The MVPs not in the HOF

Dale Murphy

Back in season 2 of our Almost Cooperstown podcast, Gordon and I talked about the MVPs who were not elected to the Hall-of-Fame. In terms of total numbers there were more than we imagined. Since the beginning of modern baseball in 1901 the MVP award has been called several different things. It was first called the ‘Chalmers’ award 1911–1914 and then ‘League Awards from 1922–29. Apparently if you were the league’s best player between 1915–1921 it was not important enough to designate. The modern MVP as we refer to it currently was first awarded in 1931 to Lefty Grove of the Philadelphia Athletics and Frankie Frisch of the St Louis Cardinals. Until 1956 when the Cy Young Award (a way to honor Cy Young who had passed away in 1955), was first handed out, the MVP in each league was the only postseason award for overall excellence on the playing field. Hall-of-Famer Jimmie Foxx was the first back-to-back winner in 1932 and 1933.

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Bucky Walters of the Cincinnati Reds was the first player in 1939 to win a modern-day MVP never to be elected to the Hall of Fame. The very next year his teammate Frank McCormick won the award for the 1940 World Series champs but also was never elected.

Here’s a list of MVPs who’ve missed out on being enshrined

• 1939 Bucky Walters — Cincinnati Reds
• 1940 Frank McCormick — Cincinnati Reds
• 1941 Dolph Camilli — Brooklyn Dodgers
• 1942 Mort Cooper St. Louis Cardinals
• 1943 Spud Chandler — New York Yankees
• 1945 Phil Cavarretta — Chicago Cubs
• 1947 Bob Elliott — Boston Braves
• 1950 Jim Konstanty — Philadelphia Phillies
• 1952 Hank Sauer — Chicago Cubs
• 1952 Bobby Shantz — Philadelphia Athletics
• 1953 Al Rosen — Cleveland Indians
• 1956 Don Newcombe — Brooklyn Dodgers
• 1958 Jackie Jensen — Boston Red Sox
• 1960 Dick Groat — Pittsburgh Pirates
• 1961 Roger Maris — New York Yankees
• 1962 Maury Wills — Los Angeles Dodgers
• 1963 Elston Howard — New York Yankees
• 1964 Ken Boyer — St. Louis Cardinals
• 1965 Zoilo Versalles — Minnesota Twins
• 1968 Denny McLain — Detroit Tigers
• 1970 Boog Powell — Baltimore Orioles
• 1971 Vida Blue — Oakland A’s
• 1972 Dick Allen — Chicago White Sox
• 1973 Pete Rose — Cincinnati Reds
• 1974 Jeff Burroughs — Texas Rangers
• 1974 Steve Garvey — Los Angeles Dodgers
• 1975 Fred Lynn — Boston Red Sox
• 1976 Thurman Munson — New York Yankees
• 1977 George Foster — Cincinnati Reds
• 1979 Dave Parker — Pittsburgh Pirates
• 1979 Don Baylor — California Angels
• 1979 Keith Hernandez — St. Louis Cardinals
• 1982 1983 Dale Murphy — Atlanta Braves
• 1984 Willie Hernandez — Detroit Tigers
• 1985 Willie McGee — St. Louis Cardinals
• 1985 Don Mattingly — New York Yankees
• 1986 Roger Clemens — Boston Red Sox
• 1987 George Bell — Toronto Blue Jays
• 1988 Jose Canseco — Oakland A’s
• 1989 Kevin Mitchell — San Francisco Giants
• 1990 1992, 1993, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 — Barry Bonds — Pittsburgh Pirates
• 1991 Terry Pendleton — Atlanta Braves
• 1995 Mo Vaughn — Boston Red Sox
• 1996 Ken Caminiti — San Diego Padres
• 1996 1997 Juan Gonzalez Texas Rangers
• 1998 Sammy Sosa — Chicago Cubs
• 2000 Jeff Kent — San Francisco Giants
• 2001 Ichiro Suzuki — Seattle Mariners
• 2002 Miguel Tejada — Oakland A’s
• 2003 2005 2007 Alex Rodriguez — Texas Rangers
• 2005 2008 2009 Albert Pujols — St. Louis Cardinals
• 2006 Ryan Howard — Philadelphia Phillies
• 2006 Justin Morneau — Minnesota Twins
• 2007 Jimmy Rollins — Philadelphia Phillies
• 2008 Dustin Pedroia — Boston Red Sox
• 2010 Joey Votto — Cincinnati Reds
• 2010 Josh Hamilton — Texas Rangers
• 2011 Ryan Braun — Milwaukee Brewers

Any list of MVP’s is fun to read. But a list of MVP’s who are not enshrined offers some surprises when reviewing. You know the names, maybe even all of them. But there are names on the list that even if remotely familiar, required my looking it up. You might read some of the names on this list and think ‘wait, Roger Maris is not a HOFer?’ Don Newcombe isn’t either? Don’t even get me started on Keith Hernandez, Thurman Munson, and Dick Allen. And no shade intended, but George Bell won an MVP? I was alive then and even conscious. I knew Bell was a good player for the Blue Jays, but totally forgot him winning the 1987 AL MVP. With the Twins winning the World Series in 1987 I’d have guessed Kirby Puckett as MVP and looking it up it’s very arguable that HOFer Puckett had a better season.

Justin Verlander won in 2011 and once he retires, he is a shoo-in. All the others since then except for Ryan Braun, still have a chance to be elected. Take out Ichiro Suzuki who will be elected as well as Albert Pujols. Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, and Alex Rodriguez who would have been elected if not for other circumstances. Aside from them the only eligible two-time winners that are not in the HOF are Dale Murphy and Juan Gonzalez.

In all 57 total players minus 6 (those noted above) = 51 players out of the 184 (27.8%) have won the MVP but did not make it to Cooperstown. Doesn’t that seem like more than you’d expect?

Since 2011 these are the MVP winners in each league

• 2023 AL Shohei Ohtani LAA 2023 NL Ronald Acuna Jr. ATL
• 2022 AL Aaron Judge NYY 2022 NL Paul Goldschmidt STL
• 2021 AL Shohei Ohtani LAA 2021 NL Bryce Harper PHI
• 2020 AL José Abreu CHW 2020 NL Freddie Freeman ATL
• 2019 AL Mike Trout LAA 2019 NL Cody Bellinger LAD
• 2018 AL Mookie Bett. BOS 2018 NL Christian Yelich MIL
• 2017 AL José Altuve HOU 2017 NL Giancarlo Stanton MIA
• 2016 AL Mike Trout LAA 2016 NL Kris Bryant CHC
• 2015 AL Josh Donaldson TOR 2015 NL Bryce Harper WSN
• 2014 AL Mike Trout LAA 2014 NL Clayton Kershaw LAD
• 2013 AL Miguel Cabrera DET 2013 NL Andrew McCutchen PIT
• 2012 AL Miguel Cabrera DET 2012 NL Buster Posey SFG
• 2011 AL Justin Verlander DET 2011 NL Ryan Braun MIL

That’s 26 MVPs handed out over the past 13 seasons. Mike Trout has won three MVPs, Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper two each. Posey, Cabrera, Trout, Kershaw, Harper, Betts, Freeman, Ohtani, all are locks for election to the HOF. Altuve and Goldschmidt are close if not already there. Acuna just needs to play the requisite 10 seasons (he’s played six) avoiding major injury. Yankees Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge both still have a decent chance for induction with Judge having a better one since he’s younger. Ryan Braun’s HOF chance has come and gone already.

On the outside looking in are Andrew McCutcheon, Josh Donaldson, Kris Bryant, Christian Yelich, and Jose Abreu all of whom have little if any chance at HOF election. Five players who won MVP’s out of 26 awards is 19%. Another way to look at it is that there were 22 total players winning the 26 MVPs between 2011 and 2023 and only five of them will not be likely HOFers. That’s 22.7%.

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Voters for MVP are more sophisticated than ever before. They understand that traditional statistical contributions don’t always tell then entire story. That’s the reason why there will be fewer and fewer MVPs being excluded from the HOF on a percentage basis. It will always be possible for a player to have an outlier year that he never duplicates but even that is only becoming more difficult. With 750+ MLB players each season, being the best two is more meaningful than ever. Injuries and unforeseen declines in player performance will always have an impact so winning an MVP will never guarantee election into Cooperstown. But having a 75% chance to be elected once you win an MVP sounds just about right.

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I’ve also started writing for @mlbreport.com as a beat writer for the Mets.

Here are my first 4 posts if you’re interested. Thanks for reading.

https://mlbreport.com/2024/02/when-it-comes-to-the-mets-i-am-not-impartial/

https://mlbreport.com/2024/02/how-sound-will-the-mets-bullpen-be-this-season/

https://mlbreport.com/2024/02/is-pete-alonsos-future-with-the-mets/

https://mlbreport.com/2024/02/is-francisco-lindor-already-the-best-shortstop-in-mets-history/

About the Author: Mark Kolier along with his son Gordon co-hosts a baseball podcast called ‘Almost Cooperstown’. He also has written baseball-related articles that can be accessed on Medium.com and now Substack.com.