Only 7 Legends From Major Team Sports Have Won More MVPs Than Aaron Rodgers

The Great One heads the list among four major sports with 9 NHL Hart Trophy awards.

Here’s some impressive historical context to Aaron Rodgers winning his fourth MVP award: Only seven athletes in the four major American team sports have won more.

And all of them are legendary names.

Peyton Manning, of course, holds the NFL record with five MVP awards.

Bill Russell and Michael Jordan won five times in the NBA.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was a six-time MVP in the NBA, as was Gordie Howe in the NHL.

Barry Bonds / Photo by Mark J. Rebilas, USA Today

Barry Bonds won seven MVPs — all but one of them with the Giants.

All alone at the top of the list is Wayne Gretzky, who won the NHL’s Hart Trophy nine times in the 10-year span from 1980 through ’89. This is how you earn the nickname, The Great One.

Absent from these lists is Babe Ruth, perhaps baseball’s greatest star. Ruth won the MVP award just once — in 1923, when he batted .393 with 41 homers and 130 RBI.

From 1922 through ’29, players were only allowed to win the award once. Thus, from 1926 through ’29, when Ruth averaged nearly 52 homers, he never again won the MVP.

The rules were changed in the 1930s.

Whether Rodgers, the former Cal star, gets the chance to chase his fifth MVP will depend partly on whether he returns to Green Bay next season, plays elsewhere or perhaps opts to retire.

In any case, he's joined some exclusive company in American sports history.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar / Photo by USA Today Sports

Here are those with at least four MVPs:

9. Wayne Gretzky (NHL): 1980, '81, '82, '83, '84, '85, '86, '87, ’89

7. Barry Bonds (MLB): 1990, '92, '93, 2001, '02, '03, ’04

6. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (NBA): 1971, '72, '74, '76, '77, ’80

6. Gordie Howe (NHL): 1952, '53, '57, '58, '60, ’63

5. Bill Russell (NBA): 1958, '61, '62, '63, ’65

5. Michael Jordan (NBA): 1988, '91, '92, '96, '98

5. Peyton Manning (NFL): 2003, '04, 08, '09, ’13

4. Aaron Rodgers (NFL): 2011, '14, '20, ’21

4. Wilt Chamberlain (NBA): 1960, '66, '67, '68

4. LeBron James (NBA): 2009, '10, '12, ’13

4. Eddie Shore (NHL): 1933, '35, '36, ’38

Here are the three-time winners:

MLB: Mike Trout, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Mike Schmidt, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Stan Musial, Joe DiMaggio and Jimmy Foxx

NFL: Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Brett Favre and Tom Brady

NBA: Moses Malone, Larry Bird and Magic Johnson

NHL: Howie Morenz, Bobby Orr, Bobby Clarke, Mario Lemieux and Alexander Ovechkin

Cover photo of Wayne Gretzky by USA Today sports

Follow Jeff Faraudo of Cal Sports Report on Twitter: @jefffaraudo