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The Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award is given to the Major League Baseball (MLB) player deemed to have the most impact on his team's performance in the World Series, which is the final round of the MLB postseason. The award was first presented in 1955 by Sport magazine, but since 1985 has been officially presented by MLB. The winner is determined during the final game of the World Series by a committee of reporters and officials present at the game.
On September 29, 2017, the award was renamed in honor of Willie Mays in remembrance of the 63rd anniversary of The Catch, which occurred the year before the award's debut; Mays never won the award himself.
Car and trophy
Willie Mays, namesake of the award since 2017; he himself never won the honor.
A trophy has also been presented to the award winner since at least the late 1970s. In 1985, Major League Baseball (MLB) took over as the official award presenter from Sport magazine, although for a few years, MLB and Sport each presented different trophies to the winner. Trophies given to award winners include:
A wooden base supporting a metallic baseball inside a hoop; in use by 1978, and last presented in 1984.
A tall wooden base with a metallic baseball on top, surrounded by a number of metallic flags; first presented in 1985, and last presented in 1988. The text on this trophy read "Sport Magazine's World Series Most Valuable Player Award".
A metallic bowl on a wooden base; in use by 1987, apparently the MLB-awarded trophy.
A trapezoidal wooden base, which included the MLB logo, topped by a metallic baseball; first awarded in 1988.
A pyramid-shaped trophy with a dark base, clear body, and baseball on top; in use by 1995.
A scaled-down variant of the Commissioner's Trophy with a single large metallic pennant; last presented in 2017.
A wooden pedestal topped by a bronze sculpture of Willie Mays making "The Catch" in the 1954 World Series; in use since 2018.
Winners
Key
Year
Links to an article about the corresponding World Series
From 1955 through 2024, a total of 70 seasons, there have been 69 editions of the World Series played – there was no World Series in 1994. In 67 editions, a single MVP was named; in 1981, three MVPs were named; and in 2001, two MVPs were named. Thus, there have been a total of 72 MVPs.
The position at which players have won the most MVPs is pitcher, 29 times. Four of those winners were exclusively relief pitchers, the most recent being Mariano Rivera in 1999. Twelve of the first 14 MVPs were pitchers. From 1969 through 1986, the prevalence of pitcher MVPs declined, as only two pitchers won the award during this period. From 1987 through 1991, all of the MVPs were pitchers. Since 1995, 29 years ago, pitchers have won the award nine times, the most recent being Stephen Strasburg in 2019.
The most uncommon position for an MVP is second baseman, with only Bobby Richardson in 1960 winning at the position. Richardson is also the only MVP to be named from a losing World Series team.
Note: When a player is listed at multiple positions in the main table, the first position is deemed to be his primary position, and he has been counted here as such.
Four players have won the award twice: Sandy Koufax (1963, 1965), Bob Gibson (1964, 1967), Reggie Jackson (1973, 1977), and Corey Seager (2020, 2023). Jackson and Seager are the only players to have won the award with two different teams, while Seager is the first player to win the award in both leagues.
A total of 12 players born outside of the United States have been named World Series MVP, with Pedro Guerrero, a native of the Dominican Republic, being the first to win it in 1981. Of players born outside the U.S., the Dominican Republic has produced the most World Series MVP winners, with five. Venezuela and Cuba have produced two each, and Japan, Colombia, and Panama have each produced one. California-born Freddie Freeman, the 2024 MVP, holds dual citizenship in both the U.S. and Canada.
Don Larsen won the 1956 award after pitching the only no-hitter in World Series history, in the fifth game of the series; the no-hitter was also a perfect game.
1977 winner Reggie Jackson hit three home runs in the Series' deciding game, taking the nickname "Mr. October", as October is the primary month of the MLB postseason. Jackson had a total of five home runs in the series, a World Series record.
Willie Stargell won the 1979 award at the age of 39, and remains the oldest player to be named World Series MVP.
Hideki Matsui, the 2009 winner, batted in six runs in the sixth game of the 2009 World Series, tying Richardson's record for most runs batted in for a single World Series game. Matsui became the first Japanese-born player to win the award and the first player to win it as a full-time designated hitter. He is also the only player named both a World Series MVP and a Japan Series MVP.
Other awards
Willie Stargell was named MLB MVP, LCS MVP, and World Series MVP in 1979.
Six pitchers have won the Cy Young Award and the World Series MVP in the same season: Bob Turley (1958), Whitey Ford (1961), Koufax (1963, 1965), Bret Saberhagen (1985), Orel Hershiser (1988), and Johnson (2001). The Cy Young Award was initiated in 1956, as one award for all of MLB; it has been awarded in both leagues since 1967.
Dickson, Paul (2011). The Dickson Baseball Dictionary (Third ed.). W. W. Norton & Company. p. 945. ISBN9780393073492. Retrieved October 31, 2019. The SPORT Magazine Award, an annual award presented since 1955, originally by SPORT magazine in cooperation with the Chevrolet Motor Co. (the magazine ceased publication in 2000 and is no longer involved with the award).
Johnny Podres, inaugural winner in 1955 for the Brooklyn Dodgers
Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, Reggie Jackson, and Corey Seager are the only players who have been named World Series MVP multiple times; each won the award twice.
