Most Valuable Player Award
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The Most Valuable Player Award (or MVP) in Major League Baseball is given to a player in each league who has contributed the most to the success of the player's team. It is awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America. There have been three interations of MLB MVP awards. The first two were awarded in the 1910s and 1920s, however the award did not become an annual one until 1931.
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[edit] Chalmers Award (1911-1914)
The Chalmers Automobile Company sponsored the first Most Valuable Player Award, the Chalmers Award award in 1911. The creation of this award was due to the controversy in the American League from the previous year in which the company gave an automobile in to the batting champion in each league. It 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."
| Year voting totals | American League | National League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Position | Player | Team | Position | |||
| 1911 AL NL | Ty Cobb | Detroit Tigers | OF | Frank Schulte | Chicago Cubs | OF | ||
| 1912 AL NL | Tris Speaker | Boston Red Sox | OF | Larry Doyle | New York Giants | 2B | ||
| 1913 AL NL | Walter Johnson | Washington Senators | P | Jake Daubert | Brooklyn Superbas | 1B | ||
| 1914 AL NL | Eddie Collins | Philadelphia Athletics | 2B | Johnny Evers | Boston Braves | 2B | ||
[edit] League Award (1922-1929)
In the 1920s the leagues awarded MVPs, called the League Award. However only one player per team was listed on the ballot causing there being no National League MVP in 1922 or 1923. The American League also allowed players to win the award only once. This caused Babe Ruth to be ineligible for the award in historic 1927 season.
| Year voting totals | American League | National League | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Team | Position | Player | Team | Position | |||
| 1922 AL | George Sisler | St. Louis Browns | 1B | None awarded | ||||
| 1923 AL | Babe Ruth | New York Yankees | OF | None awarded | ||||
| 1924 AL NL | Walter Johnson | Washington Senators | P | Dazzy Vance | Brooklyn Robins | P | ||
| 1925 AL NL | Roger Peckinpaugh | Washington Senators | SS | Rogers Hornsby | St. Louis Cardinals | 2B | ||
| 1926 AL NL | George Burns | Cleveland Indians | 1B | Bob O'Farrell | St. Louis Cardinals | C | ||
| 1927 AL NL | Lou Gehrig | New York Yankees | 1B | Paul Waner | Pittsburgh Pirates | OF | ||
| 1928 AL NL | Mickey Cochrane | Philadelphia Athletics | C | Jim Bottomley | St. Louis Cardinals | 1B | ||
| 1929 NL | None awarded | Rogers Hornsby | Chicago Cubs | 2B | ||||
[edit] BBWAA Award (1931-present)
In 1931, the Baseball Writers Association of America began awarding the Most Valuable Player award to one player in each league. It is offically called the Baseball Writers Most Valuable Player Award.
After the Cy Young Award was created in 1956 to be given to the best pitcher in Major League Baseball. After that, the belief arose that the Most Valuable Player should be awarded to a position player since pitchers had their own award. In the 49 years since 1956, eight pitchers have won the award; in the 26 years prior pitchers won 12 of the awards.
The award is voted on by 28 members of the BBWAA (one from each Major League city) and uses a weighted score system. Each ranks their top ten players in each league with points awarded from on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 basis. The players with the highest point total in each league wins the award.
- BOLD indicates unanimous selection
