Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award 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 . Since 1931 , it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America ( BBWAA ) . The winners receive the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award , which became the official name of the award in 1944 , in honor of the first MLB commissioner , who served from 1920 until his death on November 25 , 1944 . 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 . The BBWAA does not offer a clear - cut definition of what " most valuable " means , instead leaving the judgment to the individual voters . First basemen , with 34 winners , have won the most MVPs among infielder s , followed by second basemen ( 16 ) , third basemen ( 15 ) , and shortstop s ( 14 ) . Of the 24 pitcher s who have won the award , 15 are right - handed while 9 are left - handed . Walter Johnson , Carl Hubbell , and Hal Newhouser are the only pitchers who have won multiple times , Newhouser winning consecutively in 1944 and 1945 . Hank Greenberg , Stan Musial , Alex Rodriguez , and Robin Yount have won at different positions , while Rodriguez is the only player who has won the award with two different teams at two different positions . Barry Bonds has won the most often ( seven times ) and the most consecutively ( 2001 – 04 ) . Jimmie Foxx was the first player to win multiple times ; 9 players have won three times , and 19 have won twice . The award ' s only tie occurred in the National League in 1979 , when Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell received an equal number of points . There have been 17 unanimous winners , who received all the first - place votes . The New York Yankees have the most winning players with 22 , followed by the St . Louis Cardinals with 17 winners . The award has never been presented to a member of the following five teams : Arizona Diamondbacks , Miami Marlins , New York Mets , Tampa Bay Rays , and Washington Nationals . The most recent recipients are Miguel Cabrera in the American League , and Buster Posey in the National League . In 2011 , Justin Verlander became the first pitcher to be named the MVP since Dennis Eckersley in 1992 . He also became the first starting pitcher to win this award since Roger Clemens had accomplished the feat in 1986 . Chalmers Award ( 1911 – 1914 ) . 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 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 . 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 . The following season , Chalmers created the Chalmers Award . A committee of baseball writers were to convene after the season to determine the " most important and useful player to the club and to the league " . Since the award was not as effective at advertising as Chalmers had hoped , it was discontinued after 1914 . League Awards ( 1922 – 1929 ) . 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 " . Winners , voted on by a committee of eight baseball writers chaired by James Crusinberry , received a bronze medal and a cash prize . Voters were required to select one player from each team and player - coach es and prior award winners were ineligible . These flaws resulted in the award ' s being dropped after 1928 . The National League award , without these restrictions , lasted from 1924 to 1929 . Baseball Writers Association of America ' s Most Valuable Player ( 1931 – present ) . The BBWAA 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 lowered to two per league city .