Babe Ruth Home Run Award

Babe Ruth Home Run Award
Awarded forHome run leader in Major League Baseball
Presented bySullivan Artworks
History
First award1998
Final award2009

The Babe Ruth Home Run Award was an annual award presented to the previous season's leading home run hitter in Major League Baseball (MLB). The award was named after the legendary Babe Ruth, who led the American League in homers 12 times. 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.

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 Michael Jordan statue. Unable to secure a sponsor, they created the award to honor Ruth. The trophy was estimated to cost around $4,000 as of 2006, and it was funded by the Sullivans and given on behalf of their company, Sullivan Artworks based in Weymouth, Massachusetts. MLB was not interested in sponsoring the award; the American League already honored its home run champion with a nameless award, and the National League offered the Mel Ott Award. Both the awards received little publicity. The Babe Ruth Home Run Award was usually presented to the recipient by Ruth's daughter, Julia Ruth Stevens, or her son, Tom Stevens.

Key

Alex Rodriguez won the most Babe Ruth Home Run Awards with three.
The only other multiple-time winner is Ryan Howard.
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
double-dagger Denotes player who is still active as of 2021
^ Indicates multiple award winners in the same year

List of winners

Year Player Team HR Ref
1998 Mark McGwire St. Louis Cardinals 70
1999 Not awarded due to lack of sponsor
2000 Sammy Sosa Chicago Cubs 50
2001 Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants 73
2002 Alex Rodriguez Texas Rangers 57
2003^ Alex Rodriguez (2) Texas Rangers 47
Jim Thome Philadelphia Phillies 47
2004 Adrian Beltre Los Angeles Dodgers 48
2005 Andruw Jones Atlanta Braves 51
2006 Ryan Howard Philadelphia Phillies 58
2007 Alex Rodriguez (3) New York Yankees 54
2008 Ryan Howard (2) Philadelphia Phillies 48
2009 Albert Pujolsdouble-dagger St. Louis Cardinals 47

See also


This page was last updated at 2022-06-13 14:28 UTC. Update now. View original page.

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