Why did Babe Ruth only win one MVP award?

Question

http://www.baseball-reference.com/r/ruthba01.shtml

Answer 1

I think, that the CY young, MVP etc. are overrated

Look at juan marichal, one of the greatest pitchers of all time, in the HOF, did not even win a cy young award.

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mari...

I rest my case

Answer 2

I think it was some form of collusion between the owners and media.

He definitely should have won more MVP awards.

Even though he led the AL in Batting Average once he led in On-base % 10 times, Slugging % 13 times, OPS 13 times, Runs 8 times, Total Bases 6 times, Home Runs 12 times, RBI 6 times, Walks 11 times, Runs Created 9 times, Extra-Base Hits 7 times, Times on Base 8 times and At Bats per Home Run 13 times.

If the Cy Young Award was around in 1916 he should have been seriously considered for leading the League in ERA, Hits Allowed/9IP, Games Started and Shutouts.

Answer 3

At that time, there was a rule that prevented repeat winners. That was changed in the late 30s.

Answer 4

As noted, people could not win more than once in the old days.  They also didn't even give out the award from 1915-1921, a period spanning some of his best seasons.

Hornsby was the first repeat winner (25 and 29), but I don't know if the NL allowed repeat winners earlier than the AL.  The first repeat winner in the AL was Foxx in 33 when Ruth was almost done.  It is possible they did not loosen up the award until about then.

Answer 5

Because people are stupid. babe ruth is AMAZING

Answer 6

The BBWAA took over administration of the MVP Awards, as we know them today, in 1931. Prior to that, there was a policy (which may or may not have been official), that MVP winners should not be considered eligible for a second honor. So Ruth, despite his obvious dominance, has only the one award.

Not that he'd look any brighter a superstar with more to his credit.

Answer 7

Because they never had an MVP award for most of his career

Answer 8

Who knows why he only won 1 MVP, but the fact that he only won 1 MVP while being the greatest player of an entire era shows the true value of regular season MVP awards in baseball.

Regular season MVP awards are the most worthless, subjective awards in baseball and really any other major American sport IMO.