Baseball Writers Association

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun won the NL Most Valuable Player Award after leading the Brewers to their first division title in nearly 30 years. Braun received 20 of 32 first-place votes and 388 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Los Angeles centerfielder Matt Kemp, who came close to winning the Triple Crown, received 10 first-place votes and finished with 332 points. Braun's teammate Prince Fielder finished third with 229 points, and Arizona's Justin Upton finished fourth with 214 points.

THE 2011 HALL OF FAME ballot presented the usual challenges and tough decisions common in years without a slam-dunk first-ballot presence. Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar, both painfully close to the magic 75 percent a year ago, are back for another run at the tape. In his 13th year on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, Blyleven was supported by 400 voters, or 74.2 percent. Alomar drew 397 votes, or 73.7 percent. That was hanging-chad close. Jack Morris (52.2 percent)

Ken Griffey Jr. is tired of the great expectations. Now that he has won his first Most Valuable Player award, he thinks he deserves a break. "All my life in professional baseball, people said, 'He could be better,' " Griffey said yesterday after becoming only the ninth unanimous American League MVP. "There's always a 'but' after everything I've done," he said. "You get tired of somebody saying, 'He hit 49, but he didn't do something else.' It's not fair. " Griffey had finished close in previous MVP voting: second in 1994, fourth last year and fifth in 1993.

Ichiro Suzuki has a lot more confidence than the average rookie. Then again, he's not the average rookie. The 28-year-old Seattle outfielder yesterday became the second consecutive Japanese player to win the American League Rookie of the Year award and wasn't surprised by the vote. "I was a little embarrassed to be called a rookie here in the United States," he said through a translator. "I was so relieved today when I heard this announcement I won the rookie of the year award because I felt this was an award I should have won without any doubt.

Don Baylor, who guided the Colorado Rockies to the playoffs in their third year of existence, won the 1995 National League Manager of the Year Award in voting announced yesterday. Baylor received 19 first-place votes and 122 points from the 28-member panel of the Baseball Writers Association of America. He was the only manager named on all 28 ballots. Davey Johnson, dismissed by Cincinnati at the end of the National League championship series, was second with eight first-place votes and 89 points.

The ballots are in. The name of the National League's Most ValuablePlayer, as voted by the Baseball Writers Association of America, will beannounced this evening. It appears likely that Giants leftfielder Barry Bonds will win the awardfor the third time in four years and that Phillies centerfielder Lenny Dykstrawill finish second. Even Dykstra concedes that. Not that he necessarily agrees. "You can look at it a couple of different ways," Dykstra said. "One thingis that the Philadelphia Phillies won the division and went to the WorldSeries.

Shortstop Walt Weiss, whose steady fielding was a key element in Oakland's pennant-winning season, yesterday was named American League Rookie of the Year. It is the third straight season an Athletics player has won the honor. Weiss follows slugging teammates Jose Canseco (1986) and Mark McGwire (1987) in winning the award given by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Oakland becomes the first AL team to claim three straight top rookies since the league award was begun in 1949.

The only living member who will be honored in July by the Baseball Hall of Fame is a writer - former Daily News scribe Paul Hagen. That is somehow appropriate, considering that the writers are at the forefront of a debate that extends beyond the walls of the Cooperstown, N.Y., museum. "This is the most star-studded ballot in 75 years, and we didn't elect anybody on it," ESPN.com's Jayson Stark said. "It just shows you what a mess Hall of Fame voting has become. " For the first time since 1996, the Baseball Writers' Association of America did not elect anyone Wednesday.

C.C. Sabathia beat Josh Beckett at last - albeit a few weeks later than he hoped. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award yesterday, topping Boston's ace and two other worthy contenders by a comfortable margin to become the first Cleveland Indians pitcher in 35 years to earn the honor. Sabathia received 19 of 28 first-place votes and finished with 119 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Beckett, who outpitched Sabathia twice in the playoffs, was second with eight first-place votes and 86 points.

Joe Gordon - 66 years after being named the American League's most valuable player - has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in voting announced yesterday. For the likes of Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and Ron Santo, it was another shutout. Gordon, who died in 1978, was elected by a 12-member Veterans Committee composed of Hall members and historians who studied pre-1943 players. A nine-time all-star, the second baseman won five World Series titles with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.

The only living member who will be honored in July by the Baseball Hall of Fame is a writer - former Daily News scribe Paul Hagen. That is somehow appropriate, considering that the writers are at the forefront of a debate that extends beyond the walls of the Cooperstown, N.Y., museum. "This is the most star-studded ballot in 75 years, and we didn't elect anybody on it," ESPN.com's Jayson Stark said. "It just shows you what a mess Hall of Fame voting has become. " For the first time since 1996, the Baseball Writers' Association of America did not elect anyone Wednesday.

NEW YORK - There's a chance that the podium under the chandeliers in the Vanderbilt Room of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel will go unused. With the cloud of steroids shrouding the candidacies of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and others, baseball writers may fail for only the second time in more than four decades to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame, rendering a news conference unnecessary. About 600 people are eligible to vote in the Baseball Writers' Association of America election, all members of the organization for 10 consecutive years at any point.

The mother of all Hall of Fame ballots arrived in the mail earlier this month and I immediately set aside the manila envelope and continued to ponder how to handle the polarizing players who showed up on the ballot for the first time this year. You know the names. Barry Bonds. Roger Clemens. Sammy Sosa. Superstars who stained the game by using performance-enhancing steroids. After this year's ballot arrived, I started reading columns from some of my fellow members in the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun won the NL Most Valuable Player Award after leading the Brewers to their first division title in nearly 30 years. Braun received 20 of 32 first-place votes and 388 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Los Angeles centerfielder Matt Kemp, who came close to winning the Triple Crown, received 10 first-place votes and finished with 332 points. Braun's teammate Prince Fielder finished third with 229 points, and Arizona's Justin Upton finished fourth with 214 points.

THE 2011 HALL OF FAME ballot presented the usual challenges and tough decisions common in years without a slam-dunk first-ballot presence. Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar, both painfully close to the magic 75 percent a year ago, are back for another run at the tape. In his 13th year on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot, Blyleven was supported by 400 voters, or 74.2 percent. Alomar drew 397 votes, or 73.7 percent. That was hanging-chad close. Jack Morris (52.2 percent)

PHILLIES MANAGER Charlie Manuel made news this season when he left Joey Votto off the National League All-Star team in favor of Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard. Yesterday, when asked whether he would vote for Votto for the league's MVP award - he cannot vote for his own players - Manuel replied, "Yes. I'd vote for him. " Votto, in his third big-league season, made the All-Star team anyway in the Final Vote, and he actually called Manuel's decision a "cool thing," since Manuel said he was making up for Howard being wronged in 2008.

Albert Pujols' third National League MVP award put him in select company. Only Barry Bonds has more. "I'm just humbled," Pujols said. Pujols won unanimously yesterday, becoming the first player to repeat since Bonds won four in a row from 2001-04. Pujols, who also won in 2005, received all 32 first-place votes and 448 points in balloting announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He became the first unanimous MVP since Bonds in 2002. A big part of the Cardinals' success this year was the acquisition of Matt Holliday in July.

The Los Angeles Angels could have crumbled when pitcher Nick Adenhart was killed in a car accident in April, overcome by waves of grief and sadness. Mike Scioscia, of Springfield, Delaware County, kept them moving forward. "There wasn't one defining moment," he said. "I think as the season started to evolve guys found that sense of purpose to play baseball again and they played it at a very, very high level. " For his deft touch during a trying season, Scioscia won the AL Manager of the Year award yesterday for the second time.

Joe Gordon - 66 years after being named the American League's most valuable player - has been elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in voting announced yesterday. For the likes of Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and Ron Santo, it was another shutout. Gordon, who died in 1978, was elected by a 12-member Veterans Committee composed of Hall members and historians who studied pre-1943 players. A nine-time all-star, the second baseman won five World Series titles with the New York Yankees and Cleveland Indians.

Ryan Howard was the most valuable player in the National League in 2008. That he was not voted MVP by the Baseball Writers' Association of America says more about the association than about Howard, Albert Pujols or America. Pujols was not an embarrassing selection, not with his excellent numbers, but was still the wrong selection. And that should embarrass the association enough to do what it should have done long ago: get out of the business of voting on baseball's postseason awards - as well as the Hall of Fame.