Awards
Major League Baseball presents an annual award to the most outstanding designated hitter of the season, called the Edgar Martinez Award. Renamed for the former Seattle Mariners DH after his retirement in 2004, the Outstanding DH Award was introduced in 1973 and has been handed out every season since, except 1994 due to a player's strike. Notable winners include Martinez (5 times) and David Ortiz (6 times, 5 consecutively).
DHs have generally not made much impact on the Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award or Major League Baseball Hall of Fame voting, because of the relative rareness of the full-time DH and the fact that the DH does not contribute on defense. No player who has played the majority of his games at DH has achieved either of these laurels. In the MVP realm, Don Baylor came closest in 1979, as he played 40% of his games at DH that season. Among Hall of Famers, Paul Molitor and Jim Rice are the only inductees to even have played 25% of their games at DH. If Frank Thomas is elected, he will be the first Hall of Famer to play the majority of his games at DH. Edgar Martinez is currently on the ballot, having received 36.5% of the vote in 2012.
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