I’ve often wondered why Major League Baseball never removed the name of longtime Baseball Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis from the Most Valuable Player Awards.
Recently, I’ve read reports about MVPs Barry Larkin (1995) and Mike Schmidt (1980, 1981 and 1986) discussing how they would be fine and welcome the removal of his name that has been on the award since 1944.
Interestingly, both of Larkin and Schmidt were born just a short drive from the birthplace of Landis in Millville located in Southwestern Ohio.
The change is also something I would support.
I want it to be a simple thing, so that the 2020 MVPs would receive a plaque without the likeness of Landis in the center. There shouldn’t be a need for anyone to break into Larkin’s house and hit his award with a baseball bat to make a point about Landis. Let’s just do it and move on.
A federal judge appointed by President Theodore Roosevelt, Landis is someone with two opposite sides in baseball history. He was also named after the Civil War battle where is father Abraham was wounded fighting for the Union.
While Landis is praised for cleaning up the game after the 1919 Black Sox scandal, it’s not a coincidence that Jackie Robinson‘s presence at the Brooklyn Dodgers training camp in 1946 was soon after his death.
There are two scenarios that I would offer in renaming the MVP Awards. Using the old cliche … it’s a win-win situation.
The first choice is the break up the awards by leagues with a pair of three-time winners sharing the honor.
Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees and Roy Campanella of the Brooklyn Dodgers won their first award in 1951. Campanella earned his second award in 1953, while Berra picked up his second in 1954.
The duo shared the spotlight again in 1955, which is represented by the 1975 Topps baseball card featured with this story. The two catchers could definitely be linked together again with the MVP Award.
A second option would be name both awards after the same person.
Frank Robinson followed Jackie Robinson’s path as a manager when took over the Cleveland Indians in 1975. Frank remains the only player to win the award in both leagues with the Cincinnati Reds (1961) and the Baltimore Orioles (1966). It would make sense for his name to be on both awards.
Either of these options work for me. Honoring these three members of the Baseball Hall of Fame would be a great way to move on from Landis.