First, it was great to have 9 voters for this extremely close election. It would be great if we could hit double digits consistently as we finish the project over the next 3 years.

This is Jackie Robinson's 3rd MMP award and 7th time appearing on a ballot. That club is pretty small

3+ MMP, 7+ ballots
Robinson (3, 7)
Morgan (3, 7)
Ripken (3, 8)
Mantle (3, 11)
Pujols (3, 11)
Trout (4, 7)
Wagner (4, 11)
Williams (4, 13)
Mays (7, 16)
Bonds (7, 18)

We also close out the years 1940-2018. Next we will cover 1912-1939. That means the results below are final totals for many of these players.

Player #times on a ballot
Musial 14
Williams 13
Spahn 8
Robinson 7
Kiner 5
Campanella 5
Newcombe 5
Stephens 4
Reese 4
Slaughter 3
Doerr 3
Lemon 3

This is Jackie Robinson's 3rd MMP award and 7th time appearing on a ballot. That club is pretty small

3+ MMP, 7+ ballots
Robinson (3, 7)

That's an incredible peak for Mr. Robinson, as he won the MMP in 3 out of 4 years ('49, '51, '52).

Ted Williams is the AL MMP for an impressive 7th time. The Splendid Splinter won in 1941, '42, '46, '47, '49, '51 and '54. Williams now ties Mickey Mantle for the AL lead although Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth and the active Mike Trout will all have the opportunity to make a run at the record.

Mel Parnell is the pitching MMP. Parnell joins an illustrious list of Red Sox pitchers to win the award: Cy Young (who won as a Boston American in 1901), Frank Sullivan ('57), Roger Clemens ('86, '87, '90, '91) and Pedro Martinez ('99, '00, '03).

Finally, Don Newcombe is the NL's top pitcher in a run-off. It's a pretty close result as Newcombe only beat Howie Pollet by one ballot (3 to 2) and one point (21 to 20), with Warren Spahn a close third. So I looked at off-ballot placements and Newcombe outpaced Pollet there as well. Of the top three finishes, Newcombe also won the 1956 award while Pollet took home the top prize in 1946 and Spahn is a three-time winner with trophies in three different decades (1947, '58 and '61).