The New York Yankees Past Most Valuable Players

Monday Major League Baseball announced that the 2007 American League MVP is Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees. The New York Yankees are the most successful franchise in Major League Baseball history so it's no surprise that Alex Rodriguez is just one in a long line of American League MVP award winners from the Yankees. These are the many New York Yankees that have received the award.

Babe Ruth (1923)
The first member of the New York Yankees to win the American League MVP was none other than the Great Bambino, Babe Ruth. In 1923 Babe Ruth hit 41 homeruns and batted .393 with a 1.309 OPS on his way to receiving every first place vote. It was actually Babe Ruth's only MVP award.

Lou Gehrig (1927, 1936)
Lou Gehrig was a two time winner of the American League MVP. In 1927 Lou Gehrig hit 47 homeruns, 33 more than the second place finisher Harry Heilmann. In 1936 Lou Gehrig got tougher competition from Luke Appling but Gehrig barely pulled out the win by 8 points in the voting.

Joe DiMaggio (1939, 1941, 1947)
Joe DiMaggio's three MVP awards with the New York Yankees is even more impressive when you think about the stiff competition that DiMaggio had. In 1939 Jimmie Foxx hit 35 homeruns, a .360 average and 1.159 OPS and Joe DiMaggio still got 15 first place votes to Foxx's 1. In 1941 Joe DiMaggio won the American League MVP over Ted Williams, even though Williams hit .406 that season. In 1947 Joe DiMaggio defeated Ted Williams again even though Williams had more homeruns, a higher batting average and a higher OPS.

Joe Gordon (1942)
Ted Williams must have really hated New York Yankees. It was bad enough that Joe DiMaggio took two American League MVP awards from him but now he was losing to Joe Gordon too? Gordon batted .322 with a .900 OPS but Williams batted .356 with a 1.147 OPS.

Spud Chandler (1943)
In 1943 another member of the New York Yankees won the American League but it wasn't a household name like Mantle, Ruth or DiMaggio. The 1943 American League MVP was Spud Chandler. At this point I'm not sure the voters didn't just pick somebody at random because Spud Chandler's .258 average wasn't really MVP quality.