Home Run Derby

Josh Beckett is the latest face of a World Series Champion to grace the bright orange box that supplies my breakfast almost every morning.  Which means that they actually put a World Series MVP on the cover of a Wheaties Box.

Too bad it’s about four years late.

You see, Josh Beckett isn’t the World Series MVP for the 2007 Champion Boston Red Sox.

He was the World Series MVP for the 2003 Champion Florida Marlins.

The past four seasons (2004-2007), General Mills has put a member of the World Series Champion on the cover of the Wheaties box.

And the past four seasons, it hasn’t been the World Series MVP.

• In 2004, Red Sox slugger David Ortiz hit the Wheaties box – but Manny Ramirez was the Series MVP.
• In 2005, White Sox southpaw Mark Buehrle was on the box – but Jermaine Dye was the Series MVP.
• In 2006, Cardinals pitcher Chris Carpenter made the box – but David Eckstein was the Series MVP.

My guess is that before the World Series begins, Wheaties inks a deal with two players (one from each League Champion team) whom they think have a good shot to be a major player in The Series and perhaps be the MVP.  Ortiz was the ALCS MVP in 2004, as was Beckett in 2007.  Buehrle wasn’t the MVP in 2005, but he was a freakin’ stud in that series.

I delved a little bit into World Series MVP’s and baseball players who have graced the Wheaties box – and I was surprised to find that only nine ten of the 52 World Series MVP’s have ever been on the Wheaties box in one capacity or another.

I was even more surprised that the three two-time World Series MVP’s (Bob Gibson, Sandy Koufax, and Reggie Jackson) have never been on the Wheaties box.

And it appears that only Jose Rijo (Reds – 1990) and Ron Cey (co-MVP Dodgers – 1981) might have made it on the box in the year they were the reigning World Series MVP.   Rijo made it on the box with a bunch of other Reds players (pic).

I don’t have any visual evidence that Cey was ever on the box (other than lists that say he was) – but I can confirm that he was a pitchman for Wheaties.  Roll tape.

I remember that commercial.  Somehow it didn’t scare me away from the product all these years.

This entry was posted on Monday, November 5th, 2007 at 10:57 pm and is filed under Cardinals, Derek Jeter, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Mariners, Marlins, Orioles, Pete Rose, Red Sox, Reds, Wheaties, White Sox, Yankees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.