The Sporting News Player of the Year Award

See also: The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award (discontinued 1946)

This is a list of the Major League Baseball players chosen by The Sporting News (formerly TSN, now SN) since 1936 as recipients of the TSN Player of the Year Award. Until 1969, it was the only major award given to a single player from MLB, rather than to a player in each league. In 1969, Baseball Digest began its Player of the Year award for one player in all of MLB. In 1993, the first Best Major League Baseball Player ESPY Award was given. In 1998, the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) began its own Player of the Year award, for one player in all of MLB, as part of its Players Choice Awards. Baseball America also began its Major League Player of the Year award in 1998.

Abbreviations

• AL: American League
• NL: National League
• P: Pitcher
• C: Catcher
• 1B: First baseman
• 2B: Second baseman
• 3B: Third baseman
• SS: Shortstop
• IF: Infielder
• OF: Outfielder

Year	Name	Club	League	Pos
1936	Carl Hubbell	New York Giants	NL	P
1937	Johnny Allen	Cleveland Indians	AL	P
1938	Johnny Vander Meer	Cincinnati Reds	NL	P
1939	Joe DiMaggio	New York Yankees	AL	OF
1940	Bob Feller	Cleveland Indians	AL	P
1941	Ted Williams	Boston Red Sox	AL	OF
1942	Ted Williams (2)	Boston Red Sox	AL	OF
1943	Spud Chandler	New York Yankees	AL	P
1944	Marty Marion	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	SS
1945	Hal Newhouser	Detroit Tigers	AL	P
1946	Stan Musial	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	1B
1947	Ted Williams (3)	Boston Red Sox	AL	OF
1948	Lou Boudreau	Cleveland Indians	AL	SS
1949	Ted Williams (4)	Boston Red Sox	AL	OF
1950	Phil Rizzuto	New York Yankees	AL	SS
1951	Stan Musial (2)	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	OF
1952	Robin Roberts	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	P
1953	Al Rosen	Cleveland Indians	AL	3B
1954	Willie Mays	New York Giants	NL	OF
1955	Duke Snider	Brooklyn Dodgers	NL	OF
1956	Mickey Mantle	New York Yankees	AL	OF
1957	Ted Williams (5)	Boston Red Sox	AL	OF
1958	Bob Turley	New York Yankees	AL	P
1959	Early Wynn	Chicago White Sox	AL	P
1960	Bill Mazeroski	Pittsburgh Pirates	NL	2B
1961	Roger Maris	New York Yankees	AL	OF
1962	Don Drysdale/Maury Wills	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	P/SS
1963	Sandy Koufax	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	P
1964	Ken Boyer	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	3B
1965	Sandy Koufax (2)	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	P
1966	Frank Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	AL	OF
1967	Carl Yastrzemski	Boston Red Sox	AL	OF
1968	Denny McLain	Detroit Tigers	AL	P
1969	Willie McCovey	San Francisco Giants	NL	1B
1970	Johnny Bench	Cincinnati Reds	NL	C
1971	Joe Torre	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	3B
1972	Billy Williams	Chicago Cubs	NL	OF
1973	Reggie Jackson	Oakland Athletics	AL	OF
1974	Lou Brock	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	OF
1975	Joe Morgan	Cincinnati Reds	NL	2B
1976	Joe Morgan (2)	Cincinnati Reds	NL	2B
1977	Rod Carew	Minnesota Twins	AL	1B
1978	Ron Guidry	New York Yankees	AL	P
1979	Willie Stargell	Pittsburgh Pirates	NL	1B
1980	George Brett	Kansas City Royals	AL	3B
1981	Fernando Valenzuela	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	P
1982	Robin Yount	Milwaukee Brewers	AL	SS
1983	Cal Ripken, Jr.	Baltimore Orioles	AL	SS
1984	Ryne Sandberg	Chicago Cubs	NL	2B
1985	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	AL	1B
1986	Roger Clemens	Boston Red Sox	AL	P
1987	George Bell	Toronto Blue Jays	AL	OF
1988	Orel Hershiser	Los Angeles Dodgers	NL	P
1989	Kevin Mitchell	San Francisco Giants	NL	OF
1990	Barry Bonds	Pittsburgh Pirates	NL	OF
1991	Cal Ripken, Jr. (2)	Baltimore Orioles	AL	SS
1992	Gary Sheffield	San Diego Padres	NL	OF
1993	Frank Thomas	Chicago White Sox	AL	1B
1994	Jeff Bagwell	Houston Astros	NL	1B
1995	Albert Belle	Cleveland Indians	AL	OF
1996	Alex Rodriguez	Seattle Mariners	AL	SS
1997	Ken Griffey, Jr.	Seattle Mariners	AL	OF
1998	Sammy Sosa	Chicago Cubs	NL	OF
1999	Rafael Palmeiro	Texas Rangers	AL	1B
2000	Carlos Delgado	Toronto Blue Jays	AL	1B
2001	Barry Bonds (2)	San Francisco Giants	NL	OF
2002	Alex Rodriguez (2)	Texas Rangers	AL	SS
2003	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	1B
2004	Barry Bonds (3)	San Francisco Giants	NL	OF
2005	Andruw Jones	Atlanta Braves	NL	OF
2006	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	NL	1B
2007	Alex Rodriguez (3)	New York Yankees	AL	3B
2008	Albert Pujols (2)	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	1B
2009	Albert Pujols (3)	St. Louis Cardinals	NL	1B
2010	Josh Hamilton	Texas Rangers	AL	OF
2011	Justin Verlander	Detroit Tigers	AL	P

See also

• Players Choice Awards Player of the Year (in MLB; for all positions) (there are also Outstanding Player and Outstanding Pitcher awards in each league)
• Baseball America Major League Player of the Year (in MLB; for all positions)
• Best Major League Baseball Player ESPY Award (in MLB; for all positions)
• Baseball Digest Player of the Year (in MLB; for position players) (from 1969 to 1993, included all positions; in 1994, a separate Pitcher of the Year award was added)
• MLB This Year in Baseball Awards (in MLB; Player of the Year, Starting Pitcher of the Year, Closer of the Year, Setup Man of the Year)
• Kenesaw Mountain Landis Most Valuable Player Award (in each league; for all positions) (MLB also has the Cy Young Award for a pitcher in each league)
• The Sporting News Most Valuable Player Award (in each league) (discontinued in 1946)
• Baseball awards
• List of MLB awards
• TSN Pitcher of the Year
• TSN Rookie of the Year
• TSN Reliever of the Year
• TSN Comeback Player of the Year
• TSN Manager of the Year
• TSN Executive of the Year