What defines you as the MVP? Well the award itself is given out to the most outstanding player of the entire season. MLB takes it up a notch as it give out two MVP awards; one for the American League and one for the National League. It’s the only sport that does this but it’s also the only sport that has 162 games so awarding two MVPS, one for each league, isn’t that big of a deal. Some of the greatest players to ever play the game have won the MVP award. Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Mike Schmidt and so much more have won this award. Barry Bonds holds the record for most MVP’s with seven; yes you heard that right seven. Yes sure steroids were a big factor for why he won a handful of them but hey he kind of deserved them. The MVP award is always something to look forward to in your playing career as everyone’s goal is to win it once they begin their career. Of course winning the World Series or being a memorable premise on the sport is another goal too but winning the biggest award in the sport is kind of a big deal. You get to have your name next to icons and legends. But then there are the ones who just miss out on the award. Shockingly enough some of the greatest to ever play baseball never won the award. Sure they have gotten some MVP votes but they just fell short. After all only 20,532 people so far have played in the MLB since 1876 so that means 0.07% of baseball players have won the award since 1876. That’s insane to even think of but the award itself became an award officially in 1911 but still it’s insane. Today we will be talking about 10 of these 20,532 great players that I couldn’t believe didn’t win a single MVP award. Now while pitchers have won the award from Bob Gibson to most recently the two way player Shohei Othani but I will not count them for this list as while they do deserve a chance to win the award, they also have their own award specifically for pitchers that I will cover in the future. Also I will not be including current players as these players may have a chance to winning the award one day. They officially need to be retired by this point of me posting this list. Finally this is my opinion as I won’t be listing them off as you can make this list multiple times, quite frankly I may just do that, but this is 10 ball players during my research that I truly believe should have won the MVP but never did. With that said let’s get on with this list and countdown 10 MLB Players Who Never Won the MVP.
10. Wade Boggs (1982 – 1999) – We’re starting off this list with probably one of the most beloved hitters in the 80’s and 90’s and to many the best contact hitter of all time, Wade Boggs. Boggs played his career with the Red Sox, Yankees and Devil Rays and was a menace on the field and with the bat. He made 12 All Star games, won 2 Gold Gloves, 8 Silver Sluggers and won the Batting Title 5 times. Boggs was never the biggest power hitter but he made a huge contribution on his teams with making contact with the ball, getting on base and being one of the most clutch batters in the 20th century. Now he had some pretty huge seasons where he could have won the MVP but unfortunately came up short. 1985 was the year where he had his highest placement in the MVP voting; coming in 4th place he had one of the best seasons in his career. He had 240 hits, 42 doubles, lead the league in batting average with .368, had an on base percentage of .450 and had a 9.1 WAR (Wins Above Replacement). However he fell short behind 3 of the biggest names in baseball at the time, Rickey Henderson, George Brett and the eventual winner Don Mattingly. The year where he had a power surge and hit 24 home runs and batted .363 was another crazy shock but he placed 9th in MVP voting and the winner that year (1987) was George Bell whose stats power wise was more bigger than Boggs but I mean Boggs had a better batting average, on base percentage, OPS, hell he had a 8.3 WAR compared to Bell’s 5.0 WAR. How did this man lose that year and only placed 9th? Boggs only had one, maybe even two bad seasons in his career and yet he still managed to never have an On Base Percentage below .350, he had 3 seasons where his average was below .300 and he is called one of the greatest 3rd Basemen of all time and yet he never could win the big award.
9. Prince Fielder (2005 – 2016) – Fun fact, Prince Fielder and his father Cecil Fielder both have 319 career homeruns and yet Prince had to unfortunately end his career at age 32 while his father retired by age 35 an had played 4 more seasons than his son. Why did I start this entry up with this fact? Well it just shows you how great Prince Fielder was. Fielder was a monster with a baseball bat as while Boggs was known for being a contact hitter, Fielder was known for being a power hitting machine. 2007 should have been his big MVP season. He led the league with 50 homeruns, had 119 RBI’s had a .618 slugging percentage, 1.013 OPS and yet he only placed 3rd behind Matt Holliday and the eventual winner Jimmy Rollins. Now Rollins and Holliday had better seasons and stats than Fielder that year but say both men weren’t in the voting and played not as well as they did and then Fielder somehow manages to win the award. Now that wasn’t even his best year as we need to talk about 2009. Fielder fell to 4th place in the NL MVP race and I mean I see why, Albert Pujols had a monster year with 47 homeruns, 1.101 OPS, 9.7 WAR and winning the award unanimously. But Fielder had some incredible stats with a 6.3 WAR, 46 homeruns, 141 RBI’s (tied with the lead with Ryan Howard) and a 1.014 OPS. Fielder had even more monster numbers in 2011 but yet fell short to his teammate Ryan Braun who allegedly was on steroids. Fielder in his first 6 years in the big league was putting up monster numbers, placing top 5 multiple times for MVP, helped the Brewers become a playoff contending team and he was only 27 years old. The next 5 years he had 2 seasons where he placed in the Top 15 in the MVP race but by 2016 his career was over due to a neck injury. Just imagine this, Fielder playing till the age of 40, possibly getting himself close to 600 career homeruns and could possibly have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Fielder put up video game numbers before his 30th birthday and yet he couldn’t manage to win a single MVP award.
8. Manny Ramirez (1993 – 2011) – The Dominican Republic has brought out many greats to win the MVP Award. Albert Pujols, Vladimir Guerrero, Miguel Tejada, technically Alex Rodriguez even though he was born in Miami, anyway Dominican Republic has brought in some of the best players in the sport. Manny Ramirez was one of them and it’s surprising that he never won the MVP. By his 2nd full year in his career, Manny Ramirez was already placing 12th in the MVP voting. However by 1998 – 2005, Manny Ramirez placed top 10 in the MVP race. The ‘98 season was a crazy season already with McGwire hitting 70 homeruns and losing to Sammy Sosa in the NL MVP race, Manny somehow managed to place 6th in the AL MVP race behind Ken Griffey Jr., and the eventual winner Juan Gonzalez but it was the ‘99 season where Manny most likely was robbed for the prestigious award. While his future teammate Pedro Martinez was proving why he was the best pitcher in the league, winning the Cy Young Award, Manny only placed 2nd and the eventual winner Ivan Rodriguez had a really great season but for Manny he had his best season in his career but also one of the best seasons in all of baseball. He batted .333 with 44 homeruns, had a league leading 165 RBI’s, 1.105 OPS, an OPS+ of 174 and he was tied with his teammate Roberto Alomar for 3rd place. Stats wise Manny had the better season than Ivan Rodriguez as he hit more homeruns (44 to Ivan’s 35), defiantly had more RBI’s and had a 7.4 WAR compared to Ivan’s 6.3 WAR. From 2000 – 2005 he unfortunately missed out on the award again but I mean it’s not shocking when Giambi puts out video game numbers in 2000, a Japanese icon named Ichiro put on a performance of a lifetime in 2001 in his rookie year, Miguel Tejada somehow wins against A-Rod’s insane year before he would win the award in 2003, Vladimir Guerrero put on his best year to date and A-Rod again wins the MVP, this time in pinstripes. Manny however in those 5 years averaged 40 home runs and 122 RBI’s, won a Silver Slugger each year and was voted into the All Star game each year and yet never managed to win the MVP award. I couldn’t end this without talking about 2008 as Manny was traded to the Dodgers in the middle of the season and placed 4th in the NL MVP voting even though he played 53 games in the Dodgers but the stats were crazy. He batted .396, hit 17 homeruns, had 53 RBI’s, had an OPS of 1.232 and a 3.5 WAR in just 53 games……he isn’t even a human being he is something else. The man wasn’t going to win obviously but to have those stats and place 4th…..mind blowing.
7. Todd Helton (1997 – 2013) – The most recent Hall of Fame inductee, Todd Helton, played his entire career in Colorado and while many say he had the luck to play in Coors Field with the high altitude in Colorado, take him out of Coors and he is still a beast with a bat. Helton is highly underrated compared to the guys he played with in his era. I mean it took him 6 years to make it into the Hall. Helton was a hitting and on base machine as he literally was a video game player in the MLB. Again he played in Coors Field so he had an advantage but I mean he played his whole career there so he should have had 600 homeruns, 4000 hits and 900 doubles and yet he doesn’t. 2001 was a very incredible year for Helton as he had a career best 49 homeruns but he only placed 9th in the MVP voting. 2003 saw him hit .358 with 209 hits, an OPS+ of 165 and only place 7th. But I need to back up a bit and talk about his greatest season ever in his career, 2000. 2000 was the year a mid Yankees team won the World Series, Pedro Martinez won the Cy Young with a 1.74 ERA, some guy named Randy Johnson struck out 347 batters at age 36 and won his 2nd of 4 straight Cy Young Awards and some guy named Juan Pierre would debut in the major leagues for the Rockies. In that same year Helton would destroy baseballs and was in line for the MVP. 216 hits, 59 doubles, 42 homeruns, 147 RBI’s, .372 AVG, .463 OBP, .698 SLG, 1.162 OPS and a NL leading 8.9 WAR and he only finished 5th in MVP voting. How? Edmonds put up some video game numbers but nothing compared to Helton. Piazza had a great year leading the Mets in the World Series but again doesn’t touch Helton stats wise. Hell the 1-2 punch of Barry Bonds and the 2000 NL MVP winner Jeff Kent didn’t have better stats than Helton. Helton lead the league in 9 different categories in 2000 (hits, doubles, AVG, OBP, SLG, OPS, RBI’s, total bases, WAR) and somehow managed to get one 1st place vote and lose to two guys who were never voted into the Hall of Fame and yet Helton somehow manage to beat them in that race but the BWAA writers couldn’t give him first place votes to win the MVP in 2000. Helton would go on to have a couple of other MVP seasons where he fell short for the award but it’s just crazy that the one year he should have won it they gave it to a 2nd tier second baseman who allegedly took steroids.
6. Eddie Mathews (1952 – 1968) – Back in the 50’s and early 60’s, Eddie Mathews was a power house on the plate. Back when a loaf of bread was 14 cents and it cost 6 bucks to rent a hotel room, Eddie Mathews was being one of the best power hitters in the game. In his rookie year alone he placed 21st in the MVP voting and only 3rd in the Rookie of the Year voting. He placed 3rd behind Hoyt Wilhem, eventual winner Joe Black and tied with a player named Dick Groat. I looked Dick Groat up and magically even he won the MVP award in his career and yet I never knew who this man was until today. He won the award in 1960, the same year where Eddie slashed 39 homeruns and brought in 124 runs while batting .277. Dick Groat only had 2 homeruns and had a .325 batting average. It was different times back then but still shocking. However let’s turn the clocks back to the 50’s. It’s now Eddie Mathews 2nd season and he is placing 2nd place in the MVP voting. He destroyed 47 baseballs out of the park and had 135 runs batted in. He was also intentionally walked 16 times, which is rookie numbers compared to Barry Bonds’ 120 back in 2004. Like I said they were different times back then. But he was a machine with the bat and somehow managed to place 2nd behind Roy Campanella who had pretty much close to similar stats to Eddie. Matthews placed Top 20 the next few seasons in the MVP voting but in 1959 he once again placed 2nd for the NL MVP. That year he lost to Ernie Banks who once again had almost similar stats with Eddie. Eddie however fell short again to a just as great maybe slightly better talent in the game. Mathews had a couple more good MVP type of seasons before he retired but during his time of playing the game he was arguably one of the best on the field. It’s just a shame that he never won the MVP.
5. Albert Belle (1989 – 2000) – Much like Prince Fielder, Albert Belle’s career was cut short to an injury but prior to his retirement at age 34, Belle was simply one of the most feared hitters in the game. For 9 consecutive years Belle was able to score in 100 runs batted in and he ended his career 11 home runs shy of 400. Now that is really impressive but it’s what led us to said achievements that needs to be talked about and its crazy to believe that such great talent with the bat never helped Belle win the MVP award. 1992 was the first year he gained MVP votes but he placed 23rd, still it was the beginning of a huge career as the next 4 seasons he was literally a monster. From 1993 – 1996 Belle placed top 10 in MVP, but from 94- 96 he placed top 3. The 94 season is remembered for the strike that ended the MLB season prematurely. Still looking at the stats, Belle was a beast. 36 homeruns, 101 RBI’s, 147 hits, 35 doubles, .357 batting average, .438 OBP, 1.152 OPS and he only placed 3rd. He placed behind two future Hall of Famers, Ken Griffey Jr. and the 1994 AL MVP Frank Thomas. ‘94 was an incredible year for Belle but ‘95 gave us Belle’s greatest season of his entire career. 50 homeruns, 52 doubles, 126 runs batted in, .690 slugging percentage, 7.0 WAR; the man was a kaiju compared to the eventual winner Mo Vaughn. It was an actual close race as Mo Vaughn won the award by one first place vote and 8 votes in general. ‘96 was another crazy year for Belle as he placed 3rd behind A-Rod and Juan Gonzalez, but I mean hitting 48 homeruns, scoring in 148 runs and 1.033 OPS doesn’t win you any awards I guess; the man once again put out video game numbers. 1998 would be the last year he gained MVP votes but I mean that year anyone could had won the AL MVP. Griffey Jr. hit 56 homeruns, Bernie Williams batted .339 in 128 games, A-Rod himself put up some incredible umbers including 213hits, 42 homeruns and league leading 8.5 WAR so I’m not at all shocked that Belle’s 49 home runs/152 runs batted in while batting .328 lost to Juan Gonzalez again. Belle was honestly one of the biggest shocks to never win the MVP award and probably the best hitter in the 90’s.
4. Mark McGwire (1986 – 2001) – While I find him to be a bit overrated, I got to say it’s a bit shocking that he never won the MVP award. The man was the face of the ‘98 season to being the face of the steroid era. McGwire not winning the MVP award ever in his career is crazy. His rookie year was simply a MVP season and yet he placed 6th. He won the AL Rookie of the Year in 1987 with a league leading 49 homeruns, 118 runs batted in and a .289 batting average, it’s surprising that he only came in 6th place for the MVP. We already talked about the ‘87 season with Boggs but McGwire makes his own case to have won the MVP as well. The next three years he placed the top 25 in the MVP race but then there was the ‘92 season where he placed 4th. Losing out to the legend himself Dennis Eckersley doesn’t sound like a big deal but I mean the next two years I’m about to mention is crazy; 1998 and 1999. We mentioned it with Albert Belle in the AL but in the NL it was a different ball game. ‘98 had many names playing like video game characters from Barry Bonds on a down year but still a great year to Larry Walker batting .363 and placing 16th. The 1st and 2nd place in the race was Sosa and McGwire respectfully but man McGwire’s 70 home run season was iconic and it’s still shocking Sosa beat him out in the race and while stats wise both guys were great, Sosa was just a tad bit better. 1999 for the NL MVP race was scary. Chipper Jones ended up taking the award but the rest of the names I’m about to list had some crazy seasons. Jeff Bagwell had 42 home runs with 126 RBI’s while batting .304 with 30 stolen bases; Sammy Sosa placed 9th with 63 homeruns….yeah insane, Larry Walker batted .379 and placed 10th and for McGwire, well I still don’t understand how he didn’t win. 65 homeruns, 147 runs batted in, 118 runs scored, 1.120 OPS and he only placed 5th. McGwire was never the greatest contact hitter n the game as he had a .263 career average, but his power numbers were like playing MLB the Show on beginner and just juicing up the attributes on your Road to the Show character. Of course steroids took away his chance of being ever inducted into the Hall but I’m surprised it didn’t help him win a single MVP award in his career.
3. Mike Piazza (1992 – 2007) – Piazza’s first 5 full years as a starting catcher for the Dodgers were something to look at as the man was on a whole different level. So much so that it’s hard to believe that he never won the MVP in all 5 years. His rookie year in 1993 was one of the greatest rookie years ever. He won the NL Rookie of the Year, a Silver Slugger and was voted into the All Star game but he only placed 9th in the MVP race. His 35 homeruns, 118 RBI’s and .318 batting average wasn’t enough against Barry Bonds’ 3rd MVP win. 1994 and 1995 were great years that saw him place 6th and 4th in the MVP voting but then there was the ‘96 and ‘97 season. Ken Caminiti took a clean sweep in first place votes that year but Piazza finished 2nd and honestly could have won. 36 homeruns, 105 runs batted in, .336 batting average, .563 slugging percentage; these numbers were insane, especially for a catcher. Catchers back then weren’t known fully for hitting high averages or big power numbers. Names like Fisk, Bench and Pudge were some iconic power hitting catchers but they weren’t hitting the ball like Piazza. 1997 came in and Pizza finished 2nd again, this time losing out to Larry Walker and it’s understandable as Walker hit .366 with 49 home runs and a 1.172 OPS. Piazza however hit 40 homeruns and had an 8.4 WAR could have been a surprising MVP winner. 1998 he only finished 14th, 1999 he finished 7th and in 2000 as 3rd behind Bonds and Kent; how did this man not win a single MVP. Piazza was ahead of the game and while his name was also under the steroid era, he was well beloved by baseball fans and is highly considered as one of the greatest, possibly the greatest, catcher of all time. It’s just a shame that the man never won a single MVP award.
2. Derek Jeter (1995 – 2014) – Jeter is my favorite player of all time and it still shocks me to this day that he never won a single MVP award. I brought up the 1998 season multiple times but failed to mention Derek Jeter in each time I brought up the year. A year where sluggers took over the MVP race, Jeter was putting on one of his best seasons ever. Batting .324, Jeter had 19 home runs, 84 runs batted in, 30 stolen bases, 127 runs scored and a 7.5 WAR. Jeter was just beginning his possible MVP cases as the next year Jeter put on another huge performance. 24 homeruns, 102 runs batted in, 219 hits, .349 batting average, .989 OPS and a 8.0 WAR, Jeter was a big case to win the award but fell short and finished 6th. The next two years he finished 10th but arguably his best year to have won the award was in 2006. Batting .343, he hit 14 homeruns, scored in 97 runs, stole 34 bases, had a .900 OPS and was 18 votes short from winning the AL MVP to the eventual winner Justin Morneau. Jeter in my eyes should have won the award as he led the Yankees to the playoffs on his back. He would have another top 3 finish in 2009 but fell short behind his teammate Mark Texeria and the eventual winner, 2024 Hall of Fame Inductee Joe Mauer. He won the MVP in the All Star game and in the World Series but he could never win the big award in the regular season unfortunately. It’s a shame really as Jeter had so many great seasons and yet he never was able to hold up the MVP award come the end of the year.
1. Tony Gwynn (1982 – 2001) – Tony Gwynn played his entire 20 year career in San Diego, hence why he is called “Mr. Padre”. In his luxurious 20 year career Gwynn managed to become a 15x All Star, 7x Silver Slugger, 5x Gold Glove, 8x Batting Champion and was voted into the Hall of Fame. Now while the man was considered the greatest contact hitter of all time during his playing years, notice how I didn’t mention one certain achievement, MVP. While yes he also failed to ever win a World Series ring, that achievement is without a doubt a hard loss on him but the man that was hard to strike out and get out entirely never won a single MVP award. Tony Gwynn obtained MVP votes in 12 of his 20 years playing baseball and of those 12 years he was Top 10 in MVP voting 9 times. Now while he wasn’t a power bat like Barry Bonds or a 5 tool star like Alex Rodriguez, he was simply just freakishly incredible at playing baseball and hitting the ball. 1984 was the 1st year he obtained MVP votes and he finished in 3rd place behind Keith Hernandez and eventual winner Ryne Sandberg. While Gwynn lead the league with a .351 batting average and had 213 hits, Sandberg kind of deserved the award a bit more as he scored in 100 plus runs, had an 8.6 leading WAR and had a kind of better stat line down the line. However the same can’t be said about 1987 where Gwynn only placed 8th place and well he was even more incredible with is stats and playing baseball. Now Andre Dawson won the award as he lead the league with homeruns (49) and runs batted in (137). Those are some decent stats but Tony Gwynn had a .371 average, 8.6 WAR, 218 hits, 36 doubles, 13 triples, 56 stolen bases, .958 OPS and somehow placed lower in the MVP voting right below some incredible names like Darryl Strawberry and a 0 homerun but a 6.4 WAR season for Ozzie Smith. No offense but Gwynn was kind of robbed. Gwynn and baseball was also robbed in 1994 as the strike ended the season early but Gwynn also was robbed of a possible MVP. Now Jeff Bagwell had an amazing season with a 1.201 OPS, 39 homeruns, 116 runs batted in, .750 Slugging and a 8.6 WAR; really impressive stats for a MVP season. Gwynn however who placed 7th that year had 165 hits, 12 homeruns, 64 runs batted in, 4.2 WAR; yes these stats seam low but in 110 game season that ended early this is some great stats especially for what is to come next. Gwynn lead the entire major league with a .394 Batting Average!!!! The man also struck out only 19 times. To make a big comparison to Bagwell he struck out 65 times, which on paper is really great but compared to Gwynn it’s not as great. 1995 – 1997 Gwynn once again lead the league with Batting Average (.368, .353, .372) and ironically he placed Top 10 2 of the 3 seasons I mentioned but notice how I said 2 of the 3. In 1996 Gwynn only played 116 games in a year where he injured his bursa sac and played the rest of the season injured and in pain. In said year he once again lead the league in AVG (.353) 159 hits, struck out only 17 times, 27 doubles, 11 stolen bases; again he did this while he was injured. Oh yeah I forgot to mention he didn’t even get one single MVP vote. Gwynn was never going to win the award as Ken Caminiti put on a steroid era performance but I mean come on not one single vote while leading the league in batting average and playing with a legit season ending injury that required surgery but yet he managed to play the rest of the year. The fact that Tony Gwynn never won a MVP award is honestly a middle finger to the game but the fact that not many people acknowledge how impressive this man was in the game is insane.
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