Sport | Baseball |
---|---|
League | Major League Baseball |
Awarded for | Regular season most valuable player of American League and National League |
Country | United States, Canada |
Presented by | Baseball Writers' Association of America |
History | |
First award | 1931 |
Most recent | Shohei Ohtani (NL) Aaron Judge (AL) |
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is an annual Major League Baseball (MLB) award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. The award has been presented by the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) since 1931.
Since 1931, the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) has bestowed a most valuable player award to a player in the National League and a player in the American League. Before 1931, two similar awards were issued—the League Award was issued during 1922–1928 in the American League and during 1924–1929 in the National League,[1] and during 1911–1914, the Chalmers Award was issued to a player in each league.[2] Criteria and a list of winners for these two earlier awards are detailed in below sections.
MVP voting takes place before the postseason, but the results are not announced until after the World Series. The BBWAA began by polling three writers in each league city in 1938, reducing that number to two per league city in 1961.[3] The BBWAA does not offer a clear-cut definition of what "most valuable" means, instead leaving the judgment to the individual voters.[4][5]
In 1944, the award was named after Kenesaw Mountain Landis, the first Commissioner of Baseball, who served from 1920 until his death on November 25, 1944.[6][7] Formally named the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award, that naming appeared on a plaque given to winning players.[8] Starting in 2020, Landis' name no longer appears on the MVP plaque[9] after the BBWAA received complaints from several former MVP winners about Landis' role against the integration of MLB.[10][11]
First basemen, with 35 winners, have won the most MVPs among infielders, followed by second basemen (16), third basemen (15), and shortstops (15). Of the 25 pitchers who have won the award, 15 are right-handed while 10 are left-handed. Walter Johnson, Carl Hubbell, and Hal Newhouser are the only pitchers who have won multiple times, with Newhouser winning consecutively in 1944 and 1945.[12][13]
Hank Greenberg, Stan Musial, Alex Rodriguez, and Robin Yount have won at different positions,[12] while Rodriguez is the only player who has won the award with two different teams at two different positions.[14] Rodriguez and Andre Dawson are the only players to win the award while on a last-place team, the 2003 Texas Rangers and 1987 Chicago Cubs, respectively. Barry Bonds has won the most often (seven times) and the most consecutively (four from 2001 to 2004).[15] Jimmie Foxx was the first player to win multiple times[16] – 10 players have won three times, and 19 have won twice.[17] Frank Robinson and Shohei Ohtani are the only players to win the award in both the American and National Leagues.
The award's only tie occurred in the National League in 1979, when Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell received an equal number of points.[12][18] There have been 23 unanimous winners, who received all the first-place votes.[3] The New York Yankees have the most winning players with 24, followed by the St. Louis Cardinals with 21 winners. The award has never been presented to a member of the following three teams: Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets, and Tampa Bay Rays.
In recent decades, pitchers have rarely won the award. When Shohei Ohtani won the AL award in 2021, he became the first pitcher in either league to be named the MVP since Clayton Kershaw in 2014, and the first in the American League since Justin Verlander in 2011. Ohtani also became the first two-way player to win the award [19] and in 2023, he became the first player in MLB history to win MVP by unanimous vote twice.[20] Since the creation of the Cy Young Award in 1956, he is the only pitcher to win an MVP award without winning a Cy Young in the same year (Don Newcombe, Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Denny McLain, Vida Blue, Rollie Fingers, Willie Hernández, Roger Clemens, Dennis Eckersley, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw all won a Cy Young award in their MVP seasons). Ohtani is also the only MVP winner to have played most of his games as a designated hitter, a position that normally does not contribute on defense. In 2024, after winning his third career unanimously MVP award, Ohtani became the first MVP winner to have played exclusively as a designated hitter in a given season. To date, Ohtani is the only player to win both the MVP and the Edgar Martínez Award, an award usually given to the top-performing designated hitter in a season.
Ironically, there was no award given by either league in 1930, which meant that one of the single greatest performances ever went unheralded when Hack Wilson of the Chicago Cubs set the (still standing) MLB record for RBI with 191. He also batted .356 and set the NL record with 56 HRs, a record which stood for 68 years until Sammy Sosa (66) and Mark McGwire (70) both eclipsed him.
Year | Links to the article about the corresponding Major League Baseball season |
---|---|
† | Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame as a player[21][22] |
^ | Player is still active[a] |
§ | Unanimous selection[b][3] |
Player (X) | Denotes winning player and number of times they had won the award at that point |
* | Team won the league pennant |
P | Pitcher (RHP indicates right-handed; LHP indicates left-handed) |
C | Catcher |
1B | First baseman |
2B | Second baseman |
3B | Third baseman |
SS | Shortstop |
OF | Outfielder |
DH | Designated hitter |
Before the 1910 season, Hugh Chalmers of Chalmers Automobile announced he would present a Chalmers Model 30 automobile to the player with the highest batting average in Major League Baseball at the end of the season. The 1910 race for best average in the American League was between the Detroit Tigers' widely disliked[3][23][24] Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Indians. On the last day of the season, Lajoie overtook Cobb's batting average with seven bunt hits against the St. Louis Browns.[25] American League President Ban Johnson said a recalculation showed that Cobb had won the race anyway, and Chalmers ended up awarding cars to both players.[3]
In the following season, Chalmers created the Chalmers Award. A committee of baseball writers was to convene after the season to determine the "most important and useful player to the club and the league". Since the award was not as effective at advertising as Chalmers had hoped, it was discontinued after 1914.[3]
Year | American League winner | Team | Position | National League winner | Team | Position | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1911 | Ty Cobb†§ | Detroit Tigers | OF | Frank Schulte | Chicago Cubs | OF | [26] |
1912 | Tris Speaker† | Boston Red Sox | OF | Larry Doyle | New York Giants | 2B | [27] |
1913 | Walter Johnson† | Washington Senators | RHP | Jake Daubert | Brooklyn Superbas | 1B | [28] |
1914 | Eddie Collins† | Philadelphia Athletics | 2B | Johnny Evers† | Boston Braves | 2B | [29] |
In 1922, the American League created a new award to honor "the baseball player who is of the greatest all-around service to his club".[30] Winners, voted on by a committee of eight baseball writers chaired by James Crusinberry,[31] received a bronze medal and a cash prize.[32] Voters were required to select one player from each team, and player-coaches and prior award winners were ineligible. Famously, these criteria resulted in Babe Ruth winning only a single MVP award before it was dropped after 1928. The National League award, without these restrictions, lasted from 1924 to 1929.[3]
Year | American League winner | Team | Position | National League winner | Team | Position | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1922 | George Sisler† | St. Louis Browns | 1B | — | — | — | [33] |
1923 | Babe Ruth†§ | New York Yankees | OF | — | — | — | [34] |
1924 | Walter Johnson† (2) | Washington Senators | RHP | Dazzy Vance† | Brooklyn Robins | RHP | [35] |
1925 | Roger Peckinpaugh | Washington Senators | SS | Rogers Hornsby† | St. Louis Cardinals | 2B | [36] |
1926 | George Burns | Cleveland Indians | 1B | Bob O'Farrell | St. Louis Cardinals | C | [37] |
1927 | Lou Gehrig† | New York Yankees | 1B | Paul Waner† | Pittsburgh Pirates | OF | [38] |
1928 | Mickey Cochrane† | Philadelphia Athletics | C | Jim Bottomley† | St. Louis Cardinals | 1B | [39] |
1929 | — | — | — | Rogers Hornsby† (2) | Chicago Cubs | 2B | [40] |
The Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) was first awarded the modern MVP after the 1931 season, adopting the format the National League used to distribute its league award. One writer in each city with a team filled out a ten-place ballot, with ten points for the recipient of a first-place vote, nine for a second-place vote, and so on. In 1938, the BBWAA raised the number of voters to three per city and gave 14 points for a first-place vote. The only significant change since then occurred in 1961 when the number of voters was reduced to two per league city.[3]
Year | American League winner | Team | Position | National League winner | Team | Position | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1931 | Lefty Grove† | Philadelphia Athletics* | LHP | Frankie Frisch† | St. Louis Cardinals* | 2B | [41] |
1932 | Jimmie Foxx† | Philadelphia Athletics | 1B | Chuck Klein† | Philadelphia Phillies | OF | [42] |
1933 | Jimmie Foxx† (2) | Philadelphia Athletics | 1B | Carl Hubbell† | New York Giants* | LHP | [43] |
1934 | Mickey Cochrane† (2) | Detroit Tigers* | C | Dizzy Dean† | St. Louis Cardinals* | RHP | [44] |
1935 | Hank Greenberg†§ | Detroit Tigers* | 1B | Gabby Hartnett† | Chicago Cubs* | C | [45] |
1936 | Lou Gehrig† (2) | New York Yankees* | 1B | Carl Hubbell†§ (2) | New York Giants* | LHP | [46] |
1937 | Charlie Gehringer† | Detroit Tigers | 2B | Joe Medwick† | St. Louis Cardinals | OF | [47] |
1938 | Jimmie Foxx† (3) | Boston Red Sox | 1B | Ernie Lombardi† | Cincinnati Reds | C | [48] |
1939 | Joe DiMaggio† | New York Yankees* | OF | Bucky Walters | Cincinnati Reds* | RHP | [49] |
1940 | Hank Greenberg† (2) | Detroit Tigers* | OF | Frank McCormick | Cincinnati Reds* | 1B | [50] |
1941 | Joe DiMaggio† (2) | New York Yankees* | OF | Dolph Camilli | Brooklyn Dodgers* | 1B | [51] |
1942 | Joe Gordon† | New York Yankees* | 2B | Mort Cooper | St. Louis Cardinals* | RHP | [52] |
1943 | Spud Chandler | New York Yankees* | RHP | Stan Musial† | St. Louis Cardinals* | OF | [53] |
1944 | Hal Newhouser† | Detroit Tigers | LHP | Marty Marion | St. Louis Cardinals* | SS | [54] |
1945 | Hal Newhouser† (2) | Detroit Tigers* | LHP | Phil Cavarretta | Chicago Cubs* | 1B | [55] |
1946 | Ted Williams† | Boston Red Sox* | OF | Stan Musial† (2) | St. Louis Cardinals* | 1B | [56] |
1947 | Joe DiMaggio† (3) | New York Yankees* | OF | Bob Elliott | Boston Braves | 3B | [57] |
1948 | Lou Boudreau† | Cleveland Indians* | SS | Stan Musial† (3) | St. Louis Cardinals | OF | [58] |
1949 | Ted Williams† (2) | Boston Red Sox | OF | Jackie Robinson† | Broolyn Dodgers* | 2B | [59] |
1950 | Phil Rizzuto† | New York Yankees* | SS | Jim Konstanty | Philadelphia Phillies* | RHP | [60] |
1951 | Yogi Berra† | New York Yankees* | C | Roy Campanella† | Brooklyn Dodgers | C | [61] |
1952 | Bobby Shantz | Philadelphia Athletics | LHP | Hank Sauer | Chicago Cubs | OF | [62] |
1953 | Al Rosen§ | Cleveland Indians | 3B | Roy Campanella† (2) | Brooklyn Dodgers* | C | [63] |
1954 | Yogi Berra† (2) | New York Yankees | C | Willie Mays† | New York Giants* | OF | [64] |
1955 | Yogi Berra† (3) | New York Yankees* | C | Roy Campanella† (3) | Brooklyn Dodgers* | C | [65] |
1956 | Mickey Mantle†§ | New York Yankees* | OF | Don Newcombe | Brooklyn Dodgers* | RHP | [66] |
1957 | Mickey Mantle† (2) | New York Yankees* | OF | Hank Aaron† | Milwaukee Braves* | OF | [67] |
1958 | Jackie Jensen | Boston Red Sox | OF | Ernie Banks† | Chicago Cubs | SS | [68] |
1959 | Nellie Fox† | Chicago White Sox* | 2B | Ernie Banks† (2) | Chicago Cubs | SS | [69] |
1960 | Roger Maris | New York Yankees* | OF | Dick Groat | Pittsburgh Pirates* | SS | [70] |
1961 | Roger Maris (2) | New York Yankees* | OF | Frank Robinson† | Cincinnati Reds* | OF | [71] |
1962 | Mickey Mantle† (3) | New York Yankees* | OF | Maury Wills | Los Angeles Dodgers | SS | [72] |
1963 | Elston Howard | New York Yankees* | C | Sandy Koufax† | Los Angeles Dodgers* | LHP | [73] |
1964 | Brooks Robinson† | Baltimore Orioles | 3B | Ken Boyer | St. Louis Cardinals* | 3B | [74] |
1965 | Zoilo Versalles | Minnesota Twins* | SS | Willie Mays† (2) | San Francisco Giants | OF | [75] |
1966 | Frank Robinson†§ (2) | Baltimore Orioles* | OF | Roberto Clemente† | Pittsburgh Pirates | OF | [76] |
1967 | Carl Yastrzemski† | Boston Red Sox* | OF | Orlando Cepeda†§ | St. Louis Cardinals* | 1B | [77] |
1968 | Denny McLain§ | Detroit Tigers* | RHP | Bob Gibson† | St. Louis Cardinals* | RHP | [78] |
1969 | Harmon Killebrew† | Minnesota Twins | 3B | Willie McCovey† | San Francisco Giants | 1B | [79] |
1970 | Boog Powell | Baltimore Orioles* | 1B | Johnny Bench† | Cincinnati Reds* | C | [80] |
1971 | Vida Blue | Oakland Athletics | LHP | Joe Torre†[c] | St. Louis Cardinals | 3B | [81] |
1972 | Dick Allen | Chicago White Sox | 1B | Johnny Bench† (2) | Cincinnati Reds* | C | [82] |
1973 | Reggie Jackson†§ | Oakland Athletics* | OF | Pete Rose | Cincinnati Reds | OF | [83] |
1974 | Jeff Burroughs | Texas Rangers | OF | Steve Garvey | Los Angeles Dodgers* | 1B | [84] |
1975 | Fred Lynn | Boston Red Sox* | OF | Joe Morgan† | Cincinnati Reds* | 2B | [85] |
1976 | Thurman Munson | New York Yankees* | C | Joe Morgan† (2) | Cincinnati Reds* | 2B | [86] |
1977 | Rod Carew† | Minnesota Twins | 1B | George Foster | Cincinnati Reds | OF | [87] |
1978 | Jim Rice† | Boston Red Sox | OF | Dave Parker | Pittsburgh Pirates | OF | [88] |
1979 | Don Baylor | California Angels | LF/DH[89] | Keith Hernandez[d] | St. Louis Cardinals | 1B | [18] |
Willie Stargell†[d] | Pittsburgh Pirates* | 1B | |||||
1980 | George Brett† | Kansas City Royals* | 3B | Mike Schmidt†§ | Philadelphia Phillies* | 3B | [90] |
1981 | Rollie Fingers† | Milwaukee Brewers | RHP | Mike Schmidt† (2) | Philadelphia Phillies | 3B | [91] |
1982 | Robin Yount† | Milwaukee Brewers* | SS | Dale Murphy | Atlanta Braves | OF | [92] |
1983 | Cal Ripken Jr.† | Baltimore Orioles* | SS | Dale Murphy (2) | Atlanta Braves | OF | [93] |
1984 | Willie Hernández | Detroit Tigers* | LHP | Ryne Sandberg† | Chicago Cubs | 2B | [94] |
1985 | Don Mattingly | New York Yankees | 1B | Willie McGee | St. Louis Cardinals* | OF | [95] |
1986 | Roger Clemens | Boston Red Sox* | RHP | Mike Schmidt† (3) | Philadelphia Phillies | 3B | [96] |
1987 | George Bell | Toronto Blue Jays | OF | Andre Dawson† | Chicago Cubs | OF | [97] |
1988 | Jose Canseco§ | Oakland Athletics* | OF | Kirk Gibson | Los Angeles Dodgers* | OF | [98] |
1989 | Robin Yount† (2) | Milwaukee Brewers | OF | Kevin Mitchell | San Francisco Giants* | OF | [99] |
1990 | Rickey Henderson† | Oakland Athletics* | OF | Barry Bonds | Pittsburgh Pirates | OF | [100] |
1991 | Cal Ripken Jr.† (2) | Baltimore Orioles | SS | Terry Pendleton | Atlanta Braves* | 3B | [101] |
1992 | Dennis Eckersley† | Oakland Athletics | RHP | Barry Bonds (2) | Pittsburgh Pirates | OF | [102] |
1993 | Frank Thomas†§ | Chicago White Sox | 1B | Barry Bonds (3) | San Francisco Giants | OF | [103] |
1994 | Frank Thomas† (2) | Chicago White Sox | 1B | Jeff Bagwell†§ | Houston Astros | 1B | [104] |
1995 | Mo Vaughn | Boston Red Sox | 1B | Barry Larkin† | Cincinnati Reds | SS | [105] |
1996 | Juan González | Texas Rangers | OF | Ken Caminiti§ | San Diego Padres | 3B | [106] |
1997 | Ken Griffey Jr.†§ | Seattle Mariners | OF | Larry Walker† | Colorado Rockies | OF | [107] |
1998 | Juan González (2) | Texas Rangers | OF | Sammy Sosa | Chicago Cubs | OF | [108] |
1999 | Iván Rodríguez† | Texas Rangers | C | Chipper Jones† | Atlanta Braves* | 3B | [109] |
2000 | Jason Giambi | Oakland Athletics | 1B | Jeff Kent | San Francisco Giants | 2B | [110] |
2001 | Ichiro Suzuki | Seattle Mariners | OF | Barry Bonds (4) | San Francisco Giants | OF | [111][112] |
2002 | Miguel Tejada | Oakland Athletics | SS | Barry Bonds§ (5) | San Francisco Giants* | OF | [113] |
2003 | Alex Rodriguez | Texas Rangers | SS | Barry Bonds (6) | San Francisco Giants | OF | [114] |
2004 | Vladimir Guerrero† | Anaheim Angels | OF | Barry Bonds (7) | San Francisco Giants | OF | [115] |
2005 | Alex Rodriguez (2) | New York Yankees | 3B | Albert Pujols | St. Louis Cardinals | 1B | [116] |
2006 | Justin Morneau | Minnesota Twins | 1B | Ryan Howard | Philadelphia Phillies | 1B | [117] |
2007 | Alex Rodriguez (3) | New York Yankees | 3B | Jimmy Rollins | Philadelphia Phillies | SS | [118] |
2008 | Dustin Pedroia | Boston Red Sox | 2B | Albert Pujols (2) | St. Louis Cardinals | 1B | [119] |
2009 | Joe Mauer† | Minnesota Twins | C | Albert Pujols§ (3) | St. Louis Cardinals | 1B | [112][120] |
2010 | Josh Hamilton | Texas Rangers* | OF | Joey Votto | Cincinnati Reds | 1B | [121][122] |
2011 | Justin Verlander^ | Detroit Tigers | RHP | Ryan Braun | Milwaukee Brewers | OF | [123][124] |
2012 | Miguel Cabrera | Detroit Tigers* | 3B | Buster Posey | San Francisco Giants* | C | [125][126] |
2013 | Miguel Cabrera (2) | Detroit Tigers | 3B | Andrew McCutchen^ | Pittsburgh Pirates | OF | [127][128] |
2014 | Mike Trout^§ | Los Angeles Angels | OF | Clayton Kershaw^ | Los Angeles Dodgers | LHP | [129][130] |
2015 | Josh Donaldson | Toronto Blue Jays | 3B | Bryce Harper^§ | Washington Nationals | OF | [131][132] |
2016 | Mike Trout^ (2) | Los Angeles Angels | OF | Kris Bryant^ | Chicago Cubs* | 3B/OF | [133] |
2017 | Jose Altuve^ | Houston Astros* | 2B | Giancarlo Stanton^ | Miami Marlins | OF | [134] |
2018 | Mookie Betts^ | Boston Red Sox* | OF | Christian Yelich^ | Milwaukee Brewers | OF | [135] |
2019 | Mike Trout^ (3) | Los Angeles Angels | OF | Cody Bellinger^ | Los Angeles Dodgers | OF | [136] |
2020 | José Abreu^ | Chicago White Sox | 1B | Freddie Freeman^ | Atlanta Braves | 1B | [137] |
2021 | Shohei Ohtani^§ | Los Angeles Angels | RHP/DH | Bryce Harper^ (2) | Philadelphia Phillies | OF | [138] |
2022 | Aaron Judge^ | New York Yankees | OF | Paul Goldschmidt^ | St. Louis Cardinals | 1B | [139] |
2023 | Shohei Ohtani^§(2) | Los Angeles Angels | RHP/DH | Ronald Acuña Jr.^§ | Atlanta Braves | OF | [140] |
2024 | Aaron Judge^§(2) | New York Yankees* | OF | Shohei Ohtani^§(3) | Los Angeles Dodgers* | DH | [141] |
Teams | Awards | Years |
---|---|---|
New York Yankees | 24 | 1923, 1927, 1936, 1939, 1941–1943, 1947, 1950, 1951, 1954–1957, 1960–1963, 1976, 1985, 2005, 2007, 2022, 2024 |
St. Louis Cardinals | 21 | 1925, 1926, 1928, 1931, 1934, 1937, 1942–1944, 1946, 1948, 1964, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1979, 1985, 2005, 2008, 2009, 2022 |
Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers | 15 | 1913, 1924, 1941, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1956, 1962, 1963, 1974, 1988, 2014, 2019, 2024 |
New York/San Francisco Giants | 14 | 1912, 1933, 1936, 1954, 1965, 1969, 1989, 1993, 2000–2004, 2012 |
Philadelphia/Oakland Athletics | 13 | 1914, 1928, 1931–1933, 1952, 1971, 1973, 1988, 1990, 1992, 2000, 2002 |
Cincinnati Reds | 12 | 1938–1940, 1961, 1970, 1972, 1973, 1975–1977, 1995, 2010 |
Detroit Tigers | 1911, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1940, 1944, 1945, 1968, 1984, 2011–2013 | |
Boston Red Sox | 1912, 1938, 1946, 1949, 1958, 1967, 1975, 1978, 1986, 1995, 2008, 2018 | |
Chicago Cubs | 11 | 1911, 1929, 1935, 1945, 1952, 1958, 1959, 1984, 1987, 1998, 2016 |
Boston/Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves | 9 | 1914, 1947, 1957, 1982, 1983, 1991, 1999, 2020, 2023 |
Washington Senators/Minnesota Twins | 8 | 1913, 1924, 1925, 1965, 1969, 1977, 2006, 2009 |
Pittsburgh Pirates | 1927, 1960, 1966, 1978, 1979, 1990, 1992, 2013 | |
Philadelphia Phillies | 1932, 1950, 1980, 1981, 1986, 2006, 2007, 2021 | |
California/Anaheim/Los Angeles Angels | 7 | 1979, 2004, 2014, 2016, 2019, 2021, 2023 |
Baltimore Orioles/St. Louis Browns | 6 | 1922, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1983, 1991 |
Texas Rangers | 1974, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2003, 2010 | |
Milwaukee Brewers | 5 | 1981, 1982, 1989, 2011, 2018 |
Chicago White Sox | 1959, 1972, 1993, 1994, 2020 | |
Cleveland Indians / Guardians | 3 | 1926, 1948, 1953 |
Seattle Mariners | 2 | 1997, 2001 |
Toronto Blue Jays | 1987, 2015 | |
Houston Astros | 1994, 2017 | |
Kansas City Royals | 1 | 1980 |
San Diego Padres | 1996 | |
Colorado Rockies | 1997 | |
Washington Nationals | 2015 | |
Miami Marlins | 2017 | |
Arizona Diamondbacks | 0 | none |
New York Mets | none | |
Tampa Bay Rays | none |