I was discussing with my wildly worldly colleague Cathal Kelly, as we often do when we get together, the state of the global economy, of fashion, shoes, sports, the newspaper biz and the importance of good hygiene and social networking, when the topic of AL MVP arose.

Now, as regular readers know, I am a baseball traditionalist from way back, while Cathal is more of a VORP, WAR, WHIP, OPS guy. Thus it was no surprise to hear him preach confidently about how the MVP this year should be a mortal lock for Jays outfielder Jose Bautista. It got me thinking.

In all of team professional sports, there are no three letters in combination that form an image in one’s mind’s eye of a fabulous, unmatched year of excellence more than the letters M-V-P. There is also no single word that promotes debate more heated than the inclusion of the letter V for Valuable.

What does it mean? What is true value in team sport? Should it just be the best numbers? Like beauty, value is in the eye of the beholder. The fact is, there is no right or wrong, just a winner. Of course, that leaves a bunch of losers — and therein lies the debate that promises to rage in the AL in 2011.

In baseball, sure, there are other satellite awards by sponsor organizations given to the Player of the Year, clearly the one judged the game’s best player, statistically. A computer can pick those.

But the official award, the iconic one that has forever been recognized by players, fans and by the industry, the one that is controversially included in contracts and tied to bonuses, is the one voted on by the Baseball Writers Association of America, the only one that includes the word Valuable, the one with the greatest human element — the MVP award.

The format is simple. Two writers from each city receive a ballot that must be mailed, faxed or emailed to the BBWAA secretary treasurer, Jack O’Connell, by midnight on the final day of the regular season. The vote is for 10 MVP players in order, with points in descending order.

No, there is no New York bias as some people suggest, because each town has the same number of votes. The chapter chairman in each city (in Toronto, that’s me) chooses the two writers to vote for each award.

The realistic AL candidates this year include Curtis Granderson and Robinson Cano of the Yankees; Jacoby Ellsbury, Adrian Gonzalez and Dustin Pedroia of the Red Sox; Michael Young of the Rangers; Jose Bautista of the Jays and Miguel Cabrera and Justin Verlander from the Tigers.

I have never been a fan of a pitcher as MVP, but upon close examination of the field, I find myself in full support of Verlander. Here are some of the compelling arguments that overcame the fact that starting pitchers work just once every five days and have their own award, the Cy Young.

1. Verlander started the year 2-3 in his first seven starts. The team was 2-5 in those starts. At that point, Detroit was three games under .500 and seven games out of first place. On May 7, Verlander no-hit the Jays. Since that win, Verlander has been 20-2, while the Tigers have been 68-44, taking a stranglehold on the AL Central. Verlander has provided the impetus.

2. The Tigers, since his no-hitter, have been 21-3 in Verlander starts but only 47-41 when someone else toes the rubber. When the Tigers score three or more runs in a game, Verlander is 21-0. When they score two or fewer runs, he is 1-5.

Teammate and fellow candidate Cabrera had MVP numbers through May 6, the day before Verlander began his run: he was batting .330 with seven homers, 23 RBIs and a 1.043 OPS. But that was with his team mired in third place, three games under.

3. After Tuesday’s win over the White Sox, Verlander is 23-5 with a 2.36 ERA and 238 strikeouts in 236 innings. There have been only two starting pitchers to win the MVP since the mound was lowered following the ’68 season to add more offence and bring back fans. In ’68, both MVPs were pitchers: Denny McClain in the AL and Bob Gibson in the NL.

The last starting pitcher to win the MVP was Roger Clemens of the Red Sox in 1986. The Rocket was 24-4 with a 2.48 ERA and 238 strikeouts. The Sox went to the World Series. The only other starting pitcher MVP in the past 43 years was Vida Blue of the A’s in 1971, who went 24-8 with a 1.82 ERA.

I never thought I would say it, but Verlander should be the third.

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As for my view on the new generation of baseball statistics, I will just quote from the legendary R&B and soul icon Edwin Starr and his hit song for the Temptations: “War, huh, good God. What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Listen to me.”

It’s always a great debate and there is never a right or wrong, just a winner. If it was Bautista, I would say he earned it. He is the Player of the Year, but not the MVP.

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