The Most Valuable Player award was first given out in 1911 to Ty Cobb of the American League and Frank Schulte of the National League. Originally known as the Chalmers award, named after Hugh Chalmers, the award didn’t catch on as well as had been hoped, and therefore was discontinued after the 1914 season.

In 1922 the League Awards were established to honor the baseball player in the American League (National League began being recognized in 1924) who provided the greatest all-around service to their club. The winner — who received a medal and cash for winning — was voted on by a committee of eight baseball writers, with a player not being able to win more than once. Like the Chalmers awards, these awards didn’t last long, stopping in 1929.

Finally in 1931 the Baseball Writers’ Association of America Most Valuable Player award was established, which is the award still given out today.

Sixty-three players who have won the Most Valuable Player award have gone on to the Hall of Fame up until this point — several of those players are still active, however. The current record for most MVP awards is held by Barry Bonds, with seven, but thirty total players have won multiple Most Valuable Player awards in their career.

Voting for the award is fairly straightforward.

Two writers from each city of both the American League and National League make up the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) voters for the Most Valuable Player award, making a total of thirty voters for each league (fifteen teams, with two voters per city). A first place vote earns a player fourteen points, a second place vote gets nine points, a third place vote receives eight points, a fourth place vote is worth seven points, and so on, all the way until tenth place for one point. Once added up, the player with the highest overall total wins.

The 2013 Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player award winners for both the American League and National League were announced Thursday night on MLB Network. Here are the winners, along with my thoughts on each:

AMERICAN LEAGUE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

Original Pick: Chris Davis

Finalists: Miguel Cabrera, Chris Davis and Mike Trout

Winner: Miguel Cabrera

Thoughts On Miguel Cabrera Winning

Although I was pulling for Mike Trout to win the Most Valuable Player award last season, Miguel Cabrera ended up taking home the honor after having an incredible year in which he won the Triple Crown award. An injury in the last month of this season kept Cabrera from a second straight Triple Crown award, however, it didn’t stop him from winning his second straight MVP — something only eleven other players have been able to accomplish.

Receiving a total of 385 points, 23 of the 30 first-place votes, Cabrera was the overwhelming choice by the voters. The runner-up — with five first-place votes and a total of 282 points — Mike Trout, and the third place recipient, Chris Davis — with a single first-place vote netting 232 total points — weren’t even close. Although I had Chris Davis winning, I have no issues with Cabrera getting the award. He was very deserving; as was Trout.

Batting .348 with 44 home runs and 137 RBI’s, Cabrera put together an amazing season, and in addition is the only player of the three finalists to make the playoffs. Unfortunately, that’s a big part of why I feel he won. Davis posted a batting average 62 points lower than Cabrera, but led the majors in both homers and RBI’s, with 53 and 138 respectively. Had the Orioles played better as a whole, making it to the playoffs, Davis would likely be the winner.

Instead, Miguel Cabrera takes home the award for the second straight year.

The BBWAA’s vote had Mike Trout finishing second, with Chris Davis coming in third.

NATIONAL LEAGUE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

Original Pick: Paul Goldschmidt

Finalists: Paul Goldschmidt, Andrew McCutchen and Yadier Molina

Winner: Andrew McCutchen

Thoughts On Andrew McCutchen Winning

Anytime a player bats .302 with 36 home runs and 125 RBI’s you have to strongly consider them for the Most Valuable Player award. That player, Paul Goldschimdt, was the most deserving of the MVP award in my mind, however, the baseball writers didn’t agree. Andrew McCutchen received the honor instead, getting 28 of the 30 first-place votes (Goldschmidt didn’t get a single one) for a total of 409 points.

Goldschmidt had to settle for second, with 242 points, just ahead of Yadier Molina, who received the other two first-place votes, earning him a total of 219 points. While Molina had a career year, and is a true leader for the Cardinals, he didn’t do enough to win. It came down to a two-man race between Goldschmidt and McCutchen. But after seeing the results of the vote, I suppose it was just a one-man race.

Although McCutchen hit for a .317 batting average with 21 home runs and 84 RBI’s — second in the National League in multi-hit games, with 60 — I don’t feel he was the most valuable.

I won’t spend a lot of time giving my reasons why (if you want to read that, click HERE) but ultimately I feel many people voted for McCutchen for the sole reason that the Pirates made the postseason (for the first time in 21 years) and Goldschmidt’s Diamondback’s didn’t. That’s not fair to base your vote on, in my opinion.

There were several other great reasons for McCutchen winning the award besides making the playoffs, but I just feel it should have gone to Goldschimdt, who had 15 more home runs and 41 more RBI’s than McCutchen this season.

Also, McCutchen didn’t lead the Pirates to the playoffs by himself; it was a team effort. He hit 10 more home runs and drove in 12 more runs last season than he did this year, yet the Buccos finished fourth in 2012, with McCutchen placing third in MVP voting. There’s too much inconsistency with the voting “criteria” for me.

In the end, while I don’t agree with McCutchen winning, I’m not all that upset that he did; though it may seem that way. He was still deserving despite not having the best stats.

Andrew McCutchen becomes the first Pirates’ MVP winner since Barry Bonds in 1992.

The BBWAA’s vote had Paul Goldschmidt finishing second, with Yadier Molina coming in third.