Decisions, Decisions: The 1955 American League MVP Race

A very clear pattern emerged in the American League in the 1940s that continued well into the 1950s. The Most Valuable Player award in the league, every year, was going to be given either to a player who very clearly was the best player in the league, or it was going to be given to a Yankee.

It seems as if the writers who voted for the award collectively held the default position that the award was going to a Yankee unless someone had such a remarkable season that they simply had to give him the award instead. And, in every year that they gave the award to a Yankee anyway, there were lots of players who were equally or even more deserving that were passed over.

When I say that non-Yankees had to have remarkable seasons to get the award over someone in New York, I mean truly outstanding, something the voters couldn’t deny. Like being the league’s best player while also managing the team to a pennant, or damn near winning the Triple Crown.

For at least fifteen years there were no exceptions to that rule of thumb.