This study investigates whether relative performance evaluations of labor output are biased in the presence of sentiment, even when the (supposedly independent) evaluators are external. Data from a field-experiment setting—involving a pro-sport League’s best-player award—allows for empirical testing of this proposition. After controlling for within-match performance, the results show that the match officials provide significantly better evaluations to players celebrating a ‘milestone’ game—an occasion on which sentimental favorites exist. However, this sentiment bias holds only in certain cases, and appears to have weakened in more recent years.