Dustin Pedroia--An MVP For Our Times!

You don’t have to be a baseball fan to appreciate the accomplishment of Red Sox Second baseman Dustin Pedroia. He was, as baseball aficionados know, selected as the American League Most Valuable Player yesterday!

Why is this impressive? I mean, someone wins EVERY year, right? Well….yeah, but it’s not every year that the winner is a former Portland Sea Dog (let alone a Red Sox player-as the last one was over a decade ago) Another Portland alumnus, Kevin Youkilis was one of the runners-up!

What makes Dustin’s accomplishment noteworthy is the complete lack of advance notice that he would even be a regular starter in the big leagues, let alone the Rookie Of The Year last season—and MVP this year!

He is one of the smallest players in the Major Leagues. He is one of the slowest on the basepaths. When he swings a bat, he almost goes to one knee to summon up that extra power that someone of his small physical frame needs. He was only given a second look by scouts because he has quick reflexes for an infield position-and he had a competitive spirit that impressed the coaches.

With the list of his “can’t do this, can’t do that”, he surprised a lot of people by being named the starting second baseman for the Sox last season. Terry Francona and company hung with him through an early season hitting slump—despite fan and media protests that Alex Cora be given the job.

To put it mildly, the patience paid off.

Dustin’s glove was never an issue, as he made impossible plays look routine. What shocked everyone was his prowess at the plate. He became a threat to get on base EVERY time he went to bat—and his batting average, combined with his infield play made him a slam-dunk choice (if you’ll pardon the basketball metaphor) to become Rookie Of The Year.

Few believed his second season could be as good—but after homering in his first at-bat in the World Series in 2007, perhaps anything was possible. A few points away from the AL batting title, nearly impossible to strike out and continued stellar play on defense earned him the MVP honors this year.

For parents of kids who are labeled as “too small”or “too slow” to play, Dustin Pedroia is the one guy you can point to-and say…”look, he did it---and so can you!”

As the saying goes, “it’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog”—or in this case, Sea Dog. Dustin has talent to be sure, but above all, he has HEART…and you can’t measure that by any yardstick.

It makes itself apparent in the way a player approaches and plays the game—Dustin, you are the best! Congratulations!