Nov. 24, 1964 - Ken Boyer, third baseman for the champion St. Louis Cardinals, savored with pride and humility today the National League’s 1964 most valuable player award.
But, he said graciously, it also belonged to his teammates.
“This is an honor every baseball player dreams of winning,” said the big, quiet slugger. “To get it, you have to get a lot of breaks and have a fairly consistent year. But most important, you have to have teammates like I had — and they should feel they share it.”
Boyer was named first on 14 of the 20 ballots cast by a committee of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He drew a total of 243 points. Johnny Callison, the Philadelphia Phillies’ outfield star, was second with 187 points and Bill White, the Cardinals’ first baseman, was third with 106½. Last year, Sandy Koufax, the left‐handed pitching star of the Los Angeles Dodgers, won the award.
Last week, Brooks Robinson of the Baltimore Orioles won the American League’s 1964 award. Coupled with Boyer’s award, this gave third basemen a sweep of the honor this year.
“My wife broke the news to me when I got back from hunting,” Boyer said. “She was pretty excited, and so was I. But I think I was prepared in a way because a lot of the writers who covered the World Series had told me they were voting for me.
“When you edge men like Johnny Callison and Bill White, it is something to be proud of. Those are two of the best pros in the game.”
Boyer, 33 years old, said the award — his first — had to be one of the biggest events of his life. He has been with the Cardinals since 1955.
“It’s something every ballplayer thinks about, especially if he has a good year and gets the breaks. But it’s also something you don’t really dare think that you can win or that you really put all your hopes on winning.”
Boyer had a good year, better than most in some ways but in others almost duplicating previous seasons.
For example, he hit 24 home runs for the fourth straight season. His batting average again ranged around the .300 mark (.295), just below his career mark of .296. Since 1957, he has driven in at least 90 runs yearly and this year he had 119 runs batted in.
Boyer’s RBI total led the major leagues, he scored 100 runs, he was among the leaders in triples with 10, and his fielding often was spectacular.
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