Jump to content

Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 208.196.162.2 (talk) at 19:09, 5 October 2009 (→Awards by Team). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

File:Euronyr12105200255 widec.jpg
The Most Valuable Player award.
Barry Bonds' seven MVP awards are the most for any individual player.

The Most Valuable Player Award (commonly known as the MVP award) is an annual award given to one outstanding player in each league of Major League Baseball. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

Award winners

Key

Year Links to the article about the corresponding Major League Baseball season
† Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
^ Denotes player who is still active

Chalmers Award (1911–1914)

Ty Cobb won the first American League Chalmers Award in 1911 and was at the center of the controversy over the earlier 1910 award.
See also: 1910 Chalmers Award

Prior to the 1910 season, Hugh Chalmers of the Chalmers Automobile announced a new promotion: he would present a Chalmers Model 30 automobile to the player with the highest batting average in the Majors at the end of the season. Though Sherry Magee led the National League with a .331 average, the race for best average was between American League players Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie. Cobb sat out the Tigers final two games, claiming an injury, which would make it difficult for Lajoie to overtake Cobb's .383 seasonal average in the 2 remaining games of the season. However in those two games, a doubleheader between Lajoie's Indians and the St. Louis Browns, Lajoie went 8 for 9 raising his seasonal average to .384 and barely beating Cobb. Notably, Browns third baseman Red Corriden played very far back at his position, supposedly under the instruction of Browns manager Jack O'Connor, which allowed Lajoie to get 7 bunt hits.[1] Debate arose over the issue and the sportsmanship of O'Connor's strategy and he was ultimately fired.[2] Chalmers, trying to avoid the conflict, awarded cars to both players.[1]

For 1911, Chalmers created the Chalmers Award, which was to be given to the player in each league who "should prove himself as the most important and useful player to his club and to the league at large in point of deportment and value of services rendered." The award was retired in 1914.[1][2]

American League

Year Player Team Position Selected statistics Ref
1911 Ty Cobb† Detroit Tigers CF
1912 Tris Speaker† Boston Red Sox CF
1913 Walter Johnson† Washington Senators P
1914 Eddie Collins† Philadelphia Athletics 2B

National League

Year Player Team Position Selected statistics Ref
1911 Frank Schulte Chicago Cubs RF
1912 Larry Doyle New York Giants 2B
1913 Jake Daubert Brooklyn Dodgers 1B
1914 Johnny Evers† Boston Braves 2B

League Awards (1922–1929)

Babe Ruth was ineligible for the award in his famous 1927 season by the rules of the American League award because he had previously won in 1923.

In 1922 the American League Trophy Committee was formed to "honor the baseball player who is of greatest all-round service to his club and credit to the sport during each season; to recognize and reward uncommon skill and ability when exercised by a player for the best interests of his team, and to perpetuate his memory."[2] One writer from each AL city was chosen, and asked to select and rank exactly one player from each of the eight AL teams to be considered for the award. Player-managers and previous winners were considered ineligible. This system had some notable differences with that of today. Since a voter could only select one player per team, two good candidates from the same team could find their votes split and both of their chances of winning hurt. In addition, the clause prohibiting repeat winners led to unusual results like Babe Ruth's 1927 (one of the greatest offensive seasons of all time) not being eligible for the award. As the New York Times wrote in 1925, "[T]he purpose, of course, is to pass the honor around, but the effect is to pass an empty honor around."[3]

Conscious of these issues, the National League instituted its own award in 1924, with a $1000 prize accompanying the honor. In its version, writers were allowed to vote for ten players, with no team restrictions imposed. Player-managers were eligible for consideration, and before long previous winners were as well.

The league-chosen awards proved to be short-lived, however. Bill Deane in Total Baseball attributes the demise of the AL award to three factors: [2]

  • The award's loss of credibility due to the restrictions on voters.
  • The failure of commissioner Ban Johnson to secure passage of a bill creating a monument in Washington, D.C. which was to have been engraved with the names of award winners.
  • Management's concern with award winners using the honor as leverage to secure pay raises.

On May 6, 1929, the American League clubs voted to discontinue their award immediately, and the National League followed suit but agreed to give an award for 1929.

American League

Year Player Team Position Selected statistics Ref
1922 George Sisler† St. Louis Browns 1B
1923 Babe Ruth† New York Yankees RF
1924 Walter Johnson† Washington Senators P
1925 Roger Peckinpaugh Washington Senators SS
1926 George Burns Cleveland Indians 1B
1927 Lou Gehrig† New York Yankees 1B
1928 Mickey Cochrane† Philadelphia Athletics C
1929 — — — — —

National League

Year Player Team Position Selected statistics Ref
1922 — — — — —
1923 — — — — —
1924 Dazzy Vance† Brooklyn Robins P
1925 Rogers Hornsby† St. Louis Cardinals 2B
1926 Bob O'Farrell St. Louis Cardinals C
1927 Paul Waner† Pittsburgh Pirates OF
1928 Jim Bottomley† St. Louis Cardinals 1B
1929 Rogers Hornsby† St. Louis Cardinals 2B

Baseball Writers Association of America's Most Valuable Player

In the void left by the demise of the league's own awards, the Baseball Writers Association of America took a poll in October 1929 to choose an unofficial AL Most Valuable Player. Their selection was Lew Fonseca of Cleveland. The Sporting News went one step further, conducting a poll in January 1930 of the writers who had previously voted on the official awards; their choice was Al Simmons of the Philadelphia Athletics. In 1930, with neither league officially selecting an MVP, TSN made unofficial selections for both leagues, choosing Joe Cronin for the AL and Bill Terry for the NL, while the BBWAA gave a National League award (Hack Wilson) and the Associated Press an AL award (Cronin).

Year American League National League
1929 (BBWAA) Lew Fonseca, Cleveland Indians
Al Simmons (TSN), Philadelphia Athletics 		n/a
1930 (TSN/AP) Joe Cronin (TSN) Bill Terry
(BBWAA) Hack Wilson

For the 1931 season, the BBWAA revisited its selection process and committed itself to electing most valuable players for both leagues; this is considered by most sources (including Total Baseball, The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract,[4] and baseball-reference.com[5]) to be the beginning of the modern MVP award, though it was not officially recognized by the leagues. The Sporting News continued to give its own awards until 1938, when it temporarily agreed to unify its selections with the BBWAA's (it continued to give its own trophy, however). TSN went back to its own selections for 1944 and 1945, until requested by Commissioner Happy Chandler to withdraw in order to lend legitimacy to the BBWAA awards. By 1948, however, TSN was back to making its own selections, which it has done ever since.[2]

In 1956 the Cy Young Award was first given to the best pitcher in Major League Baseball (the current practice of honoring the best pitcher in each league did not begin until 1967). After that, the belief arose that the Most Valuable Player ought to be a position player, based on two factors, one being that pitchers had their own award, and the other being that pitchers could not be considered as valuable as position players since they do not play every day. On occasion, though, pitchers still win the award, and the current rules for the MVP specifically state that pitchers are to be considered. Since 1967, when the Cy Young has been awarded in both leagues, pitchers have won the MVP award 7 times, the last being Dennis Eckersley in 1992.

Since 1944, the MVP Award has been called the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Award[6] in honor of baseball's first commissioner; winners receive a trophy, and their names are engraved on a plaque in the National Baseball Library, an ongoing research project of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Since 1938, votes have been cast using a positional voting system. Each elector votes for 10 players, ranking each player from 1–10. The player ranked first on a ballot is assigned 14 points, the player ranked second is assigned 9 points, on down to the player ranked 10th, who receives one point.

1931–present

Year National League American League
1931 Frankie Frisch, St. Louis Cardinals, 2B Lefty Grove, Philadelphia Athletics, P
1932 Chuck Klein, Philadelphia Phillies, OF Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia Athletics, 1B
1933 Carl Hubbell, New York Giants, P Jimmie Foxx, Philadelphia Athletics, 1B
1934 Dizzy Dean, St. Louis Cardinals, P Mickey Cochrane, Detroit Tigers, C
1935 Gabby Hartnett, Chicago Cubs, C Hank Greenberg, Detroit Tigers, 1B
1936 Carl Hubbell, New York Giants, P Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, 1B
1937 Joe Medwick, St. Louis Cardinals, OF Charlie Gehringer, Detroit Tigers, 2B
1938 Ernie Lombardi, Cincinnati Reds, C Jimmie Foxx, Boston Red Sox, 1B
1939 Bucky Walters, Cincinnati Reds, P Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees, OF
1940 Frank McCormick, Cincinnati Reds, 1B Hank Greenberg, Detroit Tigers, OF
1941 Dolph Camilli, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1B Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees, OF
1942 Mort Cooper, St. Louis Cardinals, P Joe Gordon, New York Yankees, 2B
1943 Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals, OF Spud Chandler, New York Yankees, P
1944 Marty Marion, St. Louis Cardinals, SS Hal Newhouser, Detroit Tigers, P
1945 Phil Cavarretta, Chicago Cubs, 1B Hal Newhouser, Detroit Tigers, P
1946 Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox, OF
1947 Bob Elliott, Boston Braves, 3B Joe DiMaggio, New York Yankees, OF
1948 Stan Musial, St. Louis Cardinals, OF Lou Boudreau, Cleveland Indians, SS
1949 Jackie Robinson, Brooklyn Dodgers, 2B Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox, OF
1950 Jim Konstanty, Philadelphia Phillies, P Phil Rizzuto, New York Yankees, SS
1951 Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodgers, C Yogi Berra, New York Yankees, C
1952 Hank Sauer, Chicago Cubs, OF Bobby Shantz, Philadelphia Athletics, P
1953 Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodgers, C Al Rosen, Cleveland Indians, 3B
1954 Willie Mays, New York Giants, OF Yogi Berra, New York Yankees, C
1955 Roy Campanella, Brooklyn Dodgers, C Yogi Berra, New York Yankees, C
1956 Don Newcombe, Brooklyn Dodgers, P Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, OF
1957 Hank Aaron, Milwaukee Braves, OF Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, OF
1958 Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs, SS Jackie Jensen, Boston Red Sox, OF
1959 Ernie Banks, Chicago Cubs, SS Nellie Fox, Chicago White Sox, 2B
1960 Dick Groat, Pittsburgh Pirates, SS Roger Maris, New York Yankees, OF
1961 Frank Robinson, Cincinnati Reds, OF Roger Maris, New York Yankees, OF
1962 Maury Wills, Los Angeles Dodgers, SS Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, OF
1963 Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers, P Elston Howard, New York Yankees, C
1964 Ken Boyer, St. Louis Cardinals, 3B Brooks Robinson, Baltimore Orioles, 3B
1965 Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants, OF Zoilo Versalles, Minnesota Twins, SS
1966 Roberto Clemente, Pittsburgh Pirates, OF Frank Robinson, Baltimore Orioles, OF
1967 Orlando Cepeda, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B Carl Yastrzemski, Boston Red Sox, OF
1968 Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals, P Denny McLain, Detroit Tigers, P
1969 Willie McCovey, San Francisco Giants, 1B Harmon Killebrew, Minnesota Twins, 3B
1970 Johnny Bench, Cincinnati Reds, C Boog Powell, Baltimore Orioles, 1B
1971 Joe Torre, St. Louis Cardinals, 3B Vida Blue, Oakland Athletics, P
1972 Johnny Bench, Cincinnati Reds, C Dick Allen, Chicago White Sox, 1B
1973 Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds, OF Reggie Jackson, Oakland Athletics, OF
1974 Steve Garvey, Los Angeles Dodgers, 1B Jeff Burroughs, Texas Rangers, OF
1975 Joe Morgan, Cincinnati Reds, 2B Fred Lynn, Boston Red Sox, OF
1976 Joe Morgan, Cincinnati Reds, 2B Thurman Munson, New York Yankees, C
1977 George Foster, Cincinnati Reds, OF Rod Carew, Minnesota Twins, 1B
1978 Dave Parker, Pittsburgh Pirates, OF Jim Rice, Boston Red Sox, OF
1979 Keith Hernandez, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B
Willie Stargell, Pittsburgh Pirates, 1B 		Don Baylor, California Angels, DH
1980 Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies, 3B George Brett, Kansas City Royals, 3B
1981 Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies, 3B Rollie Fingers, Milwaukee Brewers, P
1982 Dale Murphy, Atlanta Braves, OF Robin Yount, Milwaukee Brewers, SS
1983 Dale Murphy, Atlanta Braves, OF Cal Ripken, Jr., Baltimore Orioles, SS
1984 Ryne Sandberg, Chicago Cubs, 2B Willie Hernandez, Detroit Tigers, P
1985 Willie McGee, St. Louis Cardinals, OF Don Mattingly, New York Yankees, 1B
1986 Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies, 3B Roger Clemens, Boston Red Sox, P
1987 Andre Dawson, Chicago Cubs, OF George Bell, Toronto Blue Jays, OF
1988 Kirk Gibson, Los Angeles Dodgers, OF José Canseco, Oakland Athletics, OF
1989 Kevin Mitchell, San Francisco Giants, OF Robin Yount, Milwaukee Brewers, OF
1990 Barry Bonds, Pittsburgh Pirates, OF Rickey Henderson, Oakland Athletics, OF
1991 Terry Pendleton, Atlanta Braves, 3B Cal Ripken, Jr., Baltimore Orioles, SS
1992 Barry Bonds, Pittsburgh Pirates, OF Dennis Eckersley, Oakland Athletics, P
1993 Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, OF Frank Thomas, Chicago White Sox, 1B
1994 Jeff Bagwell, Houston Astros, 1B Frank Thomas, Chicago White Sox, 1B
1995 Barry Larkin, Cincinnati Reds, SS Mo Vaughn, Boston Red Sox, 1B
1996 Ken Caminiti, San Diego Padres, 3B Juan González, Texas Rangers, OF
1997 Larry Walker, Colorado Rockies, OF Ken Griffey, Jr., Seattle Mariners, OF
1998 Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs, OF Juan González, Texas Rangers, OF
1999 Chipper Jones, Atlanta Braves, 3B Iván Rodríguez, Texas Rangers, C
2000 Jeff Kent, San Francisco Giants, 2B Jason Giambi, Oakland Athletics, 1B
2001 Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, OF Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle Mariners, OF
2002 Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, OF Miguel Tejada, Oakland Athletics, SS
2003 Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, OF Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers, SS
2004 Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants, OF Vladimir Guerrero, Anaheim Angels, OF
2005 Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees, 3B
2006 Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies, 1B Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins, 1B
2007 Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia Phillies, SS Alex Rodriguez, New York Yankees, 3B
2008 Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B Dustin Pedroia, Boston Red Sox, 2B

Multiple Winners

Jimmie Foxx was the first player to win three MVP awards.
Player Awards Years
Barry Bonds 7 1990, 1992–93, 2001–04
Yogi Berra 3 1951, 1954–55
Roy Campanella 3 1951, 1953, 1955
Joe DiMaggio 3 1939, 1941, 1947
Jimmie Foxx 3 1932–33, 1938
Mickey Mantle 3 1956–57, 1962
Stan Musial 3 1943, 1946, 1948
Mike Schmidt 3 1980–81, 1986
Alex Rodriguez 3 2003, 2005, 2007
Ernie Banks 2 1958–59
Johnny Bench 2 1970, 1972
Mickey Cochrane 2 1928, 1934
Lou Gehrig 2 1927, 1936
Juan Gonzalez 2 1996, 1998
Hank Greenberg 2 1935, 1940
Rogers Hornsby 2 1925, 1929
Carl Hubbell 2 1933, 1936
Walter Johnson 2 1913, 1924
Roger Maris 2 1960–61
Willie Mays 2 1954, 1965
Joe Morgan 2 1975–76
Dale Murphy 2 1982–83
Hal Newhouser 2 1944–45
Albert Pujols 2 2005, 2008
Cal Ripken, Jr. 2 1983, 1991
Frank Robinson 2 1961, 1966
Frank Thomas 2 1993–94
Ted Williams 2 1946, 1949
Robin Yount 2 1982, 1989
  • Note: the current version of the MVP award has been given since 1931. Prior to that year, the League Awards were only given to a player once (from 1922–1929) and sometimes not at all (from 1876–1909, and again from 1915–1921).

Awards by Team

Team Awards
New York Yankees 20
St. Louis Cardinals 19
Philadelphia/Oakland Athletics 13
New York/San Francisco Giants 13
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers 12
Cincinnati Reds 11
Boston Red Sox 11
Detroit Tigers 9
Chicago Cubs 8
Pittsburgh Pirates 7
Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves 7
Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins 7
Philadelphia Phillies 7
St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles 6
Texas Rangers 5
Chicago White Sox 4
Cleveland Indians 3
Minnesota Twins

3

Milwaukee Brewers

3
Seattle Mariners 2
California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels 2
Kansas City Royals 1
Toronto Blue Jays 1
Houston Astros 1
San Diego Padres 1
Colorado Rockies 1
Arizona Diamondbacks 0
Florida Marlins 0
Washington Nationals 0
New York Mets 0
Tampa Bay Rays 0

Voting criteria

The ballot instructions mailed out to each voter each year are:

"There is no clear-cut definition of what Most Valuable means. It is up to the individual voter to decide who was the Most Valuable Player in each league to his team. The MVP need not come from a division winner or other playoff qualifier. The rules of the voting remain the same as they were written on the first ballot in 1931:

  1. Actual value of a player to his team, that is, strength of offense and defense.
  2. Number of games played.
  3. General character, disposition, loyalty and effort.
  4. Former winners are eligible.
  5. Members of the committee may vote for more than one member of a team.

You are also urged to give serious consideration to all your selections, from one to ten. A tenth-place vote can influence the outcome of an election. You must fill in all ten places on your ballot. Keep in mind that all players are eligible for MVP, and that includes pitchers and designated hitters. Only regular-season performances are to be taken into consideration."

— Fox Sports writer Dayn Perry, quoted from the BBWAA ballot[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Muder, Craig (25 March 2009). "Inside Pitch — March 25, 2009". National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Retrieved 21 September 2009.
  2. ^ a b c d e Deane, Bill, Thorn, John (ed.), and Palmer, Pete (ed.) (1993). "Awards and Honors." In Total Baseball (3rd ed.). New York: HarperCollins Publishers. ISBN 0-06-273189-0.
  3. ^ "Review-The Week In Sports-Outlook". (September 28, 1925). The New York Times, Sports, p. 17.
  4. ^ "Since the Baseball Writers officially launched their MVP Award in 1931..." James, Bill. The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract (p. 786). New York: The Free Press. ISBN 0-684-80697-5.
  5. ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/mvp_cya.shtml Baseball-reference.com Awards Page
  6. ^ http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/Landis_Kenesaw.htm National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum web site
  7. ^ Perry, Dayn (2009-08-20). "Mauer gets nod in AL MVP voting ... for now". FOX Sports. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Major_League_Baseball_Most_Valuable_Player_Award&oldid=318102439"