Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award

Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award
CountryUnited States
Presented byMajor League Baseball Players Association
History
First award1997
Most recentMarcus Semien, Texas Rangers
External image
image icon Marvin Miller, the namesake of the award

The Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award is given annually to a Major League Baseball (MLB) player "whose on-field performance and contributions to his community inspire others to higher levels of achievement."[1][2] The award was created by the Major League Baseball Players' Association (MLBPA) and was presented to the inaugural winner – Mark McGwire – in 1997 as the "Man of the Year Award".[3] Three years later,[3] it was renamed in honor of Marvin Miller, the first executive director of the MLBPA.[4] The award forms part of the Players Choice Awards.[1][5]

In order to determine the winner, each MLB team nominates one of their players, who is selected by their teammates to appear on the ballot.[1] An online vote is conducted among baseball fans in order to reduce the number of candidates to six. MLB players then choose the award winner from among the six finalists.[6][7] In addition to the award, recipients have $50,000 donated on their behalf to charities of their choice by the MLB Players Trust.[8][9][10] John Smoltz, Jim Thome, Michael Young, Curtis Granderson, and Marcus Semien are the only players to win the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award on multiple occasions.[11][12] Five winners – Paul Molitor, Jim Thome, Smoltz, Chipper Jones and Mariano Rivera – are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.[13]

Winners of the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award have undertaken a variety of different causes. Many winners, including McGwire,[14] Thome,[15] Smoltz,[16] Mike Sweeney,[5] Torii Hunter,[17] Young,[18] Curtis Granderson[8] and Brandon Inge,[19] worked with children in need. McGwire established a foundation to assist children who were physically or sexually abused,[14] while Inge visited disabled children at the Mott Children's Hospital and donated part of his salary to raise money for a pediatric cancer infusion center.[19] Other winners devoted their work to aiding individuals who had a specific illness, such as Albert Pujols, whose daughter suffers from Down syndrome, and who devoted the Pujols Family Foundation to helping those with the disease,[20] and Jones, who has been raising money for cystic fibrosis since 1996, after meeting an 11-year-old fan who suffered from the disease and who died several weeks after meeting Jones through the Make-A-Wish Foundation.[10]

  1. ^ a b c Snyder, Matt (September 10, 2013). "Fans can help pick Marvin Miller Man of the Year award winner". CBS Sport. CBS. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  2. ^ "Schilling wins charity award". The Spokesman-Review. Spokane, Washington. Associated Press. October 29, 2001. p. C4. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  3. ^ a b "Players Choice Awards winners". mlbplayers.mlb.com. Major League Baseball Players Association. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  4. ^ Noble, Marty (November 27, 2012). "Influential union chief Miller dies at age 95". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Dutton, Bob (November 4, 2005). "Man of the Year Royals' Mike Sweeney recognized for his work on the field and off". The Kansas City Star. p. D1. Retrieved January 25, 2014. (subscription required)
  6. ^ "Finalists Announced for Miller Award". The Ledger. Lakeland. September 18, 2002. p. C8. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  7. ^ Andro, Anthony (November 3, 2011). "Young tabbed Marvin Miller Man of the Year". Fox Sports. Fox Entertainment Group. Archived from the original on November 30, 2013. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  8. ^ a b Lapointe, Joe (April 16, 2010). "Yankees' Granderson Honored for His Off-Field Work". The New York Times. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  9. ^ "Curtis Granderson Named Man Of The Year By Major League Baseball Players". UIC Flames. University of Illinois at Chicago. October 30, 2009. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  10. ^ a b Bowman, Mark (November 5, 2012). "Chipper honored with Man of the Year Award". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  11. ^ "Rangers' Young voted baseball's man of year". Fort Worth Star-Telegram. November 4, 2011. p. D. Retrieved January 25, 2014. (subscription required)
  12. ^ "Curtis Granderson voted Man of the Year for 3rd time by peers". ESPN. ESPN Internet Ventures. Associated Press. November 28, 2018. Retrieved February 9, 2019.
  13. ^ "Baseball Hall of Fame Inductees". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  14. ^ a b Smith, Claire (December 27, 1997). "Baseball; McGwire Wears His Heart on 19-Inch Biceps". The New York Times. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  15. ^ Huth, Jeff (February 5, 2006). "Winning, grinning important to Thome". The News-Gazette. Champaign–Urbana. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  16. ^ "Player awards announced". The Day. New London, Connecticut. Associated Press. October 17, 2002. p. C4. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  17. ^ Christensen, Joe (October 27, 2007). "Hunter named Marvin Miller Man of the Year". Star Tribune. Minneapolis–Saint Paul. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  18. ^ Newberg, Jamey (December 15, 2009). The Newberg Report: 2010 Bound Edition. Brown Books Publishing Group. p. 49. ISBN 9781933651774. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
  19. ^ a b Beck, Jason (October 29, 2010). "Inge named 2010 Marvin Miller Award winner". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Archived from the original on November 7, 2010. Retrieved January 30, 2014.
  20. ^ Leach, Matthew (November 8, 2006). "Pujols, Carpenter draw peers' kudos". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media. Retrieved January 30, 2014.[permanent dead link‍]