Bonds, Ramirez win 2004 Hank Aaron Award
Presented by Century 21
Award recognizes the most outstanding offensive performers in each league in 2004
Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants and Manny Ramírez of the Boston Red Sox have been named recipients of the 2004 Hank Aaron Award presented by CENTURY 21 as the result of fan balloting on MLB.com and Century21.com, it was announced today. This is the second time Ramírez has won the American League award (1999), while 2004 marks the third time Bonds has received the National League award (2001, 2002).
This season, Bonds, who garnered 41 percent of the National League vote, became only the third player in MLB history to reach the 700-career home run milestone, joining Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth. For the season, the Giants' outfielder led the National League in batting average (.362), slugging percentage (.812), OPS (1.422), on-base percentage (.609), walks (232), intentional walks (120) and received more intentional passes than the combined total for any other Club. Bonds also was among the League leaders in runs (2nd - 129) and home runs (4th - 45) while registering the 12th 100+ walk season of his career and breaking the all-time career walks record set by Rickey Henderson.
In 2004, Ramírez, who garnered 36 percent of the overall American League vote, won his first American League home run crown with 43 round-trippers, and also led the American League in home run ratio (one every 13.2 at-bats), slugging percentage (.613), and OPS (1.010). The Red Sox outfielder also was among the leaders in extra-base hits (2nd - 87), RBI ratio (Tied 2nd - one every 4.4 at-bats), RBI (3rd - 130), total bases (4th - 348) and average with runners in scoring position (7th - .340). Ramirez also topped 30 home runs and 100 RBI for the ninth time in the last 10 years, including each of the last six seasons.
The 2004 Hank Aaron Award presented by CENTURY 21 was decided in three separate phases. From August 1 - 30, fans voted at each Club's official Web site from among three players nominated by the respective Club. The leading vote getter from each Club became one of 30 finalists, from which a special Major League Baseball panel chose six finalists from each League. From September 9 - 30, fans voted to determine the overall League winner via balloting on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and Century21.com. Throughout the multi-phased voting process, Major League Baseball fans cast more than 568,000 votes to for the 2004 Hank Aaron Award presented by CENTURY 21.
The Hank Aaron Award was introduced in 1999 to honor the 25th Anniversary of Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's all-time home run record and was the first major award introduced by Major League Baseball in more than 30 years. The Hank Aaron Award presented by CENTURY 21 recognizes the best overall hitter in each League for a particular season and this is the second year that Century 21 Real Estate Corporation has been the presenting sponsor of the award.
In 1999, winners were determined by assigning a pre-determined number of points for each hit, home run and RBI. From 2000-2002, Club play-by-play broadcasters and analysts voted for the winners. In 2003, fan balloting on MLB.com, the official Web site of Major League Baseball, and Century21.com, the official Web site of Century 21 Real Estate Corporation, comprised 30 percent of the overall vote, while votes from the Club play-by-play broadcasters accounted for the remaining 70 percent.
Century 21 Real Estate Corporation has been the "Official Real Estate Organization" of Major League Baseball since 1999. For the past five years, Century 21 has been the title sponsor of the Century 21 Home Run Derby ® competition, a major attraction of Major League Baseball All-Star Week. In conjunction with the Century 21 ® Home Run Derby, Century 21 offers consumers the chance to win $250,000 toward the purchase of a new home through the Century 21 Home Run Derby All-Star Sweepstakes. In 2003, Century 21 expanded its partnership with Major League Baseball by becoming the presenting sponsor of the Hank Aaron Award.
Source: MLB Press Release 10/27/2004 9:00 PM ET
