League MVP and World Series Champ - what used to be normal is now unique

[9RoyHobbsRF]

I did a quick look back at players who were League MVPs and played on a World Series Champion (crossing my fingers for Posey)

and was surprised to see what used to be quite common is now unique

As far as I can tell, the last MVP to play on a WS Champ was Kirk Gibson in 1988 - that is an unbelievable 24 years.

From 1939 to 1988 (50 seasons) there were a whopping 33 such players

1939 DiMaggio
1940 McCormick
1941 DiMaggio
1942 Cooper
1943 Chandler
1944 Marion
1945 Newhouser
1946 Musial
1947 DiMaggio (only 3 timer from this list)
1948 Boudreau (10 straight 1939-48)
1950 Rizzuto
1951 Berra
1954 Mays
1955 Campanella
1956 Mantle
1957 Aaron
1960 Groat
1961 Maris
1962 Mantle
1963 Koufax
1964 Boyer (5 straight 1960-64)
1966 Robinson
1967 Cepeda
1968 McLain
1970 Powell
1973 Jackson
1975 Morgan
1976 Morgan (only player on this list to do it in consecutive seasons)
1979 Stargell (tied for MVP)
1980 Schmidt
1983 Ripken
1984 Hernandez
1988 Gibson

[BigRon]

It is strange. Of course there are now 30 teams as compared to 16, then 20 through the late 60s, so it's less likely. Still, pretty unusual. Posey almost certainly will win the NL MVP so this streak will be broken.

[willshad]

It shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the voting is done before the playoffs, and there's more playoff teams now. In the old days, they would vote for a guy on the first place team, which went right to the world series. Now, if you vote for a guy on a playoff team, there's much less of a chance of that team winning it all.

[Bothrops Atrox]

It shouldn't come as a surprise, considering the voting is done before the playoffs, and there's more playoff teams now. In the old days, they would vote for a guy on the first place team, which went right to the world series.

This is exactly why. The old "how valuable can a guy be if his team doesn't make the playoffs" mantra was the predominant one back then. Not that it was always the case, but the conversation started with the best player on the pennant winner, and if nobody was that great on that team, they would look for big HR/RBI/BA totals on a team that was close to the playoffs next. Generally speaking, of course.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

well it should not go from 67% to zero percent

zero in 23-24 years is pretty amazing

[willshad]

It makes sense, though. If you voted for a guy on a playoff team back then, there basically was a 50/50 chance they'd be on a world series winner...and an even greater chance if he was a Yankee. Nowadays, there's more like a 12% chance. Not to mention the fact that some recent MVPs were guys not on playoff teams, and there are many more players to choose from now.

[Bothrops Atrox]

well it should not go from 67% to zero percent

zero in 23-24 years is pretty amazing

Yeah - that is not the only reason, but probably the biggest one.

[pheasant]

Also, the voters were MUCH more biased back in the day. One year, Ted Williams embarassed the league when he won the triple crown, yet fell one 10th place vote shy of winning the MVP. How could Williams not even muster a 10th place vote from one of the voters? Lou Gehrig's 1934 season was his 2nd best season(had career high 49 HRs, posted his 2nd highest OPS+ season ever, won the MLB triple crown), yet finished 5th in the voting.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

Also, the voters were MUCH more biased back in the day. One year, Ted Williams embarassed the league when he won the triple crown, yet fell one 10th place vote shy of winning the MVP. How could Williams not even muster a 10th place vote from one of the voters? Lou Gehrig's 1934 season was his 2nd best season(had career high 49 HRs, posted his 2nd highest OPS+ season ever, won the MLB triple crown), yet finished 5th in the voting.

What year was this?

It certainly wasn't 1947 and here is some great info:

To wit, in that very same election that Williams was left off of a ballot, DiMaggio was left off of three ballots! And on three other ballots, DiMaggio got a third-to-last vote, a second-to-last vote and a last place vote. Whatever you thought of DiMaggio in 1947, he was clearly one of the top seven players in the American League, so to be left off of three ballots and finish between eighth and tenth on three others is ludicrous, as well.

You can't cry you were left off one vote when DiMaggio was left off 3 and still beat you

Read more here

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/sports_blog/2010/09/sports-legend-revealed-did-ted-williams-lose-an-mvp-award-because-a-boston-voter-left-him-off-the-ba.html

It wasn't 1942 when Gordon beat Williams by 21 points

[ipitch]

You can't cry you were left off one vote when DiMaggio was left off 3 and still beat you

If Williams was left off of one ballot, then DiMaggio deserved to be left off of a LOT more than just three. Williams deserved to win by a landslide.

[9RoyHobbsRF]

If Williams was left off of one ballot, then DiMaggio deserved to be left off of a LOT more than just three. Williams deserved to win by a landslide.

Williams received 3 first place votes out of 24

5 other players received first place votes

[ipitch]

Williams received 3 first place votes out of 24

5 other players received first place votes

I don't know why that matters. Wouldn't you agree that Williams was robbed?

[pheasant]

It was 1947. And I get the fact that OPS didn't matter then. Williams crushed Dimaggio in OPS by a whopping 220 points.

But even if we consider traditional stats, they look like this:

Dimaggio: 97 runs, 168 hits, 20 HR, 97 RBI, .315 AVG
Williams: 125 runs, 181 hits, 32 HR, 114 RBI, .343 AVG.

Willliams collected 13 more hits than Dimaggio despite drawing 98 more walks that year!

It's sick that one of the voters didn't even put Williams in the top 10 that year. That'd be like Cabrera this year not making the top 10 with one of the voters. Actually, it's more extreme than that because Mr. Trout had a whale of a year and there were more legit contenders this year(compared to 1947, anyway)

[9RoyHobbsRF]

^ and three did not place DiMaggio in top ten he still won

DiMaggio played in cavernous Yankee stadium Williams played in cozy fenway park

DiMaggio was an excellent CF Williams was average or less LF

Williams played 15 more games than DiMaggio

[ipitch]

DiMaggio played in cavernous Yankee stadium Williams played in cozy fenway park

I knew you'd say that eventually (although I am surprised that you didn't say "DEATH VALLEY" like usual). Did you not notice that in 1947 Williams outhit DiMaggio in road games, by a good margin?

Williams played 15 more games than DiMaggio

That's a negative for DiMaggio.