Tiger award winners
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Smith, Brad
Jul 15, 2010, 10:43:04 PM7/15/10
to tig...@lists.ibl.org
So we're at the break, and Miguel Cabrera would have a darn good shot at the MVP if the voting were held today. Do you realize that the Tigers have gone longer than any team in baseball without having a position player win the MVP? The last Tiger position player to win the MVP was Hank Greenberg in 1940.
The Tigers have had some close ones since then. Second baseman Eddie Mayo finished second to teammate pitcher Hal Newhouser in 1945. Though the total vote was 236 to 164, Mayo was almost even in first place votes, with 7 to Newhouser's 9. In 1955 batting champ Al Kaline lost a very close vote to Yogi Berra, 218 to 201. Al Smith of Cleveland was third with 200. Kaline finished a more distant second in 1963, behind another Yankee catcher, Elston Howard. In 1968 Bill Freehan finished second, but teammate pitcher Denny McLain was the unanimous winner.
Of course, Alan Trammell lost an excruciatingly close vote to George Bell in 1987, 332 to 311 (16 first place votes to 12). Home run/RBI leader Cecil Fielder finished second by close and nearly identical tallies to Rickey Henderson in 1990 and to Cal Ripken in 1991. The tally in 1990 was 317 to 286 (14 first place votes to 10) and 318 to 286 (15 first place to 9) in '91. And batting champ Magglio Ordonez finished a distant second to Alex Rodriguez in 2007. But no position player has won it for the Tigers since Greenberg.
(Five clubs have never had a winner, but all are expansion teams: the Mets (1962), Montreal/Washington (1969), Florida (1993), Tampa Bay (1998) and Arizona (1998).
In fact, while the Tigers won 6 of the first 15 awards (Mickey Cochrane '34, Greenberg '35 & '40, Charlie Gehringer '37, and Newhouser '44 & '45) the Tigers have won just 8 total MVPs, with only the pitchers McLain ('68) and Willie Hernandez ('84) winning in the 64 years since Newhouser's second win. Those 2 MVPs since the end of WWII are the fewest of any of the original 16 franchises except for Cleveland, which has also won just 2 since the end of the war (Lou Boudreau in 1948 and Al Rosen in 1953). The only franchises that have gone longer than Detroit with no winner at all are the Mets, Montreal/Washington, Cleveland and Kansas City, whose only winner was George Brett in 1980.
Total franchise MVP winners:
Yankees: 20
Cardinals: 17
Giants: 12
Athletics: 11
Reds: 11
Dodgers: 10
Red Sox: 10
Cubs: 8
Tigers: 8
Phillies: 7
Braves: 6
Pirates: 6
Browns/Orioles: 5
Senators/Twins: 5
Senators/Rangers: 5
White Sox: 4
Pilots/Brewers: 3
Angels: 2
Mariners: 2
Indians: 2
Rockies: 1
Padres: 1
Astros: 1
Blue Jays: 1
Royals: 1
Devil Rays, Marlins, Diamondbacks, Expos/Nationals, Mets: 0
The Tigers also have had relatively few Cy Young winners. The Tigers have had 3 winners (McLain '68 & '69 and Hernandez '84), which is tied for 15th among all clubs and is tied for 10th among the 16 franchises that existed in 1955, when the award started. Only 4 clubs have gone longer without a winner than Detroit - Milwaukee (Pete Vukovich '82), Baltimore (Steve Stone '80), Texas (no winners since franchise founded in 1961) and Cincinnati (no winners). Also, three of the 1990s expansion teams have had no winners - Florida, Tampa Bay and Colorado.
Mickey Lolich finished the second in 1971 to Vida Blue (98 to 85, 14 first place votes to 9), and Mark Fidrych was a surprisingly distant second to Jim Palmer in 1976 (108-51, 19 first place votes to 5) (The Angels' Frank Tanana was third that year).
I suppose Verlander could win this year with a monster second half, or Valverde, too - but he'll need more save opps, and frankly, it looks like a starters' year.
Total Franchise Cy Young Winners:
Dodgers: 9
Braves: 7
Red Sox: 6
Phillies: 6
Orioles: 6
Diamondbacks: 5
Athletics: 5
Yankees: 5
Blue Jays: 4
Royals: 4
Padres: 4
Mets: 4
Cubs: 4
Senators/Twins: 4
Tigers: 3
Giants: 3
Indians: 3
Cardinals: 3
White Sox: 3
Angels: 2
Astros: 2
Pilots/Brewers: 2
Pirates: 2
Expos/Nats: 1
Mariners: 1
Devil Rays, Marlins, Rockies, Senators/Rangers, Reds: 0
And the Tigers haven't done well in Rookie of the Year balloting either. With Justin Verlander's 2006 win, we haven't had a long draught as we have in MVP and Cy Young voting, but with just 4 total winners (Harvey Kuenn '53, Fidrych '76, Lou Whitaker '78, and Verlander) we are tied for 13th of the 16 franchises in existence in 1947, when the Award began. No Tiger has ever finished second in ROY voting.
Total Franchise Rookie of the Year Winners:
Dodgers: 16
Athletics: 8
Yankees: 8
Reds: 7
Senators/Twins: 7
Browns/Orioles: 7
Braves: 6
Red Sox: 6
Cardinals: 6
Cubs: 5
White Sox: 5
Giants: 5
Royals: 4
Mets: 4
Tigers: 4
Phillies: 4
Indians: 4
Marlins: 3
Mariners: 3
Blue Jays: 2
Pilots/Brewers: 2
Padres: 2
Expos/Nats: 2
Devil Rays: 1
Rockies: 1
Astros: 1
Angels: 1
Senators/Rangers: 1
Pirates: 1
Diamondbacks: 0
If the voting were today, I suspect that Brennan Boesch would add to the Tigers total. However, he's got stiff competition from Neftali Perez (23 saves for Texas). The Orioles' Alfredo Simon, Cleveland's Mitch Talbot, and our own Austin Jackson could all figure into it if the two front runners stumble badly.
Total Awards by Franchise (with year of expansion):
1. Dodgers: 35
2. Yankees: 33
3. Cardinals: 26
4. Athletics: 24
5. Red Sox: 22
6, Giants: 20
7. Braves: 19
8. Reds: 18
8. Browns/Orioles: 18
10. Cubs: 17
10. Phillies: 17
12. Senators/Twins:16
13. Tigers: 15
14. White Sox: 12
15. Royals: 9 (1969)
16. Pirates: 9
16. Indians: 9
18. Mets: 8 (1962)
19. Blue Jays: 7 (1977)
20. Pilots/Brewers: 7 (1969)
20. Padres: 7 (1969)
22. Mariners: 6 (1977)
23. Senators/Rangers: 6 (1961)
24. Diamondbacks: 5 (1998)
25. Angels: 5 (1961)
26. Astros: 4 (1962)
27. Marlins: 3 (1993)
28. Expos/Nats: 3 (1969)
29. Rockies: 2 (1993)
30. Devil Rays: 1 (1998)
Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Designated Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 E. Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43215
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