10 Best Bets For Top Comebacks in 2001.(baseball players)

Former All-Stars Larry Walker, Juan Gonzalez and Mike Mussina are among leading candidates to bounce back from disappointing seasons

THERE'S THE USUAL MOB of candidates for Comeback Player of the Year in 2001, with each one eager to attract the adulation, congratulation and financial recognition certain to attend recovery from his dismal performance of last season.

Turning a negative into a positive always makes for a heartwarming success story. It's an object lesson stressing the value of the dogged determination and hard work of players who manage to shake off a substandard showing by returning to top form.

Still, before listing our choices for the Ten Best Bets to Bounce Back in 2001, or to put it another way, most likely candidates for the Comeback Player of the Year honors, it might be appropriate to consider whether baseball publications and organizations aren't neglecting an opportunity to add another, much-needed award to the long list of current prizes.

No one can deny that in conformity with the dictates of an old popular song, every one of the vast array of baseball awards distributed each winter for the previous season's goings-on accentuates the positive and eliminates the negative.

After all, the upbeat nature of an award is what makes a ballplayer proud to lug home an inscribed ornate plaque or trophy certifying that he has been elected MVP, Rookie of the Year, Gold Glove fielder, Silver Bat hitter, Cy Young pitcher, Fireman of the Year, or Most Genial Post-Game Interviewee. Such a token may be almost as satisfying as tucking an iron-clad contract for $252 million into the safety deposit box.

Yet, this concentration on an entirely positive "spin" tends to become extremely gooey with all the laudatory verbiage and mock humility accompanying the dispensing of awards for outstanding achievement, Such love-ins tum a blind eye on far too many underachieving players.