The 1958 Babe Ruth Award, won byElston Howard | |
| Sport | Baseball |
|---|---|
| League | Major League Baseball |
| Awarded for | Annualmost valuable player of theMLB postseason |
| Presented by | New York City chapter of theBaseball Writers' Association of America |
| History | |
| First award | 1949 |
| Most recent | Mookie Betts (Los Angeles Dodgers) |
TheBabe Ruth Award is given annually to theMajor League Baseball (MLB) player with the best performance in thepostseason. The award, created in honor ofBabe Ruth, was first awarded in 1949 to New York Yankee pitcher,Joe Page, the MVP of theWorld Series, one year after Ruth's death. The award was created by the New York City chapter of theBaseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It continued to be awarded exclusively for performances in the World Series until 2007, when the New York chapter of the BBWAA changed the award to cover the entire postseason.[1][2] Though it is older than theWorld Series Most Valuable Player Award, which was not created until 1955 (as the "SPORT Magazine Award"), the Babe Ruth Award is considered less prestigious, because it is not sanctioned by MLB and is awarded several weeks after the World Series.[3][4]
MLB expanded its postseason to include theLeague Championship Series (LCS) in1969, theLeague Division Series (LDS) in1995, and theWild Card round in 2012. TheWild Card Series is abest-of-three playoff format, the LDS follows abest-of-five playoff format, and the LCS and World Series follow abest-of-seven playoff format.[4][5] In 2020, theLos Angeles Dodgers, won the2020 World Series, butRandy Arozarena of theTampa Bay Rays was named winner of the Babe Ruth Award.[6]
Ruth was a noted slugger whobatted .326 with 15home runs and threewins in threegames started as apitcher during World Series play.[7] However, the Babe Ruth Award does not only go to sluggers or pitchers.Dick Green won the award for the1974 World Series, in which hebatted 0-for-13, but helped theOakland Athletics win the series with his defense.[8][9]
Joe Page of theNew York Yankees was the first winner of the Babe Ruth Award, andJonathan Papelbon of theBoston Red Sox was the first winner since the award criteria changed to cover the entire postseason. In all, members of the Yankees have won the award sixteen times.Luis Tiant andRandy Arozarena are the only winners of the Babe Ruth Award to play for the World Series–losing team. Two players,Sandy Koufax andJack Morris, have won the award twice.[10]
| Year | Links to the article about that corresponding World Series |
|---|---|
| Player(X) | Denotes winning player and number of times they had won the award at that point (if more than one) |
| ^ | Indicates multiple award winners in the same year |
| * | Indicates year when player did not win theWorld Series Most Valuable Player Award (1955–present)[11] |
| † | Member of theBaseball Hall of Fame |
| ‡ | Denotes player who is still active |
| § | Indicates losing team in the series |