Bryce Harper of the Washington Nationals became the youngest unanimous winner of Major League Baseball’s Most Valuable Player Award, joining Josh Donaldson of the Toronto Blue Jays in claiming this year’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) honors on Thursday.
Harper, who was 22 at the end of the National League regular season when the vote was taken, received all 30 first-place votes from Baseball Writers’ Association of America members after batting .330, slugging 42 home runs and driving in 99.
The left-handed hitting outfielder, MLB’s Rookie of the Year in 2012, also became the first MVP to win representing a Washington franchise, including two incarnations of the American League Washington Senators.
Photo: AFP
Donaldson, traded to Toronto by the Oakland Athletics before the season, thrived with the Blue Jays, helping them end a 22-year absence in the postseason by claiming the American League East crown.
The third baseman clouted 41 home runs, drove in 123 runs for the high-powered Toronto attack, and batted .297.
“It’s amazing,” Donaldson, 29, told MLB TV. “I have to thank my teammates. Honestly, our team was so great, I was very blessed to be in the situation I was put in and I’m very thankful and I felt like I was able to take advantage of a lot of the opportunities that were put in front of me.”
Photo: AP
Harper, sidelined in previous seasons due to injuries suffered through his aggressive play in the outfield, enjoyed an injury-free season this year.
“To be on the field, that’s the main goal,” Harper said. “I want to be able to do the things I can for my city, my town and that’s DC. Do the things every single day that I can to give back to them.”
Finishing second in the AL was Mike Trout, who was 23 when he won last year’s MVP Award. The Angels’ Trout has finished runner-up in his three other MLB seasons. Lorenzo Cain of the Kansas City Royals was third.
Paul Goldschmidt of the Arizona Diamondbacks was second to Harper, with Cincinnati Reds’ Joey Votto third.
Harper, whose fiery on-field persona has made him a target for opposing fans, said that fuels his performance.
“I enjoy getting booed when I go to places,” Harper said. “And it makes me thrive, it makes me play well. I’m excited about what’s in the future for DC. Very excited to get going again next year.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier