MLB is renaming the World Series MVP Award after Willie Mays:
The World Series Most Valuable Player Award will now be tied to one of the all-time greats of the game: Willie Mays. Major League Baseball announced Friday that the award has been renamed the Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player in honor of the Hall of Famer. It will continue to be presented by the award’s longtime sponsor, Chevrolet.
Friday is the 63rd anniversary of Mays making the most famous catch in baseball history — his legendary over-the-head basket catch deep in center field at the Polo Grounds in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.
“Major League Baseball is thrilled to honor Willie Mays on our game’s biggest stage and in a manner that befits his many contributions to the sport,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “Since making ‘The Catch’ on Sept. 29, 1954, Willie has been a part of World Series history. This annual recognition will forever celebrate the life and career of a legend of the national pastime.”
That seemed like a stretch to me. Mays never won the award, and he played rather poorly in the World Series. As I opened Twitter when I got home, I saw I was not the only one thinking that way.
No offense to Mays, of course — amazing player, iconic catch in Game 1 of 54WS. But hit 0 HR in 4 WS (one win) while batting .239.
— Tyler Kepner (@TylerKepner) September 29, 2017
Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson, and Reggie Jackson all won the award twice, so any one of them would be a fitting candidate. Babe Ruth raked in the World Series, but he is already honored in so many ways.
Mays was one of the greatest in the history of the game, but he doesn’t belong attached to this award. I’m thought for a while that the divisions should be named after great players of the past, and the Willie Mays Division would make a fine name for the NL East or NL West. Mays, Lefty Grove, Ted Williams, Luis Aparicio, Bob Gibson, and Sandy Koufax work fine.
from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2hAXra1
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