On Tuesday, first baseman of the St. Louis Cardinals Albert Pujols was voted unanimously the outstanding player in the National League.
The Baseball Writers Association of the United States gave him 32 first-place votes, the highest possible, to enable him to collect 448 points.
“Wow, I’m in the same place as Stan Musial,” Pujols said. “It’s pretty special to be on the same list with those guys.”
“I struggled for 15 games without a homer but wow, you guys were going crazy,” Pujols told reporters. “If you want to point at the elbow you can do that.
“I wasn’t expecting myself to be hot for six months. I struggled towards the end and if I can struggle again next year like that, then I’ll take that every year.”
Florida Marlins Hanley Ramirez finished 2nd, behind with 233 points.
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 NL in doubles (45) and third in batting average (.327) and RBIs (135).
Before Pujols, only Barry Bonds had won the title of MVP in succession. The former Giants outfielder from San Francisco has managed the feat four times from 2001 to 2004.