So many greats of the game have never won the award and I was surprised at a few of the ones I found.

  1. Eddie Murray: the power hitting 1st basemen missed out on the award in 1984 despite having an incredible season, losing out to Tigers reliever Willie Hernández.

  2. Derek Jeter: His early seasons really were impressive as he had around 8 WAR and 200 hits in several of them.

  3. Tony Gwynn: despite hitting .370 with over 200 hits and almost 9 WAR in 1987, Gwynn lost the MVP nod to Andre Dawson, and despite having an amazing career, never managed to get it done.

  4. Al Kaline: The guy was a monster but always lost to guys like Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski. Even though he amassed over 90 WAR for his career, he was never MVP.

My pick however for best to never win MVP is:

  1. Mel Ott: This dude has numbers that speak for themselves. .304 average, 2876 hits, 511 homers and 1860 home runs batted in in his career. Astonishingly despite posting 8 WAR multiple times, he always lost out to guys like Dizzy Dean, Joe Medwick, or Rogers Hornsby. I guess even if you are one of the best over a long stretch of time, it doesn’t mean you will be recognized as the best for one particular season. Fascinating.

Who would you say is the best player to never win an MVP?

35 comments

  2. Adrian Beltre was the first name that popped into mind for me.

    ![gif](giphy|RfF2aL9ymhTUY|downsized)

  3. It’s okay, Mel Ott has been the MVP of crossword puzzles for decades. (Along with Bobby Orr.)

  4. I gotta go with Tony Gwynn. Unbelievable all-around player and one of the best hitters of all time.

  7. Eddie Mathews. Second place in 1953 and 1959. And the first Sports Illustrated cover.

  9. Matt Kemp deserved the 2011 NL MVP and fuck Ryan Braun forever.

    To that point, he is not one of the greatest to not win one. But I’m still salty over that robbery.

    I would throw in Mike Piazza for a great that never won it

  11. Two 3Bs:

    **Eddie Matthews:** 96.0 career WAR, 512 HRs, 143 career OPS+,

    **Adrian Beltre:** 93.7 career WAR, 5 gold gloves (and 2 platinum), 477 HRs and a 116 career OPS+.

    Ironically enough neither ever led the league in bWAR despite some insane seasons, especially Beltre’s ’04.

  17. My vote goes to Arky Vaughn. You’ll see why below.

    Top 10 Career offensive WAR without an MVP.

    1. Ott –

  18. 1995 Albert Belle was the buggest snub. 50 HR and 52 double in 144 games, no mvp.

  19. When Ott retired the only players to ever hit more home runs were Bath Ruth and Jimmie Foxx.

  21. My vote is Arky Vaughn – and here’s why:

    Top 10 offensive career WAR to not win an MVP:

    Ott – 111 WAR – Led league in WAR 3 times – Highest Finish: 3rd,  4th, 5th

    Matthews – 96 WAR – Never led league – High Finish: 2 (twice)

    Beltre – 94 WAR – Never, High: 2nd, 3rd, 7th

    Kaline – 93 WAR – Never, High: 2nd (twice), 3rd, 4th, 5th

    Boggs – 92 WAR – Led League in WAR 3 times – High: 4th, 6th, 9th

    Vaughn – 78 WAR – Led League in WAR 3 times – High: 3rd, 3rd, 15th (in 1936 he led the league in WAR (8.0) and didn’t even get a vote)

    Appling – 77 WAR

    Ozzie Smith – 77 WAR

    Paul Molitor – 76 WAR

    Lou Whitaker – 75 (only got votes 1 year (1983) when he finished 8th

  23. There’s already a ton of great answers in this thread and I really love sharing this fact, but last I checked Chet Lemon has the highest career WAR without even receiving an MVP vote.

  25. Manny Ramirez was massively elite for over a decade and never got one. Obviously we can be revisionist about PEDs but that wasn’t known at the time

  27. In 1997 Mike Piazza hit .362/.431./.638 with 40 HRs and a 1.070 ops as a catcher and didn’t win one.

  28. Excluding pitchers who should’ve won (Pedro 1999, Gooden 1985), I would say Tony Gwynn, Albert Belle, John Olerud, Dave Winfield, Kenny Lofton

  29. I mean Dizzy won 30+ games, Hornsby hit .424 one year and had a higher overall career average, Medwick is still the last NL player to win the triple crown. All three are HOF players. It’s not like he lost out to scrubs.

    Of the years he got MVP votes, he led the NL in WAR two of those years: 1932 when Chuck Klein won and 1938 when Ernie Lombardi won.

    The examples you gave were 1929 when Hornsby won with a 10.6 WAR and Ott came in 11th in voting with a 7.2 WAR. In 1934 Dean won 30 games and had a 9.5 WAR, Ott came in 5th in voting and had a 7.2 WAR. In 1937 Medwick won the triple crown and had a 8.5 WAR, Ott came in 7th in voting with a 6.8 WAR.

    I think Ott probably deserved 1-2 MVPs, but the examples of players you used makes it seem like those winners were not deserving. In fact those years they all lead the league in WAR and were well above Ott.

  31. The answer is Manny Ramirez. That he didn’t get it in 2000 or 2002 is a blight upon baseball. He did get a World Series MVP.

  34. Good list. Eddie Matthews and Wade Boggs shohld probably be a part of this convo as well

  35. So many good players, so no right or wrong answers. Mike Piazza might be a candidate

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