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Babe Ruth Home Run Award

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Babe Ruth Home Run Award
Awarded forHome run leader in Major League Baseball
Presented bySullivan Artworks
History
First award1998
Final award2009

The Babe Ruth Home Run Award[note 1] was an annual award presented to the previous season's leading home run hitter in Major League Baseball (MLB).[3] The award was named after the legendary Babe Ruth, who led the American League in homers 12 times.[4] It was first awarded to Mark McGwire after his record-setting 1998 season. The award was a 21-pound (9.5 kg), 20-inch-high (51 cm) bronze statue of Ruth based on a 1920 photo of him following through on a tremendous swing.[5][6]

The Babe Ruth Home Run Award was developed by brothers Jim and Brian Sullivan. Jim was the sculptor, while Brian focused on the marketing of the award. The Sullivans originally wanted to create a life-size statue of Ruth as a tourist attraction similar to the Michael Jordan statue. Unable to secure a sponsor, they created the award to honor Ruth.[4][5][6] The trophy was estimated to cost around $4,000 as of 2006, and it was funded by the Sullivans and given on behalf of their company, Sullivan Artworks based in Weymouth, Massachusetts.[4][7] MLB was not interested in sponsoring the award; the American League already honored its home run champion with a nameless award, and the National League offered the Mel Ott Award. Both the awards received little publicity.[8] The Babe Ruth Home Run Award was usually presented to the recipient by Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, or her son, Tom Stevens.[7][9][10]

Key

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Alex Rodriguez won the most Babe Ruth Home Run Awards with three.
The only other multiple-time winner is Ryan Howard.
Year Year the award was earned. The award is presented the following season.
Player (#) Name of winner (# times won if repeat winner)
Team The player's team when he won the award
HR Number of home runs
^ Indicates multiple award winners in the same year

List of winners

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Year Player Team HR[11] Ref
1998 Mark McGwire St. Louis Cardinals 70 [6]
1999 Not awarded due to lack of sponsor [6]
2000 Sammy Sosa Chicago Cubs 50 [8]
2001 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants 73 [1]
2002 Alex Rodriguez Texas Rangers 57 [12]
2003^ Alex Rodriguez (2) Texas Rangers 47 [2]
Jim Thome Philadelphia Phillies 47 [13]
2004 Adrian Beltre Los Angeles Dodgers 48 [14]
2005 Andruw Jones Atlanta Braves 51 [15]
2006 Ryan Howard Philadelphia Phillies 58 [4]
2007 Alex Rodriguez (3) New York Yankees 54 [16]
2008 Ryan Howard (2) Philadelphia Phillies 48 [17]
2009 Albert Pujols St. Louis Cardinals 47 [18]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Some sources refer to it as the Babe Ruth Award,[1][2] not to be confused with the Major League Baseball postseason award also named the Babe Ruth Award.

References

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  1. ^ a b Syken, Bill (May 9, 2006). "Conspicuous absence". SI.com. Time Inc. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012.
  2. ^ a b Morrissey, Michael (June 6, 2004). "Hospital ward in Bronx". New York Post. p. 50. Archived from the original on January 31, 2013. Retrieved November 8, 2011. Before the game, Rodriguez received the Babe Ruth Award (for most homers in the majors last season) from Ruth's daughter and grandson.
  3. ^ Lelinwalla, Mark (June 21, 2008). "A-Rod gets award from Babe Ruth's family at Stadium". Daily News. Archived from the original on July 30, 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d At the following webpage, scroll down to "The Babe Ruth Homerun Award" (including photograph of the award trophy and list of recipients through the 2007 season). "06 Fan Stories: Ultimate Babe Ruth Fans". BabeRuthCentral.com. Babe Ruth Central. Archived from the original on 2011-09-15. Retrieved 2011-11-09.
  5. ^ a b Adams, Steve (May 1, 1999). "South Shore brothers honor Babe Ruth". SouthCoastToday.com. Patriot Ledger News Service. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 13, 2017.
  6. ^ a b c d Harber, Paul (July 22, 2001). "A statue fit for a home run king". The Boston Globe. sec. South Weekly, p. 12. Retrieved March 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Brian Sullivan of Weymouth and Jim Sullivan of Braintree were in fine company last weekend.
  7. ^ a b Shlimbaum, Gus (July 4, 2008). "A-Rod receives third Babe Ruth Award". The Patriot Ledger. Archived from the original on November 6, 2012.
  8. ^ a b MacMullan, Jackie (October 17, 2002). "A bronze homage to Babe". The Boston Globe. p. E3. Retrieved March 22, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. By 2001, they were paying their own way to present Sammy Sosa with his Babe Ruth Award.
  9. ^ Wedge, Dave (October 25, 2009). "Yes we can... borrow slogans". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on October 29, 2009. The award is usually given by Ruth's grandson or daughter.
  10. ^ Logan, Bob (July 16, 2001). "Could McGriff be in Baylor's lineup tonight?". Daily Herald. p. section 2, page 3. Stephens also presented Sosa with the Babe Ruth Home Run Award for leading both leagues with 50 homers last season.
  11. ^ "Yearly League Leaders & Records for Home Runs". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
  12. ^ Sanchez, Jesse (May 23, 2003). "Notes: Strength in the message". MLB.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012.
  13. ^ de la Fuente, Edward (June 20, 2004). "Byrd sees progress as he tries to work his way out of slump". The News Journal. p. D7. Retrieved March 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ Griffitts, Ron (August 12, 2017). "Adrian Beltre: Consistency proves to be greatness". The Daily Advocate. p. 8. Retrieved March 21, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Barry mows 'em down". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. July 9, 2006. p. B4. Retrieved March 23, 2023 – via Newspapers.com. Before Saturday's game, Jones received the Babe Ruth Award for leading the major with 51 homers in 2005.
  16. ^ "Giese Error Leads To Four-Run Seventh As Reds Blank Yanks". WPXI.com. The Sports Network. June 21, 2008. Archived from the original on November 8, 2011.
  17. ^ "This Week at Citizens Bank Park (August 28 – September 3)" (Press release). Philadelphia Phillies. August 27, 2009. Archived from the original on April 21, 2014.
  18. ^ Leach, Matthew (September 17, 2010). "Freese expects to return by spring". stlouis.cardinals.mlb.com. MLB Advanced Media. Archived from the original on February 1, 2012.
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