David Freese and the 10 Most Unlikely World Series MVPs

When the St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series tonight, I was expecting Lance Berkman and his .423 World Series batting average to take home series MVP honors. 

Instead, the award was given to third baseman and St. Louis native David Freese, whose clutch hits over the previous two games were instrumental in the team taking home a championship.  This was shocking considering how Berkman is easily the superior player.

Yet, looking at the annals of World Series history, such a decision isn't exactly crazy.  More often than not, some interesting choices have been made regarding the naming of the World Series MVP.

That being said, let's dive right in and count down the 10 most unlikely World Series MVPs of all time.

No. 10: Ray Knight, 1986

Looking at the roster of the 1986 New York Mets, you'll see the following big names jump out at you: Gary Carter, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden and many others. 

That being said, it's kind of shocking how the MVP of this epic World Series was a fairly average third baseman named Ray Knight.  That season, Knight hit .298 with 11 homers and 76 RBI.

While it could be argued that closer Jesse Orosco was a viable candidate for the award, it instead went to Knight and his clutch hitting.  The man hit .391 with a home run and five RBI.  He scored the winning run in the legendary Game 6 and hit the tie-breaking home run in the clinching Game 7.

Seeing as how he had a decent season that year, Knight is the perfect man to kick off this list.

No. 9: Edgar Renteria, 2010

By 2010, Edgar Renteria was basically an oft-injured backup shortstop.  On the regular season, he hit .276 with three home runs and 22 RBI in just 72 games for the San Francisco Giants.  To be honest, it was shocking that he made the team's postseason roster at all.

Yet, in the World Series, Renteria answered the bell to a tune of a .412 batting average, two homers and six RBI.  He broke a scoreless tie in Game 2 with a solo shot off of Texas Rangers southpaw C.J. Wilson and later added a two-run single in a 9-0 victory.  In Game 5, he once again broke a scoreless tie with a three-run shot off of the dangerous Cliff Lee as the Giants went on to win that game and the World Series.

Considering how last year's Fall Classic was defined by pitching, it was definitely a surprise to see Renteria named MVP.

No. 8: Scott Brosius, 1998

Looking at the 1998 New York Yankees, some big names jump out in the same way as the 1986 Mets: Derek Jeter, Paul O'Neill, Mariano Rivera, etc. 

One wouldn't think that an above average third baseman named Scott Brosius, who hit .300 that year with 19 home runs and 98 RBI, would be extremely noteworthy on a team that won a grand total of 125 games from start to finish.

Rather, Brosius was the savior of the World Series in 1998, where his Yankees played the San Diego Padres.  In Game 3, he hit two home runs, including one off of dangerous closer Trevor Hoffman.  For the entire four-game series, he hit .471 with two homers and six RBI.

His production dropped after that year, but Yankees fans will always remember the Oregon native for his borderline magical 1998 Fall Classic.

No. 7: David Eckstein, 2006

At 5'6" and 170 pounds, David Eckstein is the last man I would expect to have a World Series MVP award under his belt.  Yet, he won it with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2006 despite his lack of star power when compared to teammates Albert Pujols and Scott Rolen.

In that series Eckstein hit .364 with four RBI, his highlight performance being his 4-for-5 campaign in Game 4.  He hit four doubles in that contest as the Cardinals went on to win 5-4 and take a 3-1 lead in the series.

No. 6: David Freese, 2011

In the 2011 World Series, David Freese hit .348 with one home run and seven RBI.  As I said before, I thought that All-Star outfielder Lance Berkman would take the award seeing as how he hit over .400 and was clutch when he needed to be.  On top of that, Freese only appeared in 97 games over the season and hit .297 with 10 homers and 55 RBI.

Yet, Freese answered the bell more often than Berkman, as his clutch hits changed the momentum of the series.  In Game 6, he tied the game with an epic triple when the Cardinals were down to their last strike.  Two innings later, with the score tied again after another miraculous comeback highlighted by Berkman, Freese hit a walk-off home run to force Game 7.

The St. Louis native continued his magic tonight when he hit a game-tying double in the first inning as his teammates took over from there.  Sure enough, this man earned the award.

No. 5: Rick Dempsey, 1983

In a whopping 24 seasons played, catcher Rick Dempsey wasn't exactly what one would call impressive.  He hit just .233 with 96 homers and 471 RBI, never once appearing in an All-Star Game.  Yet, Dempsey will always have one particularly fond memory: the 1983 World Series.

As the catcher for the Baltimore Orioles, Dempsey hit .385 with a .923 slugging percentage as Baltimore beat the Philadelphia Phillies in five games.  He was named the World Series MVP of a team that featured future Hall of Famers like Cal Ripken, Jr. and Eddie Murray, not to mention the amazing Jim Palmer.

Considering the company he kept on the team, Dempsey's honor as series MVP is all the more amazing.

No. 4: Bucky Dent, 1978

After hitting a legendary home run that put the New York Yankees in the postseason, Bucky Dent's October magic continued into the World Series.  The normally light-hitting shortstop hit an impressive .417 with 10 hits and seven RBI in six games, as the Bronx Bombers went on to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers for the second consecutive year.

Ready for the crazy part?  Dent edged out Reggie Jackson for the award, and Jackson hit .391 with two home runs and eight RBI.

No. 3: Gene Tenace, 1972

Though Gene Tenace would eventually go on to become a decent power bat over the course of his 15-year career, he was nothing but a backup utility man/catcher on the 1972 Oakland Athletics.  He only played in 82 games that year and hit .225 with five homers and 32 RBI.  Yet, in that year's World Series, he turned on the afterburners.

Tenace was the most productive hitter in the series' seven games, batting an incredible .348 with four home runs and nine RBI.  Sure enough, he was a starter the next year and hit 24 home runs.  His winning the award is pretty impressive considering he was teammates with Hall of Famers like Reggie Jackson and Jim "Catfish" Hunter.

No. 2: Pat Borders, 1992

On the 1992 World Series-winning Toronto Blue Jays, average-hitting catcher Pat Borders was just a face in the crowd during the regular season.  The team featured stars like Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter and Dave Winfield, so Borders and his .242 batting average to go with his 13 homers and 53 RBI got lost in the shuffle.

Yet, when October rolled around, Borders was simply king.  As his team faced the favored Atlanta Braves in the Fall Classic, he batted a whopping .450 with a home run and three RBI along with a total of nine hits.  That led all position players on the team in terms of World Series stats.

No. 1: Bobby Richardson, 1960

Bobby Richardson's 1960 World Series was simply epic.  He hit .367 with 11 hits (including a home run) and 12 RBI.  This was enough to beat out teammate Mickey Mantle, who hit .400 with three home runs and 11 RBI in the seven-game series.

Yet, this World Series MVP award is interesting for one reason and one reason only.  Richardson may have taken this honor home, but his New York Yankees lost the series to the Pittsburgh Pirates.  To date, he is the only player to win this award for the losing team.