St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols talks to reporters
Tuesday in St. Louis, after he was voted the National League
MVP, becoming the first player to repeat since Barry Bonds won
four in a row from 2001-04. (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
No one was surprised when the Baseball Writers' Association of America announced the Cardinals' Albert Pujols as their pick for the National League Most Valuable Player on Tuesday.
Pujols himself almost certainly wasn't surprised. He accepted the honor with his usual demure, however.
"I'm just humbled," he told the media at the news conference for the award.
Pujols received all 32 of the available first-place votes for MVP, for a total of 448 points. The runner-up, the Marlins' Hanley Ramirez, received 15 of the second-place votes and a total of 233 points.
Pujols compared waiting to hear the news about the award to a little kid waiting for Christmas. He found out he had been named MVP while driving daughter Sophia to school. During the news conference, he thanked his family, the St. Louis fans -- whom he called the best in baseball -- and God. "All the glory goes to God," he said. He said he wasn't worried because from a Christian perspective, if the award was meant to be his, it would be.
The Cardinals slugger also gave credit to his teammates.
"It's an award you give to one person, but I believe if it wouldn't have been for the help my teammates have given me for the past year, I wouldn't be standing up here," Pujols said. "I always say, if I could split this award and give a piece to every single player that had an impact with this organization, I would do that."
Be that as it may, Pujols definitely stood out from his teammates in his performance this past season.
In 2009, Pujols batted .327 with 47 home runs and 135 RBIs. He essentially kept the team afloat while the Cardinals struggled before the All-Star break.
After the break, Matt Holliday came along to provide some protection for Pujols and give the team an offensive boost.
"The whole city of St. Louis wants Matt back and myself, obviously," Pujols said. "He came at the right time, right when we needed it, right when we were struggling a little bit."
If Holliday comes back, he could go a long way in helping the Cardinals make another run at the World Series. And Pujols would definitely like another World Series ring to go with his first. What Pujols really wants, however, is to get into the Hall of Fame.
"There's three things that as a professional athlete you want," Pujols said. "You want to get to the big leagues, and I accomplished that. Winning a World Series ring, I got that. And then getting to the Hall of Fame. That's everybody's dream. Every athlete, they want to be up there in the Hall of Fame, mentioned with the greatest players to ever play this game."
With his third MVP win, Pujols has moved a big step closer to being among the greatest players. Only nine other players in MLB history have won three MVP awards, and only four of those were in the NL.
"It probably is going to take a couple of days, and then I'll say wow, I'm in the same place with Stan Musial, Alex Rodriguez, Yogi Berra, Ted Williams," Pujols said. "The greatest players who have played the game. It's pretty special to me to be mentioned with those guys."
It's worth noting that all of the three-time MVP winners who became eligible for the Hall of Fame were voted in. And just like there wasn't much doubt who would win the MVP award this year, is there really any doubt whether Pujols will make it into the Hall of Fame?
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