[Ads-l] Problematic Definition of "M.V.P."

[Shapiro, Fred]

The OED's definition of "M.V.P." is somewhat off-base. The definition is: "MVP n. U.S. Sport (originally Baseball) most valuable player, (an award given to) the best player in a team (also in extended use)."

If this definition was correct, there would be 30 M.V.P. awards given in baseball every year.  A better definition would be something like "an award given to the player in a league who was most valuable to his or her team's success."  (I realize that that definition is not entirely satisfactory either, since it ignores the complexities stemming from different criteria used by different sportswriters.)

Fred Shapiro

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