Every year, there is an award given to the player who shows the best batting in both major leagues (MLB). It is the ‘Hank Aaron Award’.
The Hank Aaron Award was established in 1999 to honor MLB legend Hank Aaron, the home run king.
Aaron, who broke the barrier of racial discrimination and entered the big league as the second African American after Jackie Robinson, played an active part in the MLB stage for 23 seasons from 1954 to 1976.
Aaron, who played in 3298 games in his career, left a brilliant record with a career batting average of 0.305, 755 homers and 2297 RBIs. He still ranks second in career home runs, first in runs batted in, first in most base runs (6856), and third in most hits (3771).
Aaron broke the career home run record (714) held by Babe Ruth during his active career. Barry Bonds (762) broke Aaron’s career home run record, which had not been broken for more than 30 years, in 2007, but fans do not view Bonds’ record, which was suspected of taking banned substances, as a ‘true record’.
It was on April 8, 1974, while playing for the Atlanta Braves, against the Los Angeles Dodgers, that Aaron surpassed Ruth for the career home run record.
The MLB Secretariat established the Hank Aaron Award in 1999, the 25th anniversary of Aaron breaking Ruth’s record, and began awarding it to the best hitter in both leagues.
In 1999, the first year of its establishment, the number of hits, home runs, and RBIs were given a certain weight, and the scores were added up to determine the player with the most points as the winner. pulled out
Since 2003, 30% of the results of the MLB.com fan vote and 70% of the votes of broadcast commentators and MLB analysts are added together to determine the winner.
The first winners of the Hank Aaron Award were National League Sammy Sosa and American League Manny Ramirez.
In 1999, while playing for the Chicago Cubs, Sosa played in all games (162 games) and had a batting average of 0.288 (180 hits in 625 at-bats), 63 home runs, 141 RBIs, and an OPS (on-base percentage + slugging percentage) of 1.002. At the time, Sosa had a fierce home run competition with Mark McGuire, and ranked second after Maguire (65 home runs) in the MLB overall home run rankings.
Ramirez, who was a member of the Cleveland Indians (now the Cleveland Guardians) in 1999, had a batting average of 0.333 (174 hits in 522 at-bats), 44 home runs, and 165 RBIs with an OPS of 1.105. That year, he swept leading in RBI, slugging percentage, and OPS.
Alex Rodriguez, who was the greatest star of his time, has won the most awards in his career. Rodriguez was selected as the American League winner three years in a row from 2001 to 2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers, and won the award for the fourth time in his career in 2007 when he was a member of the New York Yankees.
Rodriguez, who first played full-time in 1996 and emerged as a national star, recorded a batting average of 0.318 (201 hits in 632 at-bats), 52 home runs, and 135 RBIs in 162 games in 2001, with an OPS of 1.021. He was the American League leader in home runs, runs scored (393) and runs scored (133).
After the 2000 season, Rodriguez, who signed a large contract worth 252 million dollars in 10 years and moved to Texas, hit 57 homers and took the home run title for two consecutive years, and scored 142 RBIs with a high batting average of 0.300 (187 hits in 624 at bats). took over the king
Rodriguez hit 47 home runs in 2003 and won the home run title for the third consecutive year, while ranking first in runs scored (124 points), slugging percentage (0.600), and runs scored (124 runs). Rodriguez was also named MVP of the regular season for the first time since his debut that year.
Rodriguez, who was traded to the Yankees after the 2003 season, swept the 2007 MLB home run (54), RBI (156), slugging percentage (0.645), OPS (1.067), and runs scored (143). Not only the American League MVP that year, but also the Hank Aaron Award was his share.
The second most awarded Hank Aaron Award was Bonds, which was named as the National League winner three times in 2001-2002 and 2004.
Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001, setting a new MLB record for most home runs in a single season. Still, this record remains unbroken. In addition, he topped both leagues in on-base percentage (0.515), slugging percentage (0.863), and OPS (1.379), and won the National League MVP in his arms.
Bonds won the batting title in 2002 with a batting average of 0.370, while also ranking first in on-base percentage (0.582), slugging percentage (0.799), and OPS (1.381), enjoying the honor of MVP for two consecutive years.
Bonds, who also won the National League MVP in 2003, won the MVP for the fourth consecutive year, ranking first in batting average (0.362), on-base percentage (0.609), slugging percentage (0.812), and OPS (1.422) in 2004, and became the protagonist of the Hank Aaron Award. done.
In addition, Albert Pujols (2003, 2009), Derek Jeter (2006, 2009), Jose Batista (2010, 2011), Miguel Cabrera (2012, 2013), David Otis (2005, 2016), Giancarlo Stanton (2005, 2016) 2014 and 2017), Christian Yelich (2018 and 2019), Mike Trout (2014 and 2019), Bryce Harper (2015 and 2021) and Paul Goldschmidt (2013 and 2022) have received the award twice or more. .
However, among the past multiple winners, Rodriguez, Bones, and Otis are left bitter as their history of taking banned substances is revealed. 안전놀이터
American baseball fans also do not consider Bonds’ MLB record for most home runs in a single season as a true record.
Last year’s Hank Aaron Award winners were Aaron Judge (New York Yankees) and Paul Goldschmidt, dubbed the ‘clean home run king’.
Judge hit 62 home runs in the 2022 season, breaking the previous American League record for most home runs in a season and the most home runs for the Yankees (61 home runs) set in 1961 by team senior Roger Maris in 61 years.
Sosa (66 in 1998, 63 in 1999, 64 in 2001), Maguire (70 in 1998, 65 in 1999) and Bonds (73 in 2001) hit more home runs in a season than Judge. Because of being stained with this drug, American baseball fans were very enthusiastic about Judge’s home run streak.
Goldschmidt, who won the National League last year, recorded a batting average of 0.317, 35 homers, and 115 RBIs in 151 games.