The Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) is a Major League Baseball (MLB) award given each year to one outstanding player in the American and National Leagues. Since 1931, it has been awarded by the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). The winner receives the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Baseball Award. The award is named in honor of the first MLB commissioner. Landis served from 1920 to 1944. MVP voting takes place before the postseason. The results are not announced until after the World Series. The BBWAA began asking three writers in each league city in 1938. They made that number two per league city in 1961.