Dustin Pedroia winning the AL MVP reminds Josh Wilker of the 1971 MVP vote in which Fred Patek finished ahead of Bobby Murcer, despite Murcer being a much better ballplayer that season.

My favorite Patek moment came at the end of the 1977 ALCS. All series long the announcers kept telling us about the great fundamentals of the Royals, embodied by Fred Patek. They split the first two games at Yankee Stadium, and won game three in Kansas City with two more to play at home.

The Yankees won game four, and trailed 3-1 in game five going into the eighth, at which point Whitey Herzong over-managed his bullpen. New York scored one in the eighth and three in the ninth to take a 5-3 lead.

Patek comes up in the bottom of the inning, one out and a man on first. Patek was 7 for 17 at that point with three doubles and a triple. Certainly the great fundamental ballplayer would find a way to keep the Royals alive. Instead, he grounds into a double play. The Kansas City crowd stood at their seats in stunned silence as the Yankees celebrated on the field, and alone on the bench Fred Patek sat alone and cried.

It was one of the most amazing crowd reactions I've seen in sports. The only other thing that came close was Harvard winning the 1989 NCAA hockey championship. The game was played in St. Paul against Minnesota. Minnesota fans out-numbered Harvard fans 100-1. The Crimson scored in overtime to win the game. As ESPN pulled back to show the crowd, everyone stood their in stunned slience, except for a small section where the Harvard University Band was jumping up and down.