It's never happened before.
Here are the 18 backstops to win MVP*:
| Year | Team | Catcher MVP |
| 1926 | STL | Bob O'Farrell |
| 1928 | PHA | Mickey Cochrane |
| 1934 | DET | Mickey Cochrane |
| 1935 | CHN | Gabby Hartnett |
| 1938 | CIN | Ernie Lombardi |
| 1951 | NYY | Yogi Berra |
| 1951 | BKN | Roy Campanella |
| 1953 | BKN | Roy Campanella |
| 1954 | NYY | Yogi Berra |
| 1955 | NYY | Yogi Berra |
| 1955 | BKN | Roy Campanella |
| 1963 | NYY | Elston Howard |
| 1970 | CIN | Johnny Bench |
| 1972 | CIN | Johnny Bench |
| 1976 | NYY | Thurman Munson |
| 1999 | TEX | Ivan Rodriguez |
| 2009 | MIN | Joe Mauer |
| 2012 | SF | Buster Posey |
* While the BBWAA MVP's date back to 1931, I will also be using the two previous incarnations of the MVP, the Chalmers Award (1911-14) and the League Award (1922-29).
The Cy Young Award was created in 1956, so only the seven most recent catcher MVP's make this list which includes the Cy Young winner of their league.
| Year | Team | Catcher MVP | Team | Cy Winner |
| 1963 | NYY | Elston Howard | LAD | Sandy Koufax |
| 1970 | CIN | Johnny Bench | STL | Bob Gibson |
| 1972 | CIN | Johnny Bench | PHI | Steve Carlton |
| 1976 | NYY | Thurman Munson | BAL | Jim Palmer |
| 1999 | TEX | Ivan Rodriguez | BOS | Pedro Martinez |
| 2009 | MIN | Joe Mauer | KC | Zack Greinke |
| 2012 | SF | Buster Posey | NYM | R.A. Dickey |
How close have we come to an MVP/Cy battery? Here are seasons in which one battery member won an award while the other finished in the top five of the vote:
| Year | Team | Catcher MVP Vote | Teammate Cy Young Top 5 |
| 1968 | DET | Bill Freehan (2) | Denny McLain (1) |
| 1970 | CIN | Johnny Bench (1) | Jim Merritt (4) |
| 1972 | CIN | Johnny Bench (1) | Clay Carroll (5) Gary Nolan (5) |
| 1976 | NYY | Thurman Munson | Ed Figueroa (4) |
| 1983 | CWS | Carlton Fisk (3) | LaMarr Hoyt (1) Richard Dotson (4) |
| 1999 | TEX | Ivan Rodriguez (1) | Aaron Sele (5) |
The closest we came to it was in 1968. Bill Freehan hit 25 homers (5th in the A.L.) and posted 7 WAR (3rd) and a 145 OPS+ (7th) while playing Gold Glove defense behind the plate. He finished second in the MVP vote behind his Cy Young-winning fellow Tiger Denny McLain. The righty went 31-6 (the last pitcher to win 30, probably forever) with a 1.96 ERA in a league-high 336 innings. McLain was a unanimous choice for both the Cy Young and MVP awards.
Since the inception of having a Cy Young winner for both leagues in 1967, how often have we had a catcher finish in the top five of the MVP vote while one of his pitchers finishes in the top five of the Cy Young vote?
| Year | Team | Catcher MVP Top 5 | Cy Young Top 5 Finish |
| 1968 | DET | Bill Freehan (2) | Denny McLain (1) |
| 1970 | CIN | Johnny Bench (1) | Jim Merritt (4) |
| 1972 | CIN | Johnny Bench (1) | Clay Carroll (5) Gary Nolan (5) |
| 1975 | CIN | Johnny Bench (4) | Don Gullett (5) |
| 1976 | NYY | Thurman Munson (1) | Ed Figueroa (4) |
| 1980 | MON | Gary Carter (2) | Steve Rogers (5) |
| 1983 | CWS | Carlton Fisk (3) | LaMarr Hoyt (1) Richard Dotson (4) |
| 1986 | NYM | Gary Carter (3) | Bobby Ojeda (4) Ron Darling (5) |
| 1995 | LAD | Mike Piazza (4) | Hideo Nomo (4) Ramon Martinez (5) |
| 1996 | LAD | Mike Piazza (2) | Hideo Nomo (4) Todd Worrell 5) |
| 1999 | TEX | Ivan Rodriguez (1) | Aaron Sele (5) |
| 2003 | ATL | Javy Lopez (5) | Russ Ortiz (4) |
We added six teams to the list, including our most recent entry. I would not have guessed the last duo was Javy Lopez and Russ Ortiz.
On to the master list. But what about all the top five catchers from before the Cy Young Award? Here are all 52 top five MVP finishes by catchers. The column next to the catchers are like in the above charts with top five Cy finishers. However, for the years before 1967, I will use the MVP voting to compile the pitcher list.
The second column for those seasons has the pitcher that finished highest in the MVP vote.
The third column features pitchers from the catcher's team that ranked among the top five pitchers in the MVP vote.
The fourth column simply has the league leader in pitching WAR from that season (with their rank among pitchers in the MVP vote).
Using the MVP vote has its flaws, but I think it still gives us the best idea of how imaginary Cy Young votes would have gone.
| Year | Team | Catcher MVP Top 5 | Pitcher MVP High Finish | Teammates in Top 5 MVP Vote (Among P) | WAR Leader ("Cy" Finish) |
| 1912 | NYG | Chief Meyers (3) | Rube Marquard (8) | R. Marquard (1) C. Mathewson (2) Jeff Tesreau (3) | Nap Rucker 8.2 (-) |
| 1913 | NYG | Chief Meyers (5) | Christy Mathewson (4) | Christy Mathewson (1) | Babe Adams 7.8 (4) |
| 1922 | CWS | Ray Schalk (3) | Eddie Rommel (2) | Red Faber 9.6 (-) | |
| 1924 | DET | Johnny Bassler (5) | Walter Johnson (1) | Earl Whitehill (4) | Howard Ehmke 8.3 (3) |
| 1926 | STL | Bob O'Farrell (1) | Ray Kremer (3) | Flint Rhem (2) Pete Alexander (5) | Hal Carlson 8.3 (3) |
| 1927 | PHA | Mickey Cochrane (4) | Ted Lyons (3) | Tommy Thomas 8.4 (-) | |
| 1928 | PHA | Mickey Cochrane (1) | Waite Hoyt (10) | Lefty Grove 6.9 (-) | |
| 1934 | DET | Mickey Cochrane (1) | Lefty Gomez (3) | Schoolboy Rowe (2) | Lefty Gomez 8.2 (1) |
| 1935 | CHN | Gabby Hartnett (1) | Dizzy Dean (2) | Lon Warneke (3) | Cy Blanton 7.2 (4) |
| 1936 | NYY | Bill Dickey (5) | Vern Kennedy (6) | Lefty Grove 11.1 (3) | |
| 1937 | CHN | Gabby Harnett (2) | Carl Hubbell (3) | Charlie Root (5) | Jim Turner 5.4 (2) |
| 1937 | NYY | Bill Dickey (5) | Red Ruffing (8) | Red Ruffing (1) Lefty Gomez (2) | Lefty Grove 9.6 (-) |
| 1938 | NYY | Bill Dickey (2) | Red Ruffing (4) | Red Ruffing (1) | Thornton Lee 5.4 (-) |
| 1938 | CIN | Ernie Lombardi (1) | Bill Lee (2) | Paul Derringer (3) | Bill Lee 7.7 (1) |
| 1942 | BKN | Mickey Owen (4) | Mort Cooper (1) | Whit Wyatt (4) | Mort Cooper 8.4 (1) |
| 1943 | STL | Walker Cooper (2) | Mort Cooper (5) | Mort Cooper (1) | Mort Cooper 5.9 (1) |
| 1947 | BKN | Bruce Edwards (4) | Ewell Blackwell (2) | Ralph Branca (3) Hugh Casey (4) | Ewell Blackwell 9.5 (1) |
| 1950 | NYY | Yogi Berra (3) | Bob Lemon (5) | Vic Raschi (2) Whitey Ford (4) | Ned Garver 7.3 (6) |
| 1951 | NYY | Yogi Berra (1) | Ned Garver (2) | Allie Reynolds (2) | Ned Garver 5.6 (1) |
| 1951 | BKN | Roy Campanella (1) | Sal Maglie (4) | Preacher Roe (2) | Robin Roberts 8.0 (5) |
| 1952 | NYY | Yogi Berra (4) | Allie Reynolds (2) | Allie Reynolds (2) | Bobby Shantz 9.1 (1) |
| 1953 | NYY | Yogi Berra (2) | Virgil Trucks (5) | Allie Reynolds (5) | Billy Pierce 6.3 (3) |
| 1953 | BKN | Roy Campanella (1) | Warren Spahn (5) | Carl Erskine (3) | Robin Roberts 9.8 (2) |
| 1954 | NYY | Yogi Berra (1) | Bob Lemon (5) | Bob Grim (3) | Steve Gromek 5.7 (8) |
| 1955 | NYY | Yogi Berra (1) | Ray Narleski (6) | Tommy Byrne (2) Whitey Ford (3) | Billy Pierce 6.9 (4) |
| 1955 | BKN | Roy Campanella (1) | Robin Roberts (5) | Don Newcombe (2) | Bob Friend 6.0 (4) |
| 1956 | NYY | Yogi Berra (2) | Billy Pierce (5) | Whitey Ford (3) | Early Wynn 7.8 (4) |
| 1963 | NYY | Elston Howard (1) | Whitey Ford (3) | Whitey Ford (1) | Camilo Pascual 6.2 (4) |
| 1964 | NYY | Elston Howard (3) | Dean Chance (5) | Dean Chance 9.3 (1) | |
| 1964 | MLN | Joe Torre (5) | Larry Jackson (12) | Don Drysdale 8.0 (-) | |
| 1967 | STL | Tim McCarver (2) | |||
| 1967 | DET | Bill Freehan (3) | |||
| 1968 | DET | Bill Freehan (2) | Denny McLain (1) | ||
| 1970 | CIN | Johnny Bench (1) | Jim Merritt (4) | ||
| 1972 | BOS | Carlton Fisk (4) | |||
| 1972 | CIN | Johnny Bench (1) | Clay Carroll (5) Gary Nolan (5) | ||
| 1974 | CIN | Johnny Bench (4) | |||
| 1975 | CIN | Johnny Bench (4) | Don Gullett (5) | ||
| 1976 | NYY | Thurman Munson (1) | Ed Figueroa (4) | ||
| 1980 | MON | Gary Carter (2) | Steve Rogers (5) | ||
| 1983 | CWS | Carlton Fisk (3) | LaMarr Hoyt (1) Richard Dotson (4) | ||
| 1986 | NYM | Gary Carter (3) | Bobby Ojeda (4) Ron Darling (5) | ||
| 1995 | LAD | Mike Piazza (4) | Hideo Nomo (4) Ramon Martinez (5) | ||
| 1996 | LAD | Mike Piazza (2) | Hideo Nomo (4) Todd Worrell 5) | ||
| 1997 | LAD | Mike Piazza (2) | |||
| 1999 | TEX | Ivan Rodriguez (1) | Aaron Sele (5) | ||
| 2000 | NYM | Mike Piazza (3) | |||
| 2003 | ATL | Javy Lopez (5) | Russ Ortiz (4) | ||
| 2003 | NYY | Jorge Posada (3) | |||
| 2008 | MIN | Joe Mauer (4) | |||
| 2009 | MIN | Joe Mauer (1) | |||
| 2012 | SF | Buster Posey (1) | |||
There is one group on the list with an MVP catcher and a would-be Cy Young winner! In 1963, Elston Howard hit 28 homers with a 5.1 WAR and a 141 OPS+ (all 5th in the league). He was the best player on a 104-win Yankees team that won its fourth straight pennant.
Whitey Ford went 24-7 with a 2.74 ERA and 1.10 WHIP in a league-high 269.1 innings, finishing third in the MVP vote behind Howard and Al Kaline. But in the early days of the Cy Young Award from 1956-66, there was only one given out for all of major league baseball. So Sandy Koufax won the prize unanimously after an obscenely good season in which he also took MVP honors. He went 25-5 with a 1.88 ERA, 0.88 WHIP, 306 strikeouts, 5.3 K/BB ratio and 11 shutouts, all of which led the league.
Ford's 4.3 WAR ranked seventh among A.L. hurlers behind Camilo Pascual and others (including teammate Jim Bouton). But I bet if they had separate Cy's for each league, Ford would have won the A.L. award.
Who knows how Molina and Wainwright will fare in the second half, but it's safe to say that both should be in the mix for MVP and Cy. Molina leads the N.L. in batting average and is in the top ten in most other categories while doubling as the best defensive backstop in the game. Wainwright leads in wins and innings and is having one of the best control seasons in recent history (15 BB in 146.2 IP, 8.67 K/BB). On top of all that, they play for the best team in baseball. Obviously there's still 40 percent of the season left to play, but I like their chances as much as any other National Leaguers. This is something to keep an eye on down the stretch.
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