Albert Pujols Unanimously Wins Third N.L. MVP Award

Albert Pujols won the 2009 National League MVP Award, his third in five seasons, beating out Hanley Ramirez and Prince Fielder. Pujols led the league in runs (124), home runs (47), OBP (.443), SLG (.658) and OPS (1.101). He also led all of baseball with an OPS+ of 188(!).

It's the second straight year that Pujols has won the award, and the third time overall. He is the 10th player in history to win three MVPs, and the fifth to win it three times in the National League. He is also the 10th player to win back-to-back MVP awards. The last was Barry Bonds, who won it four straight years from 2001-04.

Most remarkable may be that Pujols still hasn't turned 30 -- that will occur in January. Only one player in history, Bonds, has more MVP awards than Pujols, yet the Cardinals superstar is still very much in the heart of his prime.

He may even be getting better. By some measures 2009 was Pujols' best year at the plate. He batted .327 with a .443 on-base percentage, a .658 slugging percentage, 47 home runs and 135 RBIs. Moreover, he did it for a division champion.

Yes: Pujols is still just 29 years old and already has won three MVPs. He could retire right now, after having played just nine season, and be a sure-fire Hall of Famer. He's now in some pretty rare company, becoming only the fifth player to win three MVPs in a five-year span, joining Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Barry Bonds and Alex Rodriguez.

As he explained why he would intentionally walk Albert Pujols even when baseball tradition and accepted strategy screamed not to, Los Angeles Dodgers manager Joe Torre offered a seven-word defense of his action: "Albert is in a class by himself."

The man is scary good.

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