The Tip O’Neill Award is presented annually to a Canadian baseball player who excelled on and off the field and contributed to individual and team efforts. The Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame has honoured James “Tip” O’Neill since 1984, with the honour being bestowed to the top Canuck who exemplifies his character on both sides of the game.

O’Neill was a two-way player who has been dubbed ‘Canada’s Babe Ruth’. He won the Triple Crown in 1887 with a .435 batting average, 14 home runs, and 123 RBI while playing for the St. Louis Browns. Although he was never inducted into the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame, the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame posthumously honoured him in 1986.

Joey Votto has won the award seven times, more than any other Canadian-born player. Larry Walker, Eric Gagne, Jason Bay, and Justin Morneau have also won the award multiple times. There has been a different winner in each of the last seven years, with Josh Naylor taking home the honour last year. The full list of winners can be seen here.

The top candidates to win it in 2024 are Vladimir Guerrero Jr, Josh Naylor, Tyler O’Neill, and Cade Smith.

Guerrero took home the honour in 2021, and considering the impressive numbers he put up with the Blue Jays to finish the 2025 season, seems like the favourite to take home the award again this year. The Blue Jays slugger was born in Montreal, Que. while his father was playing for the Expos, he has Canadian citizenship and is eligible to represent Canada at the World Baseball Classic. Since he was raised in the Dominican Republic, the 25-year-old’s Canadian connection mostly stems from him playing for the Toronto Blue Jays for the last six seasons. He produced a .940 OPS and 5.5 fWAR in 2024 and received numerous honours including the Silver Slugger Award and first All-MLB Team honours.

Naylor will try to be the first repeat winner of the Tip O’Neill Award since Votto won three straight from 2015-2017. He hit a career-high 31 home runs and 108 RBI in 2024, although his batting average dropped to .243 from .308 from a year prior. The left-handed batter finished the year with a .776 OPS+ and earned his first All-Star appearance in 2024.

His 2.3 fWAR doesn’t stack up with Guerrero’s, but Josh (and his brother Bo) will likely be candidates for this award for years to come.

Tyler O’Neill seems destined to one day win this award, if for no other reason than the fact that he shares the same last name with Tip (no relation that we know of). The 29-year-old returned to prominence in 2024 with his new club, producing a .847 OPS with 31 home runs. He narrowly beat out Naylor in fWAR (2.5), and is a free agent heading into 2025.

O’Neill’s best season came in 2021 with the Cardinals, finishing behind Guerrero for the award. It looks like the same outcome may be in store for 2024 although his plus power marks and 132 OPS+ mark should not be ignored.

Smith had one of the most surprisingly dominant seasons in recent memory.

His 12.31 K/9 and pinpoint command allowed him to emerge as an electrifying late-inning set-up man for elite closer Emmanuel Clase. His FIP stood at a 1.40 mark on the season, as he gave up just one homerun through 74 outings. His solid work continued into the playoffs, where he engineered a 3.60 ERA through 10.0 innings, striking out 16.

His fantastic numbers led to him leading all relief pitchers in fWAR with 2.7, even beating out his teammate Clase. Smith finished fifth in Rookie of the Year voting (earning one first-place vote) and cemented himself as one of the go-to arms in the Guardians bullpen heading into the 2025 campaign

It will always be tough for relief pitchers to win this award (especially if they aren’t closers), but Smith will have a case every season if he continues to pitch like this.