Verlander Joins Exclusive Club: All Tigers MVPs Since 1940 Are Pitchers

The selection of Tigers ace Justin Verlander as the American League Most Valuable Player not only shows that sportswriters voting for the award feel pitchers should be eligible, it also allows the right-hander to join a very intriguing club.

The Tigers have had five MVPs since 1940, and every one of them has been a pitcher. Considering just five other AL pitchers have garnered the honor during that period, future Detroit hurlers would be smart to get MVP-incentive bonuses written into their contracts.

Here's a quick look at the other Motown Moundmen to nab the honor: 

1944-45: Nal Newhouser

Hal Newhouser had a lifetime record of just 34-51 entering 1944, then exploded to go 29-9 that year and 25-9 in '45. He copped MVP honors both seasons.

The lefty helped Detroit to a World Series title in the latter summer, and lest anybody think he was just able to mow down wartime competition, "Prince Hal" went 26-9 with a league-best 1.94 ERA when Ted, Joe D and the rest of the sluggers came back in 1946.

1968: Denny McLain

Denny McLain was out of baseball by age 28, but for a couple years he was as dominant as any pitcher in the game.

In 1968, the then-slim righty went 31-6, the last pitcher to win 30 games and the main force behind Detroit's World Series championship season. He earned the Cy Young as well, of course, and did so the next year too before throwing it all away due to off-the-field struggles. 

1984: Willie Hernandez

Having your team get off to a 35-5 start always helps, but it was the way reliever Willie Hernandez pitched down the stretch and through the postseason for the Tigers in 1984 that helped Detroit go all the way.

Hernandez, who was 9-3 with 32 saves for the year, compiled a 1.66 ERA in 40 games and 65 innings after the All-Star break—then closed out both the ALCS and the World Series.  

SAUL WISNIA is a former sports and news correspondent for The Washington Post and feature writer for The Boston Herald who is now senior publications editor at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. He has authored, co-authored or contributed to numerous books on Boston baseball history, including his latest—Fenway Park: The Centennial.

His essays and articles have appeared in Sports Illustrated, Red Sox Magazine and The Boston Globe, and he shares Fenway reflections in cyberspace at http://saulwisnia.blogspot.com/. Wisnia lives 6.78 miles from MLB's oldest ballpark in Newton, MA, and can be reached at [e-mail] or @saulwizz.