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.

[PISANO]

dillution of pitching

I have though of that and WHILE I AGREE it EXITS and that it is the reason for INCREASED HR output that DOES NOT explain BB hitting 74 in ONE year and NEVER even 50 any other. The dilution of pitching has been existent for years. Also see my previous post concerning INJURIES preventing something from happening.

I really don't KNOW if BB or MM were/are on steroids or if all MLB players are, I believe it to be a factor but NOT one that will answer my question.

[PBRSTREETGANG]

He hit 49 HRs which showed that any alleged steroid use had little factor.

You're really downplaying the difference between 49 and 70, when no one had hit 60 in 40 years. I think steroid use "had big factor" with McGwire. (and Sosa and Bonds, as well)

[discostu]

Actually he came close to being hurt every season. And yes we do have an infamous "if only", here check his stats:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/stats?statsId=3918

You can see a few years where you can make a good argument that "if only" he'd have beaten the record. Also remember the guy gets walked more often than most dogs, that holds down his stats and creates more "if only" action.

[GSWarrior]

Kent has spoken about him

Kent is even less liked by teammates than is Bonds.

[BlackRazor]

Delgado thinks he got jobbed. Do you think he should have won it?

I don't know who should have won, but I think that in addition to posting each players' offensive stats, you also should have noted that Rodriguez won the Gold Glove award at shortstop.

[mrbillxx]

Sorry. Pujols deserves it. His team wouldn't have even been close in September given the Cards pitching injuries. Pujols almost single handedly kept the Cards in the hunt in the last few months.

He was a legitimate shot for a Triple Crown (Bonds will never have the average) and has many claiming that he is one of the best all-around hitters they have ever seen.

He was much more valuable to his team than Bonds was to the Giants. But then again it's all about what sells. And Bonds sells, Pujols doesn't.

[discostu]

When you're getting close to the record (as he did a few times) just missing 10 or 15 games could make the difference. You're right though that we have to look at the bigger picture, batters don't bat in a vacuum and having a solid slugger behind him and guys on base in front of him makes him harder to walk.

There's a lot of stuff that goes into making these records: consistency, luck, "juiced balls", maybe some steroids.

[CommerceComet]

I've always wondered how far Mickey Mantle could have hit a baseball if he were on steriods. He hit them consistently further than anyone as it was. (Go to www.themick.com and click on the link to his longest homeruns. They have aerial photographs of the stadiums with the flight paths of his longest homeruns drawn in. Amazing.)

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.

[BlackRazor]

He was a legitimate shot for a Triple Crown (Bonds will never have the average

Huh? Bonds hit .341 this year and .377 the previous year.

[xp38]

Maybe that is what tipped it for him. I didn't mean to slight fielding stats or all the others but I'd still be making up the post if I included everything.

[mrbillxx]

18 points behind Pujols and 17 behind Helton. Hardly a close race.

[Sabertooth]

Sorry. Pujols deserves it. His team wouldn't have even been close in September given the Cards pitching injuries. Pujols almost single handedly kept the Cards in the hunt in the last few months.

On their way to a 100-61 record this season, the Giants played .500 ball with Bonds out of the line-up. He also had four game-winning hits in two key series against the Braves and the D-Backs while coming off bereavement.

He [Pujols] was a legitimate shot for a Triple Crown (Bonds will never have the average) and has many claiming that he is one of the best all-around hitters they have ever seen.

Bonds hit .341 this year, and won the batting title with a .370 average last year. His biggest hurdle to winning a Triple Crown is the RBI title, given the walks and intentional walks he receives with men on base.

Pujols is a great talent, no question. Had the Cardinals won the NL Central title, the MVP would have certainly been closer, and he might have won it outright.

[CommerceComet]

Let me try to hot-link the Mantle website:
http://www.themick.com/

If you haven't seen this, it's worth a visit.

[BlackRazor]

18 points behind Pujols and 17 behind Helton. Hardly a close race.

But he's clearly demonstrated he can hit for a high enough average to compete for a batting title - .377 will win most years, and .341 will often put you in the hunt. Over the past three years his average is higher than Pujols'.

[Grando Calrissian]

Maybe, but hitting 49 home runs in 1987 is a lot different than hitting 49 in 1997, or even now. For a variety of reason power numbers went up in the 1990s. I'm not saying steroids had nothing to do with it, I'm only saying that there were other factors such as dillution of pitching, smaller stadiums, players actually training like athletes, maple wood bats, etc.

[PISANO]

Sorry discostu......it just doesn't wash with me. I will tell you why. When I was a YOUNGSTER watching Stan Musial play in the late 40's and all thru the 50's I came to realize that Stan Musial was NEVER considered a HR hitter. Long story short. Sportsmans Park had a 12 foot wall and a 40 ft SCREENED FENCE down the right field line. Today that DOUBLE that Musial hit would be a HOME RUN. He wound up having the NL record for doubles and I did some calculating he should have had at some 250-300 HR's MORE if that screen were NOT there.

That MY FRIEND is an "IF ONLY". As I grew older I realized that it just makes NO SENSE to wonder what could have happend BUT what did happen AND WHY??????

As the years pass I don't remember the stats but I think Stan Musial had 475 HRs and 725 doubles.

[mrbillxx]

He also had 200 less ABs and 133 hits. Not exactly impressive.

[BlackRazor]

18 points behind Pujols and 17 behind Helton. Hardly a close race.

Two corrections to make. I erroneously stated twice that Bonds hit .377 in 2002. He actually hit .370.

Bonds did win the batting title in 2002, though. Hopefully that demonstrates to you that he is capable of doing so.

[Alberta's Child]

Too bad Tony Gwynn retired a couple of years ago -- I wish he were in his prime today. If Bonds hit .370 in 2002, then Gwynn probably would have been looking at a .420 average for that season.

[Grando Calrissian]

I think Sabertooth in #59 explained Bonds' year best. All the stars alligned that year. Kind of like Roger Maris who never hit more than 39 HRs until 1961, and never came close afterwards.