Albert Pujols Wins National League MVP & Joe Mauer Wins American League MVP

Albert Pujols was voted National League MVP unanimously today.

He is the first baseball player to win repeatedly since Barry Bonds won four MVPs in a row from 2001-4.

This win was the St. Louis Cardinals player’s third MVP award.

Pujols said he concentrates on World Series titles and not MVPs. He won his only championship in 2006.

“I always make a joke. I got 10 fingers. I want to get nine more rings,” he said to the AP. “I want to get as many as Derek Jeter has so far (five). Obviously that’s hard to do.”

“I think it was the most consistent year,” he said. “I was pretty much hot April until almost September.”

Pujols led the majors in home runs (47), runs (124), slugging percentage (.658) and intentional walks (44), and topped the NL in on-base percentage (.443). He was second in the league in doubles (45) and third in batting average (.327) and RBIs (135).

Pujols receives a $200,000 bonus for winning the award. He is signed for next season at $16 million, and the Cardinals retain a $16 million option for 2011.

Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins was named MVP of the American League Monday by the Baseball Writers.

He received 27 of 28 first-place votes and 387 points and is only the second catcher in 33 years to win the award.

26-year-old Mauer is entering his final season of his four-year $33 million contract.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 24th, 2009 at 5:47 pm and is filed under Entertainment News, Sports. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.