Hank Aaron Award

Hank Aaron, after whom the award is named

The Hank Aaron Award is given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players selected as the top hitter in each league, as voted on by baseball fans and members of the media. It was introduced in 1999 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Hank Aaron's surpassing of Babe Ruth's career home run mark of 714 home runs. The award was the first major award to be introduced by Major League Baseball in more than 25 years. For the 1999 season, a winner was selected using an objective points system. Hits, home runs, and runs batted in (RBI) were given certain point values and the winner was the player who had the highest tabulated points total.

In 2000, the system was changed to a ballot in which each MLB team's radio and television play-by-play broadcasters and color analysts voted for three players in each league. Their first place vote receives five points, the second place vote receives three points, and the third place vote receives one point. Beginning in 2003, fans were given the opportunity to vote via MLB's official website, MLB.com. Fans' votes account for 30% of the points, while broadcasters' and analysts' votes account for the other 70%.

The first winners of the award were Manny Ramirez and Sammy Sosa in 1999, while the most recent winners are Kevin Youkilis and Aramis Ramirez. Alex Rodriguez has won the award four times, the most of any player. Barry Bonds has won the award three times, the second-most of any player. The winner with the most hits is Todd Helton, who won as a Colorado Rockie in 2000. The winner with the most home runs is Barry Bonds from 2001, and Manny Ramírez in 1999 has the most RBIs.

Award winners

Alex Rodriguez has won the award four times.

Barry Bonds has won the award three times.

Year	Links to the corresponding Major League Baseball season
HR	Home run
Player (X)	Denotes winning player and number of times they had won the award at that point.
RBI	Runs batted in

Year	League	Player	Team	Hits	HR	RBI
1999	American	Manny Ramírez	Cleveland Indians	174	44	165
1999	National	Sammy Sosa	Chicago Cubs	180	63	141
2000	American	Carlos Delgado	Toronto Blue Jays	196	41	137
2000	National	Todd Helton	Colorado Rockies	216	42	147
2001	American	Alex Rodriguez	Texas Rangers	201	52	135
2001	National	Barry Bonds	San Francisco Giants	156	73	137
2002	American	Alex Rodriguez (2)	Texas Rangers	187	57	142
2002	National	Barry Bonds (2)	San Francisco Giants	149	46	110
2003	American	Alex Rodriguez (3)	Texas Rangers	181	47	118
2003	National	Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	212	43	124
2004	American	Manny Ramírez (2)	Boston Red Sox	175	43	130
2004	National	Barry Bonds (3)	San Francisco Giants	135	45	101
2005	American	David Ortiz	Boston Red Sox	180	47	148
2005	National	Andruw Jones	Atlanta Braves	154	51	128
2006	American	Derek Jeter	New York Yankees	214	14	97
2006	National	Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	182	58	149
2007	American	Alex Rodriguez (4)	New York Yankees	183	54	156
2007	National	Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	165	50	119
2008	American	Kevin Youkilis	Boston Red Sox	168	29	115
2008	National	Aramis Ramirez	Chicago Cubs	160	27	111

See also

• Baseball awards

References

General

• "Hank Aaron Award winners". Major League Baseball. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
• "Hank Aaron Award & Branch Rickey Award Winners". Baseball-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Retrieved 2009-05-24.
• "Hank Aaron Award presentation". Major League Baseball. Retrieved 2009-05-24.

Specific