Mauer became the second Twins player to win in four years, following Justin
Morneau(notes) in 2006.
After missing April with a back injury, Mauer homered in his first at-bat of
the season and went on to lead the AL in batting average (.365), on-base
percentage (.444) and slugging percentage (.587), the first AL player to top all
three categories in the same season since George Brett in 1980.
Mauer set a major league record for highest batting average by a catcher and
won his third batting title, becoming the first repeat batting champion since
Nomar Garciaparra(notes) in 1999-00.
Mauer set career bests with 28 homers and 96 RBIs, had more walks (76) than
strikeouts (63) and batted .378 after Morneau’s season-ending back injury Sept.
12, helping the Twins overtake Detroit for the AL Central title. He was voted to
his third All-Star team and won his second straight AL Gold Glove.
Born in St. Paul, the 26-year-old can leave the Twins and become a free
agent after the 2010 season, when he is due to make $12.5 million. Minnesota is
expected to try to sign him to a new deal.
Ivan Rodriguez(notes) in 1999 had been the only catcher since Thurman Munson in
1976 to win the AL MVP. The other catchers to win in the AL were Mickey Cochrane
(1934), Yogi Berra (1951 and 1954-55) and Elston Howard (1963). NL catchers to
win were Gabby Hartnett (1935), Ernie Lombardi (1938), Roy Campanella (1951,
1953 and 1955) and Johnny Bench (1970 and 1972).
In addition to Mauer and Morneau, other Twins to win were Zoilo Versalles
(1965), Harmon Killebrew (1969) and Rod Carew (1977).
Mauer receives a $100,000 bonus for winning the award, and Cabrera gets
$200,000 for finishing fourth. Cabrera’s first-place vote came from Keizo
Konishi of Kyodo News, a member of the Seattle chapter.
Teixeira led the AL with 122 RBIs and tied for first with 39 homers. Jeter
was second to Morneau in the 2006 voting and finished third behind Juan Gonzalez
and Garciaparra in 1998.