Most Valuable Player

 

A Team

And they say
She's in the Class A Team
Stuck in her daydream
Been this way since eighteen

There is no I in Team.

I have argued that one of the defining characteristics of Mankind is Individual versus Team (the others being Nature versus Nurture; and  Fact versus Fiction). On that basis, both followers of baseball or football as team sports should be on the ranked highly as Team.

However football is, IMHO, an individual sport masquerading as a team sport. The National Football League, NFL, Most Valuable Player, MVP, has been awarded 67 times since 1957. (In 1997 the MVP was awarded to both Brett Favre and Barry Saunders, and in 2003 the Award was awarded to both  Peyton Manning and Steve McNair).  During that time quarterbacks have won 69% of all MVP awards, including 9 of the last 10 MVPs. Running Backs have won 27% of the time, most recently Adrian Peterson in 2012. Only three players have  won the award at any other position (Defensive tackle Alan Page in 1971, Placekicker Mark Mosley in 1982 and Linebacker Lawrence Taylor in 1986)

By contrast, no position been dominant in the MVP voting of baseball. The MVP has been awarded 199 times in Major League Baseball, MLB, since 1911. MVPs have been selected in both the National League and the American League in most of those years.  No position has dominated the sport. The highest ranked position is First Base with 18% of the MVPs. All other positions except one have more than 2% of the MVPs, with the lowest ranking being Relief Pitchers who have received the MVP 4 times. No Designated Hitter has won the MVP, although Shohei Ohtani, who was selected as the American League MVP in 2021, was both a Starting Pitcher ( a Position that won 11% of the MVPs) as well as a Designated Hitter. Four players have won at multiple positions.

Thus it appears that Football is an individual sport of a backs (Quarter and running) masquerading as a team sport, while baseball is a true team sport. Fans of Amercian football should not automatically be considered to be Team followers instead of Individuals followers. ( I admit to my own guilt. When  Tom Brady moved to the Buccaneers, I became a Bucs follower. Otherwise, even if I weren't a baseball fan, I would like to think that think I am ranked highly on the Team index.)