Guerrero, the Angels slugger, is the fifth to win the award in his first year after switching leagues.
By Associated Press
Published November 17, 2004
NEW YORK - Vladimir Guerrero had such a huge impact during the final week of the season that voting for the American League Most Valuable Player award wasn't even close.
Guerrero easily defeated his competitors on the Red Sox and Yankees on Tuesday, becoming the fifth player to switch leagues and earn the honor in his first season with his new team.
The Angels rightfielder received 21 of 28 first-place votes and 354 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Yankees rightfielder and Tampa native Gary Sheffield finished second with five first-place votes and 254 points. Boston players split the remaining first-place votes, with leftfielder Manny Ramirez finishing third with 238 points and designated hitter David Ortiz fourth with 174.
Guerrero was prepared for a close vote.
"I was in no way expecting it to be the way it came out," he said through a translator during a conference call from the presidential palace in the Dominican Republic.
Guerrero, 28, signed a $70-million, five-year contract with the Angels in January after eight seasons with the Expos. He hit .337 with 39 homers and 126 RBIs as Anaheim won the AL West, and he led the league with 124 runs and 366 total bases.
He batted .371 in September with 10 homers and 23 RBIs and went 14-for-30 (.467) with six homers and 11 RBIs in the last six games of the season, helping the Angels finish one game ahead of Oakland.
Anaheim manager Mike Scioscia said Guerrero was "at times carrying our team single-handedly."
"When he came to our team, our expectations were obviously very, very high, and he met every one of them," Scioscia said. "Not many players can do what he did the last week."
The only other nonrookies who became MVPs in their first AL seasons were Baltimore's Frank Robinson (1966), Chicago's Dick Allen (1972) and Detroit's Willie Hernandez (1984). In the NL, Kirk Gibson accomplished the feat with Los Angeles in 1988.
Houston's Roger Clemens won the NL Cy Young Award last week after his first season in the league. Clemens won six Cy Youngs in the AL.
Guerrero became the second Angels player to win, joining Don Baylor (1979). He is the fourth Dominican to be MVP, following Toronto's George Bell (1987), the Cubs' Sammy Sosa (1998) and Oakland's Miguel Tejada (2002). He became the ninth straight player from the AL West to win.
"Vlad has got such a great temperament. For as talented as he is, he's probably the most unassuming superstar you'd ever be around," Scioscia said. "He's got probably the smallest ego of anybody that has accomplished what he has."
Guerrero was especially happy that three of the top four finishers in the voting were Dominican.
"It's in our blood," he said. "We grow up with baseball."
Guerrero gets a $500,000 bonus for winning the award and Ramirez $100,000 for finishing third.
