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Now, the junior circuit


Ever since Mike Trout has come into the majors, I've had no problem pulling his cards.

I've tried to complete only one Topps flagship set since Trout's 2011 arrival -- the 2015 set -- yet even while just sampling flagship every other year, I've pulled Trout's base card almost every year. I also seem to pull his inserts a lot, probably not saying much since he's likely in every single insert Topps makes, but still they seem to come out of my packs abnormally so.

But this year, I have not pulled his flagship card. I don't even know what it looks like.

OK, I just looked it up. I now know what it looks like.

Anyway, I'm mentioning Trout cards because he's the AL MVP (again) and after my NL award winners post, I've decided to take a commenter up on his offer and go through the American League teams as far as which team has totaled the most MVP awards. And then I'll list the Cy Young and Rookie of the Year tallies as well.

My enthusiasm isn't nearly as high as with the AL as the NL. There's a reason I called it "the junior circuit" in the title. Yup, I'm holding on to that antiquated phrase because the AL will always be Not Quite As Good to me.

Also, it's the Loud and Yelly League. All those Yankees and Red Sox fans, just the screaming and constantly being on TV, all that attention-hogging, and now we've got the Astros cheating all over the place and I need to go back to the NL and my cool colors.

But anyway, here are the AL team totals for the MVPs. Get ready for a whole lot of Yankee.

MOST AL MVPS


1. YANKEES - 21

Ugh.



2. RED SOX - 11

This kicks off a three-way tie for second place. The AL, once you get past the Yankees, is a little more bunched up than the NL.



2. ATHLETICS - 11

This post has created another post idea. I'm going to find the greatest "MVP year" cards. Those are the cards of players in the year in which they won the MVP.


2. TIGERS - 11

Sorry, no image. I didn't want to spend all day scanning today.



5. RANGERS - 6

6. ORIOLES - 5

6. ANGELS - 5

6. TWINS - 5


9. WHITE SOX - 4



10 - BREWERS - 3

Combined with their NL MVP awards, the Brewers have 5 MVPs. But really we shouldn't have to combine leagues for an award like this.

11. INDIANS - 2

11. MARINERS - 2

11. BLUE JAYS - 2

14. ASTROS - 1

Combined with its NL numbers, Houston has 2 MVPs total.

15. ROYALS - 1

The only American League team not to have won an MVP award is the Rays. Also the Senators, when they existed.

OK, here are the Cy Young and ROY lists:

Cy Young Award

Red Sox 7, Orioles 6, Indians 5, Tigers 5, Yankees 5, Athletics 5, Twins 4, Royals 4, Blue Jays 4, White Sox 3, Astros 2, Angels 2, Brewers 2, Mariners 2, Rays 2

The only team that has not won an AL Cy Young Award is the Rangers, which is not a surprise. To anyone still wondering why the Rangers can not win consistently, your answer is right there.

Rookie of the Year Award

Yankees 9, Athletics 8, Orioles 6, Red Sox 6, White Sox 6, Tigers 5, Twins 5, Indians 4, Royals 4, Angels 3, Mariners 3, Rays 3, Astros 2, Rangers 2, Blue Jays 2, Senators 2, Brewers 1, Browns 1

Just like the NL, every team is represented in the AL rookie of the year honors, even the Browns! Also Pat Listach will forever be the Brewers' lone AL Rookie of the Year unless MLB snaps out of it and re-swaps the Brewers and Astros.

OK, that's enough adding for the weekend.

Comments

BaseSetCalling said…
OK, I confess. I have been deliberately buying Mike Trout base cards this year whenever I buy a pack of Archives. Since they are essentially see-through and a '58 card is always on top and the card sequences are always the same, same, same, if I see his pack-mates I buy that one, cuz I know I will at least get a buck back outta that pack later on via COMC. Heck, maybe even more than a buck. And not just any buck - baseball card bucks that are more efficiently economical when spent on ... other baseball cards. Thanks Mike!

That's OK on the Tigers card example. Even Miggy cards are kinda depressing at this point, (lately he has been promising to finally quit eating the donuts in the offseason. no, really, this time. really); and the last few days for ole Justin Verlander, well his silence on everything still has a loud "Bang" sound attached to it right now.

As for good ole Willie Hernandez and his cool looking almost full blown Afro on his baseball cards - even that is depressing this fall too, with 1984 style "anniversary" baseball cards falling out of my packs and not a Tiger to be seen on any of them, from that year where, they (including a plethora of recent brand new Hall of Famers with another one on the way quite soon) kind of, you know, did something. Topps? Are you there, Topps?

I think most of the cards you showed here might be able to vie for a spot on your All-MVP list. I like the Dick Allen the best. Even when he wasn't trying, he couldn't help but look badass.

Allen's photo was actually in a Phillies uniform and was at least three years old when it appeared on that '72 card. Since the White Sox' unis at the time had the red pinstripes and cap, Topps didn't even have to do any airbrushing for the newly acquired Allen.
Fuji said…
Can't wait to see your greatest "MVP" year cards list... and where the Vida Blue card lands on it.