Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
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. A tally example of the 1999 American League Most Valuable Player Award can be found here that uses the Borda count voting method.
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Chalmers Award (1911-1914)
Prior to the 1910 season, Hugh Chalmers of the Chalmers Automobile Company announced a new promotion to capitalize on baseball's burgeoning popularity: he promised a automobile to the batting champion in each league. This led to a controversy in the American League; Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie entered the final day of the 1910 season, neck-and-neck. The St. Louis Browns, playing Lajoie's Cleveland team, played their infield back, allowing Lajoie to beat out seven bunt singles in a doubleheader and win the title. Debate raged over the outcome, including whether this action was sportsmanlike (St. Louis's manager Jack O'Connor was fired for his role in the affair). [1] Chalmers, attempting to stay above the debacle, awarded automobiles to both players.
For 1911, Chalmers decided that batting average was too narrow a focus for an award. He announced 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." [2] This was the first attempt to recognize a player for overall contributions to his team's success—hence the designation Most Valuable rather than "player of the year", a distinction which remains today.
Year | National League | American League |
---|---|---|
1911 | Wildfire Schulte, Chicago Cubs, OF | Ty Cobb, Detroit Tigers, OF |
1912 | Larry Doyle, New York Giants, 2B | Tris Speaker, Boston Red Sox, OF |
1913 | Jake Daubert, Brooklyn Dodgers, 1B | Walter Johnson, Washington Senators, P |
1914 | Johnny Evers, Boston Braves, 2B | Eddie Collins, Philadelphia Athletics, 2B |
After 1914, interest in the award had diminished, and it was quietly retired.
League Awards (1922-1929)
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." [3] 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." [4]
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 attributes the demise of the AL award to three factors: [5]
- 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.
Year | National League | American League |
---|---|---|
1922 | No winner | George Sisler, St. Louis Browns, 1B |
1923 | No winner | Babe Ruth, New York Yankees, OF |
1924 | Dazzy Vance, Brooklyn Robins, P | Walter Johnson, Washington Nationals, P |
1925 | Rogers Hornsby, St. Louis Cardinals, 2B | Roger Peckinpaugh, Washington Nationals, SS |
1926 | Bob O'Farrell, St. Louis Cardinals, C | George Burns, Cleveland Indians, 1B |
1927 | Paul Waner, Pittsburgh Pirates, OF | Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees, 1B |
1928 | Jim Bottomley, St. Louis Cardinals, 1B | Mickey Cochrane, Philadelphia Athletics, C |
1929 | Rogers Hornsby, Chicago Cubs, 2B | No winner |
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 [6], and baseball-reference.com [7]) 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. [8]
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 [9] 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 the ranked choice method. 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.
*Denotes unanimous decision.
Multiple Winners*
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 |
Ernie Banks | 2 | 1958-59 |
Johnny Bench | 2 | 1970, 1972 |
Juan Gonzalez | 2 | 1996, 1998 |
Hank Greenberg | 2 | 1935, 1940 |
Carl Hubbell | 2 | 1933, 1936 |
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 |
Cal Ripken, Jr. | 2 | 1983, 1991 |
Frank Robinson | 2 | 1961, 1966 |
Alex Rodriguez | 2 | 2003, 2005 |
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 1915-1921). This meant that during many of Babe Ruth's most dominant years - such as his famous year in 1927 - he was not even considered for the honor. Many of his seasons were on par with his MVP year of 1923, such as from 1920-21, 23-24, and again from 1926-1931.[10] It's even possible that Ruth could have won 5 in a row, and as many as 9 overall awards.[11][12].
Awards by Team
Team | Awards |
---|---|
New York Yankees | 21 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 18 |
New York/San Francisco Giants | 13 |
Philadelphia/Oakland Athletics | 13 |
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers | 12 |
Cincinnati Reds | 11 |
Boston Red Sox | 10 |
Chicago Cubs | 10 |
Detroit Tigers | 9 |
Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves | 7 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 7 |
Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins | 7 |
St. Louis Browns/Baltimore Orioles | 6 |
Philadelphia Phillies | 6 |
Texas Rangers | 5 |
Chicago White Sox | 4 |
Cleveland Indians | 3 |
Milwaukee Brewers | 3 |
California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels | 2 |
Seattle Mariners | 2 |
Kansas City Royals | 1 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 1 |
Houston Astros | 1 |
San Diego Padres | 1 |
Colorado Rockies | 1 |
New York Mets | 0 |
Florida Marlins | 0 |
Montreal Expos/Washington Nationals | 0 |
Tampa Bay Devil Rays | 0 |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 0 |
See also
References
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Review-The Week In Sports-Outlook". (September 28, 1925). The New York Times, Sports, p. 17.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ http://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/mvp_cya.shtml Baseball-reference.com Awards Page
- ^ 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.
- ^ http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/Landis_Kenesaw.htm National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum web site
- ^ Babe Ruth career stats
- ^ Baseball Digest: MVP awards
- ^ MVP winners since 1931 on MLB.com