Here is the official Red Sox statement:
DUSTIN PEDROIA NAMED 2008 AMERICAN LEAGUE MOST VALUABLE PLAYER
BY THE BASEBALL WRITERS ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA
BOSTON, MA—Boston Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia has been selected as the 2008 American League Most Valuable Player, it was announced today by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Pedroia received 16 of the 28 first place votes in balloting conducted by two writers from each of the 14 American League cities. He also received six second place votes, four third place votes and one fourth place vote for 317 total points. First baseman Justin Morneau of Minnesota was second with 257 points (7 1sts, 7 2nds, 6 3rds) while Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis finished third with 201 points (2 1sts, 4 2nds, 4 3rds). Morneau and Youkilis were the only players named on all ballots. Voting is 14 points for first, nine for second, and eight for third on down to one for 10th. Pedroia and Youkilis are the first pair of teammates to finish among the top three in A.L. MVP voting since Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki (1st) and Bret Boone (3rd) in 2001 and the first Red Sox teammates to do so since Roger Clemens (1st) and Jim Rice (3rd) in 1986.
The award is the 10th in club history as Pedroia becomes the first Red Sox to be named the A.L.’s Most Valuable Player by the BBWAA since Mo Vaughn in 1995. He is the fourth American Leaguer to win the award while playing the majority of his games at second base and the 10th overall, first since San Francisco’s Jeff Kent was named N.L. MVP in 2000. The other A.L. winners were Detroit’s Charlie Gehringer in 1937, New York’s Joe Gordon in 1942, and Chicago’s Nellie Fox in 1959.
Pedroia batted .326 with 17 home runs and 83 RBI in 157 games with the Red Sox in 2008. The 25-year-old led the majors with 54 doubles, tied Ichiro Suzuki for first with 213 hits, and ranked second with 118 runs and 61 multi-hit games, both A.L. highs. He had the A.L.’s second-highest batting average, two points behind Minnesota’s Joe Mauer (.328) and also ranked among the league leaders in at-bats (3rd, 653), sacrifice flies (T3rd, 9), singles (T3rd, 140), total bases (4th, 322), extra-base hits (7th, 73) and games (T9th).
He was the seventh player ever to lead the A.L. in runs, hits and doubles in the same season, the first since Cal Ripken, Jr. in 1983, and became the third major league second basemen ever to tally 100 runs, 200 hits, 50 doubles and 20 steals in a season, joining Alfonso Soriano (2002) and Craig Biggio (1998). The 2007 A.L. Rookie of the Year established single-season Red Sox records by a second baseman for runs, hits, doubles, batting average, total bases and extra-base hits. He finished with a .992 fielding percentage, second among qualifying major league second basemen behind only Oakland’s Mark Ellis (.993).
Pedroia becomes the eighth A.L. player ever to earn MVP, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger awards in the same season, joining Alex Rodriguez (2003), Suzuki (2001), Ivan Rodriguez (1999), Ken Griffey, Jr. (1997), Ripken, Jr. (1991), Don Mattingly (1985) and Robin Yount (1982). He and Ryne Sandberg (1984) are the only second basemen in major league history to accomplish the feat. Ryan Howard (2005-06) and Ripken Jr. (1982-83) are the only other players ever to earn league MVP honors one season after being named Rookie of the Year. Fred Lynn (1975) and Suzuki (2001) won both awards in the same season.
RED SOX A.L. MOST VALUABLE PLAYERS
1912—Tris Speaker, CF* 1975—Fred Lynn, CF
1938—Jimmie Foxx, 1B 1978—Jim Rice, LF/DH
1946—Ted Williams, LF 1986—Roger Clemens, RHP
1949—Ted Williams, LF 1995—Mo Vaughn, 1B
1958—Jackie Jensen, RF 2008—Dustin Pedroia, 2B
1967—Carl Yastrzemski, LF
*—From 1911-14, the Chalmers Award was given annually to the most valuable player of each league
