MLB Announces New Player Award Program That Include Fan Voting Component

MLB is partnering with auto insurance sponsor Esurance to create a new annual player awards program, the Esurance MLB Awards. Built in part from a unification of previously existing efforts such as MLB.com's Greatness in Baseball (GIBBY) Awards and MLB Network's Social Media Awards, the new Esurance MLB Awards will recognize achievement in 24 different categories, ranging from large-scale ones such as Best Major Leaguer to more lighthearted ones such as Best Video Board moment. Each winner will get a GIBBY trophy, and none of the awards are limited to strictly the AL or NL. Determination for the awards will come from five different groups: fans, baseball media, MLB club front-office personnel, former MLB players and members of the Society for American Baseball Research. Each will have a 20% stake in the outcome. Online fan voting begins today at MLB.com and individual club sites, supplemented by a fan sweepstakes to win a pair of '16 season tickets for the team of their choice and a trip to this year's Winter Meetings in Nashville. The '15 Esurance MLB Awards show will air Friday, Nov. 20 on MLB Network and MLB.com, preceded by a reception at the Winter Meetings in which some of these awards will be presented. The social media-related awards will be announced on MLB.com and the league's various extensions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Snapchat. The awards will exist alongside the separate, more traditional player and manager awards determined by the Baseball Writers Association of America, as well as others such as the Rawlings Gold Glove program. "The Esurance MLB Awards will recognize the ways today's major league players make an impact both on the field and through fan engagement," said MLB Exec VP/Commerce & Sponsorships Noah Garden in a statement. "This awards platform with Esurance takes a fun look at how fans consume, enjoy and appreciate baseball." The Esurance effort with baseball builds upon prior initiatives this season including a shift to all-digital fan voting for the All-Star Game.