Ranking the top-10 MVP award winners in Boston Red Sox history.
Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
The Most Valuable Player Award has a history that dates back to 1911 when it was known as the Chalmers Award after an automobile manufacturer. Thankfully, not the Yugo Award. After 1914, Chalmers discontinued the award and the honors sat vacant until 1922 when League Awards were introduced.
League Awards were a bit more stable than Chalmers and survived until 1929. After a one-year hiatus, the award surfaced again with its current banner – Baseball Writer’s Association of America Most Valuable Player and the format is simple. A ballot is issued and a writer simply selects up to ten players and points are assigned based on where one pops up on the ballot. The current distribution of ballots is two voters from each league city.
The New York Yankees (22) and St. Louis Cardinals (17) have had the most winners, so team success influences the ballot. I still have difficulty comprehending Ernie Banks winning back-to-back awards for teams that finished well under .500.
Willie Stargell and Keith Hernandez once tied for the award and Barry Bonds is the all-time leader with seven awards and, to me, a big asterisk. Several others have won multiple times and 17 have been unanimous.
The Boston Red Sox have had players win the award 11 times among ten players – and just who had the best season? I will take a look and make my own personal picks with a certain amount of emotionalism tossed in. Most of the MVP season’s I have had the pleasure to watch the performers so I do have a personal investment and perspective. I do have a preference for big numbers in the power department and that certainly puts a damper on some. Winning is also important or at least as close to winning as possible. So here is my list top ten list starting with ten.
Next: No. 7 - No. 10