Ever doubted?
At some point, there aren’t enough words to describe how incredible the 2021 season has been for the Angels two-way phenom Shohei Ohtani. There are no historical comparisons in baseball – and the closest is Babe Ruth.
So it came as no surprise when Frank Thomas announced the AL MVP winner on Thursday night that it wasn’t just Ohtani, but by unanimous vote.
THAN: Sporting News MLB Awards 2021, voted by players
The unanimous victory made him the 19th player in Baseball Writers Association of America MVP history to receive all of the votes in first place. Here’s the complete list of the companies he’s involved with.
| Year | Player | Team | League | position |
| 1935 | Hank Greenberg | Many tigers | AL | 1B |
| 1936 | Carl Hubbell | Giant | NL | Film Festival |
| 1953 | Al Rosen | India | AL | 3B |
| 1956 | Mickey Mantle | Yankees | AL | OF THE |
| 1966 | Frank Robinson | Orioles | AL | OF THE |
| 1967 | Orlando Cepeda | Quantity | NL | 1B |
| 1968 | Denny McLain | Many tigers | AL | RHP |
| 1973 | Reggie Jackson | Olympic | AL | OF THE |
| 1980 | Mike Schmidt | Phillies | NL | 3B |
| 1988 | Jose Canseco | Olympic | AL | OF THE |
| 1993 | Frank Thomas | White Sox | AL | 1B |
| 1994 | Jeff Bagwell | Astros | NL | 1B |
| 1996 | Ken Caminiti | Padres | NL | 3B |
| 1997 | Ken Griffey Jr. | Mariners | AL | OF THE |
| 2002 | Barry Bonds | Giant | NL | OF THE |
| 2009 | Albert Pujols | Quantity | NL | 1B |
| 2014 | Mike Trout | Angel | AL | OF THE |
| 2015 | Bryce Harper | National citizen | NL | OF THE |
| Year 2021 | Shohei Ohtani | Angel | AL | DH / RHP |
THAN: Shohei Ohtani wins AL MVP worth more than $1 million in sports books
And if that wasn’t enough in history, Ohtani also became the only 29th player to win both MVP and Rookie of the Year. In that group, he’s only the seventh person to be unified as MVP and win Rookie of the Year.
| Player | Rookie of the Year | MVP |
| Jackie Robinson | 1947 | 1949 |
| Don Newcombe | 1949 | 1956 |
| Willie Mays | 1951 | 1954, 1965 |
| Frank Robinson | 1956 | 1961, 1966 |
| Orlando Cepeda | 1958 | 1967 |
| Willie McCovey | 1959 | 1969 |
| Pete Rose | 1963 | 1973 |
| Dick Allen | 1964 | 1972 |
| Rod Carew | 1967 | 1977 |
| Johnny Bench | 1968 | 1970, 1972 |
| Thurman Munson | 1970 | 1976 |
| Fred Lynn | 1975 | 1975 |
| Andre Dawson | 1977 | 1987 |
| Cal Ripken | 1982 | 1983, 1991 |
| Jose Canseco | 1986 | 1988 |
| Jeff Bagwell | 1991 | 1994 |
| Albert Pujols | 2001 | 2005, 2008, 2009 |
| Ichiro Suzuki | 2001 | 2001 |
| Ryan Howard | 2005 | 2006 |
| Justin Verlander | 2006 | 2011 |
| Ryan Braun | 2007 | 2011 |
| Dustin Pedroia | 2007 | 2008 |
| Buster Posey | 2010 | 2012 |
| Bryce Harper | 2012 | 2015, 2021 |
| Mike Trout | 2012 | 2014, 2016, 2019 |
| Jose Abreu | 2014 | Year 2020 |
| Kris Bryant | 2015 | 2016 |
| Cody Bellinger | 2017 | 2019 |
| Shohei Ohtani | 2018 | Year 2021 |
THAN: MLB 2021 awards finalists, winners
Ohtani joins the historic company with an award that is a fitting limit for an unprecedented campaign. He finished third in the American League with 46 home runs and finished the season with a slash of .257 / .372 / .592 and he was fifth in the AL with 26 bases stolen.
On the mound, he threw 130 1/3 rounds in 23 games starting with a 3.18 ERA, 29.3 percent hit rate and 8.3 percent walk rate. He’s the only player in MLB history to score at least 30 home runs and 30 goals in a single season, and he finished with 156 goals.
