The Hank Aaron Award was presented before Wednesday's Game 4 at the World Series to Andruw Jones of the Atlanta Braves and David Ortiz of the Boston Red Sox, and once again one of the most special things about this annual presentation for the best offensive season by a player in each league was the sight of the award's namesake seated right between its recipients.

Aaron, baseball's all-time home run king with 755 long balls, was there to help hand out this hardware, which is presented by CENTURY 21 and now a postseason tradition dating back to its inception in 1999. What makes this award so unique from all the other individual awards still to come is not only that fans vote at MLB.com in the final phase to determine where it goes, but also that this living legend is there to speak to the recipients about what he believes the honor represents.

Aaron specifically highlighted "consistency" as the primary trait of the seasons just turned in by Jones and Ortiz, both of whom are first-time recipients of "The Hammer." Both sluggers led their teams into the playoffs, and although those seasons stopped short after the Division Series, it is hard to imagine where their teams would have been this year without their bats. Both players also are expected to be among the top two or three choices for their respective Most Valuable Player awards to come in November.

Jones, who received 64,415 of the 210,000 fan votes (30 percent of the National League total), led the Majors with a career-high 51 homers and 128 RBIs. The Gold Glove center fielder hit his 50th homer in September, becoming just the 12th player in Major League history to reach the 300-homer plateau before his 30th birthday. His 51 homers broke the Braves' franchise record that had been shared by Aaron and Eddie Matthews, and he was the first Major Leaguer to reach the 50-homer plateau since Jim Thome and Alex Rodriguez each did so in 2002.

"I had a chance, of course, to watch Andruw for many years, and I know what a wonderful year he had last year," said Aaron, senior vice president and assistant to the president with the Braves. "In fact, I was just talking to him just a moment ago and I was applauding him on his consistency in what he did as a ballplayer last year. And he took it upon himself [this season] to carry the Atlanta Braves to their 14th [straight division] championship. When we had some of our star players out for a long period of time, Andruw took it upon himself. In fact, he told a lot of the young players, 'Get on my shoulder and ride me for a moment and I'll carry you home.' And he did that. And in watching him play, I marvel at his consistency."

Jones, the first Braves player to win this award, said, "Winning an award, it's tough. There's a lot of players out there that have great years, and especially the award being named after Hank Aaron. It's special. Every time you go on the field you're trying to help your team. And like Hank Aaron says, it's all about consistency and helping the team get to the point that your team wanted to be in. For me to be consistent this year, and that's what I worked for this last offseason, to be consistent and have everything pay off. And for the fans to see what I did and for them to vote for me to win this award is more special."
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Adapted from article on the Major League Baseball website.

Jones led the Major Leagues with 51 home runs. Click to enlarge photo.
- Photo2 by Tim Evearitt