Many people believe that LeBron James should have won the 2015 NBA Finals MVP Award instead of Andre Iguodala, even though James was on the losing side of the Finals. "But how could they think that?" you might be asking yourself, "His team lost." Well, to answer your question, I have for you a blog post. This post is about the only hitter in baseball history to win the World Series MVP as a member of the losing team: Bobby Richardson of the 1960 New York Yankees.
Bobby Richardson played his entire career with the Yankees and went to eight All Star Games, but his numbers during the 1960 regular season were pedestrian: just a .252 batting average and 26 RBIs in 150 games played. But, his teammates were good enough to get the Yanks into the Fall Classic to face the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Bronx Bombers finished with a regular season record of 97-57 (it was only a 154-game season back then) and the Buccos finished the 1960 campaign with a record of 95-59.
The 1960 World Series ended on a walk-off World Series-winning home run by Bill Mazeroski in the seventh game, giving the Pirates the Series victory, four games to three. However, the Yankees dominated Pittsburgh on the scoreboard, outscoring them 55-27! Because of this huge margin, the people at MLB voted to give Richardson the World Series MVP trophy; Bobby batted .367 during the '60 Fall Classic with a homer and 12 runs batted in. His six RBIs in Game Three of the Series set a record for the most RBIs in a single World Series game. Bobby also scored eight runs and even tripled twice. I guess the voters saw that he needed to be honored for his amazing play, even though the Yankees didn't get World Series rings in '60.
If I were part of the voting committee for the 1960 World Series MVP, I would have voted for Maz to win it because of his late game heroics in Game Seven. But alas, I can't change the past, so Bobby Richardson will remain the only World Series MVP to win it as a member of the losing side. Thanks for reading this post and I hope you enjoyed it. Check back soon for more of "all the buzz on what wuzz."
Richardson seemed to have a knack for coming up big in the World Series. In addition to his record of six RBIs in one game, he also set Fall Classic record with twelve RBIs in one World Series. Another member of the losing team that might have gotten it that year was Mickey Mantle. In 1961, Richardson had nine hits in only five games for a .391 batting average. He didn't do much in '62 or '63 (Although, he made the last putout of game seven of 1962). His finest World Series was 1964, when Richardson set another all-time single World Series record with 13 hits (Equaled by Lou Brock in 1968 and Marty Barrett in 1986). Mantle had another great World Series that year, too. But again the Yankees lost!
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