Justin Morneau, Jose Abreu, Kevin Mitchell, and Willie McGee are just some of the names on the list of former MVPs that might surprise you. Going back even further will show you names like Jeff Burroughs (1974), Zoilo Versailles (1965), and Jim Konstanty (1948). There are plenty of players who shockingly took home the gold. Heck, Juan Gonzalez won two MVPs.
Yet, when you look at the history of baseball, there are some of the biggest and best names who never took home an MVP. There are nuances to MVP, and timing is everything. There are plenty of great players who never got there, though.
For this exercise, we’re excluding pitchers. Many voters believe that the Cy Young Award is enough for them, so we won’t see Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and Greg Maddux on this list. We will see some insane names on this list that will have readers taking a double-take (and probably double-checking our work).
Honorable Mention: Manny Machado and Juan Soto
We wanted to give a nod to those who still could get an MVP, but you might be surprised to hear that Manny Machado and Juan Soto never won an MVP. Machado is a player who should have won an MVP at some point, right? He’s sixth in active WAR just behind Aaron Judge, who is likely going to win his third MVP award this season. He’s been in the top five in MVP voting four times, and he finished second to Paul Goldschmidt in 2022.
Soto just signed a $765 million contract, and he did it without an MVP award to his name. He has been on four teams in his career, which can impact things, but he has come close. He finished second to Bryce Harper in 2021. We’ll see if he can help the New York Mets turn around and get himself an MVP.
10. Andruw Jones
Andruw Jones’ peak wasn’t long, but he was the best player in baseball. He was a short-lived Ken Griffey Jr. Dude could hit 50 home runs, and play the best center field you’ve ever seen. His closest year, in 2005, he hit 51 home runs (led all of baseball), added 128 RBIs, and won the Gold Glove. That wasn’t even his best year.
From 1998 to 2000, Jones had a WAR of 7.4, 7.1, and 8.2. Those, in normal years, would lead the league. Unfortunately, the National League was STACKED in those years. This is the home run race, and the next level of Barry Bonds. He actually lost out on the award one of those years to his teammate Chipper Jones. They were an insane one-two punch for the Atlanta Braves.
Jones was possibly the best center fielder ever. He won 10 Gold Gloves. 10!!!! We look at defense a little bit more positively today in terms of MVP consideration. If Jones played today, there’s no way he comes out of that career without an MVP award. A power hitter who makes all types of plays in one of the hardest positions in the field? Seems like a grand slam for any team.
With that said, what are we doing with Jones not making the Hall of Fame? If he just got a few more votes than Albert Pujols in 2005, there’s no doubt he is in there with no change in statistics. Ignore his late-career decline. These things happen. But it’s rare what Jones was able to do with his career.
9. Lou Brock
Lou Brock is the only player in the conversation with Rickey Henderson as the best to ever grace the base paths. Brock led the league in steals eight times. He had more than 50 steals 12 times. His dominance in this statistic isn’t enough to win an MVP on its own. Luckily for Brock, he was good at other aspects of the game, as well.
Brock’s best season came in 1968. That season, he led all of baseball in doubles and triples, recorded 62 stolen bases (another MLB lead), and helped lead a stacked St. Louis Cardinals lineup that won 97 games and took them to the World Series.
In the playoffs (which we know doesn’t count towards MVP), Brock hit .464 with two home runs, three doubles, a triple, and seven stolen bases. Unfortunately, Brock finished sixth in MVP voting as many associated this with team dominance instead of individual success.
Brock’s closest season was in 1974, which was his record-breaking season. At 35 years old, Brock stole 118 bases. At the time, that was the MLB record for one season. He finished behind Steve Garvey for MVP, and he wouldn’t come close to the award again.
8. Ozzie Smith
Ozzie Smith might have been the most popular player of the 1980s. They called him “The Wizard” for a reason. His ability to make incredible plays at shortstop with his athleticism and ability to contribute both at the plate and in the field made him an incredible player.
Let’s talk about the defense first. Smith won 13 consecutive Gold Gloves. There was nobody who could touch him at his position. Smith dominated in the infield. He probably saved dozens of runs over the course of a season. His range and glove stole singles from players all the time.
At the plate, nobody was comparing him to Mickey Mantle. He often had a slugging percentage that looked like a really good batting average. However, he was always making an impact on base. He was always stealing between 30 and 50 bags per season, hitting a career high 57 steals in 1988 while only getting caught nine times.
His closest race was in 1987. That season, Smith finished second in the National League. Andre Dawson won that year with just a 4.0 WAR. Smith that season had 104 runs, 75 RBIs, 43 stolen bases, and a .303 batting average.
7. Mike Piazza
Mike Piazza was a superstar for the New York Mets at a time when baseball was looking for players to get eyes on the TV. Few did that as well as Piazza, who had a flair for the dramatic. He might still be the best power-hitting catcher in the history of the league.
Piazza is a 12-time All-Star and a 10-time Silver Slugger winner. There is one player in the history of baseball with more Silver Sluggers: Barry Bonds. Only one player has as many as Piazza: Alex Rodriguez. Both of them have multiple MVP awards. Meanwhile, Piazza was so close to an MVP while with the Los Angeles Dodgers, but he finished second in back-to-back years.
It seems almost impossible. If a player gets that close, there’s usually a sympathy vote in the future. Piazza never got that. In 1996, he finished second to Ken Caminiti, and in 1997, he finished second to Larry Walker.
Despite constantly breaking 100 RBIs and playing in the biggest sports city in the world, Piazza didn’t come close to MVP with the Mets. He came closest in 2003, but he was behind teammates Jeff Kent and Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants. That season, he hit .324 with 38 home runs and 114 RBIs. He even added four stolen bases and led the Mets to the World Series, but it was never enough to win the National League’s top prize.
6. Mark McGwire
The man who finally broke Roger Maris’s home run record couldn’t even win MVP. Mark McGwire wasn’t a flash in the pan in 1998, either. He was a well-known superstar who could hit the ball a mile. He started he season as the more popular half of the Bash Brothers with Jose Canseco. McGwire was insane starting in his rookie year. He broke the rookie home run record… in August. He hit his 39th home run on August 14, 1987. McGwire finished the season with 49 home runs and 118 RBIs. Somehow, that was only good for sixth in MVP voting.
Fast forward to 1998, and McGwire was on a blistering pace. He and Sammy Sosa reinvigorated baseball by going after the long-sought home run record of Roger Maris. His 61 home runs hadn’t been passed in more than 35 years. An entire generation of baseball fans hasn’t seen it broken.
McGwire smashed the record, hitting 70 home runs. That should have made him a lock to win the MVP. Unfortunately, the Cardinals didn’t make the playoffs. So, McGwire finished second to Sosa. We feel like saving Major League Baseball as a major sport in the U.S. is as valuable as can be, but who are we to judge?
The next season, McGwire once again hit more than 61 home runs, finishing with 65. He led the NL with 147 RBIs. The Cardinals missed the playoffs again, and McGwire finished fifth in MVP voting.
5. Tony Gwynn
Tony Gwynn is considered the most meticulous hitter in baseball history. Rumor had it that he could choose where he put the ball in almost every at-bat. There was no way to shift on the late San Diego Padres legend. He would find the hole in the infield. A team could bring all its outfielders into the infield, and Gwynn would still find a hole.
Gwynn had 15 All-Star appearances, seven Silver Sluggers, five Gold Gloves, and eight batting titles, but he never won MVP. It seems preposterous, but it’s true. He spent most of the 80s and 90s as the most proficient hitter in baseball. Yet, he never got over that hump.
Gwynn led the National League in WAR in 1986 and led all of baseball in 1987. Yet, he didn’t come close to MVP in either season. The closest he came was in 1984 when he had a .351 batting average and .410 on-base percentage. It was his first full season in baseball, and he finished third in MVP voting. Ryne Sandberg and Keith Hernandez beat Gwynn for the honor, but the hitting machine did get one first-place vote.
Despite his hold on hitting in the league, Gwynn never got close to the MVP again. He wasn’t even a finalist. Even in the strike-shortened 1994 season when he hit six percentage points under .400, he finished the season seventh in MVP voting.
4. Eddie Matthews
Many fans who don’t know the history of the game might not understand the impact that Eddie Matthews had, but he was great in his time. However, he’s an example of a player who played in the wrong era to win MVP. Some of the winners during his peak include Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Roberto Clemente, and Sandy Koufax.
In his second year, Mattews hit 47 home runs, which led all of baseball. He finished second in MVP voting, and just about everyone expected him to win one eventually. Unfortunately, it never came around.
Matthews lost that first MVP to Roy Campanella. He didn’t finish that close again until six seasons later when he finished second again. That season, he finished second to Ernie Banks, another all-time great.
Matthews finished his career with a 96 WAR. He also finished with two World Series rings, which we think is more important to him. He was great at this time and considered a consistent superstar. He didn’t get over the hump in terms of MVP, but he played so well otherwise that it doesn’t matter.
3. David Ortiz
This one might floor people. David Ortiz was as dominant a hitter as there was for a long, long time. He led the Boston Red Sox to a dynasty when they hadn’t won a championship in 80+ years. He brought a franchise from the brink to now being considered one of the constant contenders. That’s what happened when a team won four World Series championships in a short amount of time.
Ortiz helped the Red Sox win three of those titles, and he also contributed to their strong performance in the regular season. He finished 10 seasons with more than 100 RBIs. He finished his final season in 2016 with 127 RBIs, a league lead. He led all of baseball in doubles and OPS that same season.
He’s not a stranger to MVP awards. He won the ALCS MVP in 2004 and World Series MVP in 2013. However, he came up just short multiple times. From 2004 to 2007, he never finished lower than fourth in MVP voting. In 2005, he finished just behind Alex Rodriguez. They were just a few votes away from each other in the final tally, but ARod barely beat him.
The reality is that Ortiz playing basically no time in the field hurts his MVP pursuit. He only played 146 games at first base in 14 seasons in Boston. If he played first base full-time, he might have three MVP awards.
2. Derek Jeter
The story of Derek Jeter not winning an MVP has been told over and over again, but do we really know why he didn’t win? Jeter had an interesting career, and he was most known for his popularity and his postseason glory, but Jeter had some legitimate MVP-level seasons.
In 1998, Jeter led the American League in runs, and in 1999, he led all of baseball in WAR. He didn’t win the MVP in either of those seasons. He finished third in ‘98, with his rival Nomar Garciaparra finishing second and slugger Juan Gonzalez taking home the hardware.
That wasn’t his best finish. Jeter gained a ton of traction in 2006, but his main competition was the dynamic duo in Minnesota, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Morneau eventually took the lead in the race, and it came down to Jeter and Morneau. Jeter hit .343 with 14 home runs, 97 RBIs, and 34 stolen bases. It was incredibly close, with Morneau winning with 322 voter points. Jeter ended up with 306.
Jeter would again finish third in 2009. He never got the season MVP, but he did win an All-Star MVP and World Series MVP in 2000. We’re sure he’s fine with that being in his trophy case over the regular-season award.
1. Manny Ramirez
Manny Ramirez was as feared a hitter that existed in the 2000s. Whether with Cleveland, Boston, or Los Angeles, Ramirez was considered the clutch hitter in MLB during a long stretch. He’s done everything in the league, including leading the league in home runs (2002), winning a batting title (2002), leading in RBIs (1999), and winning nine Silver Slugger awards.
This wasn’t even a player who we didn’t realize how good he was when he was playing. Ramirez led the NFL in OPS three times. He absolutely crushed baseballs in some of the biggest markets in the league.
One would think after leading the Red Sox to a World Series title that he would be front and center in MVP attention, but it didn’t work out that way. He was always in the converation, but he never even got runner up. His best finish is third in 2004. He probably split some of the vote with David Ortiz, who finished that season fourth. Gary Sheffield and Vladimir Guerrero finished ahead of him.
Ramirez is one of the game’s greats, but the controversies around him have him on the outside of the Hall of Fame looking in. It’s just like his time trying to get an MVP, although we don’t think PEDs had any real impact on that. What did was just timing and getting the proper credit for his impact on Boston.