It would have been an injustice if Josh Hamilton had NOT been chosen as the A.L. M.V.P., but it would not have surprised me after seeing Elvis Andrus and Ron Washington get passed up for awards already this off-season.
But the Baseball Writers Association of America got this one right, and it wasn't very close. Many people believed it would be a close vote between Hamilton and Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, but Cano finished third in the voting behind Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera.
Hamilton received 22 of 28 first place votes, Cabrera had five, and fourth overall was Toronto slugger Jose Bautista, who got one first place vote thanks to his break out 54 homerun season.
Josh batted .359, hit 32 homers, drove in 100 runs, scored 95, hit 40 doubles, slugged .633 and had an on-base percentage of .411. His batting average and slugging percentage led the Majors. His 'counting' numbers would have been higher if he had not missed most of September when he fractured his ribs running into the wall in Minnesota, but the division was just about wrapped up by then, and the voters recognized that he had already led this club to be in a winning position by that point.
So Hamilton adds his first A.L. M.V.P. to a growing lists of honors that include 2010 ALCS MVP, 2010 Silver Slugger, 2010 Players Choice Award for AL Outstanding Player, and 2010 Sporting News Major League Player of the Year.
Hamilton joins Alex Rodriguez (2003), Ivan Rodriguez (1999), Juan Gonzalez (1996, 1998), and Jeff Burroughs (1974) as Rangers winners of the AL MVP.
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