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MLB WORLD SERIES: RANGERS v GIANTSOctober 31, 2010Hank AaronJose BautistaAllan H. "Bud" SeligGary ThorneJoey VottoARLINGTON, TEXAS: Game Four GARY THORNE: First of all, thanks, everyone. I want to welcome you. I'm Gary Thorne doing the MLBI Broadcast along with the Orioles and ESPN, and this is of course is the occasion of the 2010 Hank Aaron Award recognizing the most outstanding offensive performer in the American and National Leagues. These winners were selected through a combination of balloting, including a fan vote that occurred on MLB.com and the first ever panel of Hall of Famers made up of some of the great living members of the Hall - Tony Gwynn, Harmon Killebrew, Willie McCovey, Paul Molitor, Billy Williams, Robin Yount, and Hank himself involved in the selection process. Let me introduce the dais that is here today. We have Commissioner Selig who will be speaking shortly, Hank, after whom the award of course is named, José Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays is here and Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds. Welcome to all of you. And on behalf of Major League Baseball I'd like to acknowledge Billy Aaron who does so much with Hank in the charity work that is done. Billy, it's always great to have you here joining us and we are just delighted that you're on hand again. And at this point I'd like to introduce the Commissioner Bud Selig. He'll explain the origin and the meaning of that great award named after Hank Aaron. COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG: Well, thank you, Gary. This is a very special award for Major League Baseball and frankly for me personally. I think everybody knows about my close relationship with Henry Aaron over the past 52, 53 years, but not only was he one of the most prolific sluggers in the history of the sport, a man who when you look back on his career on the field, it's remarkable even in retrospect. He told me something a couple weeks ago which I should have known but didn't, played 23-plus years, never was on the disabled list, and his stats -- I had the privilege of watching him play a lot, and with all the fame and breaking Babe Ruth's record and everything else, I wish you all had the privilege that I did to watch him play in the '50s and the '60s. It was like nothing else that I had ever seen, to this day. But even more remarkable is the way he's handled himself off the field, with extraordinary class and dignity, under some very tough circumstances back in the '70s, of course, and even at other periods since then. And so he's become even a more iconic figure as time has gone on because he is who he is. So it's a great pleasure for me to be here with him today and recognize two of baseball's young stars. This year the award took on new meaning, as Gary said; a panel of Hall of Famers joined the fan vote. It's a special honor to win an award for offense that's not only voted on by fans but also by Hall-of-Fame players. Many people called 2010 "The Year of the Pitcher." There were a lot of reasons. However, in the Year of the Pitcher, these two young men put together outstanding offensive seasons. First the American League winner of the Hank Aaron Award is José Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays. He led the American League with 54 home runs, finished third in the league with 124 runs batted in. Congratulations, José. JOSÉ BAUTISTA: Thank you. COMMISSIONER BUD SELIG: The National League winner is Joey Votto, who led the Cincinnati Reds to the National League Central Division Championship. Joey finished among the top three in each of the National League's Triple Crown categories with a .324 batting average, 37 home runs and 113 runs batted in. So Joey and José, on behalf of Major League Baseball, I'm pleased and proud to congratulate you as the Hank Aaron Award winners for this year. Congratulations. GARY THORNE: Thanks very much. Hank, with this being in your honor, we'd love to hear from you on this. HANK AARON: Well, thank you very much. First, let me thank the Commissioner. Thank you very much. I want to thank Major League Baseball, and I certainly want to thank all of you here in attendance. I have so much to be thankful for, and it would take me a long time to get through all of the things that I'm so grateful for. But the first thing I want to be thankful for is to thank my fellow Hall of Famers, who took time out to vote and to let people know that the game is still where it was 20 years ago, and when you see young players like this who won the award, young players, rest assured that the game is still in great hands. So I am so thankful that I'm here, and I want to thank the Commissioner for his kind words. It just so happened that I'm not going to sign a contract so he can continue to bubble, bubble, bubble. Thank you very much, Commissioner. But I am very grateful. I'm just grateful because he's been my friend for a long time, and I'm thankful to these young men. When you see players like this, Commissioner, you know the game is still in great hands. So I'm thankful for that, and congratulations to you and congratulations to both of you. Thank you so very, very much. GARY THORNE: Thanks very much. We want to take an opportunity now to hear from both of the winners here, and José, if you'd like to respond, the floor is yours. JOSÉ BAUTISTA: Obviously a great honor to receive this award. Every time you get acknowledged and receive a consideration like this, you have to thank all the people that allow you to get to that position. That being said, my family and obviously all the voters, the fans, the panel of Hall of Famers, and Mr. Hank Aaron. I wanted to say a couple things, but everything pretty much was said by the Commissioner Selig. But this means a lot. Knowing all the things that Mr. Aaron had to go through to be so successful in his career, it's a great honor to sit here and to be put among the list of recipients of this award. I think there's a lot of great players on that list, and just really honored, happy and excited to be here. GARY THORNE: José, thanks. Joey? JOEY VOTTO: Well, this is the first award that I've won in my career, and you know, if it's the last one, what a great honor. You know, I was voted into the All-Star Game by the fans, and this is another fan award, so that means a tremendous amount to me. I'm really a big fan of the game and especially the history of the game, so to have been picked by Hall of Famers, players I looked up to and read about, that means a lot to me, also. You know, Dusty Baker is my manager, and he played with Henry Aaron, and to have heard some of the stories, good stories -- all good stories (laughter), and to know that I'm receiving an award with his name on it, I know Dusty is going to be proud. But I'm very proud to receive this award, and thank you very much. GARY THORNE: Thank you, guys. We're going to allow Q & A here and then we're going to invite photographers to come up and be able to get some pictures, and after the question-and-answer period Bud will actually make the presentation of the award to José and Joey at that time. Right now if there's anyone who has a question for anyone on the dais, we'd take those right now. Q. José, how do you hit more than 50 home runs in a year? JOSÉ BAUTISTA: Well, I think it was a combination of a lot of things. Again, I got the opportunity to play every day. I've got to thank the Toronto Blue Jays for that. And then I made a lot of adjustments. I changed my approach to hitting. I became more aggressive, and I also kind of tweaked the way I prepare myself. I start my swing on my load earlier, on the pitcher's delivery, and that allowed me to attack the baseball more. Also getting moved to the three hole in that lineup with fast guys in front of me and guys that would drive me in allowed me to have a successful season. Q. The fact that your total is 10 more than the best season Henry Aaron had, is that humbling? And is consistency the next thing that you have to work on to be in that category? JOSÉ BAUTISTA: Obviously it's a great achievement. But I think most importantly, I couldn't even begin to compare myself with this man. The consistency he had in his career is just remarkable, and hopefully I can remain consistent for the rest of my career. I think it's got a lot more weight, being picked to 21 All-Star Games in a row than hitting 54 home runs. Q. Joey, when you were in Denver late this summer you talked about what it would mean as a Canadian to win MVP. What does this mean for you as a Canadian in the Major Leagues to win this type of award, and also the competition in the National League this year with Pujols, Adrian González and Carlos González to win this prestigious award? JOEY VOTTO: Well, any award you win is a great thing. I don't think being Canadian makes a difference, really. That was supposed to be a joke. (Laughter). You know, it's a great thing, man. I was picked as the best offensive player in the National League, and the guy next to me, three seats over, hit 54 home runs. It's a great accomplishment, and it's special, Canadian or not. End of FastScripts |
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