Thursday, November 16, 2062
IPA MVP AWARDS GIVEN TO MOONEY AND STONICH
One of the most prestigious awards in Islandian Pro Alliance circles is the Most Valuable Player Awards... next to being elevated to the IPA Hall of Fame, this might be the next most-revered honor... the 2062 honorees are Elnora's fine outfielder Donald Ray Mooney and Rolling Hills' talented third baseman Teddy Stonich... both standouts sparked their clubs to great heights this year... Mooney was a vital part of the Clippers sudden rise to the Ruthlandian East division flag and Stonich was the main catalyst for the Racers super season... they won the Tycobbian West division crown for the third straight year and also won it all - the team's record-setting fifth Pro Cup trophy.
MOONEY, DE GROM AND NORBERG, 1-2-3 IN RU MVP POLL
This year's Ruthlandian MVP, Donald Ray Mooney, is an 11-year veteran with the Elnora Clippers... at age 29, Mooney made the All-Star team this season, was third in the Golden Bat balloting and paced his team to the RU East flag as they improved drastically from a 73-81 mark in '61 to a super 98-56 record in '62... in a fantastic year Mooney had the third-best batting average at a lofty .367... hammered 30 homers out of the park, drove in 121 runs (2nd) and scored 108 times... in addition Mooney was a go-getter in left field... a standout defender... in his career Mooney is a .309 hitter with 234 roundtrippers and he has been selected to the All-Star team four times... this was a career year for him.
Mooney outpolled several fine performers for the 2062 Ruthlandian Union Most Valuable Player trophy... his main contender was St. John's topnotch twirler, Teddy de Grom, who led the Crusaders to another magical season... they were the RU South champion for the third year in a row... de Grom captured the Ruthlandian Golden Arm Award this season with an extraordinary 19-2 record... he almost went unbeaten this year - the only games he lost were 3-2 and 3-1... de Grom completed 12 of 19 starts, compiled a 2.36 ERA, fourth best in the RU, and tossed 2 shutouts... at age 34, this was his best season... overall in 14 seasons with the Crusaders de Grom has posted a 207-154 record with a 3.47 ERA... twice he made the Ruthlandian Union All-Stars... he has paced them to five division titles in his tenure.
Ending up third in the Ruthlandian Most Valuable Player poll was Cold Creek's second baseman Vince Norberg... just 21 years old and in his second season in the IPA, he had a sensational season with a .319 batting average in 151 games with 35 doubles, 10 triples, 40 home runs, 127 RBIs and 128 runs... Norberg topped the RU in RBIs and came in second in runs scored... he made the All-Star team this year, copped the Ruthlandian Golden Bat trophy and also won a Golden Glove... the Cold Creek Raccoons rose up from seventh to fourth in the RU East standings, improving from 70-84 last year to 80-74 this year... in his rookie year Norberg batted .280 with 33 homers, 123 ribbies and scored 100 runs... he was the 2061 RU Rookie of the Year