Interesting election. 5 players placed #1 which is a new high.

Players who received votes in 1970, but who missed out in 1971 (17 names):

Yastrzemski, Bench, Gibson, Fregosi, Harper, McCovey, Perez, McDowell, Powell, Williams, Carty, Grabarkewitz, Perry, Howard, Campaneris, Killebrew, B.Robinson

MMP Results

1961: Mickey Mantle, CF, New York Yankees (100%)
1962: Willie Mays, CF, San Francisco Giants (100%)
1963: Sandy Koufax, P, Los Angeles Dodgers (58.8%)
1964: Willie Mays, CF, San Francisco Giants (84.6%)
1965: Willie Mays, CF, San Francisco Giants (100%)
1966: Frank Robinson, RF, Baltimore Orioles (61.5%)
1967: Carl Yastrzemski, LF, Boston Red Sox (100%)
1968: Bob Gibson, P, St. Louis Cardinals (100%)
1969: Reggie Jackson, RF, Oakland Athletics (30.7%)
1970: Carl Yastrzemski, LF, Boston Red Sox (45.4%)
1971: Tom Seaver, P, New York Mets (57.1%)

This was a more convincing victory for Tom Terrific than it was for Reggie or Yaz as he received more than half of the first place votes.

The MMP Pitcher of the Year

1961: undetermined/tie
1962: Bob Purkey, Cincinnati Reds (6th overall)
1963: Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers (MMP)
1964: Dean Chance, Los Angeles Angels (4th overall)
1965: Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers (2nd overall)
1966: Sandy Koufax, Los Angeles Dodgers (2nd overall)
1967: Jim Bunning, Philadelphia Phillies (8th overall)
1968: Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals (MMP)
1969: Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals (4th overall)
1970: Bob Gibson, St. Louis Cardinals (3rd overall)
1971: Tom Seaver, New York Mets (MMP)

AL MMP

1961: Mickey Mantle, CF, New York Yankees (MMP)
1962: Mickey Mantle, CF, New York Yankees (4th overall)
1963: undetermined/too close to call- Peters, Allison and Howard (9th-11th overall)
1964: Dean Chance, P, Los Angeles Angels (4th overall)
1965: Zoilo Versalles, SS, Minnesota Twins (5th overall)
1966: Frank Robinson, RF, Baltimore Orioles (MMP)
1967: Carl Yastrzemski, LF, Boston Red Sox (MMP)
1968: Carl Yastrzemski, LF, Boston Red Sox (2nd overall)
1969: Reggie Jackson, RF, Oakland Athletics (MMP)
1970: Carl Yastrzemski, LF, Boston Red Sox (MMP)
1971: Vida Blue, P, Oakland Athletics (3rd overall)


Vida Blue is only the second pitcher to win the AL MMP.

NL MMP

1961: Hank Aaron, CF/RF, Milwaukee Braves (3rd overall)
1962: Willie Mays, CF, San Francisco Giants (MMP)
1963: Sandy Koufax, P, Los Angeles Dodgers (MMP)
1964: Willie Mays, CF, San Francisco Giants (MMP)
1965: Willie Mays, CF, San Francisco Giants (MMP)
1966: Sandy Koufax, P, Los Angeles Dodgers (2nd overall)
1967: Ron Santo, 3B, Chicago Cubs (2nd overall)
1968: Bob Gibson, P, St. Louis Cardinals (MMP)
1969: Willie McCovey, 1B, San Francisco Giants (3rd overall)
1970: Johnny Bench, C, Cincinnati Reds (2nd overall)
1971: Tom Seaver, P, New York Mets (MMP)

Wait a second. Why is Jenkins listed 2nd and Blue 3rd when Blue is listed with 170 points and Jenkins with 167?

Why is Jenkins listed 2nd and Blue 3rd when Blue is listed with 170 points and Jenkins with 167?

My bad. Although editing before submitting is no longer possible. I was working hard at getting the columns aligned, which is always a pain, I forgot to check the ranking.

It should be fixed, now.

Still haven't had a MMP who wasn't HoM. That streak may continue until 1985.

It should be fixed, now.

Thanks, fra paolo.

Still haven't had a MMP who wasn't HoM. That streak may continue until 1985.

Seaver won pretty convincingly but I wonder if we as an electorate are sometimes reluctant to embrace players with a single great season based on what we know of their entire career.

It was good to see the new participants this year. Now if we could just get our old participants back we'd be around 20 ballots.

With my master's thesis in the rearview mirror, I should have more time for more important activities, like participating regularly in the MMP voting (and preparing a HoM ballot).

Still haven't had a MMP who wasn't HoM. That streak may continue until 1985.

I can think of three categories here:

1. HoM electee, or very likely to get there in the very near term: all the MMP so far. Include in here the likes of Greg Maddux.

2. Not elected to the HoM, but continue to draw some support and appear on HoM ballots. Al Rosen, Norm Cash, Dwight Gooden. As DL said, we're likely to get one from this category in 1985, if it hasn't happened before then.

3. Never drew any support on HoM ballots. Zoilo Versailles, Ken Caminiti, Jack Chesbro. For someone in this category, we'd have to be talking about a year that really stands out from the rest of the career.

I'll add that of the ones I just named, Cash and Versailles have already seen their MMP chances come and go. And can you think of anyone looking either forward or backward who belongs to category 3 and has a real MMP chance?

Sorry that I never got a ballot in; I never sat down and straightened out what I felt about the position players. I would have put Seaver in the #1 spot, so I'm on board with that being the result. I'll probably drop in sporadically. There is a run of years in the mid-90's in which I was doing full writeups of post-season all-star teams and MVP votes, so I'll have to translate those writeups into MMP votes when we get there.

Looking at the total points column, it looks like 40 points is listed above 41 points.

Is this an error?

Bonds had 41 points, Jackson 40. Point totals are correct but they're out of order.

And can you think of anyone looking either forward or backward who belongs to category 3 and has a real MMP chance?

1978. Phil Niekro leads in BB-Ref WAR, but Ron Guidry and Jim Rice had the sorts of seasons that could generate some support, I'd think. And maybe Dave Parker. My guess is that Niekro will win that year, but certainly I could see some non-HOMers getting first-place votes.

Rico Petrocelli in '69 and Wilbur Wood this year were the type of player that fit category 3. Petrocelli lost out by a single point, while Wood finished 4th.

When we get into the early years of the 20th century, George Stone, Cy Williams and Heinie Zimmerman will be some names to watch out for.

Wood wood - er, would - have won this one, perhaps, if not for all those unearned runs.

He has a superficial overall lead in ERA+ and IP combo, both of which are mammoth numbers and enough to beat out any 1971 hitter.

But the knuckleball is a fickle beast....

Looks like my highest ranked player without a vote is Merv Rettenmund, who I had 16th.
I think it's interesting that Vida Blue squeezed into 2nd without having a 1st place vote, while
3rd and 4th each had 2 1st place votes.

When we get into the early years of the 20th century, George Stone, Cy Williams and Heinie Zimmerman will be some names to watch out for.

Won't we be just submitting ballots solely with pitchers during that era? ;-)