Base on balls
A base on balls known as a walk, occurs in baseball when a batter receives four pitches that the umpire calls balls, is in turn awarded first base without the possibility of being called out. The base on balls is defined in Section 2.00 of baseball's Official Rules, further detail is given in 6.08. It is, considered a faux pas for a professional player to walk to first base; the term "base on balls" distinguishes a walk from the other manners in which a batter can be awarded first base without liability to be put out. Though a base on balls, catcher's interference, or a batter hit by a pitched ball all result in the batter being awarded a base, the term "walk" refers only to a base on balls, not the other methods of reaching base without the bat touching the ball. An important difference is that for a hit batter or catcher's interference, the ball is dead and no one may advance unless forced. A batter who draws a base on balls is said to have been "walked" by the pitcher; when the batter is walked, runners advance one base without liability to be put out only if forced to vacate their base to allow the batter to take first base.
If a batter draws a walk with the bases loaded, all preceding runners are forced to advance, including the runner on third base, forced to home plate to score a run. Receiving a base on balls does not count as a hit or an at bat for a batter but does count as a time on base and a plate appearance. Therefore, a base on balls does not affect a player's batting average, but it can increase his on-base percentage. A hit by pitch is not counted statistically as a walk, though the effect is the same, with the batter receiving a free pass to first base. One exception is. On a HBP, any runners attempting to steal on the play must return to their original base unless forced to the next base anyway; when a walk occurs, the ball is still live: any runner not forced to advance may attempt to advance at his own risk, which might occur on a steal play, passed ball, or wild pitch. Because a ball is live when a base on balls occurs, runners on base forced to advance one base may attempt to advance beyond one base, at their own risk.
The batter-runner himself may attempt to advance at his own risk. Rule 6.08 addresses this matter as well. An attempt to advance an additional base beyond the base awarded might occur when ball four is a passed ball or a wild pitch. In 1880, the National League changed the rules so that eight balls instead of nine were required for a walk. In 1884, the National League changed the rules. In 1886, the American Association changed the rules so that six balls instead of seven were required for a walk. In 1887, the National League and American Association agreed to abide by some uniform rule changes and decreased the number of balls required for a walk to five. In 1889, the National League and the American Association decreased the number of balls required for a walk to four. In 2017, Major League Baseball approved a rule change allowing for a batter to be walked intentionally by having the defending bench signal to the Umpire; the move was met with some controversy. A subset of the base on balls, an intentional base on balls or intentional walk is when the pitcher deliberately pitches the ball away from the batter in order to issue a base on balls.
As with any other walk, an intentional walk entitles the batter to first base without liability to be put out, entitles any runners to advance if forced. Intentional walks are a strategic defensive maneuver done to bypass one hitter for one the defensive team believes is less to initiate a run-scoring play. Teams commonly use intentional walks to set up a double play or force out situation for the next batter. Intentional walks do carry risks, however, they carry an obvious, inherent risk: they give the offensive team another runner on base, without any effort on their part, who could score a run. They may carry additional risks. An intentional walk is signaled by the catcher standing and extending one arm to the side away from the batter; the pitcher pitches the ball to that side several feet outside from home plate outside the reach of the batter. A ball pitched in this manner is called an intentional ball and counts as a ball in the pitcher's pitch count. In order to count as an intentional ball, the ball must be pitched, i.e. the pitcher's foot must be on the pitcher's rubber, the catcher must be in the catcher's box, the batter must be in the batter's box appearing ready to take a pitch at the time the ball is thrown.
An intentional walk may be signaled at any time during the batter's turn at the plate. Only walks issued by the catcher signaling as described above are recorded as intentional walks. Another risk taken by the defensive team in issuing a base on balls is that since intentional balls must be pitched in a legal manner, they can become wild pitches or passed balls. A baserunner can attempt
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Indians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland, Ohio. The Indians compete in Major League Baseball as a member club of the American League Central division. Since 1994, they have played at Progressive Field; the team's spring training facility is at Goodyear Ballpark in Arizona. Since their establishment as a major league franchise in 1901, the Indians have won two World Series championships: in 1920 and 1948, along with 10 Central Division titles and six American League pennants; the Indians' current World Series championship drought is the longest active drought. The name "Indians" originated from a request by club owner Charles Somers to baseball writers to choose a new name to replace "Cleveland Naps" following the departure of Nap Lajoie after the 1914 season; the name referenced the nickname "Indians", applied to the Cleveland Spiders baseball club during the time when Louis Sockalexis, a Native American, played in Cleveland. Common nicknames for the Indians include the "Tribe" and the "Wahoos", the latter being a reference to their former logo, Chief Wahoo.
The team's mascot is named "Slider." The franchise originated in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in 1894 as the Grand Rapids Rustlers, a minor league team that competed in the Western League. The team relocated to Cleveland in 1900 and changed its name to the Cleveland Lake Shores; the Western League itself changed its name to the American League while continuing its minor league status. One of the American League's eight charter franchises, the major league incarnation of the club was founded in Cleveland in 1901. Called the Cleveland Bluebirds, the team played in League Park until moving permanently to Cleveland Stadium in 1946. At the end of the 2018 season, they had a regular season franchise record of 9,384–8,968. From August 24 to September 14, 2017, the Indians won 22 consecutive games, the longest winning streak in American League history. "In 1857 baseball games were a daily spectacle in Cleveland's Public Squares. City authorities tried to find an ordinance forbidding it, to the joy of the crowd, they were unsuccessful.
– Harold Seymour" 1865–1868 Forest Citys of Cleveland 1869–1872 Forest Citys of Cleveland From 1865 to 1868 Forest Citys was an amateur ball club. During the 1869 season, Cleveland was among several cities which established professional baseball teams following the success of the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, the first professional team. In the newspapers before and after 1870, the team was called the Forest Citys, in the same generic way that the team from Chicago was sometimes called The Chicagos. In 1871 the Forest Citys joined the new National Association of Professional Base Ball Players, the first professional league. Two of the league's western clubs went out of business during the first season and the Chicago Fire left that city's White Stockings impoverished, unable to field a team again until 1874. Cleveland was thus the year the club folded. Cleveland played their full schedule to July 19 followed by two games versus Boston in mid-August and disbanded at the end of the season. 1879–1881 Cleveland Forest Citys 1882–1884 Cleveland BluesIn 1876, the National League supplanted the NA as the major professional league.
Cleveland were not among its charter members, but by 1879 the league was looking for new entries and the city gained an NL team. The Cleveland Forest Citys baseball team was re-created; the National League required distinct colors for the 1882 season, so the Cleveland Forest Citys became the Cleveland Blues. They had a mediocre record for six seasons and were ruined by a trade war with the Union Association in 1884, when its three best players jumped to the UA after being offered higher salaries. Cleveland Blues merged with the St. Louis Maroons UA team in 1885. 1887–1899 Cleveland Spiders — nickname "Blues"Cleveland went without major league baseball for two seasons until gaining a team in the American Association in 1887. After the AA's Allegheny club jumped to the NL Cleveland followed suit in 1889, as the AA began to crumble; the Cleveland ball club, named the Spiders became a power in the league. The next year the Spiders moved into League Park, which would serve as the home of Cleveland professional baseball for the next 55 years.
Led by native Ohioan Cy Young, the Spiders became a contender in the mid-1890s, when they played in the Temple Cup Series twice, winning it in 1895. The team began to fade after this success, was dealt a severe blow under the ownership of the Robison brothers Prior to the 1899 season, Frank Robison, the Spiders owner, bought the St. Louis Browns, thus owning two clubs at the same time; the Browns were renamed the "Perfectos", restocked with Cleveland talent. Just weeks before the season opener, most of the better Spiders players were transferred to St. Louis, including three future Hall of Famers: Cy Young, Jesse Burkett and Bobby Wallace; the roster maneuvers failed to create a powerhouse Perfectos team, as St. Louis finished fifth in both 1899 and 1900; the Spiders were left with a minor league lineup, began to lose games at a record pace. Drawing no fans at home, they ended up playing most of their season on the road, became known as "The Wanderers." The team ended the season in 12th place, 84 games out of first place, with an all-time worst record of 20-134.
Following the 1899 season, the National League disbanded four teams, including the Cleveland franchise. The disastrous 1899 season would be a step toward a new future for Cleveland fans
Los Angeles
Los Angeles the City of Los Angeles and known by its initials L. A. is the most populous city in California, the second most populous city in the United States, after New York City, the third most populous city in North America. With an estimated population of four million, Los Angeles is the cultural and commercial center of Southern California; the city is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity and the entertainment industry, its sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles is the largest city on the West Coast of North America. Los Angeles is in a large basin bounded by the Pacific Ocean on one side and by mountains as high as 10,000 feet on the other; the city proper, which covers about 469 square miles, is the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the country. Los Angeles is the principal city of the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second largest in the United States after that of New York City, with a population of 13.1 million. It is part of the Los Angeles-Long Beach combined statistical area the nation's second most populous area with a 2015 estimated population of 18.7 million.
Los Angeles is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States, with a diverse economy in a broad range of professional and cultural fields. Los Angeles is famous as the home of Hollywood, a major center of the world entertainment industry. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index and 9th in the Global Economic Power Index; the Los Angeles metropolitan area has a gross metropolitan product of $1.044 trillion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. Los Angeles hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics and will host the event for a third time in 2028; the city hosted the Miss Universe pageant twice, in 1990 and 2006, was one of 9 American cities to host the 1994 FIFA men's soccer World Cup and one of 8 to host the 1999 FIFA women's soccer World Cup, hosting the final match for both tournaments. Home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California.
The city was founded on September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood; the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California assured the city's continued rapid growth; the Los Angeles coastal area was settled by the Chumash tribes. A Gabrieleño settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning "poison oak place". Maritime explorer Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area of southern California for the Spanish Empire in 1542 while on an official military exploring expedition moving north along the Pacific coast from earlier colonizing bases of New Spain in Central and South America.
Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2, 1769. In 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. On September 4, 1781, a group of forty-four settlers known as "Los Pobladores" founded the pueblo they called El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles,'The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels'; the present-day city has the largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese in the United States. Two-thirds of the Mexican or settlers were mestizo or mulatto, a mixture of African and European ancestry; the settlement remained a small ranch town for decades, but by 1820, the population had increased to about 650 residents. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the historic district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street, the oldest part of Los Angeles. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, the pueblo continued as a part of Mexico.
During Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta California's regional capital. Mexican rule ended during the Mexican–American War: Americans took control from the Californios after a series of battles, culminating with the signing of the Treaty of Cahuenga on January 13, 1847. Railroads arrived with the completion of the transcontinental Southern Pacific line to Los Angeles in 1876 and the Santa Fe Railroad in 1885. Petroleum was discovered in the city and surrounding area in 1892, by 1923, the discoveries had helped California become the country's largest oil producer, accounting for about one-quarter of the world's petroleum output. By 1900, the population had grown to more than 102,000; the completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, under the supervision of William Mulholland, assured the continued growth of the city. Due to clauses in the city's charter that prevented the City of Los Angeles from selling or providing water from the aqueduct to any area outside its borders, many adjacent city and communities became compelled to annex themselves into Los Angeles.
Los Angeles created the first municipal zoning ordinance in the United States. On September 14, 1908, the Los Angeles City Council promulgated residential and industrial land use zones; the new ordinance established three residential zones of a single type, where industrial uses were
Major League Baseball All-Star Game
The Major League Baseball All-Star Game known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual professional baseball game sanctioned by Major League Baseball contested between the All-Stars from the American League and National League selected by fans for starting fielders, by managers for pitchers, by managers and players for reserves. The game occurs on either the second or third Tuesday in July, is meant to mark a symbolic halfway-point in the MLB season. Both of the major leagues share an All-Star break, with no regular-season games scheduled on the day before or two days after the All-Star Game itself; some additional events and festivities associated with the game take place each year close to and during this break in the regular season. No official MLB All-Star Game was held in 1945 including the official selection of players due to World War II travel restrictions. Two All-Star Games were held each season from 1959 to 1962; the most recent All-Star Game was held on July 17, 2018, at Nationals Park, home of the National League's Washington Nationals.
The 2019 and 2020 All-Star Games are scheduled to be held in Cleveland and Los Angeles, respectively. A Major League Baseball All-Star is a professional baseball player, named to either the American League or National League All-Star Team. Major league All-Star namings began in July 1933. Fans have participated in the selection of the players who fill the AL and NL All-Star rosters. Between 1935 and 1946, each All-Star team's manager selected their entire teams. From 1959 through 1962, All-Stars played in two All-Star Games each season. On January 29, 1936, Babe Ruth became the first of the original thirty-six All-Stars to be inducted in the National Baseball Hall of Fame. Hank Aaron holds the record for the most All-Star Game appearances. In 2017, each All-Star team had 32 players, with fans voting for the starting players, the players selecting the reserve players for each position and five starting pitchers and three relief pitchers; the final All-Star player vote still exists, but the MLB commissioner's office will now fill out the remaining roster spots instead of the managers.
The 90th Installment will be played in Progressive Field, home of the AL central's Cleveland Indians. The first All-Star Game was held on July 6, 1933, as part of the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago, at Comiskey Park and was initiated by Arch Ward sports editor for the Chicago Tribune. Intended to be a one-time event, its great success resulted in making the game an annual one; the venue for the All-Star Game is chosen by Major League Baseball. The criteria for the venue are subjective. Over time, this has resulted in certain cities being selected more at the expense of others due to timely circumstances: Cleveland Stadium and the original Yankee Stadium are tied for the most times a venue has hosted the All-Star game, both hosting four games. New York City has hosted more than any other city, having done so nine times in five different stadiums. At the same time, the New York Mets failed to host for 48 seasons, while the Los Angeles Dodgers have not hosted since 1980 and will do so in 2020. Among current major league teams, the Tampa Bay Rays have yet to host the All-Star game.
In the first two decades of the game there were two pairs of teams that shared ballparks, located in Philadelphia and St. Louis; this led to some shorter-than-usual gaps between the use of those venues: The Cardinals hosted the game in 1940, the Browns in 1948. The Athletics hosted the game in 1943, the Phillies in 1952; the venues traditionally alternate between the American National League every year. This tradition has been broken several times: The first time was in 1951, when the AL Detroit Tigers were chosen to host the annual game as part of the city's 250th birthday; the second was when the two-game format during the 1959–1962 seasons resulted in the AL being one game ahead in turn. This was corrected in 2007, when the NL San Francisco Giants were the host for the 2007 All-Star Game, which set up the 2008 game to be held at the AL's original Yankee Stadium in its final season, it was broken when again the NL hosted the four straight games from 2015-2018. The AL will host its next game in 2019 in Cleveland.
The "home team" has traditionally been the league in which the host franchise plays its games, but the American League was designated the home team for the 2016 All Star Game, despite its being played in Petco Park, home of the National League's San Diego Padres. This decision was made following the announcement of Miami as host for the 2017 All Star Game, the third straight year in which the game is hosted in a National League ballpark. Since 1934, the managers of the game are the managers of the previous year's league pennant winners and World Series clubs; the coaching staff for each team is selected by its manager. This honor is given to the manager, not the team, so it is possible that the All-Star manager could no longer be
1986 Baseball Hall of Fame balloting
Elections to the Baseball Hall of Fame for 1986 followed the system in place since 1978. The Baseball Writers' Association of America voted by mail to select from recent major league players and elected Willie McCovey; the Veterans Committee met in closed sessions to consider older major league players as well as managers, umpires and figures from the Negro Leagues. It selected two players, Bobby Doerr and Ernie Lombardi; the BBWAA was authorized to elect players active in 1966 or but not after 1980. All 10-year members of the BBWAA were eligible to vote. Voters were instructed to cast votes for up to 10 candidates; the ballot consisted of 41 players. A total of 2,992 individual votes were cast, an average of 7.04 per ballot. Those candidates receiving less than 5% of the vote will not appear on future BBWAA ballots, but may be considered by the Veterans Committee. Candidates who were eligible for the first time are indicated here with a †; the one candidate who received at least 75% of the vote and was elected is indicated in bold italics.
The 17 candidates who received less than 5% of the vote, thus becoming ineligible for future BBWAA consideration, are indicated with a *. The newly-eligible players included 15 All-Stars, two of whom were not included on the ballot, representing a total of 36 All-Star selections. Among the new candidates were 7-time All-Star Minnie Miñoso, re-eligible due to two at-bats in 1980, 6-time All Star Willie McCovey; the field included one MVP, two Rookies of the Year. Players eligible for the first time who were not included on the ballot were: Bill Bonham, Pedro Borbón, Bernie Carbo, Ralph Garr, Ken Henderson, Von Joshua, Fred Kendall, Lerrin LaGrow, Skip Lockwood, Elliott Maddox, Roger Metzger, Fred Norman, Marty Pattin, Dave Rader, Merv Rettenmund, Jim Rooker, Ted Sizemore and Bob Stinson. 1986 Election at www.baseballhalloffame.org
World War II
World War II known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. The vast majority of the world's countries—including all the great powers—eventually formed two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. A state of total war emerged, directly involving more than 100 million people from over 30 countries; the major participants threw their entire economic and scientific capabilities behind the war effort, blurring the distinction between civilian and military resources. World War II was the deadliest conflict in human history, marked by 50 to 85 million fatalities, most of whom were civilians in the Soviet Union and China, it included massacres, the genocide of the Holocaust, strategic bombing, premeditated death from starvation and disease, the only use of nuclear weapons in war. Japan, which aimed to dominate Asia and the Pacific, was at war with China by 1937, though neither side had declared war on the other. World War II is said to have begun on 1 September 1939, with the invasion of Poland by Germany and subsequent declarations of war on Germany by France and the United Kingdom.
From late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Finland and the Baltic states. Following the onset of campaigns in North Africa and East Africa, the fall of France in mid 1940, the war continued between the European Axis powers and the British Empire. War in the Balkans, the aerial Battle of Britain, the Blitz, the long Battle of the Atlantic followed. On 22 June 1941, the European Axis powers launched an invasion of the Soviet Union, opening the largest land theatre of war in history; this Eastern Front trapped most crucially the German Wehrmacht, into a war of attrition. In December 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the United States as well as European colonies in the Pacific. Following an immediate U. S. declaration of war against Japan, supported by one from Great Britain, the European Axis powers declared war on the U.
S. in solidarity with their Japanese ally. Rapid Japanese conquests over much of the Western Pacific ensued, perceived by many in Asia as liberation from Western dominance and resulting in the support of several armies from defeated territories; the Axis advance in the Pacific halted in 1942. Key setbacks in 1943, which included a series of German defeats on the Eastern Front, the Allied invasions of Sicily and Italy, Allied victories in the Pacific, cost the Axis its initiative and forced it into strategic retreat on all fronts. In 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained its territorial losses and turned toward Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in Central China, South China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy and captured key Western Pacific islands; the war in Europe concluded with an invasion of Germany by the Western Allies and the Soviet Union, culminating in the capture of Berlin by Soviet troops, the suicide of Adolf Hitler and the German unconditional surrender on 8 May 1945.
Following the Potsdam Declaration by the Allies on 26 July 1945 and the refusal of Japan to surrender under its terms, the United States dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on 6 and 9 August respectively. With an invasion of the Japanese archipelago imminent, the possibility of additional atomic bombings, the Soviet entry into the war against Japan and its invasion of Manchuria, Japan announced its intention to surrender on 15 August 1945, cementing total victory in Asia for the Allies. Tribunals were set up by fiat by the Allies and war crimes trials were conducted in the wake of the war both against the Germans and the Japanese. World War II changed the political social structure of the globe; the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The Soviet Union and United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the nearly half-century long Cold War. In the wake of European devastation, the influence of its great powers waned, triggering the decolonisation of Africa and Asia.
Most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic expansion. Political integration in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities and create a common identity; the start of the war in Europe is held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred and the two wars merged in 1941; this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935; the British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the fo
Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award
The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award is an annual Major League Baseball award given to one outstanding player in the American League and one in the National League. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers' Association of America; the winners receive the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award, which became the official name of the award in 1944, in honor of the first MLB commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, who served from 1920 until his death on November 25, 1944. MVP voting takes place before the postseason, but the results are not announced until after the World Series; the BBWAA began by polling three writers in each league city in 1938, reducing that number to two per league city in 1961. The BBWAA does not offer a clear-cut definition of what "most valuable" means, instead leaving the judgment to the individual voters. First basemen, with 34 winners, have won the most MVPs among infielders, followed by second basemen, third basemen, shortstops.
Of the 25 pitchers who have won the award, 15 are right-handed. Walter Johnson, Carl Hubbell, Hal Newhouser are the only pitchers who have won multiple times, Newhouser winning consecutively in 1944 and 1945. Hank Greenberg, Stan Musial, Alex Rodriguez, Robin Yount have won at different positions, while Rodriguez is the only player who has won the award with two different teams at two different positions. Barry Bonds has won the most and the most consecutively. Jimmie Foxx was the first player to win multiple times. Frank Robinson is the only player to win the award in both the National Leagues; the award's only tie occurred in the National League in 1979, when Keith Hernandez and Willie Stargell received an equal number of points. There have been 18 unanimous winners; the New York Yankees have the most winning players with 22, followed by the St. Louis Cardinals with 17 winners; the award has never been presented to a member of the following three teams: Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays.
In recent decades, pitchers have won the award. When Justin Verlander won the AL award in 2011, he became the first pitcher in either league to be named the MVP since Dennis Eckersley in 1992. Verlander became the first starting pitcher to win this award since Roger Clemens accomplished the feat in 1986; the National League went longer without an MVP award to a pitcher. After Bob Gibson won in 1968, no pitcher in that league was named MVP until Clayton Kershaw in 2014. Before the 1910 season, Hugh Chalmers of Chalmers Automobile announced he would present a Chalmers Model 30 automobile to the player with the highest batting average in Major League Baseball at the end of the season; the 1910 race for best average in the American League was between the Detroit Tigers' disliked Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie of the Cleveland Indians. On the last day of the season, Lajoie overtook Cobb's batting average with seven bunt hits against the St. Louis Browns. American League President Ban Johnson said a recalculation showed that Cobb had won the race anyway, Chalmers ended up awarding cars to both players.
The following season, Chalmers created the Chalmers Award. A committee of baseball writers were to convene after the season to determine the "most important and useful player to the club and to the league". Since the award was not as effective at advertising as Chalmers had hoped, it was discontinued after 1914. In 1922 the American League created a new award to honor "the baseball player, of the greatest all-around service to his club". Winners, voted on by a committee of eight baseball writers chaired by James Crusinberry, received a bronze medal and a cash prize. Voters were required to select one player from each team and player-coaches and prior award winners were ineligible. Famously, these criteria resulted in Babe Ruth winning only a single MVP award before it was dropped after 1928; the National League award, without these restrictions, lasted from 1924 to 1929. The BBWAA first awarded the modern MVP after the 1931 season, adopting the format the National League used to distribute its league award.
One writer in each city with a team filled out a ten-place ballot, with ten points for the recipient of a first-place vote, nine for a second-place vote, so on. In 1938, the BBWAA raised the number of voters to three per city and gave 14 points for a first-place vote; the only significant change since occurred in 1961, when the number of voters was reduced to two per league city. "Esurance MLB Awards" Best Major Leaguer "Players Choice Awards" Player of the Year Baseball America Major League Player of the Year Baseball Digest Player of the Year Best Major League Baseball Player ESPY Award The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award Sporting News Player of the Year List of Major League Baseball awards Baseball awards a A player is considered inactive if he has announced his retirement or not played for a full season. B A unanimous victory indicates. C Torre is a member of the Hall of Fame, but not as a player, he was inducted in 2014 as a manager. D Hernandez and Stargell both received 216 points in the 1979 voting.
Most Valuable Player MVP Awards & Cy Young
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