Cabrera vs. Trout for MVP was discussed a lot, how about the 1934 AL MVP?

[sfnorton]

How was this even possible? Look at Gehrig's stats.

1934 Awards Voting - Baseball-Reference.com

 

[200lbhockeyplayer]

World Series is important...and always has been.

 

[All The Hype]

If you look at historical award voting, there are a lot of these type of situations that really don't make any sense. I was curious about Musial when he passed and found that he could have easily had at least one or two more MVPs himself.


The year you bring up is especially bad...Gehringer who finished 2nd place in 1934 was better than Cochrane in literally every stat they have listed. Gehrig's season was even better than Gehringer's, and he finishes 5th. And what about Jimmie Foxx who puts up .334/44/130 and comes in 10th?? No idea how that happens.

 

[uniquebaseballcards]

Voters weren't as likely to vote for a previous MVP winner back then - look at Ruth.

 

[Austin]

If you look at historical award voting, there are a lot of these type of situations that really don't make any sense. I was curious about Musial when he passed and found that he could have easily had at least one or two more MVPs himself.

The year you bring up is especially bad...Gehringer who finished 2nd place in 1934 was better than Cochrane in literally every stat they have listed. Gehrig's season was even better than Gehringer's, and he finishes 5th. And what about Jimmie Foxx who puts up .334/44/130 and comes in 10th?? No idea how that happens.

Back then, the award was given to whom the writers thought was truly most valuable to their team's success.
That's the original intent of the award.
It wasn't just about stats, like it mostly is today.

 

[PeteD]

World Series is important...and always has been.

Were they voted on after the WS back then?

Foxx had an awesome yr too.

 

[Kennesawsportscards]

Let's add another interesting stat to the discussion, the stat that jumped out at me:

Cochrane Batted 320 with 2 Homers and 76 RBI's in 437 at bats and won MVP

Detroit pitcher Schoolboy Rowe, in addition to being 24-8 as a pitcher and finishing 4th in MVP Voting also batted 303 with 2 homers and 22 RBIs.....So to equate to Cochranes at bats Rowe, THE PITCHER, in the same number of at bats would have had 8 HRs and 88 RBI's. INTERESTING!!!

 

[markakis8]

Back then, like unique said, if you won the award already, you weren't going to get many votes. Good thing it has changed. Can you imagine Pujols with only one MVP award?

Anyway, this to me is one of the biggest MVP crimes:

1944 Awards Voting - Baseball-Reference.com

 

[jeremy2]

i have that card. check out the centering on this mug

 

[jeremy2]

not sure why that pic came out so huge but w/e

 

[GF Yankees Fan]

It should also be noted that Cochrane was not only a player for the 1934 Tigers but also a first year manager. He led them to the leagues best record (101-53) and a World Series appearance. This as much as on field player performance led to his MVP award. As for the argument that Gehrig lost out because he had previously won the award in 1927 seemed likely to me at first but in looking back at it Cochrane had actually won the award more recently than Gehrig had. Having previously won the award himself in 1928.