Jose Bautista, Matt Kemp bag 2011 Hank Aaron Awards – MLB Update
Just before Game 5 of the World Series on Monday, October 24, Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig announced the Hank Aaron Award winners for 2011. Matt Kemp became the first player from Los Angeles Dodgers to win the award and was joined by Jose
Bautista of Toronto Blue Jays.
The Hank Aaron Award, awarded to the slugger who led his respective league in the regular season, was established in 1999 to honour the 25th anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth’s record of home-runs.
Dubbed as Hammerin’ Hank, Aaron was not able to make it to the ceremony because of a knee replacement surgery. However, he said, "It is a real privilege to have my name on the award that recognizes the most outstanding offensive performer in each league.
I want to congratulate Jose and Matt on their fantastic seasons and express my gratitude to the Hall of Famers and fans who helped select this year's winners."
While making the announcement, Selig stressed that there were many players who were prolific this season, but Jose and Matt were a bit more special. Bautista led the Majors with 43 home-runs to successfully defend his title and Kemp led the National League
with 39 home-runs.
Bautista joined the likes of Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds as the only players to repeat as Hank Aaron Award winners. Last year, Bautista belted 54 home-runs to be named as American League’s slugger of the year. This year, he became the fifth player in
the history of Majors to record at least 40 home-runs, 130 walks and nine steals in the same season. Further to his credit, he is the first player from the AL to do so since Babe Ruth in 1930.
Kemp, given the fact that the Dodgers were struggling this season, could not have done more than this. He not only led the NL in homers, but finished third in batting behind New York Mets’ Jose Reyes and Milwaukee Brewers’ Ryan Braun.
Kemp asserted that he was craving to win the batting crown, but Reyes was exceptional towards the end of the season.
Selig had some encouraging remarks for both players towards the end of the ceremony. He pointed out that the best is yet to come from both of these players and that he is looking forward to see Jose and Matt replicate a similar performance in the next season
as well.
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