Embiid, Harper, Hurts leading new era of Philadelphia MVPs
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Nineteen athletes have won MVP awards in their respective leagues in Philadelphia sports history.
Two of those 19 have happened in the past couple of years.
Joel Embiid became the latest last week when he won the NBA MVP Award for the first time in his career. Bryce Harper was named NL MVP in 2021, the second of his career.
Heck, if not for getting hurt at the end of last season, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts would be in the conversation with the aforementioned players as well.
Regardless, Philadelphia sports is in a special place right now.
With MVP-caliber players on the roster of every professional sports team outside the Flyers, we're living in a rare time in Philadelphia sports.
Embiid, Harper and Hurts are leading the way for three of the major sports teams.
But, let's rewind to 40-ish years ago.
In the 1980s, Philadelphia sports were in a similar spot to where they sit currently today.
Take 1980, for example.
Phillies third baseman Mike Schmidt and Sixers forward Julius Erving won MVPs, while Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski finished as a finalist for the award.
Pretty, pretty similar to how Harper and Embiid have won and Hurts fell just short.
Schmidt won two more MVPs in the next couple of years in 1981 and 1986, while Sixers center Moses Malone won the NBA MVP in the 1982-83 season.
That year in 1980 was one of three times in Philadelphia sports history where different teams had an athlete win MVP in the same year.
Wilt Chamberlain won his first of four MVPs with the Sixers in the 1959-60 season, the same year Eagles quarterback Norm Van Brocklin won the MVP as he led the Eagles to the 1960 NFL championship.
You would have to go back to right after the Great Depression for the first time it happened.
In 1932, Chuck Klein became the first Phillies player to win NL MVP, while Jimmie Foxx won the AL MVP with the Athletics.
As of this writing, the Phillies have the most MVPs in the 21st century with three: Harper, Ryan Howard in 2006 and Jimmy Rollins in 2007.
The Sixers rank second with Allen Iverson in 2001 and Embiid winning the award this season. The Flyers and Eagles haven't had a player claim the award in the past 23 years, even though the Birds were close several times.
Hurts finished as the runner-up behind Kansas City's Patrick Mahomes last season, Carson Wentz nearly won it during the Super Bowl season and Donovan McNabb finished as a runner-up in 2000.
In fact, out of the four major sports teams, the Eagles have the longest MVP drought, even though Randall Cunningham was robbed of the AP NFL MVP over the years.
Cunningham finished as a finalist five times throughout his career, including three times in kelly green.
The Flyers have even had MVPs more recently than the Eagles.
Eric Lindros won the MVP award with the Flyers for his play during the 1994-95 season.
NHL Hall of Famer Bobby Clarke had his time in the 70s where he was collecting MVPs like training cards. He won the MVP three times: 1972-73, 1974-75 and 1975-76.
Recently, there's been a lot of talk recreating the picture below of Erving, Jaworski, Tug McGraw and Pete Peeters from 1981 on the Art Museum steps.
Throwback Thursday to 1980 Time Magazine Best in Sports. Julius Erving, Tug Mcgraw, Ron Jaworski, Pete Peeters..this should be recreated with Joel Embiid, Aaron Nola, Carson Wentz, and Carter Hart pic.twitter.com/YXLmXMH6dg
— Phans of Philly - Road Game Tailgates & Travel! (@PhansofPhilly) February 7, 2019
The teams certainly have the players to do it in Embiid, Hurts, Harper and whoever else the Flyers want to throw in.
We're living in a special time of Philly sports.