In the National League, Willie McCovey edged out Cy Young winner Tom Seaver with 265 points to Seaver’s 243, though both were tied with 11 1st place votes.
While Seaver took the New York Mets to an improbable World Championship, McCovey helped the Giants to a second place finish in the West behind the Atlanta Braves in the first year if divisional play.
In that MVP season he led the National League with 45 home runs and 126 runs batted in, while also having the highest on-base and slugging percentages.
As a nod to his offensive prowess National League pitchers also intentionally walked him 45 times, giving him a total of 121 walks against only 66 strikeouts.
In the American League, Harmon Killebrew took home the top prize with yet another “typical” Killebrew season that saw him slam 49 homers, tying his career-high, along with setting other career-highs in runs batted in (140), walks (145) and runs scored (106).
He led the Minnesota Twins to a Division title, though they’d lose to the Baltimore Orioles in the playoffs.
Nevertheless, after finishes of second, third and two fourths in MVP voting in the past six seasons, Killebrew finally took home the Award over the eventual 1970 winner, Boog Powell, who came in second.
