SAN FRANCISCO -- Major League Baseball announced on Friday that the World Series MVP award will now be renamed to honor Giants great Willie Mays. Beginning this October, the award will be known as the "Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player" award.
MLB started handing out an MVP award in the World Series in 1955, one year after Mays' iconic running catch in Game One against the Cleveland Indians. Mays would play in the World Series four times in a Hall of Fame career.
"I'd like to thank Commissioner Rob Manfred and his team at Major League Baseball for honoring me with this recognition," Mays said in a statement via the Giants. "Baseball has always taken care of me, and for that I am grateful. I think it's just a wonderful thing to know that at 86 years of age, I can still give something back to the game. I am proud to lend my name to this important award. What a day this has been!!"
"Major League Baseball is thrilled to honor Willie Mays on our game's biggest stage and in a manner that befits his many contributions to the sport," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "Since making ‘The Catch' on September 29, 1954, Willie has been a part of World Series history. This annual recognition will forever celebrate the life and career of a legend of the National Pastime."
The Giants have two current players who would have won the Willie Mays award. Pablo Sandoval was the World Series MVP in 2012 and Madison Bumgarner won it in 2014. Edgar Renteria was the MVP during the club's run to a title in 2010.
