The History of Baseball's MVP Award
From the Chalmers Award to the Modern Baseball Writers Award
Oct 2, 2008
Until 1911, there was no nationally recognized Most Valuable Player award for Major League Baseball. Local publications and small newspapers sometimes conducted informal votes or gave unofficial awards, but there was never a consensus MVP in either league.
The First MVP Award - The Chalmers Award
In the spring of 1911, the owner of the Chalmers Automobile Company promised to award a 1911 Chalmers Model 30 to the one professional baseball player in each major league “who should prove himself as the most important and useful player to his club and to the league at large in point of deportment and value of services rendered."
The first winners of the Chalmers Award were Ty Cobb of the Detroit Tigers in the American League and Wildfire Schulte of the Chicago Cubs of the National League. (Incidentally, in 1911, Schulte became the first player to record at least 20 doubles, 20 triples, 20 home runs and 20 stolen bases in the same season). The Chalmers award and automobile were only given for three more seasons, with the last awards given in 1914. Winners of the Chalmers Award include Tris Speaker, Walter Johnson and Eddie Collins.
The League Awards
No award was given between 1915 and 1921, but in 1922 the American League formed the American League Trophy Committee to "honor the baseball player who is of greatest all-round service to his club and credit to the sport during each season; to recognize and reward uncommon skill and ability when exercised by a player for the best interests of his team, and to perpetuate his memory." (That sounds like a lot to live up to, by the way.)
American League President Ban Johnson chose one writer in each team’s city to vote. These voters were required to select and rank exactly one player from each of the eight American League teams. They could not vote for player-managers or for previous winners.
One can imagine the problems inherent in such a voting system. Because a voter could only pick one player per team, two good candidates from the same team would see their votes split and their chances of winning decreased. Moreover, the prohibition against repeat winners led to some (arguably) strange results, suh as Babe Ruth being ineligible for the award in 1927 -- a year when he hit 60 home runs for the best team in baseball -- because he’d already won it in 1923. Instead the award went to teammate Lou Gehrig (which may not have been such a bad result, by the way).
The National League instituted its own award in 1924, but employed a different voting system. Writers were allowed to vote for ten players, there were no team restrictions, and previous winners were eligible for repeat wins. Rogers Hornsby actually won the award twice, in 1925 and 1929.
The Modern MVP Award
No award was given in the American League in 1929, and neither league named an MVP in 1930. In 1931, however, the BBWAA recommitted itself to electing most valuable players for both leagues, and applied to both awards the National League voting rules, which allowed repeat winners and permitted voting for more than one player per team. This is considered by most baseball historians as the origin of the modern MVP award. In 1931, Frankie Frisch of the St. Louis Cardinals won the NL award, and Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia A’s took home the American League award.
In 1938, the BBWAA instituted the "ranked choice" method of voting. Under this system, each voter ranks his ten most valuable players from 1 to 10. The first-ranked player gets 14 points, the second-ranked player receives 9 points, third place gets 8 points, fourth gets seven points . . . etc., etc., until the 10th ranked player receives one point.
Since 1944, the Award has been called the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Award in honor of the game’s first commissioner. MVP winners are given a trophy, and their names are engraved on a plaque in the National Baseball Library, an ongoing research project of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The most recent winners of their league's respective MVP awards were Jimmy Rollins of the Philadelphia Phillies and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. Voting for the MVP award takes place before the start of the playoffs, which means that votes for the 2008 award have already been cast. The results will not be announced, however, until November. Favorites for this year's award include Albert Pujols and Ryan Howard in the National League and Dustin Pedroia and Francisco Rodriguez in the American League.
