Rod Carew was one of the great contact hitters of his generation and in the history of baseball. Playing first base for the Minnesota Twins, he reached the individual high point of his Hall of Fame career when he won the 1977 AL MVP award. Here’s a look back at the voting, focusing on the […]
To the victors go the spoils. That adage always rings true in the Most Valuable Player voting, and it certainly did so in the final tally for the 1976 NL MVP. The Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies were the National League’s best two teams, and they filled out the top five of the results. Here’s […]
The New York Yankees returned to prominence in 1976, capturing their first AL East title of the divisional play era that began in 1969. That success was reflected in the 1976 AL MVP ballot. Thurman Munson, catcher and team captain, won the award in a decisive vote. Here’s a look at the top 5 finishers, […]
The Cincinnati Reds had a dominating 108-win season in 1975, one that set the table for a breakthrough World Series championship in the postseason. Their regular season excellence was reflected in the 1975 NL MVP voting, and second baseman Joe Morgan was a landslide winner of the award. Here’s a look at the top 5 […]
The 1975 AL MVP vote was historic—the award went to Boston Red Sox centerfielder Fred Lynn in a landslide, but that wasn’t the historic part. Lynn also became the first rookie in either league to win the MVP. And, nearly a half-century later at this writing, he remains the last. Here’s a look at the […]
The 1969 World Series between the Baltimore Orioles and New York Mets was a bit ironic. Just nine months earlier, these same two cities had met in Super Bowl III, when the then-Baltimore Colts met Joe Namath’s Jets. In that Super Bowl, the heavily favored team from Baltimore was upset by New York. Now, in […]
Baseball entered a new era in 1969. For the first time, the two leagues had been split into divisions, meaning a postseason round would have to be played prior to the World Series. The first edition of the 1969 NLCS featured the New York Mets and the Atlanta Braves. In a series that was then […]
The League Championship Series round was brand-new in 1969, and the first edition of the ALCS was between the Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins. Two young, aggressive managers who would both become very familiar with each other and to baseball fans everywhere were in the dugouts—Earl Weaver and Billy Martin. There was some extremely tense […]
Since their founding in 1962, the Mets had done nothing but lose. In fairness to them, expansion franchises were put behind the eight-ball a lot more than they are today when it comes to building a roster. But the hard numbers told you that in New York’s first seven seasons, they lost at least 100 […]
The 1969 Baltimore Orioles came into the season just three years removed from winning the franchise’s first World Series title in 1966, but still in the midst of change. Hank Bauer had managed the ’66 champs. But after slipping under .500 in 1967, then being a middling 43-37 halfway through 1968, Bauer had been replaced […]
A Braves franchise that had been a consistent winner in Milwaukee, including a 1957 World Series title, moved to Atlanta in 1965. By 1967, the Braves were losing more than they were winning. They made a managerial change, bringing in Lum Harris. The team improved to .500 in ’68. The 1969 Atlanta Braves made an […]
The people of Minneapolis-St. Paul got major league baseball in 1960 when the first iteration of the Washington Senators moved west and renamed themselves the Twins. It only took five years to reach the World Series, in 1965. When the franchise slipped under .500 in 1968, they made a managerial change—Billy Martin got his first […]