NEW YORK, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- San Francisco Giants superstar outfielder Barry Bonds was named Player of the Year on Sunday as part of the Players Choice Awards.
Bonds, who hit a record 73 homers this season, also was named the National League's Outstanding Player by his peers. Texas Rangers shortstop Alex Rodriguez was named the AL's Outstanding Player.
Cleveland Indians slugger Jim Thome won the Marvin Miller Man of the Year Award, which recognizes the player in either league whose performance and contributions to his community inspire others to higher levels of achievement.
The 10th annual Players Choice Awards are conducted by secret ballot among all players by the Major League Baseball Players Association under the supervision of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm.
Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn and Eric Davis, each of whom retired this year, co-hosted the awards ceremony.
Bonds put together one of the greatest offensive years of all time, bettering Babe Ruth's 81-year-old mark with an .863 slugging percentage. He also drew a major league-record 177 walks while finishing in the top 10 in batting (.328), RBI (137) and runs (129).
Bonds beat out outfielders Sammy Sosa of the Chicago Cubs and Luis Gonzalez of Arizona. He also was the NL's Oustanding Player in 1992 and 1993.
Rodriguez outpolled second baseman Bret Boone of Seattle and first baseman Jason Giambi of Oakland for his third Players Choice Award, having also won in 1996 and 1998.
He set a record for shortstops with 52 homers and led the AL with 133 runs. He also hit .318 with 135 RBI and 201 hits.
The NL's Outstanding Pitcher was Arizona righthander Curt Schilling, who outdistanced teammate Randy Johnson and Matt Morris of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The AL winner was Roger Clemens of the New York Yankees, who got the nod over Seattle's Freddy Garcia and Oakland's Mark Mulder.
The NL's Most Outstanding Rookie was Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals. Philadelphia's Jimmy Rollins and Houston pitcher Roy Oswalt also were nominated.
The AL's Most Outstanding Rookie was Ichiro Suzuki of Seattle, who was tabbed over Alfonso Soriano of the Yankees and pitcher C.C. Sabathia of Cleveland.
Comeback Player honors went to Morris in the NL and Ruben Sierra of Texas in the AL.
Other finalists for the Miller Award were Gonzalez and New York Mets reliever John Franco.
