Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award

The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is a Major League Baseball (MLB) award given each year to one outstanding player in the American and National Leagues. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The winner receives the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award.  The award is named in honor of the first MLB commissioner. Landis served from 1920 to 1944. MVP voting takes place before the postseason. The results are not announced until after the World Series. The BBWAA began asking three writers in each league city in 1938. They made that number two per league city in 1961.Gillette & Palmer, pp. 1764–1765

First basemen, with 34 winners, have won the most MVPs among infielders.  This is followed by second basemen (16), third basemen (15), and shortstops (15). Of the twenty-four pitchers who have won the award, fifteen are right-handed while nine are left-handed. Walter Johnson, Carl Hubbell, and Hal Newhouser are the only pitchers to win more than once. Newhouser won his in back-to-back seasons, 1944 and 1945.Hank Greenberg, Stan Musial, Alex Rodriguez, and Robin Yount have won at different positions. Rodriguez is the only player to win the award with two different teams at two different positions. Barry Bonds has won the most often (seven times). He has also won it the most times in a row (2001–2004). Jimmie Foxx was the first player to win more than once. Nine 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 the same amount of points. There have been 17 unanimous winners, meaning they received all the first-place votes. The New York Yankees have the most winning players with 22. The St. Louis Cardinals have the second most with 17 winners. Five teams have not had a winner. The most recent winners are Shohei Ohtani in the American League and Ronald Acuña Jr. in the National League.

Key
Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and MuseumGillette & Palmer, pp. 1755–1760Shows a player who is still activeUnanimous selection   Pitcher (RHP means right-handed; LHP means left-handed)   Catcher   First baseman   Second baseman   Third baseman   Shortstop   Outfielder   Designated hitter

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. Chalmers ended up giving cars to both players.

The following season, Chalmers created the Chalmers Award. A committee of baseball writers were to come together after the season to determine the "most important and useful player to the club and to the league". Since the award was not as useful at advertising as Chalmers had hoped, it was discontinued after 1914.

 Year  American League winner  Team  Position  National League winner  Team  Position   Ref1911 †§  Detroit Tigers  OF    Chicago Cubs  OF  1912 †  Boston Red Sox  OF      2B  1913 †    RHP      1B  1914 †    2B  †    2B  

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. Player-managers and prior award winners were could not win. These problems resulted in the award's being dropped after 1928. The National League award, without these restrictions, lasted from 1924 to 1929.

 Year  American League winner  Team  Position  National League winner  Team  Position   Ref1922 †    1B        1923 †§  New York Yankees  OF        1924 †    RHP  †    RHP  1925      SS  †  St. Louis Cardinals  2B  1926    Cleveland Indians  1B    St. Louis Cardinals  C  1927  †  New York Yankees  1B  †  Pittsburgh Pirates  OF  1928  †    C  †  St. Louis Cardinals  2B  1929        †  Chicago Cubs  2B  

Baseball Writers Association of America's Most Valuable Player (1931–present)
The BBWAA first awarded the modern MVP after the 1931 season, took 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. Ten points were given for the recipient of a first-place vote, nine for a second-place vote, and so on. In 1938, the BBWAA raised the amount of voters to three per city and gave 14 points for a first-place vote. The only significant change since then happened in 1961, when the number of voters was lowered to two per league city.


 Year  American League winner  Team  Position  National League winner  Team  Position   Ref1931 †    LHP  †  St. Louis Cardinals  2B  1932 †    1B †  Philadelphia Phillies  OF  1933 †    1B  †    LHP 1934 †  Detroit Tigers  C  †  St. Louis Cardinals  RHP  1935 †§  Detroit Tigers  1B  †  Chicago Cubs  C  1936  †  New York Yankees  1B  †§    LHP  1937 †  Detroit Tigers  2B  †  St. Louis Cardinals  OF  1938 †  Boston Red Sox  1B  †  Cincinnati Reds  C  1939 †  New York Yankees  OF    Cincinnati Reds  RHP   1940 †  Detroit Tigers  OF    Cincinnati Reds  1B  1941 †  New York Yankees  OF      1B  1942 †  New York Yankees  2B    St. Louis Cardinals  RHP  1943   New York Yankees  RHP  †   St. Louis Cardinals  OF  1944 †  Detroit Tigers  LHP    St. Louis Cardinals  SS  1945 †  Detroit Tigers  LHP    Chicago Cubs  1B  1946 †  Boston Red Sox  OF  †  St. Louis Cardinals  1B  1947 †  New York Yankees  OF      3B  1948 †  Cleveland Indians  SS  †  St. Louis Cardinals  OF  1949 †  Boston Red Sox  OF  †    2B  1950 †  New York Yankees  SS    Philadelphia Phillies  RHP  1951 †  New York Yankees  C  †    C  1952      LHP    Chicago Cubs  OF  1953 §  Cleveland Indians  3B  †    C  1954 †  New York Yankees  C  †    OF  1955 †  New York Yankees  C  †    C   1956 †§  New York Yankees  OF      RHP  1957 †  New York Yankees  OF  †    C  1958  Boston Red Sox  OF  †  Chicago Cubs  SS  1959†  Chicago White Sox  2B  †  Chicago Cubs  SS  1960  New York Yankees  OF    Pittsburgh Pirates  SS  1961  New York Yankees  OF  †§  Cincinnati Reds  OF  1962†  New York Yankees  OF    Los Angeles Dodgers  SS  1963    New York Yankees  C  †  Los Angeles Dodgers  LHP  1964  †  Baltimore Orioles  3B    St. Louis Cardinals  3B  1965    Minnesota Twins  SS  †  San Francisco Giants  OF  1966  †§  Baltimore Orioles  OF  †  Pittsburgh Pirates  OF  1967  †  Boston Red Sox  OF †§  St. Louis Cardinals  1B  1968  §  Detroit Tigers  RHP †  St. Louis Cardinals  RHP  1969  †  Minnesota Twins  3B †  San Francisco Giants  1B  1970    Baltimore Orioles  1B †  Cincinnati Reds  C  1971    Oakland Athletics  LHP    St. Louis Cardinals  3B  1972    Chicago White Sox  1B †  Cincinnati Reds  C  1973  †§  Oakland Athletics  OF    Cincinnati Reds  OF  1974    Texas Rangers  OF    Los Angeles Dodgers  1B  1975    Boston Red Sox  OF  †  Cincinnati Reds  2B  1976    New York Yankees  C  †  Cincinnati Reds  2B  1977 †  Minnesota Twins  1B   Cincinnati Reds  OF  1978 †  Boston Red Sox  OF   Pittsburgh Pirates  OF  1979    DH   St. Louis Cardinals  1B  1979      †  Pittsburgh Pirates  1B  1980 †  Kansas City Royals  3B  †§  Philadelphia Phillies  3B  1981 †  Milwaukee Brewers  RHP  †  Philadelphia Phillies  3B  1982 †  Milwaukee Brewers  SS    Atlanta Braves  OF  1983 †  Baltimore Orioles  SS    Atlanta Braves  OF  1984   Detroit Tigers  LHP  †  Chicago Cubs  2B  1985   New York Yankees  1B    St. Louis Cardinals  OF  1986   Boston Red Sox  RHP  †  Philadelphia Phillies  3B  1987   Toronto Blue Jays  OF  †  Chicago Cubs  OF  1988   Oakland Athletics  OF  §  Los Angeles Dodgers  OF  1989 †  Milwaukee Brewers  OF    San Francisco Giants  OF  1990 †  Oakland Athletics  OF    Pittsburgh Pirates  OF  1991 †  Baltimore Orioles  SS    Atlanta Braves  3B  1992 †  Oakland Athletics  RHP    Pittsburgh Pirates  OF  1993 §  Chicago White Sox  1B    San Francisco Giants  OF  1994   Chicago White Sox  1B  §  Houston Astros  1B  1995   Boston Red Sox  1B    Cincinnati Reds  SS  1996   Texas Rangers  OF  §  San Diego Padres  3B  1997  §  Seattle Mariners  OF    Colorado Rockies  OF  1998   Texas Rangers  OF    Chicago Cubs  OF  1999    Texas Rangers  C    Atlanta Braves  3B  2000 ^  Oakland Athletics  1B    San Francisco Giants  2B  2001 ^  Seattle Mariners  OF    San Francisco Giants  OF  2002 ^  Oakland Athletics  SS    San Francisco Giants  OF  2003 ^  Texas Rangers  SS    San Francisco Giants  OF  2004 ^    OF    San Francisco Giants  OF  2005 ^  New York Yankees  3B ^  St. Louis Cardinals  1B  2006 ^  Minnesota Twins  1B ^  Philadelphia Phillies  1B  2007 ^  New York Yankees  3B  ^  Philadelphia Phillies  SS  2008 ^  Boston Red Sox  2B  ^  St. Louis Cardinals  1B  2009 ^  Minnesota Twins  C  ^§  St. Louis Cardinals  1B  2010 ^  Texas Rangers  OF  ^  Cincinnati Reds  1B  2011 ^  Detroit Tigers  RHP  ^  Milwaukee Brewers  OF  2012 ^  Detroit Tigers  3B  ^  San Francisco Giants  C  2013 ^  Detroit Tigers  3B  ^  Pittsburgh Pirates  OF  2014 ^§  Los Angeles Angels  OF  ^  Los Angeles Dodgers  LHP  2015 ^  Toronto Blue Jays  3B  ^§  Washington Nationals  OF  2016 ^ (2)  Los Angeles Angels  OF  ^  Chicago Cubs  3B/OF  2017 ^  Houston Astros  2B  ^  Miami Marlins  OF  2018 ^  Boston Red Sox  OF  ^  Milwaukee Brewers  OF  2019 ^ (3)  Los Angeles Angels  OF  ^  Los Angeles Dodgers  OF  2020 ^  Chicago White Sox  1B  ^  Atlanta Braves  1B  2021 ^§  Los Angeles Angels  RHP/DH  ^ (2)  Philadelphia Phillies  OF  2022 ^§  New York Yankees  OF  ^  St. Louis Cardinals  1B  2023 ^§(2)  Los Angeles Angels  RHP/DH ^§ Atlanta Braves OF2024 ^§ (2)  New York Yankees*  OF ^§ (3)  Los Angeles Dodgers*  DH

Notes
  A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season.
  A unanimous victory indicates that the player received all possible first-place votes.
  Hernandez and Stargell both received 216 points in the 1979 voting.

References

Category:Major League Baseball awards
Category:Lists of baseball players
Category:Most valuable player awards