As the regular season has
ended, the awards season is ramping up. St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols will often be heard in conjunction with any number of different
recognitions across the baseball landscape.
There is at least one
award which the slugger has not yet won. Pujols heads up a list of ten finalists
for the prestigious Hutch Award for 2009, which will be announced next month and
presented in Seattle in January.
The Hutch Award was
created in 1965 in honor of the late Fred Hutchinson, a former major league
baseball player and manager, who died of cancer the previous year at the age of
45. "Hutch" had won 95 games as a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, and then
became a manager of three different major league clubs, including the World
Champion 1961 Cincinnati Reds.
The Hutch Award is given
annually to the major-league baseball player who best exemplifies the fighting
spirit and competitive desire of Hutch. Mickey Mantle accepted the inaugural
award in 1965, with Hall-of-Famers Sandy Koufax, Carl Yastrezemski, Al Kaline and
Wille McCovey among those who have received the Award.
Joe Torre (1971) and Lou
Brock (1979) are former Cardinals among the 44 past winners of the Hutch Award.
Boston’s Jon
Lester, a cancer survivor, was recognized in 2008. Pujols was also a finalist in
2006.
The 2009 Hutch Award
finalists:
• Jonny Gomes,
Cincinnati Reds
• Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves
• Torii Hunter, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Mark Lowe, Seattle Mariners
• Mike Lowell, Boston Red Sox
• Nick Markakis, Baltimore Orioles
• Kevin Millwood, Texas
Rangers
• Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins
• Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals
• Mark Teahen, Kansas City
Royals
The Hutch Award Luncheon,
held on the left field playing surface of Seattle's Safeco Field, home of the Seattle
Mariners, attracts baseball stars past and present and can be attended by fans,
too. It scheduled on Wednesday, January 27, 2010.
Funds raised through
sponsorships and individual donations at the 2010 Hutch Award Luncheon benefit
The Gregory Fund® for early cancer-detection research at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. The Center - named in Hutch's
honor by his brother Bill, a surgeon - is an independent, nonprofit research
institution dedicated to the understanding, treatment and prevention of cancer
and other potentially fatal diseases.
For more details, click
here.
Brian Walton can be reached via
email at brian@thecardinalnationblog.com.
Also catch his Cardinals commentary daily at The Cardinal Nation
blog.
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