Despite missing the first month of the season with some back issues, Minnesota Twins catcher Joe Mauer was the overwhelming choice by the Baseball Writer’s Association of America as the American League Most Valuable Player.
Mauer received 27-of-28 first place votes while Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera, who finish fourth behind New York Yankees’ Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter, received the other first place vote.
Boston Red Sox first baseman Kevin Youkilis finished fifth while Red Sox free agent outfielder Jason Bay was sixth.
Mauer, who won his second straight batting title with a .365 average, also had career-highs of 28 home runs and 96 runs batted in.
Only four catchers have ever won the MVP award. Ivan Rodriguez was the last catcher to win when he was named AL MVP in 1999. Thurman Munson is the only other catcher in the AL to win it (1976) while Johnny Bench is the only catcher in the National League to be MVP (1972).
Mauer is also the fifth Twins player to take home MVP honors. Teammate Justin Morneau (2006), Rod Carew (1977), Harmon Killebrew (1969) and Zoilo Versalles (1965).
The last award to be handed out by the BWAA is the National League MVP which will awarded on Tuesday.
Full results after the jump.
| 2009 American League MVP voting | |||||||||||
| Player | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
| Joe Mauer, MIN | 27 | 1 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 387 |
| Mark Teixeira, NYY | – | 15 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | – | 1 | – | – | 225 |
| Derek Jeter, NYY | – | 9 | 5 | 3 | 5 | 3 | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | 193 |
| Miguel Cabrera, DET | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 2 | – | 1 | 3 | 171 |
| Kendry Morales, LAA | – | – | 3 | 9 | 10 | 3 | 2 | – | – | – | 170 |
| Kevin Youkilis, BOS |
– | 2 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | – | 1 | 150 |
| Jason Bay, BOS |
– | – | 1 | 1 | – | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 78 |
| Ben Zobrist, TB | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 34 |
| Ichiro Suzuki, SEA | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 4 | 4 | 3 | 33 |
| Alex Rodriguez, NYY | – | – | 1 | – | 3 | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | 31 |
| Chone Figgins, LAA | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | – | 31 |
| Aaron Hill, TOR | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 2 | 2 | – | 3 | 23 |
| Bobby Abreu, LAA | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 23 |
| Mariano Rivera, NYY | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 17 |
| Adam Lind, TOR | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 14 |
| Michael Young, TEX | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 13 |
| Zack Greinke, KC | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | 1 | 12 |
| Robinson Cano, NYY | – | – | – | – | – | – | 3 | – | – | – | 12 |
| Evan Longoria, TB | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 | 1 | – | 9 |
| Justin Verlander, DET | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 1 | – | 7 |
| CC Sabathia, NYY | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | – | 4 |
| Michael Cuddyer, MIN | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 1 | 4 |
| Victor Martinez, CLE/BOS |
– | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2 | – | 4 |
| Jason Kubel, Twins | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | – | 3 |
| Placido Polanco, DET | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | – | 2 |
| Felix Hernandez, SEA | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
| Ian Kinsler, TEX | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 1 | 1 |
