How It Began
Baseball's Most Valuable Player Award had a rather odd origin. Hugh Chalmers, president of the Chalmers Motor Company, announced in 1910 that he would present one of his company's automobiles to the player who had the highest batting average in the major leagues that season.
As the end of the season approached, the only contestants for the car were two American Leaguers, Ty Cobb of Detroit and Napoleon Lajoie of Cleveland. The race resulted in a controversy bordering on scandal. Cobb led, .383 to .376 with one day left. He didn't play in Detroit's final game. But Lajoie collected seven bunt singles and went 8 for 8 in a doubleheader against the St. Louis Browns, apparently winning the prize.
The reason Lajoie got those bunt hits was that the St. Louis third baseman had been ordered by his manager, Jack O'Connor, to play deep. O'Connor was fired and it was then announced that Cobb had won the batting title because of a discrepancy in records reported earlier in the season.
Chalmers tried to sidestep the controversy by awarding a car to each man. He then announced a different kind of contest for 1911, with a car to be presented to the player in each league who was selected by a panel of sportswriters as "the most important and useful player to his club."
The Chalmers Awards were given annually through 1914. The idea then died out until 1922, when the American League Trophy was instituted for the player "of greatest all-around service to his club." One sportswriter in each AL city was chosen to vote on the award. There were some pecularities in the voting rules. A writer had to pick one player from each team and rank them from first to eighth on his ballot. Playing managers and previous winners were excluded.
The National League established a similar award, with a cash prize of $1,000, in 1924. However, voters were allowed to list ten players from any teams. Playing managers and previous winners were eligible for the award.
The Writers Take Over
The AL discontinued its award after 1928 and the NL followed suit after the 1929 season. However, the idea just wouldn't go away. Beginning with the 1931 season, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) appointed a committee for each league to select a most valuable player--the first time that phrase was actually used.
Originally, the BBWAA committees had one sportswriter from each league city. That was increased to three in 1938 and reduced to two in 1961.
Each writer can name up to ten players. The player getting a first-place vote receives 14 points, a second-place vote counts 9 points, and a 10th-place vote is worth 1 point.
Two chief issues have arisen over MVP voting at various times. The biggest bone of contention has been whether a pitcher should ever be MVP, especially since the Cy Young Award was established in 1956. Some argue that a player who appears in a relatively small number of games can't be as valuable to his team as an everyday player. However, the BBWAA rules specifically include pitchers.
The selection of a player from a losing team has also been questioned, most recently when Andre Dawson won the 1987 National League MVP Award with the Chicago Cubs, who finished sixth and last in their division that year. Many critics feel that the award should go to a player with a winning team and preferably to someone on a pennant winner. They argue, with some justice, that a player couldn't have been very valuable to his team if the team finished low in the standings.
There's often some criticism from writers and fans of specific selections. On a few occasions, the criticism has been widespread. For example, Boston's Ted Williams, who was generally unpopular with sportswriters, was passed over twice when he won the triple crown, in 1942 and 1947.
The choice of Joe DiMaggio over Williams as American League MVP in 1947 could be, and was, defended. But the 1942 winner was Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon, who finished well behind Williams in every important offensive category except stolen bases. Reportedly, a Boston writer who was feuding with Williams left him off the ballot entirely.
Incidentally, although it's rarely mentioned, baseball's Most Valuable Players receive the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Trophy. The trophy, named for baseball's first commissioner, was established by the BBWAA in 1945.