Top 10 Worst Baseball MVP Choices

Yesterday, surprising no one, Major League Baseball's Most Valuable Player awards went to Aaron Judge of the Yankees in the American League, and to Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League.

I am of the firm belief that the MVP should only go to a player who helps his team get into the postseason. If you helped your team get into the Playoffs, by definition, you have more value, and are more valuable, than a player who didn't help his team get into the Playoffs. Never mind Judge, or Cal Raleigh of the Seattle Mariners, or Vladimir Guerrero Jr. of the Toronto Blue Jays: The 25th man on each of those teams was more valuable than any player on any of the teams that didn't make it.

Top 10 Worst Baseball MVP Choices

Remember: While the voting is announced after the postseason, the MVP voting is based on regular-season performance only. I think that's wrong, but that's how they do it. As Joe Girardi would say, "It's not what you want." But as Aaron Boone would say, "It is what it is."

The current award began in the 1931 season, so no previous versions will be taken into account -- or held to account. And while some of these choices now look bad due to revelations of cheating, that was not known at the time, so I can't include those choices.

Honorable Mention: 1949 American League: Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox. This will be considered blasphemy in New England. They're wrong. First, let's look at the MVPs won by Yankees that "should" have been given to the Splendid Splinter.

Joe DiMaggio of the Yankees was awarded the American League MVP for 1941. Red Sox fans, now 3 generations removed, remain angry about this. They say Ted's .406 average was a greater achievement than DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak the same season. They forget that the award is Most Valuable Player, not Most Outstanding Player. Ted's great season did not get the Red Sox the Pennant, finishing 2nd, 17 games behind the Yankees. Joe's great season put the Yankees on a run that led to them winning the World Series.

There would be another MVP controversy in 1942. Ted batted .356, hit 36 home runs, and had 137 RBIs. Each of these led the League, giving him the Triple Crown. But the Sox finished 2nd to the Yankees, a not-very-close 9 games back, and the MVP went to Joe Gordon, who did bat .302 with 103 RBIs, though only 18 home runs, and played 2nd base superbly. How do you deny a Triple Crown winner the MVP? Again: Most Valuable Player, not Most Outstanding Player.

In 1946, the Red Sox ran away with the Pennant. This time, there was no denying Ted: He batted .342, hit 38 home runs, and had 123 RBIs (oddly, none of these led the AL), and he was an easy choice for MVP.

Then came the World Series. The opposition was the St. Louis Cardinals. Led by the NL's answer to Ted, Stan Musial, the Cards were in their 4th World Series in 6 years, having won in 1942 and 1944, and lost in 1943. But Ted was nursing an elbow injury, and only batted .200, 5-for-25. Stan didn't hit well, either, and neither would end up the big story of the Series. The Cards won in 7 games.

Ted won the Triple Crown again in 1947, as he batted. .343, hit 32 home runs and had 114 RBIs. But, again, the Sox didn't win the Pennant. In 1947, DiMaggio won the MVP by 1 point in the voting over Ted -- because 1 writer, whose name has never been revealed, left Ted off his ballot completely. If he had even listed Ted 10th, Ted would have won it. But he wouldn't have deserved it: The Sox finished 3rd, 14 games behind the Yankees (and 2 behind the Tigers).

 

In 1949, the Sox and Yanks battled for the Pennant all the way to the final weekend. The Sox led the Yanks by 1 game with 2 to go, against each other, at Yankee Stadium. All the Sox had to do was win 1 of the 2. The Yankees won them both, 5-4 and 5-3. Ted went 1-for-3 with a walk in the Saturday game, and 0-for-2 with 2 walks in the Sunday game.

In spite of the Sox not winning the 1949 Pennant, the Yanks didn't have any single player who stood out above the others -- DiMaggio being hurt much of the year, keeping his power stats down -- so Ted got his 2nd MVP. But he had also begun to get a reputation as coming up small in big games. This ignores the fact that, in those 3 end-of-season games in '48 and '49, he did reach base 5 times. But, in those days, you rarely heard the cliché , "A walk is as good as a hit."

Ted hit 43 home runs and had 159 RBIs. His .343 slightly trailed George Kell of the Tigers for the batting title, costing him a record 3rd Triple Crown by the slimmest of margins. But he got 13 of a possible 16 1st-place votes, and won the MVP.

Among the Yankees, Phil Rizzuto finished 2nd, reliever Joe Page 3rd, and Tommy Henrich 6th. But the Scooter just didn't have big stats, and as for Page, nobody was willing to give the MVP to a relief pitcher to that point. The next year, Jim Konstanty of the Philadelphia Phillies became the 1st, in the NL. No AL reliever would get the award until Rollie Fingers of the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981.

So Ted didn't help his team win the Pennant. Yogi Berra finished 15th in the voting, but, giving the Yankees their 1st good year from a catcher since 1943, he was probably the best choice. Since there was no obvious candidate, I'm making Ted's '49 win an Honorable Mention.

Other Honorable Mentions: 1947 National League, Bob Elliott of the Boston Braves over Jackie Robinson of the Brooklyn Dodgers; 1953 American League, Al Rosen of the Cleveland Indians over Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees; 1954 American League, Yogi over Larry Doby of the Indians.

Derek Jeter probably should have won it in 1999, 2006 and 2009. At least, on those occasions, the winner was from a Playoff team: Respectively, Iván Rodríguez of the Texas Rangers (now believed to have been a steroid cheat), and Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins.

10. 1958 American League: Jackie Jensen, Boston Red Sox. The Red Sox were 3rd, 13 games behind the Yankees. So this one made no sense at all: Jensen did lead the AL with 122 RBIs, but his 35 homers were surpassed by 4 players, including Mickey Mantle's AL-leading 42; and he only batted .286, 3rd on his own team behind Ted Williams with an AL-leading .328 and Pete Runnels with .322, and also behind Mantle at .304.

Did the voters simply not want to give Mantle a 3rd consecutive award? That wouldn't happen in either League until 2004, with Barry Bonds. But Mantle only finished 5th. Bob Turley finished 2nd, and became the 1st Yankee to win the Cy Young Award.

9. Tie. Four selections of three players for the Chicago Cubs in the National League. In 1952, Hank Sauer led the NL in home runs and RBIs. But his Cubs were exactly .500, 77-77, 19 1/2 games behind the Pennant-winning Dodgers. They finished 5th, making this the 1st MVP awarded to a player on a "second-division" theme. Joe Black finished 3rd, tops among Dodgers. But since Konstanty had just won it 2 years earlier, maybe the voters weren't ready to give it to another reliever.

Everybody loves Ernie Banks. Even Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals fans grudgingly respected him. But, as with Sauer, the Cubs were 2nd-division teams in Ernie's MVP seasons, 5th in both seasons.

In 1958, Hank Aaron of the Pennant-winning Milwaukee Braves did not surpass Banks in homers, 30 to an NL-leading 47; or RBIs, 95 to an NL-leading 129; but did surpass him in batting average, .326 to .313. But he didn't even finish 2nd: Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants did.

In 1959, statistically, Banks was comparable to another Brave, Eddie Mathews: Mathews batted .306 to Banks' .304, Mathews' 46 homers edged Banks' 45 for the MLB lead, and Banks' 143 RBIs were well ahead of Mathews' 114. The Los Angeles Dodgers won the Pennant, but their highest finisher was Wally Moon, in 4th, and his stats weren't even close. Still, a 2nd-division player, no matter good, no matter how decent, and no matter how beloved, shouldn't win the MVP.

Likewise, Andre Dawson became beloved by Cub fans for signing with them as a free agent for the 1987 season, and delivering, at least on an individual basis. He wasn't on steroids, but this decision was like the Sauer and Banks MVP choices on steroids. Dawson hit 49 home runs and had 137 RBIs to lead the NL, but the Cubs finished 76-85, 18 1/2 games out of 1st in the NL East.

So, if not the Hawk, then who? The Wizard? Ozzie Smith of the Pennant-winning St. Louis Cardinals finished 2nd, batting .303 with 75 RBIs and 43 stolen bases -- but no home runs. No nonpitcher has ever won the MVP with no homers. In contrast, the 3rd-place finisher, also a Cardinal, was Jack Clark, who hit 35 homers and had 106 RBIs. It should have been him, even if Dawson had him beat on character by a lot.

8. 1991 American League: Cal Ripken, Baltimore Orioles. The O's were 67-95, 24 games behind the AL East-winning Toronto Blue Jays. Giving Cal the MVP was a joke. But the 2nd-place finisher was no better: Cecil Fielder led the AL in RBIs and tied for the lead in homers, but the Detroit Tigers were 7 games out. Fishing 3rd was Frank Thomas, but the Chicago White Sox were 8 back in the AL West. José Canseco of the Oakland A's was 4th, and tied Fielder for the homer lead, but the A's were 11 back.

Finishing 5th was Joe Carter of the Blue Jays. He helped them win the Division, with 33 homers and 108 RBIs. His teammate Roberto Alomar finished 6th. Kirby Puckett of the World Series-winning Minnesota Twins finished 7th, but, aside from a .319 batting average, wasn't all that close. It should have been Carter.

7. 2023 American League: Shohei Ohtani, Los Angeles Angels. I don't care how great he was as a hitter and/or a pitcher: The Angels finished 73-89, 17 games out of 1st place, 16 games out of the last AL Playoff slot. Corey Seager of the World Champion Texas Rangers finished 2nd, and it should have been him.

6. Tie: 2014, 2016 and 2019 American League: Mike Trout, Los Angeles Angels. Trout's fans claim that he would be a 1st-ballot Hall-of-Famer even if he never plays another game. After all, he's won 3 MVPs, and every player with 3 MVPs -- and no serious steroid accusations -- is in the Hall.

So the question becomes, "Did Trout deserve those MVPs?" In 2014, the Angels won the AL Western Division. This remains Trout's only postseason appearance -- and he went 1-for-12 as the Angels got swept in 3 straight by the Kansas City Royals. But Victor Martinez of the Detroit Tigers, who also made the Playoffs, batted .048 higher than Trout, and was close to him in homers and RBIs. Oddly, though the Royals won the Pennant, their closest finisher was Alex Gordon, 12th.

In 2016, the Angels finished 74-88, 15 games out of the last AL Playoff berth. Mookie Betts of the AL East-winning Red Sox finished 2nd, and beat Trout in batting average, .318 to .315; homers, 31 to 29; and RBIs, 113 to 100. So what possible reason was there to pick Trout? Unless you believe the Red Sox were cheating, but no serious accusation has ever been leveled at Betts.

In 2019, the Angels finished 72-90, 24 games out of the last AL Playoff slot. Trout got the MVP, anyway. Who finished 2nd in the voting? Alex Bregman of the Pennant-winning Houston Astros, already known cheaters. Who finished 3rd? Marcus Semien of the Oakland A's, who made the Playoffs. So it should have been Martinez in '14, Betts in '16, and Semien in '19.

And, no, Trout is not yet a Hall-of-Famer. He's at least 2 good seasons short of having the stats.

5. 1969 National League: Willie McCovey, San Francisco Giants. No question, McCovey had a great season: .320, 45 homers, and 126 RBIs. The HR and RBI totals were surpassed only by Harmon Killebrew of the Minnesota Twins, who won the AL Western Division, in this 1st season of Divisional Play. But the Giants finished 3 games behind the Atlanta Braves in the NL Western Division.

Should a Brave have won the NL MVP? Hank Aaron finished 3rd, batting .300 with 44 homers and 97 RBIs. But, truly, in lower-case letters, the most valuable player in the National League was the ace pitcher of the World Champion New York Mets, Tom Seaver: 25-7, 2.21 ERA, 1.039 WHIP (not that WHIP had yet been created as a stat).

To this day, no Met has ever been selected as an MVP. Yogi Berra, Willie Mays, Ken Boyer, Keith Hernandez, Kevin Mitchell, Rickey Henderson, Mo Vaughn, Jeff Kent and Justin Verlander have all won MVPs, and all have played for the Mets -- but none in the same season.

4. 1937 American League: Charlie Gehringer, Detroit Tigers. No question about it: He was a great player, one of the best 2nd basemen who ever lived. He was a great fielder, so reliable he was known as the Mechanical Man. He batted .371 to lead the League.

But he had 96 RBIs. His teammate, Hank Greenberg, had 184 RBIs, nearly breaking Lou Gehrig's AL record of 185 set in 1931. Greenberg literally had more than twice as many RBIs as his teammate who got the MVP. What's more, Joe DiMaggio, not yet 23 years old, led the Yankees to win the World Series, batting .346, leading the AL with 46 home runs (a Yankee record for righthanded hitters that lasted until 2005), and had 167 RBIs (no Yankee, indeed hardly anybody, has come close to that since). Greenberg deserved it more than Gehringer, but it should have been DiMaggio.

3. 1962 National League: Maury Wills, Los Angeles Dodgers. One of many examples of the L.A. media machine promoting a city athlete more than he deserved. The nation was seduced by the new record that Wills set with 104 stolen bases. But it was an insane pick: On his own team, Tommy Davis led the NL with a .346 batting average and 153 RBIs, with 27 homers; and Don Drysdale went 25-9. They finished 3rd and 5th, respectively.

Willie Mays finished 2nd, and helped the San Francisco Giants win the Pennant. He batted .304, had 141 RBIs, and led MLB with 49 home runs. He should have been the MVP. Frank Robinson finished 4th, and had a better season, statistically anyway, than he had the year before, when he led the Cincinnati Reds to the Pennant and rightly won the MVP.

2. 2003 American League: Alex Rodriguez, Texas Rangers. As I said to start, this has nothing to do with whatever we know, and whatever we suspect, about steroid use. This is about what was known at the time. The Rangers finished 71-91, 24 games out of the last AL Playoff berth. The highest-finishing player among those making the Playoffs was Jorge Posada of the Yankees, in 3rd.

1. 1978 American League: Jim Rice, Boston Red Sox. This one was just plain fucking stupid, unless you believe that the MVP should never go to a pitcher. Ron Guidry went 25-3 with a 1.74 ERA and 248 strikeouts, which stood as a Yankee team record for 45 years.

To make it more amazing, 14 of Guidry's 25 wins came in the next game after a Yankee loss. Even in one of the games he lost, to Mike Flanagan and the Orioles on August 4, he went the distance, allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, 5 hits, no walks, and struck out 10. In his 7 no-decisions, the Yankees won 5, and the 2 they lost were 2-1 and 5-4. With a little more support, he could have gone 30-2. "Most Valuable."

If the Red Sox had a left fielder who batted .260, hit 10 homers and had 50 RBIs, instead of Rice, with .315, 46 and 139, those power totals running away with the AL titles, they would have missed the Playoffs -- which they did with him, as the Bucky Dent Game is officially considered a regular-season game, not part of the MLB postseason. If the Yankees had an average pitcher going .500, 14-14, in Guidry's spot in the rotation, that 11-game difference would have dropped them from 100-63 and World Champions to 89-73 and 4th place in the AL East.

This was the easiest MVP choice of all time. And the voters blew it.