All-Star MVP Award Named For Ted Williams
While Major League Baseball’s tradition of selecting the All-Star Game’s
Most Valuable Player to recognize the most outstanding performer in
each year’s game, didn’t begin until 1962, baseball historians and
knowledgeable fans agree that Ted Williams personified the MVP spirit.
 More than six decades before Major League Baseball named the All-Star
MVP Award after 500 HRC standout Ted Williams in 2002*, The “Splendid
Splinter” sent the 1941 Mid-Summer Classic crowd into a frenzy when he
belted a game-winning 3-run blast in the bottom of the ninth. Along
with helping to raise $63,267 for the United Service Organization (USO)
- the equivalent of nearly $1 Million in 2009 dollars - Williams raised
the bar by which all future All-Star MVPs would be judged.
Williams
continued his All-Star Game heroics in 1946 when, after serving three
years in the Marine Corps, he returned to the game he loved and went
4-for-4, homering twice and driving in five runs to lead the AL to a
12-0 victory at his beloved Fenway Park. Perhaps the most memorable
moment of the ’46 contest was when Williams challenged Pittsburg’s ace
Rip Sewell's to throw his notorious Eephus pitch. The first time Sewell threw it for a strike.
Williams challenged Sewell again and hit a home run, much to the
delight of the crowd.
* Created in 1962, the All-Star MVP
Award was originally called the Arch Ward Memorial Award after the man
who created the All-Star game. The name was briefly changed to the
Commissioner's Trophy, but was renamed “The Ted Williams MVP Player
Award” in 2002 to honor the former Boston Red Sox legend who had died
earlier that year.
500 HRC Members Ruled All-Star Competition
 San
Francisco Giants teammates Willie Mays and Willie McCovey pretty much
ruled the All-Star stage during the 1960s. Here’s a quick peek at the
list of 500 Home Run Club members who were MLB All-Star Game
MVPs:
| Year |
Player |
Team |
| 1963 |
Willie Mays |
San Francisco Giants |
| 1968 |
Willie Mays |
San Francisco Giants |
| 1969 |
Willie McCovey |
San Francisco Giants |
| 1971 |
Frank Robinson |
Baltimore Orioles |
| 1980 |
Ken Griffey, Sr. |
Cincinnati Reds |
| 1992 |
Ken Griffey, Jr. |
Seattle Mariners |
Four 500 HRC Stars Go Yard in 1971 Spectacle
The
1971 All-Star Game in Detroit, Tiger Stadium served as a perfect stage
to spotlight the power of future 500 Home Run Club members Reggie
Jackson, Harmon Killebrew, Frank Robinson, and Hank Aaron who all
hammered home runs in the last All-Star Game played at Tiger Stadium.
 500 HRC Trio Stars in 1956 All-Star Game
Three
of the game’s all-time leading home run hitters: Willie Mays, Mickey
Mantle and Ted Williams all homered in the 1956 All-Star Game played in
Washington’s Griffith Stadium to lead the NL to a 7-3 victory.
 Banks Homer Secures All-Star Victory
Mr.
Cub Ernie Banks made the first of 15 All-Star appearances in the 1960
All-Star game. Fellow 500 HRC member Willie Mays collected a single,
double and triple, but it was the young shortstop who stole the show
with a timely double and a game winning two-run homer in a 5-3 NL
victory. Banks ended the season leading the league in HR for the
second time, with 41.
Mike Schmidt Show His Stuff To Record All-Star Crowd
In
1981, at Cleveland’s colossal Municipal Stadium, 500 HRC member Mike
Schmidt smacked a two run shot in the eighth off Rollie Fingers to
secure the win before a record crowd of more than 72,000.
All-Star-Studded Slugging Outfields
On
thing All-Star Game fans can count on is that the starting outfielders
will be among the most powerful sluggers of their generation. Over the
past several decades, the presence of 500 Home Run Club members on both
the NL and AL rosters for the Mid-Summer Classic meant that a
tremendous amount of home run power were represented by just three
individuals. Here’s a look at the most homers (at the time) by a
starting All-Star outfield:
| Year |
League |
Outfielders (LF, CF, RF) |
Total |
| 2004 |
NL |
Barry Bonds (681), Ken Griffey Jr. (501), Sammy Sosa (554)** |
1,736 |
| 1972 |
NL |
Willie Stargell (263), Willie Mays (650), Hank Aaron (659) |
1,572 |
| 1971 |
NL |
Stargell (226), Mays (642), Aaron (616) |
1,484 |
| 1970 |
NL |
Rico Carty (101), Mays (619), Aaron (578) |
1,298 |
| 2002 |
NL |
Bonds (594), Vladimir Guerrero (189), Sosa (478) |
1,261 |
| 1968 |
NL |
Curt Flood (81), Mays (576), Aaron (499) |
1,156 |
| 2001 |
NL |
Bonds (533), Luis Gonzalez (199), Sosa (415) |
1,147 |
| 1974 |
NL |
Pete Rose (116), Jimmy Wynn (244), Aaron (725) |
1,085 |
| 1966 |
NL |
Aaron (424), Mays (525), Roberto Clemente (127) |
1,076 |
| 1934 |
AL |
Heinie Manush (99), Al Simmons (235), Babe Ruth (699) |
1,033 |
| 1970 |
AL |
Frank Howard (314), Carl Yastrzemski (223), Frank Robinson (467) |
1,004 |
| 1933 |
AL |
Ben Chapman (43), Simmons (218), Ruth (670) |
931 |
** First time in All-Star history that three 500 HRC members formed the starting outfield. |
