Ted Williams’s MVP award sells for record-breaking $500K

BOSTON – Ted Williams’s 1946 MVP award was auctioned for a record-breaking $528,750, the highest price ever received for a Major League Baseball MVP award.

Williams’s personal collection auctioned

The MVP Award, which Williams received in 1946, the year he had a .342 batting average and 38 home runs, was part of Williams’s personal collection, which had been retained by his daughter Claudia Williams, who died in July at 52.

The Award, along with other items, was offered by Hunt Auctions at the 21st Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory live auction on Saturday. Its estimated price was $150,000-$300,000.

Williams’s personal collection included items such as limited-edition autograph items and awards. Other items in the sale included his 1958 American League Batting Title silver bat, which he won with a .328 batting average. The award sold for $270,250. Williams Presidential Medal of Freedom, which was presented by George H.W. Bush, sold for $141,000, and a series of limited edition Ted Williams autographs sold for $105,750.

Part of Boston sports history

Williams played 19 seasons for the Red Sox, hitting .344 with 521 home runs. He won six American League batting crowns and was the last Major Leaguer to bat over .400 for the season when he hit .406 in 1941. Williams also served during World War II and the Korean War.  

He also was part of WBZ-TV’s famous interview, in which Bob Lobel interviewed Williams, Bobby Orr and Larry Bird in 1992.

Previous items from Ted Williams’s collection were auctioned at Fenway Park in 2012.