Three strikes and you're out. But three wins of a Fielding Bible Award puts you in pretty exclusive company. How does it feel, Albert, to belong to a club that has only you as a member?
The 2008 Fielding Bible Awards have been officially announced and Albert Pujols has won his third-straight award at first base. While there were other repeat winners this year, no other player is three for three. Yadier Molina repeated at catcher from last year; third baseman Adrian Beltre and outfielders Carlos Beltran and Carl Crawford each won the award in 2006, took a year off, then won again this year.
Here are the Fielding Bible Awards for the 2008 season:
FIRST BASE—ALBERT PUJOLS, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (90 POINTS)
SECOND BASE—BRANDON PHILLIPS, CINCINNATI REDS (86)
THIRD BASE—ADRIAN BELTRE, SEATTLE MARINERS (90)
SHORTSTOP—JIMMY ROLLINS, PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (88)
LEFT FIELD—CARL CRAWFORD, TAMPA BAY RAYS (87)
CENTER FIELD—CARLOS BELTRAN, NEW YORK METS (82)
RIGHT FIELD—FRANKLIN GUTIERREZ, CLEVELAND INDIANS (85)
CATCHER—YADIER MOLINA, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS (88)
PITCHER—KENNY ROGERS, DETROIT TIGERS (95)
The numbers in the parentheses show the final point tally each player accumulated to win their position. A first place vote received 10 points, second place 9 points, third place 8 points, etc. A perfect score is 100 because we used a panel of ten experts. They examined the 2008 seasons of every defensive player in Major League Baseball.
There are several important distinctions that differentiate the Fielding Bible Awards from most other baseball awards, such as the Gold Gloves:
- We have only one winner at each position, instead of separate winners for each league.
- We vote for nine distinct defensive positions—in other words we vote for the three different outfield positions. Now we can see who is the best in left field, center field, and right field.
- This system recognizes the runners-up for each position, instead of just focusing on the winners. We show every player who received a vote.
Complete details of the voting, results, and the panel of experts are in The Bill James Handbook 2009, available now, or at www.fieldingbible.com.