2021 awards thread

Well, maybe not. Zunino for the Rays and Will Smith for the Dodgers had comparable seasons in terms of bWAR, and their teams also won 100 games. Zunino got the same 1 point, Smith was shut out. (I suppose I'd expect more because of Posey's name recognition and stature.)

Tip O’Neill Award to Vlad--eight more and he'll tie Larry Walker (Votto has seven).

https://baseballhalloffame.ca/james-tip-oneill-award/

damn, tyler o'neill picked the wrong time to become a good canadian baseball player! you'd think he would have been a shoe-in for the T O'Neill award

The Paul O'Neill Award, of course, was given annually to the player or manager who gave the best performance in a Seinfeld episode. Beside O'Neill himself, previous winners included Keith Hernandez, Danny Tartabull, and Buck Showalter.

i never saw the buck showalter episode! i think i saw the rest, somehow, in real time on thursday night on NBC when they aired.

god, 25 years ago was very different

He's good! "All of a sudden there's a problem with Tartabull's swing..."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-9ls-ugums

(Showalter's line needs context from earlier in the episode.)

I was wondering if Fergie Jenkins would have won 11 or 12 of those Tip O'Neills in a row--from '67 to '79, possibly--but he definitely would have lost to John Hiller in '73; Fergie was atypically mediocre, and Hiller had one of the greatest relief seasons ever (7.9 bWAR). Jenkins had other so-so years near the end of that run, but I don't know if there was anyone else around to beat him. Terry Puhl might have won in '79.

Rob Butler won in 1993 -- with a 97 OPS+ in 56 PA with the Blue Jays? Slow year.