The Boston Pops

During the 2007 Academy Awards, Martin Scorsese earned his first Best Director win for "The Departed" after previously receiving nominations for "Raging Bull," "The Last Temptation of Christ," "Goodfellas," "Gangs of New York," and "The Aviator."  The general consensus among critics and moviegoers was that the win was more of a lifetime achievement award for Mr. Scorsese than anything else because while "The Departed" was a good movie, it certainly was not the best of his career.  I have seen all of the above films except for "Last Temptation," and I would certainly agree ("Goodfellas" and "Raging Bull" beat "The Departed" in my book, but it's closer with the other two).  He easily could have won for any of those movies, and after 25 years of stiffing him the Academy relented and gave him an Oscar that should have already been collecting dust in his home.

In fact, I would go so far as to argue that he didn't even deserve it that year.  Clint Eastwood's "Letters from Iwo Jima" and Paul Greengrass's "United 93" were both superior films in my opinion, and either one of them would have been a better choice for Best Director.  But alas, 2007 was Scorcese's time, and Eastwood had already won Best Director two years prior for "Million Dollar Baby," so the Academy didn't feel like it owned him anything.

With Oscar contenders coming out and on the way, this got my thinking about a similar instance that happened in baseball nearly three decades prior.  The year was 1979, and 39 year-old slugger Willie Stargell helped lead his Pittsburgh Pirates to 98 wins and World Series victory.  Although "Pops" was past his prime, he still swung a productive stick and managed to sock 32 homers and post a .281/.352/.552 line.  He missed 36 games, accumulated just 2.3 WAR and didn't lead the league in any significant category.  His was a fine season by a great player, but nothing special in and of itself.

Yet somehow, he earned enough MVP votes to finish in a flat-footed tie with Keith Hernandez, who beat him in every category not named home runs, while finishing ahead of guys like Dave Winfield, Mike Schmidt, George Foster, Johnny Bench, Dave Kingman, Andre Dawson, and his own teammate Dave Parker, who was three times more valuable to the Pirates with his  6.7 WAR.  The voters gave Stargell extra credit for his role as a leader on the team, but Pops clearly did not deserve the NL Most Valuable Player award in 1979.

Like Scorcese, he essentially won it as a lifetime achievement award and an apology from the BBWAA.  Stargell posted much better seasons in the early '70s and narrowly missed winning in 1971 (silver), '72 (bronze) and '73 (silver again).  The voters stiffing him in 1973, when "Pops" enjoyed the best season of his career and led the league in doubles, home runs, RBI, slugging, OPS, and OPS+, for Pete Rose was a downright travesty.

Luckily for Stargell, he got his hardware at the end of his last productive season, meaning 1979 turned out to be his last legitimate chance at the award.  He hung around for three more seasons, barely played, didn't earn a single spot on an MVP ballot, and hung up his spikes for good after 1982 with 475 career home runs.

And wouldn't you know it, the BBWAA made him a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 1988.