Does winning MVP, Cy clear path to Cooperstown?
Sarah Langs
@SlangsOnSportsWinning a Baseball Writers' Association of America Award is an achievement in and of itself, a tangible testament to a well-played season. When a player wins MVP, Cy Young or Rookie of the Year, he¡¯s already added to his resume, which might one day help him become enshrined in Cooperstown.
But not every player to win an MVP, Cy Young or Rookie of the Year Award is in the Hall of Fame. Of the 122 Major League players in the Hall of Fame who retired in 1956 or later -- the first year of the Cy Young Award, the newest of the BBWAA player awards -- 53 never won a BBWAA Award. It¡¯s not a prerequisite, but it definitely helps.
So, where does the distinction lie? What percentage of players to win multiple such awards are in the Hall of Fame?
Rookie of the Year is typically the least predictive of future greatness, simply because we can¡¯t give more weight to players with multiple awards the way we can with MVP or Cy Young, since a player can win only once. Of the 87 Rookie of the Year winners who have already been eligible to be on the Hall of Fame ballot, just 19 are in the Hall of Fame.
However, it is worth noting that of those 87 HOF ballot-eligible Rookie of the Year winners, just 21 won at least one more BBWAA Award in their careers. Of those 21, 11 are in the Hall of Fame. We can¡¯t track players to win multiple Rookies of the Year, but that¡¯s a way to look at multi-award winners that include ROYs.
Here¡¯s a look at how winning an MVP or Cy Young -- or multiple -- correlates with reaching the Hall of Fame. In all cases, the players evaluated were solely those who are already Hall of Fame-eligible (retired for at least five years, played 10 seasons). Each section also includes the relevant not yet HOF-eligible retired and active players to win that many awards, for future consideration. The BBWAA began voting on MVP in 1931, so none prior to that are considered.
MVP Awards
Three or more: HOF-worthy
In HOF (7 players, 78%): Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Mike Schmidt
Not in HOF (2 players): Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez
Bonds, who won a record seven MVPs, and Rodriguez, who won three, are the outliers here -- but not because of a lack of production. Bonds' 162.8 career WAR as a position player ranks first all-time, but links to performance-enhancing drugs clouded the picture of his Hall candidacy. Rodriguez's 117.5 is 12th on that same list. Rodriguez, who was suspended for PEDs, received 34.8% of the vote in his third year on the ballot in 2024.
The other seven players in this category each won exactly three MVP Awards. Musial, Mantle and Schmidt were first-ballot Hall of Famers, while Berra got in on his second ballot, DiMaggio on his fourth, Campanella on his seventh and Foxx on his eighth.
Not yet HOF-eligible: Albert Pujols (2028)
Active: Mike Trout
Two: Likely, but no guarantee
In HOF (12 players, 80%): Ernie Banks, Johnny Bench, Hank Greenberg, Carl Hubbell, Willie Mays, Joe Morgan, Hal Newhouser, Cal Ripken, Frank Robinson, Frank Thomas, Ted Williams, Robin Yount
Not in HOF (3 players): Juan Gonz¨¢lez, Roger Maris, Dale Murphy
Nine of the 12 players to win at least two MVP Awards who are in the Hall of Fame got in on their first year on the ballot. The only three to make it, but after the first ballot, are Hubbell (fourth), Greenberg (10th) and Newhouser (15th).
Gonz¨¢lez won the 1996 and 1998 AL MVP Awards, but fell off the Hall of Fame ballot in 2012 in just his second year in consideration. He hit 434 homers over the course of a 17-year career, accumulating 38.7 WAR, which is tied for 376th among position players all-time.
The other two-time MVP winners not to make the Hall of Fame both appeared on the ballot 15 times. Maris hit 39 homers in his first MVP season, 1960, then followed it up with a record-breaking 61 in ¡®61 to clinch his second straight MVP. But outside of those two years, he had just one other 30-homer season, and his career batting average was just .260. Murphy played 2,180 games over an 18-year career, hitting .265 with a .469 slugging percentage and 398 homers.
Not yet HOF-eligible: Miguel Cabrera (2029)
Active: Bryce Harper, Shohei Ohtani
One: Pretty much a toss-up
In HOF: 42 players (44%)
Not in HOF: 53 players
Plenty of first-ballot Hall of Famers won just one MVP Award in their careers, so it should come as little surprise that this number is near 50 percent. Eighteen of those Hall of Famers got in on the first ballot, including Hank Aaron, Ken Griffey Jr., Chipper Jones, Willie McCovey, Jackie Robinson and others.
But there are also players whose MVP seasons were more a flash in the pan, based on that season¡¯s overall climate, or another form of one-hit wonder. Thus, just one MVP Award is not enough to guarantee a plaque in Cooperstown.
Those not in the Hall of Fame include three MVP winners who did not even make the ballot: Jim Konstanty, Al Rosen and Zoilo Versalles. Konstanty was a pitcher who won NL MVP in 1950 when he appeared in 74 games, all in relief, with a 2.66 ERA. He posted just one more season with an ERA below 3.00 after ¡®50. Rosen was a four-time All-Star, including in 1953, when he won AL MVP, but none of the other seasons of his career were on the level of his ¡®53 campaign. Versalles had 7.2 WAR in 1965, when he won AL MVP, but finished his career with just 12.6 WAR total.
Not yet HOF-eligible: Ichiro Suzuki (2025), Dustin Pedroia (2025), Buster Posey (2027), Ryan Braun (2027)
Cy Young Awards
Three or more: HOF-worthy
In HOF (7 players, 88%): Randy Johnson, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax, Pedro Mart¨ªnez, Jim Palmer, Tom Seaver
Not in HOF (1 player): Roger Clemens
As with MVP, there¡¯s an outlier who won more such awards than anyone else but is not yet in the Hall of Fame. Clemens won a record seven Cy Young Awards and amassed 138.7 career pitching WAR, third-most all-time. But his links to performance-enhancing drugs have made the situation murkier.?
All seven of the three- to five-time Cy Young winners not only got into the Hall of Fame, but did so on the first ballot. Johnson won five and Carlton and Maddux won four each, while the rest won three Cy Young Awards.
Active: Max Scherzer, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander
Two: A bit more than a toss-up
In HOF (4 players, 50%): Bob Gibson, Tom Glavine, Roy Halladay, Gaylord Perry
Not in HOF (4 players): Tim Lincecum, Denny McLain, Bret Saberhagen, Johan Santana
It makes sense that winning two Cy Youngs is less predictive of a call to Cooperstown than winning two MVPs, since pitchers often break down at a younger age or have shorter sustained peaks of greatness.
Santana and Saberhagen especially are great examples of this, being brilliant enough to win the award multiple times, but not brilliant for a long enough period to make it into the Hall of Fame. Both Saberhagen and Santana fell off the ballot after one year, while McLain made it three.
The average career WAR of a starting pitcher in the Hall of Fame is 73.0, and the average WAR of those pitchers¡¯ best seven seasons is 49.9. Santana had 51.7 career WAR and 45.0 WAR in his best seven seasons. McLain had 19.3 WAR and 22.2 in his best seven. And Saberhagen had 58.9 overall, with 43.1 in his seven best seasons.
Active: Jacob deGrom, Corey Kluber, Blake Snell
One: Not much of an indicator
In HOF (10 players, 21%): Don Drysdale, Dennis Eckersley, Rollie Fingers, Whitey Ford, Catfish Hunter, Ferguson Jenkins, John Smoltz, Warren Spahn, Bruce Sutter and Early Wynn
Not in HOF: 38 players
The one-time Cy Young Award winners are a lot less frequently Hall of Famers compared to the one-time MVP winners, with just 10 of them in the Hall of Fame. Even more so than with the two-time Cy Young Award winners, this makes sense if we consider how prone pitchers are to breaking down or not sustaining success.
Those not in the Hall of Fame include Bob Turley, who accumulated just 13.3 career WAR in his career. He won the award in 1958, when he had a 2.97 ERA and 19 complete games, but also walked a Major League-high 128 batters.
Turley is one of three Cy Young winners to be HOF eligible but never even make it onto the ballot, along with Dean Chance and Mike McCormick.
Not yet HOF-eligible: CC Sabathia (2025), F¨¦lix Hern¨¢ndez (2025), Rick Porcello (2026), Jake Arrieta (2027), David Price (2028)
Active: Sandy Alcantara, Trevor Bauer, Shane Bieber, Corbin Burnes, Gerrit Cole, Zack Greinke, Dallas Keuchel, Robbie Ray