Tuesday Trivia: MVPs who became Manager of the Year
 

Name the 5 former League MVPs that went on to win Manager of the Year.

As always, please guess, rather than look up the answer.

Joe Torre

Frank Robinson?

Correct! Joe Torre won MVP in 1971 with the Cardinals and the Manager of the Year in 1996 and 1998 with the Yankees. He is the only one on the list to be a two-time MOY.


Yes! Frank Robinson won MVP in 1961 with the Reds and in 1966 with the Orioles, and was MOY with the Orioles 1989. He is the only one on the list to be MVP twice.

3 more to go.

Yogi Berra?

I am going to guess Ted Williams won a Manager Of The Year Award.

Great guesses, but neither Berra nor Ted Williams won Manager of the Year.

Rogers Hornsby? Never mind, Manager Of The Year Awards didn’t start until 1983.

Don Mattingly?

Correct, the MOY award started in 1983.

Correct! Don Mattingly was MVP in 1985 and MOY in 2020 with the Marlins!

2 more.

Don Baylor? Pete Rose?

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Was Molitor ever the MVP?

I'll go with Don Baylor also, though I have no idea if he ever nabbed MOY.

Don Baylor is correct! Baylor was MVP with the Angles and MOY with Colorado in 1995.

Pete Rose was never MOY.

Great guess. Molitor was MOY with Minnesota in 2017, but finished as high as 2nd in MVP with Toronto in 1993.

One more to go.

My man Kirk Gibson.

He's also part of the answer to one of my favorite bits of trivia.

3 College Football All-Americans have won an MLB MVP.

Correct, Scott! Kirk Gibson won MVP with the Dodgers in 1988 and MOY with Arizona in 2011.

I believe Kirk Gibson is the only member of the College Football Hall of Fame to have won a MLB MVP.

And despite winning an MVP and finishing 6th in 1984, Kirk Gibson was never an All-Star.

Scott, I'm not sure who the other College Football All-Americans were that on an MLB MVP, but I'd like to know.

Jackie Jensen? And maybe Jackie Robinson?

You're missing one college FB HOF'er Jackie Jensen. Somehow Jackie Robinson isn't in the College FB Hall, but he was an All-American who led the nation in yards per carry with 12.2 in 1939! He also led the nation in punt return average in 1939 and 1940, and is still 4th all time in NCAA history.

A side note while Jim Thorpe is almost unanimously considered the greatest athlete to ever live, Jackie should probably at least pop up in the discussion. He was twice the leading basketball scorer in what is today known as the Pacific-10 Conference. In 1940 Jackie Robinson won the NCAA broad- jump title at 24' 10 1/4" which would've won an Olympic gold medal as late as 1952. He won the conference golf championship and reached the semifinals in what was then the National Negro Tennis Tournament.

Very interesting Scott!

Didn't know Jackie Jensen was in the College Football HOF.

And didn't realize Jackie Robinson long jumped so far, nor that he was an accomplished golfer and tennis player.
According to this article, Robinson once jumped 25 feet 6.5" which established the "world lead and had three of the top seven jumps in the world in 1940.https://www.runnerspace.com/gprofile...news_id=457529
If the 1940 Olympics hadn't been cancelled, he may have taken gold. I wonder if still would have turned to professional baseball if he had been an Olympic hero?