Juan Gonzalez, the slugger who strikes fear in pitchers opposing the Rangers, is the American League Most Valuable Player for 1996 by the vote of of the Baseball Writers Association of America. And, possibly, by mistake.

Gonzalez outpolled Mariners shortstop Alex Rodriguez, 290 points to 287, to become the second MVP in the Rangers' history. But a ballot cast by a baseball writer in Oakland may have had as much to do with the outcome as anything either player did on the field.

John Hickey of the Oakland Tribune voted Gonzalez first and Rodriguez seventh on the 10-place ballot, awarding the winner 14 points and Rodriquez four points. Rodriguez was named first, second, third and fourth on each of the other 27 ballots. Asked about his ballot, cast before the playoffs as are all BBWAA ballots, Hickey first said he thought he had voted Rodriguez second, later explained how he had dropped the shortstop from fifth to seventh and eventually said "I'm surprised I voted him {Rodriguez} that low."

Had Hickey voted Rodriquez second (nine points) or third (eight), the Mariners would have had the first MVP in their history.

For that matter, had either voter from the Seattle chapter of the BBWAA voted Rodriguez first, the shortstop would have won. But Jim Street of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Bob Finnigan of the Seattle Times cast first-place votes for Ken Griffey, who placed fourth. And with the Mariners' two brightest stars splitting votes, Gonzalez emerged as the winner in balloting that matched the second closest in the history of the American League award.

Joe DiMaggio won the 1947 award by one point over Ted Williams. Roger Maris won the 1960 award over Mickey Mantle by three points, one point less than Maris' margin of victory over Mantle in 1961.

The National League balloting in 1979 produced a tie between Keith Hernandez, then of the Cardinals, and Willie Stargell, and Marty Marion won the 1944 award by one point over Bill Nicholson.

Gonzalez, 27, earned a $250,000 bonus for winning. He placed second in the league in RBI (144, despite missing 28 games) and slugging percentage (.643) while hitting 47 home runs. Rodriguez, 21, led the league in batting (.358), runs (141) and total bases (379), driving in 123 runs and producing a .414 on-base percentage.

Gonzalez received 11 first-place votes, one more than Rodriguez, and was as low as fifth on two ballots. Albert Belle, who finished third, had two first-place votes and 59 fewer points than Rodriguez. Griffey had two more first-place votes than Belle, the 1995 runner-up to Mo Vaughn. Griffey was the Mariners' first runner-up, to Frank Thomas, in 1991.

Vaughn placed fifth this year. Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez, who placed 10th overall, received one first-place vote - from Bill Ballou of the Boston chapter and the Worcester (Mass.) Telegram. Ballou's ballot listed Alex Rodriguez second and Gonzalez fourth.

Mariano Rivera was the Yankees' leading vote-getter. He placed 12th with 27 points, having received one second-place vote for one-third of his point total. Rivera's 12th place marked the first time in the 56-year history of the MVP award (two awards each year) that the team that won the World Series had no player place among the top 10. In fact, 38 MVPs played for World Series champions. But not since 1988 - Kirk Gibson, Dodgers - has a league MVP played for a World Series champion.

Andy Pettitte (11), Bernie Williams (6) and John Wetteland (4) also received votes, meaning the Yankees received 48 total points, four fewer than Ivan Rodriguez and 30 fewer than Kirby Puckett received in 1991 when, as the seventh-highest vote-getter in the league, he was the leading vote-getter among the World Series champion Twins.