Thursday, November 2, 2078
LAGRANGE'S SWINNERTON AND TURON'S HAZLE DOUBLE DIPPERS... WIN IPA MVP AWARDS, TOO
Nope, Tory Swinnerton and Robert Hazle are not greedy ballplayers, just gifted and talented team players... when it comes to awards and trophies, they are double dipping this year... not only did they nab the IPA Golden Bats Awards, they also hauled in the IPA Most Valuable Player Trophies for 2078... Tory Swinnerton of the LaGrange Gators is the Ruthlandian Union MVP and Robert Hazle of the Turon Typhoons is the Tycobbian Union MVP.
It was a rerun of the Golden Bat voting... the same three batters battled for the RU Most Valuable Player honors and it ended up in the same order... LaGrange's 26-year-old right fielder Tory Swinnerton nudged past Christopher Jung of the Ranford Bulls and Andre Lemoine of the Belle Plaine Musketeers in another very close ballot.
Playing first base Swinnerton sparked LaGrange to a fourth-place finish in the Ruthlandian North pennant race, winding up 9 games behind the division champion Kilkenny... Swinnerton pace the RU with 49 home runs and 121 runs batted in... this is nothing new to him... for the last 5 seasons Swinnerton has been the HR leader... twice in that time he has also led in RBIs... this season he collected 185 hits in 153 games for a .308 BA... overall Swinnerton has batted .292 in his 6 years with the Gators with 226 roundtrippers... in 2074 he was voted the RU Rookie of the Year... twice Swinnerton has been honored with a Golden Glove... this is his first time to win the Golden Bat and the Most Valuable Player Trophy.
Christopher Jung propelled his Ranford Bulls to a fine year... they came in second to the Kilkenny Cats, just 4 games out of the top spot... Jung wound up second in the RU MVP balloting, batting .306 with 181 hits in 153 games with 36 dingers, 108 ribbies and 110 runs scored... at 24 Jung has been in the league 4 seasons and a regular the last 2 years... in 2077 he excelled with a .326 BA, 30 dingers, 108 and scored 110 runs... Jung won a Golden Glove this season and has made the RU All-Stars the last 2 years.
#3 in the Ruthlandian MVP race was Andre Lemoine of the Belle Plaine Musketeers... what a year he had... he led the Muskies to a close 3rd place finish, just 4 games behind first place Wynnamac... at the remarkable age of 36 Lemoine played like he did in his prime years 10 years ago... he played in all 154 games, hit .313 with 175 hits, 30 doubles, 3 triples, 33 homers, 113 RBIs and scored 100 times... in Lemoine 16 seasons in Belle Plaine he has batted .306 in his career with 315 homers and 1169 RBIs... he won the RU Golden Bat in 2069 and has made the All-Star team on 4 occasions.
Over in the Tycobbian Union, the Most Valuable Player race was a dogfight between 3 excellent choices... Turon's splendid right fielder Robert Hazle has been the model of consistency in his 5 seasons in the IPA... at age 27 this was his best year, leading the Typhoons to a great season... not only did they triumph in the TU South Division, they went all the way and captured the team's 6th Pro Cup Trophy this season... Hazle played in 151 games, sported a .305 BA, 177 hits, 33 doubles, 11 triples, 26 homers, 115 RBIs, scored 96 times and stole 24 bases... this was his first year to be voted the TU Golden Bat and the TU Most Valuable Player... Hazle made the Tycobbian All-Stars in 2076 and 2078.
24-year-old second baseman Johnny Davidson has been with the Kenwood Wildcats for the last 5 years, the last 3 seasons as a regular... he is a regular hit machine with over 200 hits each year... twice Davidson has led the TU in base hits, this year and in 2076... twice he has led it in BA... he topped it in 2076 with a .356 BA and this year at .342... Davidson collected 209 hits in 151 games with 42 doubles, 1 triple and 7 roundtrippers... he drove in 89 runs and scored 90 runs... Davidson sparked Kenwood to the TU West Division flag this season... the Wildcats won it handily by 9 games... 3 times he has been voted to the TU All-Star team and he has won a Golden Glove... lifetime Davidson is hitting a terrific .342.
Along with Johnny Davidson, pitcher Davis Hickerson was very prominent in Kenwood's great season... he had such a great year, he came close to winning the Tycobbian Union Most Valuable Player honor... Hickerson came in a very, very close 3rd in the voting... at age 31 he starred this season with a superb 20-4 record in 32 starting assignments, worked 250 innings, fanned 203 batters, walked only 48 and easily led the TU with a remarkable 1.87 ERA... Hickerson made 30 quality starts, had 16 complete games and posted 3 shutouts... prior to this season Hickerson was just an average hurler... overall in 5 seasons he is 68-48 with a pretty good 3.41 ERA... Hickerson made the All-Star team for the first time this year... he also was selected as the 2078 Tycobbian Union Golden Arm for the first time in his career.
2078 Ruthlandian Union Most Valuable Player
2nd Place
3rd Place
