing up the NFL.
The only good thing out of the 1997 Heisman voting is that Manning was spared from the disappointments caused by the list of Heisman-winning quarterbacks in the NFL. Manning went on to win the NFL MVP in 2003 while Woodson was best known for his locker room rampage about head coach Bill Callahan.
Honorable Mention:
Any NCAA football Consensus All-American from an Ivy League School. Yale, Harvard, and Princeton ranks one, three, and six respectively, in the number of consensus All-Americans list of all time, in front of traditional powerhouses like USC, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Texas, and Tennessee. Yet, out of the 254 All-Americans, only 12 were from 1925 or later. The last Ivy League consensus All-American was Stas Maliszewski from Princeton in 1965.
Harvard had at least one consensus All-American from 1889-1916, Yale can say the same thing with the exception of 1915. In that same span, Yale had at least three consensus All-Americans in 19 of the 28 seasons, including having seven All-Americans twice in the same season (1900, 1902). Harvard had a record of eight All-Americans in 1901.
A list of all time All-Americans by school.
School Selections Players
1. Yale 100 69
2. Notre Dame 94 78
3. Harvard 89 59
4. Michigan 68 56
5. Ohio State 68 53
6. Princeton 65 49
7. USC 63 56
8. Oklahoma 59 49
9. Nebraska 52 43
10. Pittsburgh 48 41
