Bugs and Cranks interviews Albert Belle about baseball, and asks him about the 1995 MVP award, won by Mo Vaughn:

At least I know they didn’t vote for me because they didn’t like me. (The voters) will all tell you they knew I had the best stats, I was the best player on the best team and should have gotten the MVP, but didn’t because they didn’t like me. The stats weren’t the problem, but I haven’t lost an ounce of sleep since I didn’t get it, but I am happy with the fact that the players, my peers, voted me as the Sporting News Player of the Year, and I think that means a lot.

That was the year Albert collected over 100 extra base hits, hitting 52 doubles and 50 home runs in a strike shortened season. He was a much better hitter than Vaughn that year.

I used to think Belle got a bad rap, that he was simply an intense player who let that intensity spill over to his relations with the media when he was off the field. There are plenty of players like that. Over the years, however, I came to believe the bad side of Belle was not an exaggeration. There was the corked bat incident and the post-career stalking conviction. Vaughn seems like more of a stand-up guy. Maybe morals shouldn’t be built into an award vote, but the media telegraphed something about the two players in 1995.