Nine American League Pitchers that Have Been Named MVP

There have been nine American League pitchers that have won the Most Valuable Player Award, starting in 1943 with the Yankees Spud Chandler. Although the Cy Young Award is given out to the best pitcher in both leagues every year since 1967, occasionally a hurler has such a dominating season that he also manages to pull down the Most Valuable Player trophy as well. However, hitters have ruled the honor as of late, with Dennis Eckersley the last American League pitcher to win an MVP, back in 1992.

Chandler's award came during the war years, when all of baseball had been diminished by the military draft. Spud, the only Yankee pitcher to win an MVP, was 20-4 that year with an earned run average of 1.64, on his way to a remarkable record of 109-43 for a winning percentage of .717. Chandler's success spilled over into the post-season when he won two complete games over the Cardinals, allowing just two runs, as New York captured the crown in five games, the last a 2-0 shutout for Spud, whose real name was Spurgeon.

Hal Newhouser of the Tigers also grabbed an MVP during the war, as he went 29-9 in 1944, following that campaign up with another MVP performance in '45 when he was 25-9. Newhouser proved that his success was not simply due to the absence of the game's best hitters due to the war when he went on to win 97 contests over the next five years, but one can look at his earned run averages during his pair of Most Valuable Player years to see that the caliber of play was lessened when he won the honors. Hal's career ERA was 3.06, but in 1944 it was 2.22, and even better the next year at 1.81.

Five-foot-six Bobby Shantz, a little lefty, was so tough on hitters in 1952 that the writers had no choice but to give him an MVP. Bobby went 24-7 with five shutouts for the Athletics, who actually had a winning record at 79-75, a rarity for the club during that era. Shantz garnered 16 of the 24 first place votes for the AL MVP, handily beating out another pitcher, the Yankees' Allie Reynolds, who had a 20-8 standard for the World Champions. Shantz never came close to duplicating his 1952 success but he became a key member of the Yankees' staff later in the decade, moving between a starter and a reliever before playing out the string in the National League in the early Sixties.

It would be sixteen years before another pitcher won an AL MVP, and it took 31 wins from Denny McLain to do the trick. His 1968 season of 31-6 with a 1.96 earned run average and 280 strikeouts for the Tigers gave the writers all they needed to make him the unanimous winner of the MVP. McLain was the first American League hurler to win both the MVP and the Cy Young and he was the last 30 game winner in the majors. McLain followed up that brilliant year with a Cy Young in 1969 before running afoul of the law and seeing his career go down the drain. Three years later it was Vida Blue's turn to achieve that Daily Double, as the 21 year old Oakland phenom went 24-8 with 24 complete games and 8 shutouts to go with his 1.82 ERA. The lefthander easily won the MVP over teammate Sal Bando and took the Cy Young in a much closer vote over Detroit's Mickey Lolich, who was 25-14 but with an earned run average a full run worse than Blue's.

Milwaukee's Rollie Fingers became the first relief pitcher to be named American League MVP, in 1981 when he had 28 saves, a paltry figure by today's standards but not at that time. His ERA was a miniscule 1.04 though and he was instrumental in the Brewers winning the pennant that year. He too was awarded the Cy Young the same season as winning the MVP, as was the Tigers Willie Hernandez in 1984. Another reliever, Willie's 32 saves and 9 wins went well enough with his 1.92 ERA to sway the voters. Oddly enough, Hernandez won the MVP by a greater margin than the Cy Young, which he narrowly took in a battle with the Royals' Dan Quissenberry.

Roger Clemens continued the run of pitchers winning MVP and Cy Youngs in the same season with his 24-4 record in 1986 for the Red Sox. Roger's 2.48 ERA led the circuit and he grabbed all 28 first place votes for the Cy Young. He easily outdistanced sluggers Don Mattingly and Jim Rice for the MVP kudos. Eckersley in 1992 was the last king of the hill to accomplish the double feat of MVP and Cy Young, with 51 saves and a 7-1 record. The voting was no contest in favor of the "Eck", who had a 1.91 ERA after having made the transition from starter to closer six years earlier on his way to the Hall of Fame.