Iván Rodríguez won for the Texas Rangers in 1999, previous to that, the last catcher to win an AL MVP was the New York Yankees Thurman Munson in 1976.

The Rangers were represented in the 2006 All-Star game by center fielder Gary Matthews, Jr. and shortstop Michael Young, who was named the MVP for his game-winning two-run triple in the ninth inning.

* Texas Rangers Catcher Ivan Rodriguez named AL MVP

Andy Bathgate was a popular star player of the New York Rangers and also holds the honor of being declared the MVP of both the NHL and WHL.

He was a two-time Norris Trophy winner as the NHL's best defenseman ( 1992, 1997 ) and was the first American-born winner of the Conn Smythe Trophy as Playoff MVP for his brilliant play during the Rangers ' run to the 1994 Stanley Cup Championship.

He won three further club best and fairests, was a five time club leading goal kicker, All Australian Centre Half Forward seven times, including four times as captain and once as vice-captain, and he was named MVP by the Players ' Association twice, in 1995 and 1998.

He was also named team captain, team MVP, and named to the All-Area and All-State teams.

He was team captain, team MVP, All-Area, All-State, and the state basketball tournament MVP.

Over the course of his career, Lidström became the first European-born and trained NHL captain to win the Stanley Cup, as well as the first European player named playoff MVP.

Hisashi Mitsui, an ex-junior high school MVP, and Ryota Miyagi, a short but fast player, both also rejoin the team and together these four struggle to complete team captain Takenori Akagi's dream of making Shohoku the national champion.

He went on to be the captain and high scorer of the Texans and was honored with the MVP of the Tampa Bay Sun Bowl tournament.

Peake ( who played in the Junior Red Wings era ) was a two-season captain, the first MVP for the franchise in 1992 – 93, as well as Canadian Hockey League player of the year, and OHL Most Sportsmanlike player of the year.

At North Carolina State University, Cowher was a starting linebacker, team captain, and team MVP in his senior year.

The heart of the team was Yankee captain, Thurman Munson, whose grit and determination were factors in his winning the 1976 American League MVP award.

He was team captain and MVP again as a senior, recording 160 tackles, and earned first-team all-conference and second-team all-state honors.

O ' Callahan graduated from Boston Latin School in 1975 and then attended Boston University from 1975 – 1979, where he was a team captain during the 1977 – 78 and 1978 – 79 seasons and was named All-East twice, All-New England and All-America, team MVP twice, Beanpot MVP, NCAA tournament MVP, and Cochrane award winner twice.

In football, as a senior, he was the team captain, the team MVP, a first team All-Del Rey League honoree, and a first team All-CIF honoree.

Groat responded with his best year as team captain, becoming the first Pirate to be named MVP since Paul Waner in their last pennant year of 1927, and also the first right-handed Pirates hitter to win the batting title since Honus Wagner in 1911.

In 1999, his contributions to his team were finally recognized as he was made team captain and won the league MVP award.

Eddleman served as the team captain in 1949, and was named the team MVP that year.

** Tony Psaltis, MVP and team captain of the 1956 USC men's basketball team

Other players on the 1975 Majors ballclub were: former Major League Baseball, left-handed pitcher Mike Kilkenny, a league all-star and 1975 Intercounty MVP ; shortstop Dave Byers ; all-star third baseman Barry Boughner ; 1975 batting champion Larry Haggit (. 412 ); manager Roy McKay ; coach John Ambrose ; long-time coach-trainer Norm Aldridge ( Aldridge has a City-owned baseball diamond named after him in northeast London called Norm Aldridge Field ; Larry Wilson ; pitcher Phil Schmidt ; pitcher Rick Lindquist ; Barry Fuller ; Mike Fess ; catcher Wayne ( Dog ) Fenlon ; Brian Bell ; captain Dave ( Whitey ) Lapthorne ; John Marks ; Alex McKay Jr ; Jamie Hodge ; John Gourley Jr .; pitcher Neal Ambrose ; trainers Ed Loney and Bob Gilan ; General Manager George Hall and batboy Jim McKay.

Future NHL goaltender Jeff Hackett won the playoff MVP, inspirational leader Rod Dallman provided tons of grit, while names such as Marc Bergevin, Tom Fitzgerald, team captain Rob DiMaio, Jeff Finley and Bill Berg were heard from by NHL fans for many years to come.

Raised in Garfield, New Jersey, Castillo attended Garfield High School, where he was team captain and team MVP of the football team, under coach Steven Mucha.

As a senior, Grant was named a team captain, named team MVP, and awarded the Sharpenter Memorial Rebounding Award after leading the squad in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13. 0 and 6. 0 respectively.

He was named the Big Ten Conference Offensive Player of the Year, one of three finalists for Maxwell Award, one of 10 finalists for Walter Camp Foundation Player of the Year, First-team All-Conference, a permanent team captain on offense, Co-Offensive MVP, Hayden Fry " Extra Heartbeat " Award winner.

On August 31, the Diamondbacks acquired former World Series MVP David Eckstein to fill the hole at second base which was opened after Orlando Hudson was placed on the disabled list.

In his 16-year career in the NFL, Anderson made four trips to the Pro Bowl, won four passing titles, was named NFL MVP in 1981, and set the record for completion percentage in a single season in 1982 ( 70. 66 %).

Holliday was named the NLCS MVP, as he hit. 333 with two home runs and four RBIs during the series.

# Linebacker Chuck Howley – Super Bowl V – Howley was named the MVP for Super Bowl V despite the Cowboys ' loss to the Baltimore Colts.

* Hanley Ramirez ( 2006 – 2012 )-As the main piece of the Josh Beckett & Mike Lowell trade in the 2005 off-season, Ramirez was the face of the franchise during his tenure and a major offensive cog, having a 30-30 season in 2008, winning a batting title and finishing 2nd in MVP voting in 2009, and participating in three All-Star games.

Roy Oswalt was named NLCS MVP, having gone 2-0 with a 1. 29 ERA in the series.

Preki was named MLS MVP.

The team MVP that season was Joe Kapp, who threw for seven touchdowns against the Baltimore Colts – still an all-time NFL record ; however, Kapp refused to accept the award, stating, " There is not one most valuable Viking ... there are 40 most valuable Vikings!

The biggest news of all during the off-season, though, was the issue of the reigning NL MVP Ryan Braun apparently testing positive for PED's and facing a possible 50-game suspension.

In addition Keith Hernandez, former National League MVP and perennial gold-glove winner was obtained by the Mets in 1983.

As in Super Bowl XLII, Eli Manning was Super Bowl MVP, defeating Tom Brady for a second time in the Super Bowl.

Schmidt, who was the National League MVP that 1980 season, also won the World Series MVP award on the strength of his 8-for-21 hitting (. 381 average ), including game-winning hits in Game 2 and the clinching Game 6.

Hamels was named both NLCS MVP as well as World Series MVP after going 4 – 0 in the postseason that year.

The MVP result was controversial, as Martínez received the most first-place votes of any player ( 8 of 28 ), but was totally omitted from the ballot of two sportswriters, New York's George King and Minneapolis ' LaVelle Neal.

( However, George King had given MVP votes to two pitchers just the season before: Rick Helling and David Wells ; King was the only writer to cast a vote for Helling, who had gone 20 – 7 with a 4. 41 ERA and 164 strikeouts.

Super Bowl XXIX MVP and Hall of Famer Steve Young was famously known for being a dual-threat quarterback.

Clemente was awarded the National League ( NL ) Most Valuable Player ( MVP ) Award in 1966.

He was also the first Hispanic to win a World Series as a starter ( 1960 ), receive an MVP Award ( 1966 ), and receive a World Series MVP Award ( 1971 ).

" Clemens was the only starting pitcher since Vida Blue in to win a league MVP award until Justin Verlander won the award in.