Now if we are going to spend some time seeing of the Cy Young Award equates to the Hall of Fame; should we not do the same for the MVP Award? Damn right we should!
First off, we would like to congratulate Miguel Cabrera and Buster Posey for their MVP Award wins. Both stars are under the age of 30, and could very well be on their way to Hall of Fame careers. However as we learned with the Cy Young, it is does not give you an automatic pass to Cooperstown. We will begin our look from 1931, which is the accepted year of the modern MVP Award. The following are those who qualify for the Hall of Fame, but did not get enshrined.
Bucky Walters: 1939, NL, Cincinnati Highest HOF Vote was 23.8% in 1968; on the ballot for fifteen years; #74 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Frank McCormick: 1940, NL, Cincinnati Highest HOF Vote was 3.0% in 1964; on the ballot for four years.
Dolph Camilli: 1941, NL, Brooklyn Highest HOF Vote was 1.5% in 1958; on the ballot for four years
Mort Cooper: 1942, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 1958; on the ballot for four years
Spud Chandler: 1943, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 3.0% in 1964; on the ballot for five years
Marty Marion: 1944, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 40% in 1970; on the ballot for 13 years; #86 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Phil Cavarretta: 1945, NL, Chicago Highest HOF Vote was 35.6% in 1975; on the ballot for 12 years.
Bob Elliott: 1947, NL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 2.0% in 1964; on the ballot for three years; #92 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Jim Konstanty: 1950, NL, Philadelphia ZERO HOF Votes.
Bobby Shantz: 1952, AL, Philadelphia Highest HOF Vote was 2.3% in 1970 & 1972; on the ballot for five years.
Hank Sauer: 1952, NL, Chicago Highest HOF Vote was 1.3% in 1966; lone year on the ballot.
Al Rosen: 1953, AL, Cleveland ZERO HOF Votes
Don Newcombe: 1956, NL, Brooklyn Highest HOF Vote was 15.3% in 1980; on the ballot for fourteen years.
Jackie Jensen: 1958, AL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 1968; on the ballot for six years.
Roger Maris: 1960 & 1961, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 43.1% in 1988; on the ballot for fifteen years; #99 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Dick Groat: 1960, NL, Pittsburgh Highest HOF Vote was 1.8% in 1973 & 1976; on the ballot for six years.
Maury Wills: 1962, NL, Los Angeles Highest HOF Vote was 40.6% on 1981; on the ballot for fifteen years; #52 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List
Elston Howard: 1963, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 20.7% in 1981; on the ballot for fifteen years
Ken Boyer: 1964, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 25.5% in 1988; on the ballot for fifteen years; #60 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Zolio Versalles: 1965, AL, Minnesota ZERO HOF Votes
Denny McLain: 1968, AL, Detroit Highest HOF Vote was 0.7% in 1979; on the ballot for three years.
Boog Powell: 1970, AL, Baltimore Highest HOF Vote was 1.3% in 1983; lone year on the ballot.
Vida Blue: 1971, AL, Oakland Highest HOF Vote was 8.7% in 1993; four years on the ballot.
Joe Torre: 1971, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 22.2% in 1997; fifteen years on the ballot; #35 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Dick Allen: 1972, AL, Chicago Highest HOF Vote was 18.9% in 1996; fourteen years on the ballot; #18 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List
Pete Rose: 1973, NL, Cincinnati Declared Ineligible; #1A on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Jeff Burroughs: 1974, AL, Texas Highest HOF Vote was 0.2% in 1991; lone year on the ballot.
Steve Garvey: 1974, NL, Los Angeles Highest HOF Vote was 41.6% in 1993; fifteen years on the ballot; #42 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Fred Lynn: 1975, AL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 5.5% in 1996; two years on the ballot.
Thurman Munson: 1976, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 15.5% in 1981; fifteen years on the ballot; #78 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List
George Foster: 1977, NL, Cincinnati Highest HOF Vote was 6.9% in 1993; four years on the ballot.
Dave Parker: 1978, NL, Pittsburgh Highest HOF Vote was 24.5% in 1998; fifteen years on the ballot; #22 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Don Baylor: 1979, AL, California Highest HOF Vote was 2.6% in 1994 & 1995; two years on the ballot.
Keith Hernandez: 1979, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 10.8% in 1998; nine years on the ballot; #67 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Dale Murphy: 1982 & 1983, NL, Atlanta Highest HOF Vote was 23.2% in 2000; fourteen years on the ballot; #48 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Willie Hernandez: 1984, AL, Detroit Highest HOF Vote was 0.4% in 1995; lone year on the ballot.
Don Mattingly: 1985, AL, New York Highest HOF Vote was 28.2% in 2001; twelve years on the ballot; #64 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Willie McGee: 1985, NL, St. Louis Highest HOF Vote was 5.0% in 2005; two years on the ballot.
George Bell: 1987, AL, Toronto Highest HOF Vote was 1.2% in 1999; lone year on the ballot.
Jose Canseco: 1988, AL, Oakland Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 2007; lone year on the ballot.
Kirk Gibson: 1988, NL, Los Angeles Highest HOF Vote was 2.5% in 2001; lone year on the ballot
Kevin Mitchell: 1989, NL, San Francisco Highest HOF Vote was 0.4% in 2004; lone year on the ballot.
Terry Pendleton: 1991, NL, Atlanta Highest HOF Vote was 0.2% in 2004; lone year on the ballot.
Jeff Bagwell: 1994, NL, Houston Highest HOF Vote was 56.0% in 2012; two years on the ballot; #3 on the Notinhalloffame Baseball List.
Mo Vaughn: 1995, AL, Boston Highest HOF Vote was 1.1% in 2009; lone year on the ballot.
Juan Gonzalez: 1996 & 1998, AL, Texas Highest HOF Vote was 5.2% in 2011; two years on the ballot.
Ken Caminiti: 1997, NL, San Diego Highest HOF Vote was 0.4%; lone year on the ballot.
Larry Walker: 1998, NL, Colorado Highest HOF Vote was 22.9%; two years on the ballot. #11 on the Notinhalloffame.com Baseball list.
Note that this group does not include former MVPs, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, who are now eligible. All are not expected to get indicted due to past PED use, thus their vote totals are likely to be tarnished based on their actual on field performance. Although Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti and Juan Gonzalez may not have had the career numbers to get in, their low tallies were certainly not aided by steroids.
Jeff Bagwell is likely to get in, and although Larry Walker has not broken 25%, his chances are still decent.
Of course there is still a handful whose Hall of Fame support was anemic, and like the Cy Young Award, the “no vote club” still exists here. This dubious group includes Jim Konstanty had one very good season, one average season, and mediocrity everywhere else. The ‘53 AL MVP, Al Rosen was actually a four time All Star, but did not meet the career length requirement. Does anybody outside sixty year old Twins fans even know who Zolio Versalles is? And who is the writer who voted for Jeff Burroughs in 1991? He had to be from Texas. Maybe he and a friend were still on the ballot when they wanted to hear an induction speech by Kevin Mitchell. Actually, that might have been compelling television.
What does this mean for Posey and Cabrera? Time will tell whether they are the next Ted Williams or Zolio Versalles. Actually, I think I want to figure out how to make “Versalles” a verb.
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