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| | Tuesday, December 14 Schmidt is Player of the Decade for 1980-89 | |||||
It was the closest race of the nine Player of the Decade polls that ran on ESPN.com, but in the end Mike Schmidt stood above his peers as the player of the '80s.
The voting was conducted on ESPN.com in conjunction with the Players Choice Awards in Las Vegas on Nov. 5. ESPN.com users picked winners for the first nine decades of the century, and the players themselves will select the player of the '90s. The winner of that honor will be announced as part of the Players Choice Awards show, which will be televised on ESPN (8:30 p.m. ET).
George BrettBrett got the '80s started in style, hitting .390 in 1980 and still threatening the magical .400 mark in late September. His Royals won the American League West title, and Brett garnered AL MVP honors. Eddie Murray Famous for his consistency and his silence, first baseman Eddie Murray also swung a pretty mean stick. He collected 1,642 hits in the 1980s, second in the major leagues only to Robin Yount. And nobody drove in more runs that decade than Murray, who totaled 996 RBI in the '80s. Nolan Ryan After a seven-year stretch of mortality, in 1987 the 40-year-old Ryan won the National League strikeout crown. It was the first of four straight years he would lead his league in strikeouts, after accomplishing the feat seven times in the 1970s. Mike Schmidt The premier third baseman of all time, Mike Schmidt was both a devastating hitter and a sparkling fielder. He won National League MVP awards in 1980 and '86, and collected 10 Gold Gloves. He led the NL in home runs eight times, including five times in the '80s. Robin Yount Baseball's No. 1 "hit man" of the 1980s, Robin Yount totaled 1,731 hits in the decade. He won two American League MVP awards duing the decade (1982 and '89) and became the only man to win Gold Gloves at both shortstop and center field. | ALSO SEE Baseball's Players Choice Awards Player of 1900-09: Honus Wagner Player of 1910-19: Ty Cobb Player of the '20s: Babe Ruth Player of the '30s: Jimmie Foxx Player of the '40s: Ted Williams Player of the '50s: Mickey Mantle Player of the '60s: Willie Mays Player of the '70s: Pete Rose  | |||||
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