沢村栄治
The first recipient of the award was Eiji Sawamura. The most recent winners, in 2020, are Tomoyuki Sugano, from the Central League, and Yuki Yanagita, from the Pacific League. In 1940, Victor Starffin became the first player to win the award consecutively and multiple times. Eiji Sawamura and Kazuhisa Inao are the youngest players to receive the awards in 1937 and 1957, respectively, at the ages of 20. In 1988, Hiromitsu Kadota became the oldest player to receive the award at the age of 40.