Baseball already has an integrity problem, and at least two reporters in the Baseball Writers’ Association of America are not helping.

Alex Rodriguez got all of the first-place votes for AL MVP…except for the two that went to Maglio Ordonez of the Detroit Tigers.

The two reporters? From Michigan, of course: Tom Gage of The Detroit News and Jim Hawkins of The Oakland Press in Pontiac.

Should Ordonez get credit for his batting title? Absolutely. Was he his league’s most valuable player? Not a chance. And these two homer reporters diluted what should have been a clear-cut unanimous MVP for Rodriguez.

This same kind of stunt was pulled when Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr., were denied unanimous acceptance into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Thirteen of 545 writers left Gwynn off their ballots; eight dissed Cal.

The writers of the BBWAA should be held accountable. I move that Gage’s and Hawkins’s be kicked out of the BBWAA, along with the writers who omitted Gwynn or Ripken, Jr. These writers should not be the story. The players they report on should be.