Alex Rodriguez has won his fourth American League Hank Aaron Award, presented to the best hitter in both leagues. It is awarded by a panel of voters and meant to be the equivalent of a hitters’ Cy Young Award. This is the second consecutive year in which a Yankee took the award home. The Great Jeter won in 2006.
Rodriguez received 24 percent of the American League vote and secured his fourth Hank Aaron Award on Sunday, with the presentation taking place at Colorado’s Coors Field before Game 4 of the World Series.
Rodriguez — who also was honored with the award in 2001, 2002 and 2003 — was unable to attend because of prior commitments, said Commissioner Bud Selig.
The 32-year-old Rodriguez set career highs with 143 runs scored and 156 RBIs while batting .314 and slugging 54 home runs for the Yankees, helping his club overcome early stumbles out of the gate to finish with 94 victories on its way to the AL Wild Card.
This was probably the greatest season in one of the greatest careers of all-time. Anybody who thinks there was a better hitter in the American League than A-Rod is out of their mind. His departure does not mean that the 2008 Yankees can not be better than the 2007 version, but there will be a much more difficult road in building a superior club. It will be challenging to replace that kind of production to say the least.
[...] admin wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptAlex Rodriguez has won his fourth American League Hank Aaron Award, presented to the best hitter in both leagues. It is awarded by a panel of voters and meant to be the equivalent of a hitters’ Cy Young Award. … [...]
Pingback by Christian » A-Rod Wins Hank Aaron Award — October 29, 2007 @ 4:17 pm
2 words for you…scott brosius…lets get back to the fiery, pitching laden, good defensive teams from our glory days and lets stop worrying about lightning rods rbi’s and hrs theres other ways to skin a cat and we have proven that..remember the playoff years in the nineties when we beat teams like texas,baltimore,cleveland who had superior offenses?? well my friend those teams are what we are now..regular season built..not playoff built
Comment by will — October 29, 2007 @ 4:48 pm
I certainly appreciate where you are coming from, but I still think this is a step back. For starters, this team is extremely lefty heavy. Those teams had Bernie Williams as a power threat from the right side to balance out the lineup. He might not have hit 50 homers, but he was always good for 25-30 to keep opposing pitching honest. Right now this lineup would be extremely vulnerable to lefty pitching.
I thought A-Rod made great strides this year. He seemed to make much more of an effort in the clubhouse and was incredibly clutch, a hallmark of those teams. He also played that great defense.
With the young pitching this team has, I think we will see the Yankees better constructed for October in the coming years. Maybe not having to deal with the constant attention A-Rod brought will do the team well. Losing him did not seem to hurt Seattle or Texas.
Comment by johnbutchko — October 29, 2007 @ 5:59 pm