this will mean very little to anyone who isn’t a hardcore boston red sox fan, but anyone who saw him play this year knew dustin pedroia *had* to be the american league mvp. and now he is.

Dustin Pedroia, MVP.

Doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, does it? It’s sort of like the first time you heard “Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger” or “Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei.”

Dustin Pedroia is the Most Valuable Player of the American League. This is simply one of the amazing sports stories of our time.

He is a miracle. He is a hardball mutant. He is the most unlikely man to win this award in the history of major league baseball.

Think about all the great Red Sox players who never won the award. Manny Ramírez was never MVP. Neither was Carlton Fisk. Nor Wade Boggs.

Fisk and Boggs are in the Hall of Fame and Manny is going to Cooperstown. None of them won an MVP.

Pedro Martínez? Bobby Doerr? MVPs?

Never.

Here’s how hard it can be to win this thing: Ted Williams won the Triple Crown in 1942 and in 1947. And he didn’t win the MVP either year.

In 1941, Ted hit .406.

“I thought that was pretty good,” Ted humbly remembered in 1999.

Pretty good. But not MVP-worthy. The 1941 MVP trophy went to Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio.

Maybe if Ted had done something really impressive, like hit .420 . . . Maybe if Ted perhaps had the skill set of . . . Dustin Pedroia.

The mind reels.

Things fell perfectly for Pedroia in 2008. He led the American League in hits (213), runs (118), and doubles (54). He won a Gold Glove. He stole 20 bases. He wore out pitchers. He got on base and didn’t strike out, and he did it for a playoff team.

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