This Year in Baseball Awards

Contents

This Year in Baseball Awards, initiated by Major League Baseball in 2002, are honors given annually to the most extraordinary baseball performances, players, managers, and executives.

In 2010, MLB began referring to the awards as the "GIBBY Awards" (Greatness in Baseball Yearly).[1]

System

Each winner is selected by a vote of fans, MLB alumni, each team's front-office personnel, and members of the media.[2] Fans cast their votes via the online-voting system on MLB.com, the official website of Major League Baseball. Over thirteen million fans voted in 2010.[3]

In the first year, there were six categories of awards: Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year (including starters and closers, but not setup men), Setup Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year, Play of the Year, and Blooper of the Year.

In 2003, three new awards were added: Rookie of the Year, Manager of the Year, and Individual Performance of the Year. The Blooper of the Year was renamed Bizarre Play of the Year.

In 2004, one category was added: Closer of the Year. Three categories were re-named: Starting Pitcher of the Year (formerly Pitcher of the Year), Hitter of the Year (formerly Player of the Year), and Blooper of the Year (its original name, instead of Bizarre Play of the Year).

In 2007, two new categories were added (for a total of 12): Moment of the Year and Postseason Moment of the Year.

In 2008, a 13th category was added: Executive of the Year. The Blooper of the Year was renamed Oddity of the Year. The Performance of the Year was renamed Single-Game Performance of the Year.

In 2009, a 14th category was added: Unsung Star of the Year. The Single-Game Performance of the Year was changed back to Performance of the Year.

In 2010, five new categories were added (for a total of 19): Breakout Player of the Year, Dependable Player of the Year, Postseason MVP, Game of the Year, and Fan Moment of the Year. Two categories were re-named: Player of the Year (its original name, instead of Hitter of the Year) and X-Factor Player of the Year (formerly Unsung Star of the Year).

In 2011, one category was dropped: Dependable Player of the Year. It was replaced by a new category: Comeback Player of the Year. Two categories were re-named: Wow Factor of the Year (formerly X-Factor Player of the Year) and Walk-Off of the Year (formerly Game of the Year).[4]

Awards

See also the navigation boxes (below) for the following awards: Closer, Defensive Player, Hitter (now "Player"), Setup Man, and Starting Pitcher.

The order of awards (as listed on MLB.com)[2][4] is:

  • Player of the Year[5]
  • Rookie of the Year
  • Starting Pitcher of the Year[6]
  • Closer of the Year[6]
  • Setup Man of the Year[6]
  • Defensive Player of the Year[6][7]
  • Breakout Player of the Year
  • Comeback Player of the Year
  • Wow Factor of the Year
  • Manager of the Year
  • Executive of the Year[8]
  • Postseason MVP
  • Play of the Year
  • Moment of the Year
  • Performance of the Year
  • Oddity of the Year
  • Walk-Off of the Year
  • Fan Moment of the Year
  • Postseason Moment of the Year

Former awards

Award winners

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Defensive Player of the Year Award (text at bottom of page). Baseball-Almanac.com. Retrieved 2011-09-05.
  2. ^ a b 2010 This Year in Baseball Awards. MLB.com. Retrieved 2011-01-03.
  3. ^ This Year in Baseball Awards (text at bottom of page). Baseball-Almanac.com. Retrieved 2011-09-05. Note: In some years, all of the awards are listed; in other years, several (but not all of) the awards are listed.
  4. ^ a b "2011 GIBBYs Greatness in Baseball Yearly Awards (voting page)". MLB Advanced Media, L.P. http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/awards/y2011/gibbys/#. Retrieved 2011-11-04. 
  5. ^ For winners' names, see the "TYIB Hitter of the Year" navigation box below.
  6. ^ a b c d For winners' names, see the navigation box below.
  7. ^ Defensive Player of the Year Award (2002–present). Baseball-Almanac. Retrieved 2011-08-19.
  8. ^ See also: The Sporting News Executive of the Year Award.
  9. ^ When you click on "Postseason Moment", it takes you to an unrelated page. The Postseason Moment awardee is mentioned at: Newman, Mark (December 17, 2010). "Giants star in This Year in Baseball Awards: Hamilton, Doc among those feted in awards season finale". MLB.com. MLB Advanced Media, L.P. http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20101216&content_id=16331012&vkey=news_mlb&c_id=mlb&partnerId=ed-4336826-173876510. Retrieved 2011-09-07. "Halladay, who pitched the second postseason no-hitter ever against the Reds in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, saw his gem cited as the easy choice for Postseason Moment."