Babe Ruth Home Run Award
Appearance
Awarded for | Home run leader in Major League Baseball |
---|---|
Presented by | Sullivan Artworks |
History | |
First award | 1998 |
Final award | 2009 |
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
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
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/55/A-Rod3.jpg/220px-A-Rod3.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c4/Ryan_Howard3.jpg/220px-Ryan_Howard3.jpg)
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
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
- List of Major League Baseball annual home run leaders
- Baseball awards § U.S. major leagues, awards by organizations other than MLB
- Josh Gibson Legacy Award, major league home run award from the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum
- Joe Bauman Home Run Award, minor league baseball home run award
Notes
- ^ 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
- ^ a b Syken, Bill (May 9, 2006). "Conspicuous absence". SI.com. Time Inc. Archived from the original on June 30, 2012.
- ^ a b Morrissey, Michael (June 6, 2004). "Hospital ward in Bronx". New York Post. p. 50. 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.
- Daily News. Archivedfrom the original on July 30, 2012.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
Brian Sullivan of Weymouth and Jim Sullivan of Braintree were in fine company last weekend.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
By 2001, they were paying their own way to present Sammy Sosa with his Babe Ruth Award.
- ^ 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.
- 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.
- ^ "Yearly League Leaders & Records for Home Runs". baseball-reference.com. Retrieved November 9, 2011.
- ^ Sanchez, Jesse (May 23, 2003). "Notes: Strength in the message". MLB.com. Archived from the original on November 14, 2012.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
- Newspapers.com.
Before Saturday's game, Jones received the Babe Ruth Award for leading the major with 51 homers in 2005.
- WPXI.com. The Sports Network. June 21, 2008. Archived from the originalon November 8, 2011.
- ^ "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.
- ^ 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.
External links
- Babe Ruth Home Run Award photos at BabeRuthCentral.com