Lou Gehrig Memorial Award

Lou Gehrig Memorial Award
Lou Gehrig, the namesake of the award
Location	Cooperstown, New York
Country	United States
Presented by	Phi Delta Theta
History
First award	1955
Most recent	Stephen Piscotty, Oakland Athletics[1]
Website	Lou Gehrig Memorial Award

The Lou Gehrig Memorial Award is given annually to a Major League Baseball (MLB) player who best exhibits the character and integrity of Lou Gehrig, both on the field and off it.^[2] The award was created by the Phi Delta Theta fraternity in honor of Gehrig, who was a member of the fraternity at Columbia University. It was first presented in 1955, fourteen years after Gehrig's death. The award's purpose is to recognize a player's exemplary contributions in "both his community and philanthropy."^[2] The bestowal of the award is overseen by the headquarters of the Phi Delta Theta in Oxford, Ohio,^[3] and the name of each winner is inscribed onto the Lou Gehrig Award plaque in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. It is the only MLB award conferred by a fraternity.^[2]

Twenty-four winners of the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award are members of the National Baseball Hall of Fame.^[4] The inaugural winner was Alvin Dark.^[5] Curt Schilling (1995) and Shane Victorino (2008) received the award for working with the ALS Association and raising money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). The disease took Gehrig's life and is eponymously known as "Lou Gehrig's disease".^[6][7] Mike Timlin won the award in 2007 for his efforts in raising awareness and finding a cure for ALS, which took his mother's life in 2002.^[8]

Winners of the Lou Gehrig Memorial Award have undertaken a variety of different causes. Many winners, including Rick Sutcliffe,^[9] Barry Larkin,^[10] Mark McGwire,^[11] Todd Stottlemyre^[12] and Derek Jeter,^[13] worked with children in need. Jeter assisted children and teenagers in avoiding drug and alcohol addiction^[13] through his Turn 2 Foundation,^[14] while Sutcliffe visited disabled children in hospitals^[9] and bestowed college scholarships to underprivileged juveniles through his foundation.^[15] Other winners devoted their work to aiding individuals who had a specific illness, such as Albert Pujols, whose daughter suffers from Down syndrome, and who devoted the Pujols Family Foundation to helping those with the disorder,^[16] and Ryan Zimmerman, who established the ziMS Foundation to raise money for multiple sclerosis, the disease which afflicts his mother.^[17][18]

Winners[]

Alvin Dark won the inaugural Lou Gehrig Memorial Award in 1955.

Cal Ripken, Jr., the 1992 winner, surpassed Gehrig's record for consecutive games played three years later.^[19]

Derek Jeter, the 2010 winner, broke Gehrig's record for most hits as a member of the New York Yankees the year before.^[20]

Stephen Piscotty is the most recent player to win the award.

Key

Year	Links to the article about the corresponding baseball year
Player	Name of the player
Team	The player's team at the time he won the award
Position	The player's position at the time he won the award
	Member of the Baseball Hall of Fame
	Player is active

Winners

Year	Player	Team	Position	Ref
1955	Alvin Dark	New York Giants	Shortstop	[21]
1956	Pee Wee Reese	Brooklyn Dodgers	Shortstop	[22]
1957	Stan Musial	St. Louis Cardinals	First baseman	[23]
1958	Gil McDougald	New York Yankees	Second baseman	[24]
1959	Gil Hodges	Los Angeles Dodgers	First baseman	[25]
1960	Dick Groat	Pittsburgh Pirates	Shortstop	[26]
1961	Warren Spahn	Milwaukee Braves	Pitcher	[27]
1962	Robin Roberts	Baltimore Orioles	Pitcher	[28]
1963	Bobby Richardson	New York Yankees	Second baseman	[29]
1964	Ken Boyer	St. Louis Cardinals	Third baseman	[30]
1965	Vern Law	Pittsburgh Pirates	Pitcher	[31]
1966	Brooks Robinson	Baltimore Orioles	Third baseman	[32]
1967	Ernie Banks	Chicago Cubs	First baseman	[33]
1968	Al Kaline	Detroit Tigers	Outfielder	[34]
1969	Pete Rose	Cincinnati Reds	Outfielder	[35]
1970	Hank Aaron	Atlanta Braves	Outfielder	[36]
1971	Harmon Killebrew	Minnesota Twins	Outfielder	[37]
1972	Wes Parker	Los Angeles Dodgers	First baseman	[38]
1973	Ron Santo	Chicago Cubs	Third baseman	[39]
1974	Willie Stargell	Pittsburgh Pirates	First baseman	[40]
1975	Johnny Bench	Cincinnati Reds	Catcher	[41]
1976	Don Sutton	Los Angeles Dodgers	Pitcher	[42]
1977	Lou Brock	St. Louis Cardinals	Outfielder	[43]
1978	Don Kessinger	Chicago White Sox	Shortstop	[44]
1979	Phil Niekro	Atlanta Braves	Pitcher	[45]
1980	Tony Pérez	Boston Red Sox	First baseman	[46]
1981	Tommy John	New York Yankees	Pitcher	[47]
1982	Ron Cey	Los Angeles Dodgers	Third baseman	[48]
1983	Mike Schmidt	Philadelphia Phillies	Third baseman	[49]
1984	Steve Garvey	San Diego Padres	First baseman	[50]
1985	Dale Murphy	Atlanta Braves	Outfielder	[51]
1986	George Brett	Kansas City Royals	Third baseman	[52]
1987	Rick Sutcliffe	Chicago Cubs	Pitcher	[53]
1988	Buddy Bell	Houston Astros	Third baseman	[54]
1989	Ozzie Smith	St. Louis Cardinals	Shortstop	[55]
1990	Glenn Davis	Houston Astros	First baseman	[56]
1991	Kent Hrbek	Minnesota Twins	First baseman	[57]
1992	Cal Ripken, Jr.	Baltimore Orioles	Shortstop	[58]
1993	Don Mattingly	New York Yankees	First baseman	[59]
1994	Barry Larkin	Cincinnati Reds	Shortstop	[60]
1995	Curt Schilling	Philadelphia Phillies	Pitcher	[61]
1996	Brett Butler	Los Angeles Dodgers	Outfielder	[62]
1997	Paul Molitor	Minnesota Twins	Designated hitter	[63]
1998	Tony Gwynn	San Diego Padres	Outfielder	[64]
1999	Mark McGwire	St. Louis Cardinals	First baseman	[65]
2000	Todd Stottlemyre	Arizona Diamondbacks	Pitcher	[66]
2001	John Franco	New York Mets	Pitcher	[67]
2002	Danny Graves	Cincinnati Reds	Pitcher	[68]
2003	Jamie Moyer	Seattle Mariners	Pitcher	[69]
2004	Jim Thome	Philadelphia Phillies	First baseman	[70]
2005	John Smoltz	Atlanta Braves	Pitcher	[71]
2006	Trevor Hoffman	San Diego Padres	Pitcher	[72]
2007	Mike Timlin	Boston Red Sox	Pitcher	[73]
2008	Shane Victorino	Philadelphia Phillies	Outfielder	[74]
2009	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	First baseman	[75]
2010	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	Shortstop	[76]
2011	Ryan Zimmerman	Washington Nationals	Third baseman	[77]
2012	Barry Zito	San Francisco Giants	Pitcher	[78]
2013	Josh Hamilton	Los Angeles Angels	Outfielder	[79]
2014	Adrián Beltré	Texas Rangers	Third baseman	[80]
2015	Curtis Granderson	New York Mets	Outfielder	[81]
2016	José Altuve	Houston Astros	Second baseman	[82]
2017	Joey Votto	Cincinnati Reds	First baseman	[83]
2018	Corey Kluber	Cleveland Indians	Pitcher	[84]
2019	Buster Posey	San Francisco Giants	Catcher	[85]
2020	Stephen Piscotty	Oakland Athletics	Outfielder	[86]

See also[]

• Roberto Clemente Award
• Players Choice Awards (The Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award)
• Branch Rickey Award
• Baseball awards
• List of Major League Baseball awards

References[]

General

Specific