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Latino Sluggers sweep the 1998 MVP Awards! Sammy Sosa and Juan Gonzalez January 1999 -- For the first time in Major League Baseball history, Latino players got MVP awards in each league.
Seven of the 32 members of the Baseball Writers Association committee did not even include McGwire among the top three on their 10-player ballot. Sosa received 30 first-place votes out of 32 while accumulating 438 points in the voting. McGwire, the St. Louis Cardinals first baseman, got the other two first-place votes along with several 2nd and 3rd place votes for a total of 272 points. Moises Alou of the Houston Astros was third with 215 points, followed by San Diego's Greg Vaughn with 185. Later on that evening, Mcquire said "To put it in his words, today Sammy is the man, he did a great job carrying the Cubbies back to the playoffs." Sosa's nomination set off a celebration in the Dominican Republic and he will fly there early Friday morning and meet with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, said his agent, Tom Reich. Sosa, intends to spend about 10 days on the island. Sosa, last season hit .308 with 66 home runs, 158 RBI's and scored a major-league high 132 runs with 18 stolen bases while leading the Chicago Cubs to a wild-card berth. In the American League, Puerto Rican Slugger Juan Gonzalez, won the AL MVP for the second time in three years. The day after, Sammy Sosa, Gonzalez's long-ago teammate and still a good friend, received the NL honor Thursday. Gonzalez is the first native Latin American player with two Most Valuable Player awards. "It's a special moment for all Latin America for both players to win the MVP award in the same year," Gonzalez said in a conference call from San Juan.
Gonzalez admitted he really wanted the record. ``I was disappointed a little bit because when I drove in the first 101 in the first half, I had a great chance,'' he said. Gonzalez came into this season determined to put up huge numbers. He worked out with a trainer all off season and stated his biggest goal was playing 162 games. He played 154, his most since 1992, while hitting .318 with 45 homers and an AL-best 50 doubles. ``The key for this year was staying healthy, playing 154 games,'' Gonzalez said. ``When I'm healthy, I'm can put up the best numbers I can.'' Latino Legends in Sports honors these two superstars for being great performers and heroes to the Latin community on and off the field.
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In the National League, 
Gonzalez began the year on a monster RBI
pace, driving in 101 by the All-Star break to join Hank Greenberg as the only players to
crack the century mark by the season's traditional midpoint. But after reaching 116 RBIs
in 105 games, Gonzalez injured his hamstring, and his production tailed off. He still
finished with 157, the most in the AL since Boston teammates Ted Williams and Vern
Stephens had 159 in 1949. His latin counterpart in the National League however, drove in
158 to lead the majors. |
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