A Giant Achievement

The producer of one of baseball’s most prolific individual seasons was crowned the game’s most decorated player Monday when Barry Bonds became the first player to win four most valuable player awards, capping a record-breaking, 73-homer season with the National League’s highest honor.

The only three-time MVP winners are Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Jimmie Foxx and Yogi Berra in the American League and Roy Campanella, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt in the NL. Such players as Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Frank Robinson never won the award more than twice.

“To pass guys like Mantle and DiMaggio, I don’t think you can put into words what that means,” said Bonds, San Francisco’s 37-year-old left fielder. “You can never dream of passing players of that stature. I’m just lucky and grateful. I don’t know what to say.”

Bonds, who besides shattering Mark McGwire’s 3-year-old record of 70 home runs, hit .328 and drove in 137 runs, received 30 of 32 first-place votes and 438 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Assn. of America.

Chicago Cub slugger Sammy Sosa, who hit .328 with 64 homers and a league-leading 160 RBIs, was expected to challenge Bonds, but he got only two first-place votes and finished a distant second with 278 points.

Arizona outfielder Luis Gonzalez (261) was third, and St. Louis infielder-outfielder Albert Pujols (222) was fourth, the first NL rookie to finish as high as fourth since pitcher Joe Black was third in 1952. Dodger outfielder Shawn Green finished sixth with 112 points.

Bonds belted 11 homers in April, then went on a tear with 17 in May, putting him on an early pace to break McGwire’s record and stirring four months of pressure and expectations.

It appeared that he might wilt when he hit only six homers in July, but Bonds rebounded with 12 in August and 12 in September, leaving him one shy of McGwire’s record at the start of the last week of the season.

Bonds, who received death threats late in the season, tied McGwire with home run No. 70 in Houston on Oct. 4, then ripped two homers against the Dodgers the next night in Pac Bell Park for the record.

Bonds also broke two of Babe Ruth’s records, walking 177 times--seven more than Ruth’s total in 1923--and finishing with an .863 slugging percentage, 16 points higher than Ruth’s mark in 1920. Bonds has 567 homers, seventh on the career list. Batting left-handed, he hit left-handers (.312) almost as well as he did right-handers (.334). He hit .382 with runners in scoring position.

The Giants, however, finished two games behind Arizona in the NL West and failed to make the playoffs, leaving Bonds short of his goal of reaching the World Series, a point that was driven home when Bonds threw out the ceremonial first pitch before Game 1 of the World Series between the Diamondbacks and Yankees, a thrilling Series won by Arizona in seven games.

“It was a fun season, but I wish we would have went to the World Series,” Bonds said. “That would have made it a lot more fun. I was happy for Randy Johnson, Mark Grace and all those guys who won their first World Series. To see the expression on their faces ... it made me proud. My goal is to be there next year.”

But with whom? Bonds, who also won MVPs with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990 and ’92 and the Giants in ‘93, is a free agent, and it is not yet clear how much of an effort San Francisco will make to retain him.

Bonds strongly suggested last week that he wants a five-or six-year deal, most likely in the $100-million range, saying he believes he can play at a high level for that long. But the Giants, who have had one conversation with agent Scott Boras, might be reluctant to sign Bonds to a rich contract that would take him through 43.

“I took risks this year; I played with no contract [beyond] this year,” Bonds told a Bay Area radio station. “I could have been hurt or injured then. And if I got hurt seriously, there’s no one who’s going to offer me a job again. I took that risk. Now they must take the risk.”

Bonds, who is in excellent shape thanks to his rigorous winter training regimen, plans to play “as long as God allows me to,” he said. “You’re only as old as you feel. I don’t know what the standards would be for me to satisfy the baseball world, but if you can hit 40 homers and drive in 100 runs a year, that’s pretty good.”

Bonds hinted that if his skills deteriorate during his next contract, he would make like McGwire, who turned down $30 million and retired last week.

“If my production goes down to that point, you don’t have to worry about me taking less dollars,” Bonds said. “You can keep your dollars.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

That’s Four!

Barry Bonds is the first player to win four most valuable player awards. Players with three or more MVP awards:

4--Barry Bonds1990, ‘92, ‘93, 2001

3--Yogi Berra1951, ‘54, ’55

3--Joe DiMaggio1939, ‘41, ’47

3--Stan Musial1943, ‘46, ’48

3--Roy Campanella1951, ‘53, ’55

3--Mickey Mantle1956, ‘57, ’62

3--Mike Schmidt1980, ‘81, ’86

*

LONG WAIT

Most years between MVP awards:

11--Willie Mays1954, ’65

8--Cal Ripken Jr.1983, ’91

8--Barry Bonds1993, 2001

7--Robin Yount1982, ’89

6--Joe DiMaggio1941, ’47

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

NL MVP Voting

Voting for the 2001 National League Most Valuable Player Award, with first-, second-and third-place votes and total points based on a 14-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1system:

*--*

Player 1st 2nd 3rd Total Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants 30 2 0 438 Sammy Sosa, Chicago Cubs 21 7 8 278 Luis Gonzalez, Arizona Diamondbacks -- 8 21 261 Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals -- 5 3 222

*--*

Others who received votes: Lance Berkman (Houston), 125 points; Shawn Green (Dodgers), 112; Jeff Bagwell (Houston), 109; Chipper Jones (Atlanta), 100; Todd Helton (Colorado), 90; Curt Schilling (Arizona), 24; Randy Johnson (Arizona), 23; Rich Aurilia (San Francisco), 20; Mike Piazza (New York), 14; Moises Alou (Houston), 13; Matt Morris (St. Louis), 13; Bobby Abreu (Philadelphia), 9; Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia), 8; Brian Jordan (Atlanta), 7; Paul LoDuca (Dodgers), 6; Felix Rodriguez (San Francisco), 4; Phil Nevin (San Diego), 3; Cliff Floyd (Florida), 2; Roy Oswalt (Houston), 2; Brian Giles (Pittsburgh), 1; Vladimir Guerrero (Montreal), 1; Steve Kline (St. Louis), 1; Scott Rolen (Philadelphia), 1; Larry Walker (Colorado), 1.