BONDS WINS 6TH NL MVP, 3RD YEAR IN A ROW
For release Tuesday, Nov, 18; do not move on wires before 2 p.m., EST
San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds, who persevered through a difficult time in his personal life, extended his record in Most Valuable Player Award voting with his sixth election in the 2003 National League balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Bonds, whose father Bobby died in August, became the first player in history to win the award in three consecutive seasons. Seven other players won the award three times overall — Stan Musial, Roy Campanella and Mike Schmidt in the NL and Jimmie Foxx, Joe DiMaggio, Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle in the AL. Bonds had been among 11 players who won the award in back-to-back years and the only one to have done it twice.
Bonds batted .341 with 45 home runs and 90 RBI and led the league in slugging percentage (.749), on-base average (.529), home run ratio (1 every 8.7 at-bats) and walks (148) for a team that won the NL West title. He was listed first on 28 of the 32 ballots submitted by two writers in each league city, second on two and third for a total of 426 points, based on a tabulation system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third and on down to one for 10th.
The St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols received three first-place votes and 29 for second to finish with the runner-up score of 303 points. He led the NL in batting (.359), runs scored (137), hits (212), extra-base hits (95), total bases (394) and doubles (51) and was fourth in home runs (43) and RBI (124). It marked the second straight year that Pujols finished second to Bonds in the voting.
Musial was the runnerup in three consecutive elections in 1949, '50 and '51. Pujols is the 10th player to finish second two years in a row, joining the Cardinals' Dizzy Dean (1935-36) and Johnny Mize (1939-40) and the Los Angeles Dodgers' Sandy Koufax (1965-66) and Mike Piazza (1996-97) in the NL. In the AL, back-to-back runners-up were the New York Yankees' Lou Gehrig (1931-32), the Boston Red Sox' Ted Williams (1941-42), the Yankees' Mickey Mantle (1960-61), the Baltimore Orioles' Eddie Murray (1982-83) and the Detroit Tigers' Cecil Fielder (1990-91).
The other first-place vote went to Atlanta Braves right fielder Gary Sheffield (.330, 39 HR, 132 RBI), who finished third with 247 points. Bonds, Pujols and Sheffield were the only players named to all ballots. In all, 34 players gained mention.
Rounding out the top 10 were Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Jim Thome (.266, 47 HR, 131 RBI), Braves catcher Javy Lopez (.328, 43 HR, 109 RBI), Los Angeles Dodgers relief pitcher Eric Gagne (2-3, 1.20 ERA, 55 SV, 137 K in 82 1/3 IP), Colorado Rockies first baseman Todd Helton (.358, 33 HR, 117 RBI), Chicago Cubs right fielder Sammy Sosa (.279, 40 HR, 103 RBI), Cubs pitcher Mark Prior (18-6, 2.43 ERA, 245 K in 211 1/3 IP) and Florida Marlins center fielder Juan Pierre (.305, 204 H, 65 SB).
Bonds, who turned 39 July 24, is the second oldest winner of an MVP Award. Pittsburgh Pirates first baseman Willie Stargell, the co-winner in 1979, turned 39 March 6 of that year. Bonds' three victories plus the 2000 victory of second baseman Jeff Kent makes the Giants the first NL team to win four consecutive MVPs. The Yankees did that twice in the AL with Berra in '54 and '55 and Mantle in '56 and '57 and with Roger Maris in 1960 and '61, Mantle in '62 and Elston Howard in '63.
In addition to Bonds and Kent, other Giants winners were Carl Hubbell in 1933 and '36, Willie Mays in 1954 and '65, Willie McCovey in 1969 and Kevin Mitchell in 1989. The Giants' 11 MVPs tie the Cincinnati Reds for second in the NL behind the Cardinals' 14.
The vote:
| Player | Club | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
| BARRY BONDS | Giants | 28 | 2 | 2 | 426 | |||||||
| ALBERT PUJOLS | Cardinals | 3 | 29 | 303 | ||||||||
| GARY SHEFFIELD | Braves | 1 | 1 | 18 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 247 | ||||
| JIM THOME | Phillies | 5 | 12 | 9 | 5 | 203 | ||||||
| JAVY LOPEZ | Braves | 4 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 159 | |||
| ERIC GAGNE | Dodgers | 3 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 143 | ||
| TODD HELTON | Rockies | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 75 | |||
| SAMMY SOSA | Cubs | 1 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 53 | ||||
| MARK PRIOR | Cubs | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 44 | ||||
| JUAN PIERRE | Marlins | 1 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 39 | |||||
| MIKE LOWELL | Marlins | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 30 | |||||
| RICHIE SEXSON | Brewers | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 21 | |||||
| ANDRUW JONES | Braves | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 15 | |||||
| JEFF BAGWELL | Astros | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 14 | ||||||
| EDGAR RENTERIA | Cardinals | 1 | 1 | 5 | 13 | |||||||
| PRESTON WILSON | Rockies | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | ||||||
| VLADIMIR GUERRERO | Expos | 2 | 1 | 10 | ||||||||
| JOHN SMOLTZ | Braves | 1 | 1 | 9 | ||||||||
| MARCUS GILES | Braves | 1 | 1 | 1 | 9 | |||||||
| RICHARD HIDALGO | Astros | 1 | 2 | 2 | 9 | |||||||
| LUIS CASTILLO | Marlins | 2 | 8 | |||||||||
| JASON SCHMIDT | Giants | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |||||||
| IVAN RODRIGUEZ | Marlins | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| BILLY WAGNER | Astros | 2 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| LUIS GONZALEZ | Diamondbacks | 2 | 4 | |||||||||
| CHIPPER JONES | Braves | 1 | 4 | |||||||||
| BOBBY ABREU | Phillies | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| MIGUEL CABRERA | Marlins | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| JIM EDMONDS | Cardinals | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| MARK GRUDZIELANEK | Cubs | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| DERREK LEE | Marlins | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| RUSS ORTIZ | Braves | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| RAFAEL FURCAL | Braves | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| DONTRELLE WILLIS | Marlins | 1 | 1 |
Previous winners (*—Unanimous):
2002 *BARRY BONDS, San Francisco Giants;
2001 BARRY BONDS, San Francisco Giants;
2000 JEFF KENT, San Francisco Giants;
1999 CHIPPER JONES, Atlanta Braves;
1998 SAMMY SOSA, Chicago Cubs;
1997 LARRY WALKER, Colorado Rockies;
1996 *KEN CAMINITI, San Diego Padres;
1995 BARRY LARKIN, Cincinanti Reds;
1994 *JEFF BAGWELL, Houston Astros;
1993 BARRY BONDS, San Francisco Giants;
1992 BARRY BONDS, Pittsburgh Pirates;
1991 TERRY PENDLETON, Atlanta Braves;
1990 BARRY BONDS, Pittsburgh Pirates;
1989 KEVIN MITCHELL, San Francisco Giants;
1988 KIRK GIBSON, Los Angeles Dodgers;
1987 ANDRE DAWSON, Chicago Cubs;
1986 MIKE SCHMIDT, Philadelphia Phillies;
1985 WILLIE McGEE, St. Louis Cardinals;
1984 RYNE SANDBERG, Chicago Cubs;
1983 DALE MURPHY, Atlanta Braves;
1982 DALE MURPHY, Atlanta Braves;
1981 MIKE SCHMIDT, Philadelphia Phillies;
1980 *MIKE SCHMIDT, Philadelphia Phillies;
1979 (Tie) KEITH HERNANDEZ, St. Louis Cardinals, and WILLIE STARGELL, Pittsburgh Pirates;
1978 DAVE PARKER, Pittsburgh Pirates;
1977 GEORGE FOSTER, Cincinnati Reds;
1976 JOE MORGAN, Cincinnati Reds;
1975 JOE MORGAN, Cincinnati Reds;
1974 STEVE GARVEY, Los Angeles Dodgers;
1973 PETE ROSE, Cincinnati Reds;
1972 JOHNNY BENCH, Cincinnati Reds;
1971 JOE TORRE, St. Louis Cardinals;
1970 JOHNNY BENCH, Cincinnati Reds;
1969 WILLIE McCOVEY, San Francisco Giants;
1968 BOB GIBSON, St. Louis Cardinals;
1967 *ORLANDO CEPEDA, St. Louis Cardinals;
1966 ROBERTO CLEMENTE, Pittsburgh Pirates;
1965 WILLIE MAYS, San Francisco Giants;
1964 KEN BOYER, St. Louis Cardinals;
1963 SANDY KOUFAX, Los Angeles Dodgers;
1962 MAURY WILLS, Los Angeles Dodgers;
1961 FRANK ROBINSON, Cincinnati Reds;
1960 DICK GROAT, Pi
ttsburgh Pirates;
1959 ERNIE BANKS, Chicago Cubs;
1958 ERNIE BANKS, Chicago Cubs;
1957 HENRY AARON, Milwaukee Braves;
1956 DON NEWCOMBE, Brooklyn Dodgers;
1955 ROY CAMPANELLA, Brooklyn Dodgers;
1954 WILLIE MAYS, New York Giants;
1953 ROY CAMPANELLA, Brooklyn Dodgers;
1952 HANK SAUER, Chicago Cubs;
1951 ROY CAMPANELLA, Brooklyn Dodgers;
1950 JIM KONSTANTY, Philadelphia Phillies;
1949 JACKIE ROBINSON, Brooklyn Dodgers;
1948 STAN MUSIAL, St. Louis Cardinals;
1947 BOB ELLIOT, Boston Braves;
1946 STAN MUSIAL, St. Louis Cardinals;
1945 PHIL CAVARRETTA, Chicago Cubs;
1944 MARTY MARION, St. Louis Cardinals;
1943 STAN MUSIAL, St. Louis Cardinals;
1942 MORT COOPER, St. Louis Cardinals;
1941 DOLPH CAMILLI, Brooklyn Dodgers;
1940 FRANK McCORMICK, Cincinnati Reds;
1939 BUCKY WALTERS, Cincinnati Reds;
1938 ERNIE LOMBARDI, Cincinnati Reds;
1937 JOE MEDWICK, St. Louis Cardinals;
1936 CARL HUBBELL, New York Giants;
1935 GABBY HARTNETT, Chicago Cubs;
1934 DIZZY DEAN, St. Louis Cardinals;
1933 CARL HUBBELL, New York Giants;
1932 CHUCK KLEIN, Philadelphia Phillies;
1931 FRANKIE FRISCH, St. Louis Cardinals