First AL MVP was a pitcher

Tournaments and success always draw interest.
They also generate questions.
Major League Baseball is on the forefront of readers’ minds this month as the playoffs started Tuesday when the Oakland Athletics visit the Kansas City Royals for the American League Wild Card Game. Today the National League will join the party when the San Francisco Giants travel to the Steel City to take on the Pittsburgh Pirates.
And volleyball is also high on the list locally, with the Jay County High School squad in the midst of its best season in more than a decade. The Patriots won their 18th match Monday, tying the 2013 total with nearly three weeks still remaining in the regular season.
We’ll start with baseball.
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How many pitchers have won the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player award and who was the first?
—Phil Ford, Dunkirk

The MVP is often considered an award reserved for hitters, while the Cy Young Award is given to the best pitcher. But the first American League MVP ever given, in 1931, went to a pitcher.
Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics went 31-4 that year with a 2.06 ERA, leading his team to a 107-win season. (His teammate, first baseman Jimmie Foxx, took the award in each of the next two seasons, in which he combined for 106 home runs and 332 RBIs.)
In all the MVP has gone to a pitcher on 21 occasions — 12 in the American League and nine in the National League. The most recent winner was Justin Verlander, who was 24-5 with 250 strikeouts for the Detroit Tigers in 2011.
Pitchers claimed the honor three years in a row in the 1940s, with Detroit’s Hal Newhouser going back-to-back in 1944 and ’45. The only other pitcher to win the award twice is Carl Hubbell of the New York Giants, who picked up his first in 1933 and was the unanimous National League selection in 1936.
The only time pitchers have claimed both the MVP in both leagues was in 1968 when the honors went to the Tigers’ Denny McClain and the St. Louis Cardinals’ Bob Gibson.
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Can you please explain volleyball statistics? What is a kill, a dig, etc.?
—Mary Ann Lewis, Portland

As Mary Ann’s question indicates, volleyball stats can be difficult for the casual fan to decipher. “kill” and “dig” just aren’t words that are seen in other sports.
A kill is any attack (what backyard players commonly call a spike) that lands for a point. Kills are also awarded in other situations, such as when a dig attempt or a set crosses the net and lands on the floor, an attack is blocked out of bounds and when an opposing blocker is called for a net violation.
A dig is earned when a defensive player keeps an attack in play with a pass. Note that digs are only awarded on attacks, and not serves or blocks.
An ace most commonly occurs when a serve lands untouched for a point or is passed but can’t be kept in play. Aces are also awarded when the receiving team is out of rotation or if the passer is called for a reception error.
A block is awarded when a player blocks the ball to the opposing team’s court directly leading to a point.
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Who are you picking to win the wildcard round of the MLB playoffs?
—Nathan Miller, Wanamaker

[Editor’s note: The following predictions were made before the start the MLB?playoffs.]
The American League game pits teams that were contrasts this season. Oakland played .617 ball through the first four months, but went 22-33 in August and September and barely squeaked into the playoffs ahead of division rival Seattle.
Kansas City, meanwhile, was average through July before going 34-21 in the final two months of the regular season to end Major League Baseball’s longest playoff drought.
I’ll take the Royals, who were 5-2 against Oakland this year.
In the National League, the teams, both 88-game winners, are evenly matched.
I favor Madison Bumgartner in the matchup of starting pitchers, but Pittsburgh played better down the stretch as it won 15 games during an 18-game stretch.
I’m picking the Pirates. Phil Ford should be happy.