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.

[RetiredArmy]

Barry Bonds, steroid powered!

[Grando Calrissian]

Not a lot of sad Giants fans when Porny Kent left town.

[discostu]

That's an additional change I forgot: the new Giants' stadium, pretty much built for Bonds to knock it out of the park (being as he hits right at the shortest section of the park).

Of course there's no sense to wonder what would have happened "if only", but it's sports talk. That's what we always talk about in sports: what if this guy doesn't get hurt, what if that call doesn't get blown, what if they bunt here, what if they pull that pitcher one inning earlier, what if they throw a different pitch. The essence of talking about sports is the essence of writing alternate history.

But then it must be done if you really want to understand WHY something happened. If you want to look at why Bonds didn't break the homerun record earlier in his career you have to look at EVERYTHING that was different between those seasons and when he did. That includes: spending less time on the injury list, playing in a smaller ballpark with the shortest run down his favored line, having more help in good hitting before and after him, and being bulkier POSSIBLY due to steroids but MAYBE NOT. Once you factor in all those differences the answer is obvious: there are a lot of reasons why he didn't set the record before he did.

[irish guard]

I would add a "juiced" baseball to your list. I have no doubt that Uncle Bud Selig ordered the ball to be enhanced during McGuire and Sosa's miracle year.

[mrbillxx]

Okay. Capable.

Still not the MVP.

[mrbillxx]

Good point. When Pujols moves to a new stadium designed just for him, who knows what his numbers will look like!

[PISANO]

...are a lot of reasons why he didn't set the record before he did

I really don't wonder why he set the record when he did I ONLY WONDER why HE has NEVER hit 50 in his career BEFORE or AFTER the 74 monster year. That is my question. Except for Hank Aaron I don't think ANY baseball player in HISTORY (I may be wrong) THAT was considered a HOME RUN hitter (you know 500+ HR's in Lifetime) has NOT hit 50 in one or more years. That is why it sticks in my HEAD. WHY so many? 74 and never at least 50?? Maybe it is ONLY my mystery and means little to anyone else.

[dakine]

Good to see baseball being discussed..One thing I remember about '87 when McGuire hit 49 as rookie was the juiced baseball, for goodness sakes THE Matt Nokes hit 30+ for the Tigers...

[cinFLA]

We'll see. Bonds' attorney has said that he's willing to take any test MLB wants to administer.

Pure BS by a lawyer that knows he will only be tested IAW the rules set by the players association.

Just like he said Bonds had taken no ILLEGAL steroids knowing that the steroid in question was not 'illegal' at the time.

Typical lawyer speak.

[NYCVirago]

There was random, unannounced steroid testing of all Major Leaguers this year, and 250 follow up tests.

Gotta disagree with you on this. It was not really random or unannounced testing -- it was during spring training, and the players all knew the test was coming.

[cinFLA]

All the stars alligned that year. Kind of like Roger Maris who never hit more than 39 HRs until 1961,

Sort of forgetting how they put him 3rd ahead of Mantle ....

[discostu]

The maliable stadium design rules of MLB really add to the "what if" scenarios. Nobody that plays for the Rockies will ever set a home run record, there's a few other stadiums like that. So you do have to wonder how many people could be challenging the record if they were in the right place.

[Grando Calrissian]

Similar to putting Bonds between Aurilia and Kent.

[Sabertooth]

Except for Hank Aaron I don't think ANY baseball player in HISTORY (I may be wrong) THAT was considered a HOME RUN hitter (you know 500+ HR's in Lifetime) has NOT hit 50 in one or more years.

Frank Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Reggie Jackson, Mike Schmidt, Ted Williams, Willie McCovey, Rafael Palmiero, Ernie Banks, Eddie Mathews, Mel Ott, and Eddie Murray all hit 500 in their careers without hitting 50 in a season. Gehrig, Stargell, and Musial all came close without hitting 50.

Only Ruth, Mays, Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Foxx, and Mantle are in the 500/50 club. Most guys that hit 50 don't hit 500 in their careers.

You needs to look at Bonds' AB/HR ratios vs. his walks and total at-bats to see why he hasn't hit 50 HRs several years running.

[mrbillxx]

Pujols led the league in 4 categories
Avg - Bonds 3th
R - Bonds 5th
H - Bonds not in top ten
2B - Bonds not in top ten

Bonds led in 3
SLG - Pujols 2nd
OBP - Pujols 3rd
OPS - Pujols 2nd

Pujols struck out 7 more times in 200 more ABs.
Bonds was 26th in RBI, Pujols was 4th.
Bonds was 2nd in HR, Pujols was 5th.

Sorry, I don't see how these numbers make Bonds the MVP.

As a matter of fact, with him being out injured and his team still making the playoffs, I'd say that another point against him being MVP.

[malakhi]

And this should be his eighth MVP award...

[Sabertooth]

Gotta disagree with you on this. It was not really random or unannounced testing -- it was during spring training, and the players all knew the test was coming.

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.

[discostu]

He hit 49 in a year where he missed 19 games. And 34 in a year where he missed 60 games. Those were before the record. After the record (a whopping TWO seasons, a little early to be talking "nevers") he's hit 46 and missed 19 games and 45 while missing 32 games. Simple math says he had a pretty good chance of making 50 in all four of those seasons if he's closer to playing complete seasons.

[dakine]

Musial never hit 40 (most HRs without reaching that mark) and Al Kaline hit 399 without ever hitting 30...

[Uncle Hal]

I wonder what Bonds weighed when he came into the league?