Chalmers Award (1911-1914)

Prior to the 1910 season, Hugh Chalmers of the Chalmers Automobile Company announced a new promotion to capitalize on baseball's burgeoning popularity: he promised a Chalmers Model 30 automobile to the batting champion in each league. This led to a controversy in the American League; Ty Cobb and Nap Lajoie entered the final day of the 1910 season, neck-and-neck. The St. Louis Browns, playing Lajoie's Cleveland team, played their infield back, allowing Lajoie to beat out seven bunt singles in a doubleheader and win the title. Debate raged over the outcome, including whether this action was sportsmanlike (St. Louis's manager Jack O'Connor was fired for his role in the affair as well as his 47-107 record). Chalmers, attempting to stay above the debacle, awarded automobiles to both players.

For 1911, Chalmers decided that batting average was too narrow a focus for an award. He announced the Chalmers Award, which was to be given to the player in each league who "should prove himself as the most important and useful player to his club and to the league at large in point of deportment and value of services rendered." This was the first attempt to recognize a player for overall contributions to his team's success—hence the designation Most Valuable rather than "player of the year", a distinction which remains today.

After 1914, interest in the award had diminished, and it was quietly retired.