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5 post(s) found

Chalmers Award

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There have been three different "most valuable player" awards in baseball since 1911. The Chalmers Award was the first of those three and it was presented by between 1911 and 1914 by Chalmers Automotive — a Detroit based automobile company. By 1915 the Chalmers Award was no longer considered popular. Rumors about possible cheating and the inability for any player to win more than once were factors which led to its demise.
 

Cy Young Award Winners 1956-2014

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The Cy Young Award was then Commissioner Ford Frick's idea to honor the best pitcher in Major League Baseball. Hard lessons were learned by the Chalmers Award (1911-1914) earlier in history so the recipients of the Cy Young Award were selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America from the inception of the award. During the first eleven years (1956 - 1966), only one winner from Major League Baseball was selected. Immediately after Commissioner Frick retired, the rules were changed to honor the best pitcher from each league.
 

All-Star Game History

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The Major League Baseball All-Star Game, also popularly known as the "Midsummer Classic", is an annual baseball game between players from the National League and the American League, currently selected by a combination of fans, players, coaches, and managers. The All-Star Game usually occurs in early to mid-July and marks the symbolic halfway point in the Major League Baseball season (though not the mathematical halfway point; in most seasons, that actually takes place one week earlier). The game is usually played on a Tuesday, with no regular season games scheduled on the day before or the day after. 
 

Baseball Luxury Tax

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Monies collected under the MLB luxury tax are apportioned as follows: The first $5m is held in reserve, to pay for possible luxury tax refunds. This isn't comparable to a tax return you might expect if you decided to donate car or truck parts this year, the sums of money involved in the luxury tax refund are much greater. Once it is clear that there are no refunds to be issued, this money is then earmarked for the Industry Growth Fund (IGF). 50% of the remaining money is used to fund player benefits, 25% is used to fund baseball programs in developing countries with no high-school baseball, and 25% is put into the Industry Growth Fund. The cap on spending before the luxury tax (officially called the Competitive Balance Tax) kicks in changes during each season of the current collective bargaining agreement. According to the agreement, affected teams must send a check to the commissioner's office by Jan. 31. These are a lot of checks to be writing and they're not cheap checks either. 

 

History of Umpiring 8

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In contrast to increased tolerance regarding on-field behavior, the personal lives of umpires received unprecedented scrutiny. In November 1988 Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, acting on behalf of club owners, released ten-year National League umpire Dave Pallone because of the fear that the arbiter's homosexuality might compromise his on-field performance and baseball's image. NL president Bill White suspended Bob Engel in April 1990 after he was charged with two misdemeanor counts of shoplifting baseball cards; baseball's insistence upon the unquestioned integrity of umpires prompted the twenty-five-year veteran to retire immediately upon his conviction in July. And in 1991 two unidentified umpires, one in each league, were placed on a year's "probation" because of alleged association with bookmakers even though there was no indication that they had ever bet on baseball games.