I looked at the years from 1931-1993. Discussed are position players who were first among position players in WAR who played for a first place team but did not win the MVP award. In some cases, there was a pitcher who was the overall leader (those cases are noted).
It seems reasonable to say that if the best player in the league is on a first place team, he should be the MVP.
WAR for each player or pitcher is in parentheses after their name. I am mainly interested in position players since pitchers have their own award (at least since 1956). There is some discussion of the voting and the stats of the players involved in each case.
One of the big reasons why another player instead of the one in question took the award is because they did well in the triple crown stats or played on a team that finished high in the standings. The leader in HRs and RBIs won out over the player in question seven times.
The following players got no first place votes in a year when he led in WAR and their team came in first place: Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle (twice), Craig Nettles, Mike Schmidt, Wade Boggs (twice) and Rickey Henderson.
I found 22 cases of a position player who had the highest WAR among position players who played on a first place team that did not win the award. In 10 of them, it was a non-teammate who won the award (although there are some cases in the division era when the actual winner played on the first place team in the other division).
There were 9 cases of the overall leader being a pitcher (but who was not on a first place team). In none of those cases did that pitcher win the MVP award. If they had won it, that might have been a good reason for the best position player (who was on a first place team) not to win but it was still someone else entirely.
There were 2 cases of a pitcher being the overall leader who was on a first place team that did not win the MVP award (Seaver 1973, Glavine 1991). Both of them won the Cy Young award.
In a few cases it seems like the voters liked middle infielders, maybe seeing them as key player or leader. For some years I looked at stats for players in Sept. to see if an outstanding performance (or a poor one) might have influenced the voters.
At the end of the discussion of each case there is a link to the voting results at Baseball Reference which also includes stats of all the players getting votes.
Then there were 5 other cases of pitchers on first place teams who were the overall leader in WAR that did not win the MVP award. But all of them won the Cy Young Award. But again, I was not especially interested in what happened to pitchers. Those 5 cases are listed at the end of the post along with a link to the voting results for that year. None of them were years when a position player on a first place team led position players in WAR and failed to win MVP.
Charlie Gehringer (8.6) 1935 AL
Hank Greenberg (7.5), a Tiger teammate, won. He was 4th in WAR among position players and 6th overall.
He did lead the league in HRs & RBIs. In this time period, 17 of the 18 players to be on a first place team and lead the league in HRs & RBIs won the MVP award (three of those cases were triple crown winners Mantle (1956) Frank Robinson (1966) and Carl Yastrzemski (1967).
Greenberg had 80 points in the voting, getting all eight first place votes, while Gehringer had 26 points and finished 6th.
Greenberg slashed 36-168-.328 while Gehringer had 19-108-.330.
Pitcher Wes Ferrell (10.6), was the overall leader in WAR. His team, the Red Sox, finished 4th, 16 games out. He had 25-3.52-110 (wins-ERA-SO).
1935 AL voting results with player stats
Joe DiMaggio (8.3) 1937 AL
Charlie Gehringer (7.8) won. Although he was close to DiMaggio in WAR, the Yankees finished 13 games ahead of the second place Tigers.
DiMaggio had 46-167-.346 while Gehringer had 14-96-.371. DiMaggio led the league in HRs while Gehringer led in AVG. Maybe his defense at 2B was considered to be so good that he deserved it.
The vote was close, 78 points for Gehringer (six 1st place votes) to 74 for DiMaggio (the other two 1st place votes)
1937 AL voting results with player stats
Pete Reiser (8.0) 1941 NL
Dolph Camilli (6.9), a Dodger teammate, won. He was 2nd in WAR among position players and 4th overall.
He led the league in HRs & RBIs while slashing 34-120-.285. Reiser had 14-76-.343.
Camilli had 300 points in the voting, getting 19 of 23 first place votes, while Reiser had 183 points and 2 first place votes (BB Ref shows only 23 first place votes). He finished 2nd.
Reiser did lead the league in AVG. 14 of the players who led the league in AVG on a first place team won the MVP award while 13 did not. But three of those winners were triple crown winners. So winning just the batting title and MVP happened a little less than 50% of the time.
Jimmy Brown (4.2) of the Cardinals (who came in 2nd, 2.5 games out) came in 4th with 107 points and 1 first place vote. He played 3B and slashed 3-56-.306. He did have 1.3 defensive WAR. Maybe the voters saw him as good defensively.
RFer Dixie Walker (5.6), a teammate of Reiser's, came in 10th with 34 points and 1 first place vote. He slashed 9-71-.311.
Stan Musial 1944 (8.9) NL
Marty Marion (4.6), a Cardinal teammate won. Maybe being a SS he was seen as a key to the team. But Musial led the league in hits, OBP & SLG. Maybe if he had led in HRs & RBIs or AVG, he would have won.
Marion got 7 of the 24 first place votes finishing with 190 points. Musial had 3 & 136.
Marion slashed 6-63-.267 while Musial had 12-94-.347.
The Cards finished 14.5 games ahead of second place Pittsburgh. Yet Bill Nicholson (6.0) of the Cubs came in 2nd in the voting with 4 first place votes and his team 75-79, 30 games out in 4th place (he led the NL in HRs & RBIs). He slashed 33-122-.287.
Dixie Walker (5.8) of the seventh place Dodgers came in third place with 3 first place votes (he won the batting title). Musial had more offensive WAR than Walker 7.4-6.7. Walker slashed 13-91-.357.
Pitcher Bucky Walters (6.2) of the3rd place Reds (16.5 games out) was tied for fifth with 107 points and 3 first place votes. He had 23-2.40-77.
Catcher Ray Mueller (3.4) of the Reds came in 7th with 85 points and 2 first place votes. He slashed 10-73-.286.
Catcher Walker Cooper (3.4), one of Musial's teammates, came in 8th with 72 points and 1 first place vote. He slashed 13-72-.317 in just 97 games.
Babe Dahlgren (2.1), 1Bman for the 2nd place Pirates (16.5 games out), was 12th with 33 points and 1 first place vote. He slashed 12-101-.289. Maybe clearing 100 RBIs impressed one voter.
Jackie Robinson 1951 (9.7) NL
I don't know if the voting took place before or after the playoff between the Dodgers and Giants. Probably after since it was an extension of the regular season. So maybe this one does not fit, but I looked at it anyway.
Roy Campanella (6.9), a Dodger teammate, won with 11 of the 24 for first place votes and 243 points. Robinson was 6th with only one first place vote and 92 points. Maybe the voters saw Campanella as a key player being a catcher.
Campanella slashed 33-108-.325 while Robinson had 19-88-.388 with 25 SBs.
Monte Irvin (6.9) of the Giants had five first place votes and 166 points (he came in 3rd). Leading the league in RBIs may have helped his cause. He slashed 24-121-.312. Robinson did not lead the league in any triple crown stat like he did in 1949 when he won the award while winning the batting title (he also led in SBs and had just about the same WAR, 9.3, for a first place team).
Musial (8.8) came in second place with two first place votes and 191 points despite the Cards coming in third, 15.5 games out (he led the NL in average). He slashed 32-108-.355.
Sal Maglie (5.9), a pitcher on the Giants, came in 4th with 153 points and 1 first place vote. He had 23-2.93-146.
Preacher Roe (4.2), a pitcher and Dodger teammate of Robinson's, came in 5th with 138 points and 2 first place votes. He had 22-3.04-113.
Bobby Thomson (5.2) of the Giants came in 8th with 62 points and 1 first place vote. He had 32-101-.293.
Murray Dickson (4.2), a pitcher on the Pirates, came in 9th place with 59 points and 1 first place vote. He had 20-4.02-112. The Pirates were 64-90 and came in 7th place, finishing 32.5 games behind the Giants. But somehow he got the same number of first place votes as Robinson (one).
Jackie Robinson 1952 (8.4) NL
Hank Sauer (5.6) of the Cubs won the award with 8 first place votes and 223 points, just edging out pitcher Robin Roberts (8.6) of the Phillies was the overall leader. He had seven first place votes and 211 points.
Sauer led the league in HRs and RBIs but the fifth place Cubs were just 77-77 finishing 19.5 games out. The Phillies came in fourth at 87-67, 9.5 games out. Roberts also led the league in wins with 28 and IP with 330.2. He beat Robinson 8.6-8.4 in overall WAR but Robinson was first among position players. Roberts had 28-2.59-148.
Sauer slashed 37-121-.270 while Robinson had 19-75-.308 and 24 SBs.
Robinson finished seventh in the voting with just 31 points and no first place votes. He did lead the league with a .440 OBP but not in any triple crown stat or SBs. His teammate Joe Black (4.1) came in third in the voting with 8 first place votes and 208 points. He went 15-4 in 142.1 IP, almost all in relief. He had 15 saves and a 2.15 ERA.
Duke Snider (4.5), another Dodger teammate of Robinson's, tied for 8th with 29 points and 1 first place vote. He had 21-92-.303.
Duke Snider 1953 (9.1) NL
Roy Campanella (6.8), a Dodger teammate, won with 17 of the 24 for first place votes and 297 points. He led the league in RBIs (142). Eddie Mathews (8.1) was second with three first place votes and 216 points. He led the league with 47 HRs. But his Braves finished in second place, 13 games out. He slashed 47-135-.302
Snider came in third with only one first place vote and 157 points. He led the league in runs and SLG, but no triple crown stats.
Campanella slashed 41-142-.312 while Snider had 42-126-.336.
Robin Roberts (9.9) was again the overall leader. The Phillies came in third place, 22 games behind the Dodgers. He was 23-16 with a 2.75 ERA in a league leading 346.2 IP. He struck out 198 batters.
Red Schoendienst (6.5), of the 4th place Cardinals, came in 4th with 155 points and 2 first place votes. The Cards finished 22 games out, yet the voters saw him as being just about as valuable Snider. Maybe because he was a 2nd baseman and Snider was an OFer. Snider did not lead the league in any of the triple crown stats. Schoendienst 15-79-.342 (but he also did not lead in any triple crown stats).
Mickey Mantle 1955 (9.5) AL
Teammate Yogi Berra (4.5) teammate won it with seven first place votes and 218 points. Mantle was fifth with no first place votes and 113 points. He led the league in HRs, OBP & SLG. Berrra, a catcher, did edge him RBIs 108-99. Maybe those two facts gave it to him over Mantle.
But Mantle had and OPS of 1.104 in high leverage situations, a bit higher than Berra's 1.039.
It was a close pennant race, with the Yankees only finishing 3 games ahead of the Indians and still being in second place after 144 games. But Mantle must have been hurt since he only had 58 PAs in Sept/Oct. Berra had 94 PAs in Sept/Oct. Maybe the voters thought Mantle's value was hurt by not playing much in the stretch run. Still, Mantle had a higher OPS then, .944-.845.
The Yankees won 6 out of 7 from Sept. 17-Sept. 23 to go from being tied to being up 3.5 games (with just 2 for them left to play and 3 left for the Indians). Mantle did not play at all in this stretch. Maybe the voters thought that he wasn't the MVP if the Yankees pulled ahead without him. But Berra only had a .697 OPS in those games.
Berra slashed 27-108-.272 while Mantle had 37-99-.306.
Al Kaline (8.2) was second with 201 points and four first place votes. He did lead the league in hits and AVG, but his fifth place Tigers finishe3d just 79-75, 17 games out. He slashed 27-102-.340.
Al Smith (4.7) of the Indians was third with 200 points and seven first place votes. He led the league in runs scored and had 22-77-.306
Ted Williams (6.9) was fourth with 143 points and one first place vote. He only played 98 games but his AVG-OBP-SLG were .356-.496-.703. The 84-70 Red Sox came in fourth, 12 games out. He also had 28 HRs & 83 RBIs.
Other Yankees getting 1st place votes were Hank Bauer (5.3) who had two and Gil McDougald (5.1) who got one. Bauer had 20-53-.278 while McDougald had 13-53-.285.
Ray Narleski (2.7), a reliever on the Indians, came in 6th with 90 points and 1 first place vote. He had 9-3.74-94. But he had only one loss and led the AL with 19 saves.
Vic Power (3.6) of the A's came in 9th with 53 points and 1 first place vote. The 63-91 A's came in 6th place, 33 games out. Yet he got more first place votes than Mantle. He had 19-76-.319.
Duke Snider 1956 (7.6) NL
Teammate Don Newcombe (5.3) teammate won it with eight first place votes and 223 points. Snider was 10th with 55 points and one first place vote. Newcombe led the league with 27 wins and a solid 3.06 ERA. But Snider led the league with 43 HRs (and also OBP & SLG).
Snider slashed 43-101-.292.
Sal Maglie (4.3), another teammate, was second with 183 points and four first place votes. He was 13-5 with a 2.87 ERA and 108 Ks in 191 IP. He was 6-1 in Sept/Oct with a 1.77 ERA in 56 IP. It was a close race, with the Dodgers finishing just one game ahead of the Braves.
Two other teammates finished ahead of Snider and also go first place votes. 2Bman Jim Gilliam (6.1) was 5th with four first place votes while SS Pee Wee Reese (2.6) finished 8th with three first place votes. Gilliam had 6-43-.300 with 21 SBs. Reese had 9-46-.257.
Hank Aaron (7.2) came in third with 146 points but no first place votes. He led the league in AVG and hits, more traditional stats than OBP & SLG. Maybe the writers like that better. Aaron had 26-92-.328.
Warren Spahn (6.0), also of the Braves, was 4th with 126 points and one first place vote. He went 20-11 with a 2.78 ERA & 128 Ks.
Roy McMillan (4.4), a SS for the 3rd place Reds, who finished 3 games out, came in 6th with 96 points and 3 first place votes (2 more than Snider). He had 3-62-.263.
Mickey Mantle 1958 (8.7) AL
Jackie Jensen (4.9), of the 3rd place Red Sox (13 games out), won. He had 35-122-.286 and led the league in RBIs. Mantle had 42-97-.304 and led in HRs.
Jensen had 233 points and nine 1st place votes while for the 5th place Mantle it was 127 and ZERO 1st place votes.
Bob Turley (7.0) of the Yankees came in 2nd place with 191 points and seven 1st place votes. He was 21-7 with a 2.97 ERA & 168 Ks. He also won the Cy Young award.
Rocky Colavito (4.0) of Cleveland came in 3rd place with 181 points and four first place votes. He had 41-113-.303. The Indians finished 4th, 14.5 games out.
Bop Cerv (3.0) of Kansas City came in 4th place with 164 points and three 1st place votes. He had 38-104-.305. The 73-81 A's were 19 games out in 7th place.
The other first place vote went to Nellie Fox (3.9) of the White Sox who had 0-49-.300. Although Chicago came in 2nd, they were 10 games behind the Yankees.
Mickey Mantle 1961 (10.4) AL
Roger Maris (6.9), a teammate won. He broke Ruth's record with 61 HRs and led the league with 141 RBIs. Leading in HRs and RBIs seems to make a big impression on the voters.
Maris got 202 points and 7 first place votes while Mantle came in second with 198 points and 6 first place votes. So pretty close.
Maris slashed 61-141-.269 while Mantle had 54-128-.317.
Jim Gentile (6.9) of the Orioles got 5 first place votes. He had 46 HRs and 141 RBIs while batting .302. So that accounts for 18 of the 20 first place votes. Baltimore did win 95 games, but that was only good enough for 3rd and they were 14 games out.
1Bman Norm Cash (9.2) of the 2nd place Tigers (8 games out), came in 4th with 151 points and 1 first place vote. He slashed 41-132-.361, winning the batting title.
Reliever Luis Arroyo (3.4), also a Yankee came in 6th with 95 points and 1 first place vote. He went 15-5, leading the league with 29 saves and a 2.19 ERA. He had 87 Ks in 119 IP.
Willie Mays 1962 (10.5) NL
Maury Wills (6.0) won it with 209 points and 8 first place votes. Mays was second with 202 points and 7 first place votes.
Wills set a record for SBs with 104 that year. That probably impressed the voters. His AVG was .299. Maybe being a SS helped. Hed had 6 HRs and 48 RBIs.
Mays batted .304 with 49 HRs (leading the league) and 141 RBIs. Both players scored exactly 130 runs.
The Dodgers and Giants tied for first place and the Giants won the best of three series. My guess is that the MVP vote took place after that since these games were an extension of the regular season.
Tommy Davis (6.0) of the Dodgers got three 1st place votes and had 27-153-.346. He led the NL in AVG & RBIs (in 1971 Joe Torre led the NL in both stats and won the MVP with 2nd place NL East Cardinals).
Frank Robinson (8.7), the 1961 NL MVP, of the 3rd place Reds who finished 3 games behind the Dodgers and Giants, got two 1st place votes. His stats were 39-136-.342.
Hank Aaron 1969 (8.1) NL
Aaron tied for first place in WAR for position players with the winner Willie McCovey. Pitcher Bob Gibson (11.3) was the overall leader. He finished 30th despite going 20-13 with a 2.18 ERA with 269 Ks. His Cards were 4th in the East, 13 games out. That, and the fact that he did not lead the league in any major stats, might be why he got such little support.
McCovey had 265 points and 11 first place votes. He also led the league in HRs & RBIs. His Giants finished just 3 games behind the Braves in the West.
McCovey slashed 45-126-.320 while Aaron had 44-97-.300.
Pitcher Tom Seaver (7.2) was second with 243 points and 11 first place votes. He was 25-7 with a 2.21 ERA & 208 Ks for the East champion Mets.
Aaron was third with 188 points and two first place votes.
This one does not seem to be too bad since both McCovey and Seaver were on very good teams and both also did very well in WAR.
Willie Stargell 1971 (7.9) NL
Stargell was only 1st among position players.
Pitcher Fergie Jenkins (11.8), of the Cubs, the overall leader, and Tom Seaver (10.9) of the Mets were ahead of him. But those two teams finished tied for third place, 14 games behind Stargell's first place Pirates. Jenkins came in 7th and Seaver 9th in the MVP voting. Jenkins won the Cy Young award.
Joe Torre (5.9) won the MVP award. His Cardinals finished 7 games behind the Pirates in the East. For the last 23 games of the season the closest they got to the Bucs was 4.5 games and they were rarely close before that, going all the way back to about mid-June. So although Torre had some great hitting stats, his team was never a serious contender.
Torre led the the NL in AVG (.363) and RBIs (137) to go along with 24 HRs. Stargell led in HRs while having 48-125-.295. It seems like the voters liked that Torre led in 2 of the 3 triple crown stats.
Torre had 318 points and 21 first place votes while Stargell had 22 points and got the other 3 first place votes.
Jenkins slashed 24-2.77-263. Seaver had 20-1.76-2.89.
Other players who played on first place teams who had more WAR than Torre were the Giants Willie Mays (6.3) & Bobby Bonds (6.7) and Roberto Clemente (7.3), also of the Pirates.
Joe Morgan (9.3) 1972 NL
Johnny Bench (8.6), a teammate won. He got 263 points and 11 first place votes. Morgan was 4th with 197 points and 5 first place votes.
Bench was a catcher, so he might have been seen as a leader. Also, he led the league in HRs & RBIs (he had 40-125-.270). Morgan had 16-73-.292 and also 58 SBs. Given that it was a teammate and that the difference in WAR is not much, this is not too egregious. They were 1-2 in WAR for position players.
Billy Williams (6.2) of the Cubs came in second with 211 points and 5 first place votes. He led the league in AVG and had 37-122-.333 but his Cubs finished in 2nd place in the East, 11 games behind the Pirates.
Willie Stargell (3.9) of the Pirates was third 201 points and 2 first place votes. He had 33-112-.293.
Carlton (12.5), a pitcher for the East's last place Phillies, was the overall leader. He came in 5th with 124 points and 1 first place vote. He won the Cy Young award with 27-1.93-310
Joe Morgan 1973 (9.3) NL
Pete Rose (8.3), a teammate won. Rose got 274 points and 12 first place votes. Morgan came in 4th with 102 points and 1 first place vote.
Rose with 5-64-.338 led the NL in AVG while Morgan had 26-82-.290 and 67 SBs. They were 1 & 3 in WAR for position players.
Stargell (7.2) came in 2nd with 250 points and 10 first place votes. He had 44-119-.299. He led the NL in HRs & RBIs but his Bucs finished 3rd in the East with a losing record, 2.5 games out.
Bobby Bonds (7.8) of the Giants was 3rd with 170 points and 1 first place vote. He had 39-96-.283 and 43 SBs. But his team came in 3rd in the West, 11 games out.
Darrell Evans (9.0) of the Braves was 2nd among WAR for position players. Although he had 41-104-.281, Atlanta finished 5th in the West with a losing record
Pitcher Tom Seaver (11.0) of the Mets was the overall leader (followed by Morgan, Evans and Rose). He was 8th with 57 points but no first place votes. New York won the East. He took the Cy Young award with 19-2.08-210.
Craig Nettles (8.0) 1976 AL
Thurman Munson (5.3), a catcher and Yankee teammate won. He got 304 points and 18 first place votes. His slash was 17-105-.302.
Nettles came in 16th place in the voting with only 17 points and no first place votes. He had 32-93-.254. A big part of his WAR was 3.6 from defense (tied for 48th best ever). That was 2nd in the AL to Mark Belanger's 3.9. Maybe the voters just could not see how valuable it was.
Who else got first place votes?
George Brett (7.5) of the West champs Royals got 2 of them. His slash was 7-67-.333. He led the league in AVG and was 2nd overall with 217 points.
Mickey Rivers (6.4) of the Yankees got 1. He had 8-67-.312 with 43 SBs.
Rod Carew (6.8) of the Twins got 1. The Twins finished 3rd in the West, 5 games out. Carew had 9-90-.331 plus 49 SBs.
Amos Otis (3.2) of the Royals got 1. He had 18-86-.279.
Pitcher Mark Fydrich (9.6), the overall leader, of the 5th place East Tigers got 1. He is the only player or pitcher ahead of Nettles in WAR. He had 19-2.34-97 (yes, only 97 Ks). He lost the Cy Young award to Jim Palmer (6.5).
Mike Schmidt 1977 (8.9) NL
George Foster (8.4) won with 291 points and 15 first place votes. Schmidt finished 10th 48 points and no first place votes.
Foster's Reds finished 2nd in the West, 10 games behind the Dodgers. But he did lead the league in HRs RBIs while slashing 52-149-.320. Schmidt's Phillies took the East.
Schmidt had 38-101-.274. He beat Foster in OBP .393-.382. He was 4th in defensive WAR with 2.6. So maybe like Nettles, the voters did not know how to value fielding.
Schmidt's teammate Greg Luzinski (4.2) came in 2nd with 255 points and got the other 9 first place votes. His slash line was 39-130-.309, all higher than Schmidt. Maybe that is why he finished so much higher.
Steve Carlton (7.0), another teammate, came in 5th with 100 points. He had 23-2.64-198 and took the Cy Young Award
Cubs pitcher Rick Reuschel (9.6) was the overall leader. He had 20-2.79-166. But his Cubs came in 4th in the East, 20 games out. He got 3 points and finished 21st.
Wade Boggs 1986 (8.1) AL
Clemens had 24-2.48-238 (the overall leader was another pitcher, Teddy Higuera (9.4) who came in 15th). Boggs had 8-71-.357. His .453 OBP must have gone unnoticed by the voters. He led the AL in AVG.
Don Mattingly (7.2) of the Yankees (who finished 5.5 games behind the Red Sox in the East), came in 2nd with 258 points and 5 first place votes. He slashed 31-113-.352.
Jim Rice (5.6), another Red Sox teammate came in 3rd with 241 points and 4 first place votes. He had 20-110-.324.
Wade Boggs 1988 (8.3) AL
Jose Canseco (7.3) won it with 392 points and all 28 first place votes. Boggs was 6th with 107 points.
Canseco's A's took the West with 104 wins while Boggs' Red Sox took the East with 89. Maybe the voters saw something in how dominant the A's were. Also, Canseco led the AL in HRs & RBIs, his slash being 42-124-.307. He also stole 40 bases to become the first 40/40 man.
Boggs had 5-58-.366 and won his fifth batting title. He had a career high .476 OBP, but voters were still probably not noticing that much. Given that Canseco put up some great numbers, made history, was not that far behind Boggs in WAR and his team won so many games, he is a very worthy winner.
But Boggs' poor showing is the downside. Some of the other players who finished ahead of him had good years, but he was far ahead of one and another was a relief pitcher.
Mike Greenwell (7.5), a Boston teammate, came in 2nd place with 242 points. His slash line was 22-119-.325. Voters seem to like RBIs. But about 62% of his plate appearances were while batting 4th while Boggs batted mostly 1st or 3rd. So Greenwell had many RBI opportunities with Boggs getting on base so much.
Kirby Puckett (7.8) of the Twins, who finished 13 games behind the A's, came in 3rd with 219 points. He had a slash of 24-121-.356.
Then came Dave Winfield (5.4) of the Yankees, who were 5th in the East, 3.5 behind Boston. He had 25-107-.322 and 164 points. He is well behind Boggs in WAR, but again, the voters must have been looking at HRs & RBIs.
Then in 5th was Dennis Eckersley (2.3) of the A's with 156 points. A reliever with 45 saves to lead the AL and a 2.35 ERA in 72 IP. Now 45 saves was tied for 2nd highest ever then, but his ERA and IP don't seem to justify putting him so far ahead of Boggs in points.
Rickey Henderson 1989 (8.7) AL
Robin Yount (5.8) won with 256 points and 8 first place votes.
Henderson (8.7) came in 9th place with 67 points and no first place votes (played for 2 teams, 85 games with 1st place team-A's in 1st place at time of trade by 2 games, 43-27, finished 99-63 by 7 games, went 56-36 with Henderson). Even so, he got way under valued by the voters.
Yount slashed 21-103-.318 with 19 SBs and a .384 OBP. But his Brewers only finished 81-81 for 4th place in the East, 8 games out.
Henderson slashed 12-57-.274. So that does not look so hot compared to Yount. But he did play for a first place team and he had a .411 OBP and 77 SBs.
Three other players and one pitcher split the other 16 first place votes but none of them were close to Henderson in WAR.
Ruben Sierra (6.0) of the Rangers finished 2nd with 228 points and 6 first place votes. He had 29-119-.306, leading the league in RBIs. The Rangers came in 4th in the West, 16 games out.
Cal Ripken Jr. (6.0) was 3rd with 216 points and 6 first place votes. He had 21-93-.257. Maybe the voters liked a power hitting SS. The Orioles finished in 2nd place in the East, 2 games out. That might have also helped his cause.
George Bell (4.0) of the East champion Blue Jays was 4th with 205 points and 3 first place votes. He had 18-104-.297.
Dennis Eckersley (2.6), still with the A's, came in 5th with 116 points and 3 first place votes. He had 33 saves and a 1.56 ERA in 57 IP.
Bret Saberhagen (9.7), a pitcher on the Royals, who came in 2nd in the West, 7 games out, was the overall leader and he finished 8th in the MVP voting. He won the Cy Young Award with 23-2.16-193. He led the AL in Wins and ERA.
1989 AL voting results with player stats
Bonds 1991 (8.0) NL
Terry Pendleton (6.1) won it with 274 points and 12 first place votes. He played for the West winners, the Braves. His slash was 22-86-.319 and he won the batting title. Maybe being a third baseman helped, being a more key position than LF (where Bonds played).
Bonds came in 2nd with 259 points and 10 first place votes. His slash was 25-116-.292 with 43 SBs and a league leading .410 OBP.
Bobby Bonilla (3.9), a Pirate teammate of Bonds, came in 3rd with 191 points and 1 first place vote. His slash was 18-100-.302.
Brett Butler (5.1) came in 7th with 103 points and 1 first place vote. It must have been because the Dodgers came in 2nd in the West, only one game behind Pendleton's Braves. His slash was 2-38-.296. But he stole 38 bases and had a .401 OBP
Tom Glavine (9.2) was the overall leader. A pitcher and teammate of Pendleton's, he won the Cy Young Award with 20-2.55-192.
Other pitchers who did not win the MVP award
They were all on first place teams and were the overall leader in WAR. All of them won the Cy Young Award. But in none of these years did the leader in WAR for position players, if he did play for a first place team, fail to win the MVP award.
Ron Guidry 1978 1978 AL voting results with player stats
Carlton 1980 1980 NL voting results with player stats
Denny 1983 1983 NL voting results with player stats
Scott 1986 1986 NL voting results with player stats
Hershiser 1988 1988 NL voting results with player stats
Carlton 1980 1980 NL voting results with player stats
Denny 1983 1983 NL voting results with player stats
Scott 1986 1986 NL voting results with player stats
Hershiser 1988 1988 NL voting results with player stats
