Ryan Braun won the National League Rookie of the Year award in one of the closest votes, and Dustin Pedroia ran away with the American League honor on Monday.
Braun, Milwaukee's slugging third baseman, edged Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki by two points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Pedroia, the little Boston second baseman with the big swing, easily topped Tampa Bay outfielder Delmon Young. Voting was done before Pedroia helped lead the Red Sox to the World Series title.
PHOTO: AP
Called up from Triple-A in late May, Braun hit .324 with 34 home runs and 97 RBIs. The Brewers led the majors in homers this season and stayed in contention for the NL Central championship until the final week.
Braun got 17 of the 32 first-place votes and finished with 128 points. Tulowitzki received 15 first-place votes and had 126 points.
Braun's .634 slugging percentage led NL players and was the highest by a rookie in major league history. He did not have enough plate appearances, however, to qualify for the title.
His big offensive numbers were enough to overcome 26 errors, tied for most in the majors with Minnesota shortstop Jason Bartlett.
Tulowitzki led big league shortstops in fielding percentage, got to many more balls than anyone at his position and turned an unassisted triple play.
Tulowitzki also set an NL rookie record for home runs by a shortstop (24), and batted .291 with 99 RBIs as the Rockies surged to the NL pennant.
There was a tie for the NL award in 1976 between San Diego's Butch Metzger and Cincinnati's Pat Zachry -- though the voting format was different then. Last year, Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez beat out Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman by four points.
"Ryan Braun came to the major leagues and had as much offensive impact as I have seen in my 12 years as a general manager," Milwaukee's Doug Melvin said. "To show you how good Ryan was, in any other year Troy Tulowitzki would have won hands down."
Braun became the second Brewer to win Rookie of the Year.
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