Baseball News - Guerrero, Bonds win MVP Awards




Vladimir Guerrero stood before the press Tuesday, when he was announced as the winner of the American League Most Valuable Player Award.

"I am very excited," Guerrero said through an interpreter from his native Dominican Republic. "I am very happy to celebrate with the whole country in this election. God willing, I will be able to bring good things to my country and to the Angels next season."

Guerrero beat out AL players such as Gary Sheffield, Manny Ramirez, David Ortiz and Miguel Tejada. Receiving 21 of a possible 28 first-place votes, Guerrero was also second on five ballots, third on one and fourth on another for a total of 354 points, based on a system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.

It is the first MVP title for Guerrero, whose previous high was a fourth-place finish in National League MVP balloting in 2002. It also marked the ninth straight season the AL MVP has come out of the West Division. Alex Rodriguez won last year as a member of the Texas Rangers.

In Guerrero's case, winning an NL MVP was out of the question seeing that Barry Bonds is near untouchable at the top of the National League mountain.

Guerrero's numbers were spectacular. He led the AL in runs scored (124) and total bases (366); his .337 batting average and .598 slugging percentage ranked third in the league; and his 39 home runs and 126 RBI ranked fourth. Vlad also smacked 206 hits, 39 of them being doubles while maintaining an on-base percentage of .391.

This season was the fourth time in the AL that a player changed leagues and won the MVP in his first season with his new club. Others to do it in the AL were outfielder Frank Robinson with the Orioles in 1966, first baseman Dick Allen with the White Sox in 1972 and reliever Willie Hernandez with the Tigers in 1984. The last player to do it in the majors (and NL) was Kirk Gibson in 1988 who was a new member of the Los Angeles Dodgers.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Barry Bonds won his fourth consecutive National League Most Valuable Player Award and seventh overall. Bonds became the oldest player to win the MVP at the age of 40. The slugger received 24 of 32 first-place votes and 407 points. Finishing second was Adrian Beltre, followed by a string of Cardinals: Pujols, Rolen and Edmonds.

"Anytime you win an award it's an honor and a privilege," said Bonds. "It's a lot of hard work and everything is correlated with the team. It's overwhelming and I'm almost at a loss for words. But you almost wish there could be an MVP for each team," he added. "All of us deserve it. Adrian definitely deserved it. Pujols, Edmonds, Rolen. It could be split pretty much equally."

Bonds is the only player with more than three MVP awards and the only one to win more than two in a row. Willie Stargell was previously the oldest to win it in 1979 at the age of 39 1/2. Stargell split the award with then-Mets first baseman Keith Hernandez.

In Bonds' 20th year in the bigs, he led the pack with a .362 average and an .812 slugging percentage. He blasted 45 homers, collected 102 RBIs, and hit .394 with runners in scoring position and became the first player to record a plus-.600 on-base percentage (.609). He walked 232 times, 34 more than the previous record he set in 2002 and more than 100 better than anyone else in baseball this season, and his 120 intentional walks obliterated the old mark of 68, also set by Bonds in 2002.

Bonds said the lack of a World Series title motivates him, and he intends to play two more seasons. "I want that championship," he said. "I think that's the one thing that's eluding me from enjoying these other accomplishments. I watch other people win and it drives me to want to be in that circle and try to get better."

Along with his MVPs from 2001-2004, Bonds also took National League honors in 1990 and 1992 with Pittsburgh and in 1993, his first season with the Giants.




More Stories - < Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 Next >