The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series,[1] which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The award was first presented in 1955 as the SPORT Magazine Award, but is now decided during the final game of the Series by a committee of reporters and officials present at the game.[2][3]
Sport | Baseball |
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League | Major League Baseball |
Awarded for | Annual most valuable player of the World Series |
Country | United States Canada |
Presented by | Major League Baseball |
History | |
First award | 1955 |
Most recent | Corey Seager (Texas Rangers) |
On September 29, 2017, it was renamed in honor of Willie Mays in remembrance of the 63rd anniversary of The Catch, which occurred the year before the award's debut;[4] Mays never won the award himself.
Pitchers have been named Series MVP twenty-nine (29) times; four of them were relief pitchers. Twelve of the first fourteen World Series MVPs were won by pitchers; from 1969 until 1986, the proportion of pitcher MVPs declined—Rollie Fingers (1974) and Bret Saberhagen (1985) were the only two pitchers to win the award in this period. From 1987 until 1991, all of the World Series MVPs were pitchers, and, since 1995, pitchers have won the award nine times. The most recent pitcher to win the award is Stephen Strasburg, who won in 2019.
Up until 2017, the World Series MVP trophy was similar to the Commissioner's Trophy, albeit scaled down and with a single large gold-plated flag. After being renamed to Willie Mays World Series MVP Award for the 2018 edition and onward, the trophy is a wooden pedestal topped by a bronze sculpture of Willie Mays making the iconic catch in the 1954 World Series.[4]
General Motors has provided a vehicle to the World Series MVP winner for 14 straight seasons through 2018.[5] Since 2019, Disney Parks, Products and Experiences has sponsored the award.
Year | Links to the article about that corresponding World Series |
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† | Member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum |
‡ | Active player |
# | Indicates rookie |
* | Indicates player also won the LCS MVP Award in the same postseason |
§ | Indicates losing team in the World Series |
^ | Indicates multiple award winners in the same World Series |
(#) | Indicates number of times winning World Series MVP at that point (if he won multiple times) |
Winners by teams edit |
Winners by position edit
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The SPORT Magazine Award, an annual award presented since 1955, originally by SPORT magazine in cooperation with the Chevrolet Motor Co. (the magazine ceased publication in 2000 and is no longer involved with the award).