Bonds wins sixth NL MVP Award

Major League Baseball ^ | November 18th, 2003 | Chris Shuttlesworth

[Sabertooth]

11/18/2003  1:07 PM ET 

Bonds wins sixth NL MVP Award

Slugger receives 28 of 32 first-place votes

By Chris Shuttlesworth / MLB.com

	Barry Bonds hit .341 with 45 home runs for the Giants in 2003. (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds captured his record sixth National League MVP Award and unprecedented third in a row Tuesday, beating out St. Louis' Albert Pujols by a 426-303 point margin. Bonds received 28 of 32 first-place votes, while Pujols received three.

The six MVP honors put Bonds far and away in his own class among baseball players, as no other player has won more than three. Bonds is now one of just four athletes in the four major U.S. sports to win an MVP Award six times. The NBA's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the NHL's Gordie Howe each won six, while hockey legend Wayne Gretzky captured nine MVP Awards in his sport.

 NL MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

 Player

1st

Total

 Bonds

28

426

 Pujols

3

303

 Sheffield

1

247

 Thome

-

203

 Lopez

-

159

 Gagne

-

143

 Helton

-

75

Besides Bonds, no other player has won more than three MVP Awards. The three-time winners:

AL Player	Years
Jimmie Foxx	1932, 33, 38
Joe DiMaggio	1939, 41, 47
Yogi Berra	1951, 54, 55
Mickey Mantle	1956, 57, 62
NL Player	Years
Stan Musial	1943, 46, 48
Roy Campanella	1951, 53, 55
Mike Schmidt	1980, 81, 86

 AL MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

 Player

1st

Total

 Rodriguez

6

242

 Delgado

5

213

 Posada

5

194

 Stewart

3

140

 Ortiz

4

130

 Ramirez

1

100

 Garciaparra

1

99

 •

MORE AL COVERAGE
• Rodriguez wins first MVP Award
• Delgado second in MVP voting
• Posada third in AL race

• Stewart places fourth in MVP race

• Ortiz, Manny, Nomar are top seven

Since the BBWAA began handing out MVP Awards in 1931, the award has gone to players from a team without a winning record only seven times:

Year	Player	Team	Record
1952	Hank Sauer	CHC	77-77
1958	Ernie Banks	CHC	72-82
1959	Ernie Banks	CHC	74-80
1987	Andre Dawson	CHC	76-85
1989	Robin Yount	MIL	81-81
1991	Cal Ripken	BAL	67-95
2003	Alex Rodriguez	TEX	71-91

Bonds' title gives the Giants the league's top individual honor in each of the last four years -- Jeff Kent edged Bonds in 2000 -- a feat never before accomplished in the National League. Mickey Cochrane, Lefty Grove and Jimmie Foxx (twice) of the Philadelphia A's won the award four times in a row from 1928-33 (no award was given out in 1929 or 1930), while the Yankees saw Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle combine for four in a row from 1954-57 and Roger Maris (twice), Mantle and Elston Howard do the same from 1960-63.

While Bonds' 45 homers were far below the 73 he hit in winning the MVP Award in 2001 and his .341 average -- third best in the league -- fell short of the .370 mark he posted in winning a batting title and another MVP Award in 2002, his performance in 2003 was perhaps more remarkable.

It came as Bonds watched his father, former Giants All-Star Bobby Bonds, succumb to cancer, with the superstar son leaving the team several times to be with his ailing father and then to mourn with his family after Bobby's death.

Bonds returned from that final bereavement leave after missing five games, hit a home run in the second at-bat of his first game back and then was hospitalized overnight for an irregular heartbeat brought on by stress and sleeplessness.

Rookie of the Year:
AL - Berroa, KC   NL - Willis, FLA

Cy Young:
AL - Halladay, TOR   NL - Gagne, LA

Manager of the Year:
AL - Peña, KC   NL - McKeon, FLA

Most Valuable Player:
AL - Rodriguez, TEX   NL - TBA 11/18

MLB.com's complete coverage >

Just before his father's death and immediately after his first bereavement leave to be with the ailing Bobby, Bonds ended two games against the Braves with a walk-off homer in the 10th inning. In the other contest of the three-game sweep of Atlanta, Bonds received an intentional walk to load the bases in the ninth and Edgardo Alfonzo followed with a game-winning single.

Bonds tallied another walk-off homer, the ninth of his career, on his 39th birthday July 24, just after he threw out a potential go-ahead run at the plate. That homer also made him the all-time San Francisco Giants home run leader, passing Willie McCovey.

Bonds won his first MVP Award in 1990 with Pittsburgh before narrowly losing the 1991 race to Terry Pendleton. He then won back-to-back awards in 1992 and 1993, the latter his first season with San Francisco. In 2001, after setting the single-season record with 73 homers, he won his unprecedented fourth MVP Award with 30 of 32 first-place votes and then last year captured his first unanimous honor, easily topping Pujols.

The slugger helped the Giants capture the NL West title in 2003 as the club remained in first place every day of the season before falling to the eventual world champion Marlins in the Division Series. He easily led the Majors with a .749 slugging percentage, a .529 on-base percentage and 148 walks, 61 of those intentional, though far more were unofficially intentional.

Barry Bonds   /   LF
	Height: 6'2" Weight: 210 Bats/Throws: L/L More info: Player page Stats | Splits Giants site Bonds shop

By comparison, Boston's Manny Ramirez finished second with 29 intentional free passes. Only two other entire teams had more intentional walks than Bonds -- the Cardinals with 68 and the Diamondbacks with 63.

Despite the kid-gloves treatment, Bonds still powered 45 home runs, two behind league leader Jim Thome, who finished fourth in voting behind Atlanta's Gary Sheffield. Bonds also drove in 90 runs and scored 111 times despite playing in only 130 games and recording 390 at-bats -- 201 fewer ABs than Pujols, who hit 43 homers and walked 79 times (12 intentional). He tied the NL mark jointly held by himself and Duke Snider by reaching base safely in 58 consecutive games.

Bonds ended the season just two homers shy of tying godfather Willie Mays' 660 for third on the all-time list. By hitting at least 30 homers for the 12th straight season, Bonds extended his own NL record and tied Foxx's Major League mark established from 1929-40. With three multihomer games in 2003, he moved past Mays into third on the all-time list with 64 such games, three shy of Mark McGwire and eight behind Babe Ruth.

He became the charter member of the 500-500 club when he stole his 500th career base in the 11th inning June 23, subsequently scoring the game-winning run. He also passed Ruth for second on the all-time walks list with 2,070 and is 120 free passes shy of Rickey Henderson's Major League record.

Chris Shuttlesworth is an editorial producer for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[discostu]

I could maybe give a nod if the playoff teams all lacked standout players. I'd be really hesitant about record breaking perfomances if they didn't make the playoffs though, far too often in sports players chasing records are weak in other aspects of the game, not every time but often enough I'd put the microscope on him before giving the nod.

[NYCVirago]

True, but what I meant was that the specific times and dates of the tests were random and unannounced. There were also 250 follow-up tests during the season.

Fair enough, although the general time frame for the original tests would still give players time to get off the juice.

That being said, let me get back on topic. Congrats to Bonds for his 6th MVP award (it should be seven, as he was robbed in 1991).

[SpringheelJack]

If you can't be on the field for your team 95% of the time..that's another reason you shouldn't be MVP.

The fact is that Bonds was so dominating in the time that he did play, that he still came out ahead of Albert in the minds of 28 of 32 sportswriters, a group who could hardly be called fans of Bonds personally.

[JDGreen123]

I agree. I grew up as an Aaron fan with the Atlanta Braves. I would hate to his home run record broken by any guy who is a steroid and human-growth hormone freak. Aaron worked for everything he got. These modern guys just cheat. I suspect that Bonds, Sosa, McGwire, Giambi, etc are just at tip of the iceberg.

Sports Illustrated had an eye-opening and graphic account of steroid use in baseball in 2002. Totally Juiced

A quote from the article: Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants is often cited as a player who dramatically altered his size and his game, growing from a lithe, 185-pound leadoff hitter into a 230-pound force who is one of the greatest home run hitters of all time.

The article points out that due to the extra bulk from the steroids, players must use human-growth hormone to prevent their joints from collapsing. It is interesting to see that McGwire ended with a terrible knee and that Giambi is now having knee problems. The HGH causes the face to spread out in a ghoulish sort of appearance.

As a fan of 35 years, I plead with the players to stop. I was quite content when a guy like George Foster led the league with 50 home runs. Let's go back to the old days of real baseball and real players.

[BlackRazor]

If he misses 20% of his team's games, he can't possibly be the league's most valuable player.

Even if it could be proven (to your own satisfaction) that that particular player created more runs than any other player in the league -- despite missing those games?

If your answer would still be yes, then what would you suggest as the arbitrary criteria for minimum % of games played to be eligible for the MVP?

[Victoria Delsoul]

The six MVP honors put Bonds far and away in his own class among baseball players, as no other player has won more than three. Bonds is now one of just four athletes in the four major U.S. sports to win an MVP Award six times. The NBA's Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and the NHL's Gordie Howe each won six, while hockey legend Wayne Gretzky captured nine MVP Awards in his sport.

Bond is a good player, but doesn't display the gentleness and good manners of a Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe or even an Abdul-Jabbar.

[Alberta's Child]

If the player was head and shoulders above everyone else, I could see how he'd be the MVP despite missing so many games. In this case, I don't think Bonds was such a clear-cut winner over Pujols.

[Alberta's Child]

Holy cripes -- I couldn't have said it any better than that. Victoria the sports maven!

[Victoria Delsoul]

LOL! You're always nice to me. Thanks for your support, AC.

[Sabertooth]

Bond is a good player, but doesn't display the gentleness and good manners of a Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe or even an Abdul-Jabbar.

Bonds can definitely be a grump. Jabbar was considered "aloof," though, until the end of his career.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Bonds can definitely be a grump.

Sounds familiar.

[Alberta's Child]

Don't mention it!

Notice that two of the three "gentlemen" you mentioned were hockey players . . . ;-)

[Victoria Delsoul]

Sure, Canadian Hockey Players. Now, let see if I'm right... Gretzky was from Edmonton and Howe from Ontario? Not sure about the last one.

[Alberta's Child]

LOL. You were close!

Gretzky played his best years for the Edmonton Oilers, but he was actually from Ontario (either Brantford or Kitchener -- I think it was Brantford). Gordie Howe played most of his career for the Detroit Red Wings, but he was born and raised in a tiny farming town in southern Saskatchewan.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Ooooh, OK thanks, LOL!!!

[Alberta's Child]

I just did some research. Gordie Howe is from a place called Floral, Saskatchewan -- just east of Saskatoon. Looks like a tiny town of no more than a few hundred people -- I've been through this area on the Yellowhead Highway (Route 16), and there isn't much out there but endless fields of grain!

[Chu Gary]

"Barry weighs a little more than 210 pounds."

A little more = 18 pounds according to his bio but we all know those bio's are nearly always fudged. I'd guess he's more like 230 - 240, on a 6'1" frame.

[Chu Gary]

"Barry weighs a little more than 210 pounds."

A little more = 18 pounds according to his bio but we all know those bio's are nearly always fudged. I'd guess he's more like 230 - 240, on a 6'1" frame.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Well, general speaking, that's the norm among good players, isn't it? They come from poor surroundings, and poor families, and their way to success is by becoming good players.

[Chu Gary]

CC,

"Barry Bonds is a fine player but he has never been the equal of his godfather, Willie Mays. I consider the modern homerun totals to be fraudulent: diluted pitching, small ballparks, small strike zones, rules against brushbacks, and performance-enhancing substances all make homeruns much cheaper than they were 40 years ago."

You speak the truth, yeah baby!!