Babe Ruth Award

This article is about the postseason performance award. For the home run award, see Babe Ruth Home Run Award.
Babe Ruth Award
The Babe Ruth Award given to Elston Howard for his performance in the 1958 World Series
The 1958 Babe Ruth Award, won by Elston Howard
SportBaseball
LeagueMajor League Baseball
Awarded forAnnual most valuable player of the MLB postseason
Presented byNew York City chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America
History
First award1949
Most recentAdolis García,
(Texas Rangers)

The Babe Ruth Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player with the best performance in the postseason. The award, created in honor of Babe Ruth, was first awarded in 1949 to New York Yankee pitcher, Joe Page, the MVP of the World Series, one year after Ruth's death. The award was created by the New York City chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA). It continued to be awarded exclusively for performances in the World Series until 2007, when the New York chapter of the BBWAA changed the award to cover the entire postseason.[1][2] Though it is older than the World Series Most Valuable Player Award, which was not created until 1955 (as the "SPORT Magazine Award"), the Babe Ruth Award is considered less prestigious, because it is not sanctioned by MLB and is awarded several weeks after the World Series.[3][4]

MLB expanded its postseason to include the League Championship Series (LCS) in 1969, the League Division Series (LDS) in 1995, and the Wild Card round in 2012. The Wild Card Series is a best-of-three playoff format, the LDS follows a best-of-five playoff format, and the LCS and World Series follow a best-of-seven playoff format.[4][5] In 2020, the Los Angeles Dodgers, won the 2020 World Series, but Randy Arozarena of the Tampa Bay Rays was named winner of the Babe Ruth Award.[6]

Ruth was a noted slugger who batted .326 with 15 home runs and three wins in three games started as a pitcher during World Series play.[7] However, the Babe Ruth Award does not only go to sluggers or pitchers. Dick Green won the award for the 1974 World Series, in which he batted 0-for-13, but helped the Oakland Athletics win the series with his defense.[8][9]

Joe Page of the New York Yankees was the first winner of the Babe Ruth Award, and Jonathan Papelbon of the Boston Red Sox was the first winner since the award criteria changed to cover the entire postseason. In all, members of the Yankees have won the award sixteen times. Luis Tiant and Randy Arozarena are the only winners of the Babe Ruth Award to play for the World Series–losing team. Two players, Sandy Koufax and Jack Morris, have won the award twice.[10]

  1. ^ Amore, Don (January 24, 2010). "A-Rod Picks Up Ruth Award As Postseason MVP". The Hartford Courant. Archived from the original on February 23, 2014. Retrieved October 28, 2011.
  2. ^ "Rodriguez chokes up during speech". ESPN.com. ESPN. Associated Press. January 24, 2010. Archived from the original on January 6, 2016. Retrieved October 4, 2011.
  3. ^ Purdy, Dennis (2006). The Team-By-Team Encyclopedia of Major League Baseball. Workman Publishing. p. xv. ISBN 0-7611-3943-5.
  4. ^ a b Gammons, Peter (2006). The 2006 ESPN Baseball Encyclopedia. Sterling Publishing Company, Inc. p. 1656. ISBN 1-4027-3625-8.
  5. ^ Vass, George (January 1, 1994). "Major League Baseball Embarks on a New Era in '94". Baseball Digest. 53 (1): 40–45. ISSN 0005-609X. Retrieved September 4, 2009.[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference sharkey-gotlieb_11062019 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Babe Ruth Statistics and History". Baseball-Reference.com. Archived from the original on July 12, 2022. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  8. ^ Cite error: The named reference glove was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  9. ^ "Green a Hitless Wonder". The Beaver County Times. United Press International. October 18, 1974. p. B2. Retrieved October 25, 2011.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference br was invoked but never defined (see the help page).