MINF MVP, no relation to MILF

My friend Doug has a good question:

I know you have discussed the MVP thing at great length, but I was trying to think about who I would vote for in the AL. The three players that I keep hearing about as the "top" candidates are ARod, Tejada, and Soriano. Assuming these are the top three, has there ever been another time where the top three (or more) players in MVP voting were middle infielders? (I would probably give some consideration to Giambi as well, but for purposes of this question, let's assume Giambi comes in at number four or below.)

The answer is no. The closest was 1912 when Larry Doyle (1), Honus Wagner (2), and Joe Tinker (4) finished in the top four in the NL. The award was then called the Chalmers Award for the Chalmers Automobile Co., who would present the winner with a car. At first, it was based exclusively on batting average until Nap Lajoie tried to catch Ty Cobb on the last day of the 1910 season by going 8 for 8 including seven infield bunt "hits" that the St. Louis infield failed to convert for an out. The Browns manager was fired over the incident (Jack O'Conner instructed rookie third sacker Red Corriden to play back on the outfield grass-coach Harry Howell offered a bribe to the official scorer to change an error to hit for Lajoie). The much-hated Cobb won anyway, but Chalmers gave both players a car (years later it was discovered that one of Cobb's games was counted twice and that Lajoie should have won). The Chalmers award lasted until 1914.

In 1937, Charlie Gehringer won, Johnny Pesky came in third, and Vern Stephens fourth in the AL. That's the only other time that a middle infielder has won and two others have been in the top 4.

Since Ripken revolutionized the shortstop position, the highest a second middle infielder has finished is sixth: In 1991 Ripken won and Robbie Alomar finished 6th in the AL. Here's the complete list of years that a middle infielder won and another was in the top 3:

1912 NL Larry Doyle (1), Wagner (2) [Tinker (4)]
1914 NL Evers (1), Maranville (2); AL Eddie Collins (1)
1925 NL Hornsby (1); AL Peckinpaugh (1), Joe Sewell (2)
1929 NL Hornsby (1)
1931 NL Frisch (1)
1937 AL Gehringer (1), Pesky (3) [Stephens (4)]
1942 AL Gordon (1)
1944 NL Marion (1)
1948 AL Boudreau (1)
1949 NL Jackie Robinson (1)
1950 AL Phil Rizzuto (1)
1958 NL Banks (1)
1959 NL Banks (1); AL Fox (1)
1960 NL Groat (1)
1962 NL Wills (1)
1965 AL Versalles (1)
1975 NL Morgan (1)
1976 NL Morgan (1)
1977 AL [Carew as 1B but former 2B(1)]
1982 AL Yount (1)
1983 AL Ripken (1) [next Whitaker (8)]
1984 NL Sandberg (1)[next Wiggens 16]
1989 [Two former SS: NL Mitchell (1); AL Yount (1)] [highest MINF: NL Sandberg 4; AL Ripken 3]
1991 AL Ripken (1) [next R. Alomar (6), Julio Franco (15)]
1995 NL Larkin (1) [next Biggio (10)]
2000 NL Kent (1) [next Alfonzo (15)]