Atlanta Daily World

Pressure is being built up to pass along the most valuable player in the American League award to Ted Williams, the Boston Red Sox slugger. Ted is an admirable performer, and despite his eccentricities, has many admirers.

But here is one man who enters a demurrer to the campaign to give the accolade to Ted. I think the player who deserves the MVP honor in the junior major league is Al Smith, the handyman of the Cleveland Indians.

Sure, Williams is a spectacular performer. Sure, he has helped spark the Red Sox to a first division finish and made the team one of the surprises of the season.

But I doubt that even the most rabid Williams' partisan will insist that the Thumper has meant as much to the Red Sox as Smith has to the Indians. On sheer versatility alone, Smith merits the vote. But his consistent performances throughout the season have been responsible for keeping the Indians in the thick of an extremely close pennant race.

Both Manager Al Lopez and General Manager Hank Greenberg have said that without Smith the Cleveland club might just as well have been in the Three-I League.

The 27-year-old Smith has played on less than six positions as many as three positions in a single contest. For most of the season, he has showed the way in hitting. Among the regulars, he is the team's leading hitter.

He is among the pace-setters in the club in runs and runs batted in. He leads the team in doubles and triples and runs scored and stolen bases.

Smith is respected by the opposition. Just the other week, after the Indians split a crucial double-header with the New York Yankees, manager took solace in this: 'Well, we stopped Smith.'

Stopping Smith in many games this season simply meant that the Indians' attack had been stopped. He also, it seems to me, has made the choice of the MVP an easy one for the American League selectors.