Players with most MVP Awards in MLB history

In baseball history, there are precious few players who have ever won more than one Most Valuable Player Award.

Here's a look at each of the 30 individuals to do so since the Baseball Writers' Association of America (BBWAA) began voting for MVP in 1931, including a select group of 12 to do it three times or more.

Barry Bonds, 7 (1990, '92, '93, 2001-04)
Bonds hit .301/.406/.565 with 33 home runs and 52 steals to earn his first NL MVP Award in 1990 with the Pirates, and .311/.456/.624 with 34 homers and 39 steals in '92 with Pittsburgh.

After signing as a free agent with the Giants, he slashed .336/.458/.677 with 43 home runs and 29 steals in '93 to win his third MVP honor. He won the the award four more times with some of the greatest offensive seasons in baseball history from 2001-04, including a record 73-homer season in '01. He finished his 22-year career with records of 762 homers, 2,558 walks and 688 intentional walks.

Shohei Ohtani: 3 (2021, '23, '24)
Arguably the most talented player the game has ever known, Ohtani won two MVP Awards through his first six seasons in the Majors because of his incredible ability to operate simultaneously as an elite power hitter and a starting rotation ace. Each of his two AL MVP seasons with the Angels included at least 40 homers and a .950 OPS at the plate coupled with a 140 or better ERA+ across more than 130 innings pitched. That made him the only player in MLB history to win multiple MVPs by a unanimous vote -- but he didn’t stop there.

After signing with the Dodgers as a free agent, Ohtani (rehabbing from Tommy John surgery throughout 2024) immediately showed that he was still a worthy MVP (and once again, a unanimous MVP) even while playing exclusively as a DH. In doing so, he joined Frank Robinson as the only two players to take MVP honors in both the AL and NL

Mike Trout, 3 (2014, ‘16, ’19)
Trout’s third MVP also marked his seventh top-two finish in AL MVP voting out of eight full seasons as a Major Leaguer. He is the only player to garner seven top-two showings in a span of eight seasons, and he now stands tied with legends Stan Musial and Albert Pujols for the second-most top-two MVP finishes behind Barry Bonds’ nine.

Trout’s 2019 season was on pace to possibly be his best before a foot injury cut his season short in September. But he still finished with 8.6 fWAR after hitting .291/.438/.645 and bashing a career-high 45 homers across 134 games.

Albert Pujols, 3 (2005, '08, '09)
Pujols turned in prodigious seasons at the plate from his very first year in the Majors, but he won his first MVP Award in 2005, hitting .330/.430/.609 with 41 homers for the Cardinals. Pujols would win again in 2008 and '09, a pair of seasons over which he hit .342/.452/.656 with 84 home runs.

Alex Rodriguez, 3 (2003, '05, '07)
It was in 2003 that Rodriguez broke through and claimed his first MVP Award, though he actually had better numbers in the two seasons prior for the Rangers, posting OPS marks of 1.021 and 1.015, respectively, in 2001 and '02. In '03 he slashed .298/.396/.600 with 47 homers and 17 steals for Texas. Rodriguez was named MVP again in '05 with the Yankees (1.031 OPS, 48 homers, 21 steals) and '07 (1.067 OPS, 54 home runs, 156 RBIs, 24 steals).

Mike Schmidt, 3 (1980, '81, '86)
Schmidt won the first of three career MVP Awards in 1980, a year in which he also led the Phillies to a World Series championship. During the regular season that year, Schmidt hit .286/.380/.624 with 48 homers and won his fifth consecutive Gold Glove Award. He was named NL MVP again the next year, slashing .316/.435/.644 with 31 homers in a strike-shortened season (he played in 102 games), while winning another Gold Glove Award. Schmidt's final MVP season was 1986, when at age 36, he hit .290/.390/.547 with 37 homers and won his 10th Gold Glove Award.

Mickey Mantle, 3 (1956, '57, '62)
Mantle finished in the top five for AL MVP voting nine times in his career, winning in 1956, '57 and '62. In '56 and '57, he was at his peak at age 24 and 25, hitting .358/.487/.686 with 86 home runs in that span. In '62, Mantle was limited by injury to 123 games, yet was still named MVP after slashing .321/.486/.605 with 30 homers and his only career Gold Glove Award.

Yogi Berra, 3 (1951, '54, '55)
Berra won his first AL MVP Award in 1951, when he hit .294/.350/.492 with 27 home runs to help the Yankees earn a meeting with the Giants in the World Series, where they defeated their cross-town rivals in six games. The catcher won again in '54 and '55, during the best offensive stretch of his career; in '54, he posted an .855 OPS with 22 home runs, and the following season, he posted an .819 OPS with 27 homers.

Roy Campanella, 3 (1951, '53, '55)
Though his career was cut short after he was involved in a 1958 car accident that left him paralyzed, Campanella was one of the best players in the game during his 10-year career with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He won his first NL MVP Award in 1951, hitting .325/.393/.590 with 33 homers. Two seasons later, he won his second MVP honor, posting a 1.006 OPS with 41 home runs and a league-leading 142 RBIs. And in '55, he helped lead the Dodgers to their first World Series title in a victory over the Yankees, slashing .318/.395/.583 with 32 home runs during the regular season.

Stan Musial, 3 (1943, '46, '48)
Musial won the NL MVP Award three times over a 22-year career spent entirely with the Cardinals. In his first MVP season -- 1943 -- a 22-year-old Musial hit .357/.425/.562 with 48 doubles, 20 triples and 13 home runs to help St. Louis reach the World Series. After missing a season to serve in World War II, Musial returned to hit .365/.434/.587 with 50 doubles and 20 homers to claim his second MVP Award. And in '48, Musial won his third, slashing .376/.450/.702 with 46 doubles, 18 triples and 39 homers.

Joe DiMaggio, 3 (1939, '41, '47)
The Yankee Clipper hit .381/.448/.671 with 30 homers in '39 to win his first MVP Award. In '41, a season forever remembered for his record 56-game hitting streak, DiMaggio hit .357/.440/.643 with 30 homers to win his second MVP honor. In his third MVP season, in '47, he slashed .315/.391/.522 with 20 homers in 97 games before earning his sixth World Series ring in a victory over the Dodgers.

Jimmie Foxx, 3 (1932, '33, '38)
Foxx hit 534 home runs over a 20-year career, 106 of which came in just two seasons for the Philadelphia Athletics from 1932-33. Over that span, he hit .360/.460/.726 and won back-to-back AL MVP Awards. He won again in '38, a year in which he posted a 1.166 OPS with 50 home runs and 175 RBIs. Taken together, these three seasons are some of the greatest offensive campaigns in MLB history.

Aaron Judge: 2 (2022, ‘24)
Even another great Ohtani season in 2022 couldn’t overcome Judge setting the AL’s single-season home run record with 62, to go along with a ridiculous 210 OPS+ and 131 RBIs. At the time, it seemed like that would obviously be Judge’s peak, but amazingly, it wasn’t. While Judge didn’t quite match that home run total two years later, hitting 58, he had more RBIs (144) and was a better hitter on a rate basis. In modern AL/NL history, no right-handed batter has ever topped Judge’s 223 OPS+ in 2024. With Ohtani on the NL side this time, Judge’s second MVP came unanimously.

Bryce Harper: 2 (2015, '21)
Harper added a second NL MVP Award to his resume with a monster 2021 campaign. Following a 2012 NL Rookie of the Year Award and his first MVP honor in 2015, the slugging right fielder "quietly" continued to put up excellent, if not headline-grabbing, numbers, posting an .899 OPS (133 OPS+) with 135 home runs from 2016-20. But in '21, he couldn't be denied the highest award for an NL position player after hitting .309/.429/.615 with 35 homers, leading baseball in doubles (42), slugging (.615), OPS (1.044) and OPS+ (179).

Miguel Cabrera: 2 (2012-13)
Cabrera won back-to-back AL MVP Awards in 2012 and '13. His first came after the slugger turned in the first Triple Crown season since Boston's Carl Yastrzemski's in 1967. Cabrera hit .330 with 44 home runs and 139 RBIs while helping the Tigers win the AL pennant. In '13, he had an even better year, hitting .348/.442/.636 with 44 homers.

Juan Gonzalez: 2 (1996, '98)
Gonzalez was one of the premier sluggers of the 1990s, hitting 339 home runs during the decade and winning two AL MVP Awards. The first came in 1996, when he slashed .314/.368/.643 with 47 homers in 134 games for the Rangers. He won his second MVP Award in '98, hitting .318/.366/.630 with 50 homers and 157 RBIs for Texas.

Frank Thomas: 2 (1993-94)
The Big Hurt won AL MVP Awards in 1993 and '94, at the peak of his prodigious slugging powers. He helped the White Sox win their first division title in a decade by slashing .317/.426/.607 with 41 homers. He followed that up with an even better campaign in the strike-shortened '94 season, hitting .353/.487/.729 with 38 homers in 113 games.

Cal Ripken Jr.: 2 (1983, '91)
Ripken won a pair of AL MVP Awards nearly a decade apart. His first came as a 22-year-old in 1983. That year, he led the league in runs scored (121), hits (211) and doubles (47) while slashing .318/.371/.517 with 27 homers, also leading the Orioles to a World Series victory over the Phillies. Ripken's second MVP Award came in '91, when he hit .323/.374/.566 with 34 homers.

Robin Yount: 2 (1982, '89)
Yount led the AL in hits (210), doubles (46) and slugging percentage (.578) en route to winning his first MVP Award in 1982. The Brewers star hit .318/.384/.511 with 21 homers and 19 steals in '89 to win his second MVP honor.

Dale Murphy: 2 (1982-83)
In 1982, the Braves slugger slashed .281/.378/.507 with 36 home runs and 23 steals to win his first MVP Award. The encore was even better, when in '83, he hit .302/.393/.540 with 36 homers and 30 steals to win a second straight MVP honor. From 1982-87, he won those two MVP Awards, five Gold Glove Awards, and was an All-Star every season.

Joe Morgan: 2 (1975-76)
Morgan was the NL MVP in 1975 and '76, the years the Big Red Machine won back-to-back World Series championships. In '75, he hit .327/.466/.508 with 17 homers and 67 steals, leading the league in walks, on-base percentage and OPS. He followed that up with a season in which he increased the power numbers, posting a .320/.444/.576 slash line, 27 homers and 60 steals. He led the league in both on-base and slugging percentage.

Johnny Bench: 2 (1970, '72)
Bench, considered by many to be the greatest catcher of all-time, won the honor in 1970 and '72. In '70, he slashed .293/.345/.587 and led the league in homers (45) and RBIs (148). Two seasons later, he again led in homers (40) and RBIs (125), hitting .270/.379/.541 for Cincinnati.

Frank Robinson: 2 (1961, '66)
Robinson won the first of two MVP Awards at age 25 in 1961 for the Reds. The slugger slashed .323/.404/.611 with 37 doubles and 22 steals. He won the award again in '66, but this time in the AL for the Orioles. In his first season with Baltimore, he won the Triple Crown by hitting .316 with 49 home runs and 122 RBIs. He was also named MVP of that fall's World Series as the Orioles swept the Dodgers.

Roger Maris: 2 (1960-61)
Maris will forever be remembered for breaking Babe Ruth's single-season home run record with 61 homers in 1961, but he was already the reigning AL MVP entering that season. In '60, he hit .283/.371/.581 with 39 homers, and won his only career Gold Glove Award. He then set the home run mark in '61, hitting .269/.372/.620 with 141 RBIs to win his second straight MVP Award.

Ernie Banks: 2 (1958-59)
"Mr. Cub," famous for his "Let's play two" saying, was the NL MVP in 1958 and '59. The shortstop led the NL in slugging (.614), home runs (47) and RBIs (129) to win his first MVP honor in '59, and then hit .304/.374/.596 with 45 homers and a league-leading 143 RBIs to win his second consecutive MVP Award the following year.

Willie Mays: 2 (1954, '65)
Mays, considered one of the greatest all-around players in baseball history, was the NL MVP in 1954, and then again 11 years later. In '54, the 23-year-old center fielder helped lead the Giants to a World Series sweep of the Indians, making his famous over-the-shoulder catch in center field in Game 1. But before all of that, he hit .345/.411/.667 with 41 homers after returning from military service. In '65, he slashed .317/.398/.645 with a career-high 52 homers to win his second MVP honor.

Ted Williams: 2 (1946, '49)
The "Splendid Splinter won his first AL MVP Award the season after returning from service in World War II. In 1946, he slashed .342/.497/.667 with 38 home runs and a league-leading 158 walks. His second MVP season was in '49, when he hit .343/.490/.650 and led the league in doubles (39), homers (43), RBIs (159) and walks (162).

Hal Newhouser: 2 (1944-45)
Newhouser won back-to-back AL MVP Awards with the Tigers in 1944 and '45. Over those two seasons, the left-hander had a 2.01 ERA over 625 2/3 innings, leading the league with 399 strikeouts.

Hank Greenberg: 2 (1935, '40)
Greenberg hit 36 homers and drove in 168 while slashing .328/.411/.628 to win his first MVP Award in 1935 with the Tigers. In 1940, he had another monster season at the plate to win his second MVP Award, hitting .340/.433/.670 with 41 homers and 150 RBIs for Detroit.

Carl Hubbell: 2 (1933, '36)
Hubbell, one of three pitchers to ever win multiple MVP Awards, won in 1933 and '36 with the Giants. In '33, he posted a 1.66 ERA over 308 2/3 innings and then tossed 20 scoreless frames in the World Series, which the Giants won over the Senators. Three seasons later, he was named MVP again by posting a 2.31 ERA over 304 innings before a 2.25 ERA in two starts during the World Series, a loss to the Giants.

Pre-1931

Before the BBWAA took over MVP voting in 1931, the award existed in other forms, and with differing rules, between 1911-14 and 1922-30. If these earlier versions were combined with the modern MVP Award, four other Hall of Famers would join the list of multi-time winners:

• Mickey Cochrane (1928^, '34)
• Lou Gehrig (1927^, '36)
• Rogers Hornsby (1925^, '29^)
• Walter Johnson (1913^, '24^)

^Unofficial, pre-BBWAA voting