When the Quad hits your eye like a big-a pizza pie
That's a Mora
When the MVP voters don't treat you kind like they've had too much wine
That's a Mora

(With apologies to Dean Martin)

More than anything, putting together The 2004 Quad Leaders allowed me to appreciate just how well Melvin Mora performed last season. It's a shame the writers who voted for the Most Valuable Player Award failed to give him his proper due.

Mora was one of only three players in the American League to place in the top ten in all four of the Quad categories (on-base percentage, slugging average, times on base, and total bases). The other two players--Vladimir Guerrero and Manny Ramirez--finished first and third in the MVP balloting. Mora? Tied for 18th.

Only two of 28 writers even saw fit to vote for Mora. One writer listed the 32-year-old Venezuelan 8th and the other 9th. By comparison, all 28 voters had Guerrero and Ramirez on their ballots and nobody placed either player lower than fifth.

Did Guerrero and Ramirez really do that much better than Mora? Let's take a look.

             AVG     OBP     SLG     OPS    OPS+     
Guerrero    .337    .391    .598    .989    154
Ramirez     .308    .397    .613   1.009    152
Mora        .340    .419    .562    .989    149

I don't know about you, but I can't discern much of a difference in their rate stats. Mora had the highest batting average and on-base percentage, Ramirez had the best slugging average and on-base plus slugging average, and Guerrero had the number one on-base plus slugging normalized for both the park and the league.

Hmmm. It must have been something in their counting stats. Well, perhaps. All three players reached base essentially the same number of times but Guerrero and Ramirez outdistanced Mora in total bases by 57 and 39, respectively.

            TOB     TB
Guerrero    266    366
Ramirez     263    348
Mora        264    309

Let's call the rate stats even while giving a slight edge to Guerrero and Ramirez in counting stats. But is the difference enough to justify Vlad and Manny finishing 1st and 3rd in the voting and Mora T18th?

Mora, the father of three-year-old quintuplets, plays the most difficult position of the three although not all that well, I might add. However, Guerrero is no better than an average right fielder in spite of his strong arm and Ramirez is barely acceptable in left. Mora and Guerrero are faster and better baserunners than Ramirez.

Then what is it that the voters see that I don't see?

              W      L     PCT     PLACE
Anaheim      92     70    .568      1st
Boston       98     64    .605      2nd
Baltimore    78     84    .481      3rd

Ahh, Guerrero and Ramirez played on winning ballclubs while Mora, working on a three-year, $10.5 million contract, played on a losing team. A cynic might say that Vlad and Manny had the good fortune of playing for two owners who were willing to spend over $100 million on their team's payrolls. The Baltimore Orioles, on the other hand, spent just $51 million or about half the Angels and 40% of the Red Sox. Put a red uniform on the popular and versatile Mora and I gotta think he would have contended for MVP honors.

I'm not mocking the selection of Guerrero as the MVP nor am I questioning the fact that Ramirez placed third. Far from it. I actually had Guerrero and Ramirez in those exact same spots on my ballot for the Internet Baseball Writers Association Awards. If anything, I am guilty of underestimating Mora myself as I listed him eighth--as high as any voter from the Baseball Writers Association of America but lower than he deserved.

Not only did Mora get on base and drive runners around the bases with the best in the league, but he was arguably the most consistent player in all of baseball. Melvin's splits tell it all. He hit righties (.352/.419/.567) and lefties (.303/.418/.545). He hit at home (.356/.452/.605) and away (.327/.389/.525). He hit in the first half (.347/.433/.556) and second half (.333/.406/.567). He hit with nobody on base (.334/.409/.597) and with runners on base (.346/.430/.521). He even hit when batting second in the lineup (.354/.444/.594) and third (.331/.400/.541). No matter the situation, Mora flat out raked last year.

Unbeknownst to most, Mora actually had one of the better seasons among third basemen in the history of the game. As a point in fact, he is one of only 17 players at the hot corner to put up rate stats that were 20% better than the league average across the board.

SINGLE SEASON TOTALS, 1900-2004
AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS >= 120 vs. LEAGUE AVERAGE
RANKED BY RUNS CREATED ABOVE POSITION

                         YEAR   RCAP     AVG     OBA     SLG     OPS    
1    George Brett        1980     85     145     137     166     153   
2    Wade Boggs          1987     83     137     138     138     138   
3    George Brett        1985     74     128     133     144     139   
T4   Al Rosen            1953     73     124     122     154     139   
T4   Joe Torre           1971     73     140     129     146     138   
6    Wade Boggs          1988     66     141     147     125     135   
7    Ken Caminiti        1996     65     121     120     147     135   
8    Home Run Baker      1913     64     127     123     142     132   
9    Chipper Jones       2001     63     123     126     137     132   
10   Wade Boggs          1983     62     136     136     121     128   
T11  Melvin Mora         2004     55     126     124     129     127   
T11  Edgar Martinez      1992     55     132     123     141     133   
13   Minnie Minoso       1951     45     121     120     127     124   
14   Pete Rose           1976     43     123     123     120     121   
15   Harry Steinfeldt    1906     37     129     124     134     129   
16   Rogers Hornsby      1919     35     120     121     124     122   
17   Bill Madlock        1976     31     129     125     134     130

That's not a bad list. Of the ten players listed above Mora, four of them (George Brett, 1980; Al Rosen, Joe Torre, and Ken Caminiti) were MVPs in the year shown. The other six finished no worse than 12th (Wade Boggs, 1983). Even the players below Mora fared better than he did in the MVP voting, ranging from Minnie Minoso (who played more games at 3B than any other single position that year although he played more often in the OF than 3B) and Pete Rose, fourth, and Edgar Martinez, 12th. For the record, there was no MVP voting in 1906 (Harry Steinfeldt) or 1919 (Rogers Hornsby).

First in OBP. Second in AVG. Fourth in OPS+. Fifth in SLG and OPS. Who could that have been in 2004? That's a Mora.

[Additional reader comments and retorts at Baseball Primer.]